Former Legislator Paid By Agency He Helped Fund

The Oklahoman's Tony Thornton reports today that former State Rep. Joe Hutchison was paid $62,500 by Little Dixie Community Action Agency in 2005, the year after he obtained $100,000 in state funds for it.

The agency is not in what was Hutchison's legislative district and apparently there's no record showing how the $100,000 was spent.

Oklahoma's Constitution prohibits any legislator from being interested in any contract with the state or govermental subdivision within two years of leaving office.

The executive director of Little Dixie is former Rep. Randall Erwin, who has been accused by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of accepting kickbacks when he was a legislator. He left office in 2004 to head up Little Dixie. The agency is under investigation by the auditor and inspector's office even though Auditor Jeff McMahan faces allegations his office was the site of a meeting at which the funneling of state funds to those under investigation was discussed.

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