Terrill Objects To Bankruptcy Case Action

By M. Scott Carter/The Norman Transcript ~ One day after he said and his wife "didn't object at all" to a federal bankruptcy judge's order reopening his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, an attorney for state Rep. Randy Terrill filed a motion in federal court Friday asking the court not to reopen the case.

Terrill's filing was the latest in his federal bankruptcy case which began in October 2005 and was discharged in March 2006.

Earlier this summer, Edmond attorney John D. Mashburn filed a motion to reopen the case after published reports alleged irregularities between Terrill's bankruptcy petition and his state campaign filings.

On Thursday, Western Oklahoma District Bankruptcy Court Judge T.M. Weaver granted Mashburn's request, reopening the case and ordering the appointment of a trustee."It is therefore ordered ... that the trustee's motion is sustained, this case is hereby reopened, and the court orders the appointment of a trustee herein," Weaver wrote, noting that "no objections or responses" had been sent to the court.

"Said motion was filed July 18 ... notice was duly given to all parties appearing on the mailing matrix," the judge wrote. "The time for response to said motion expired on Aug. 5, and no objections or responses have been served or filed."

Friday, Terrill filed a request asking the court to deny Mashburn's motion."Wherefore, debtor respectfully requests that your honorable court deny the motion to reopen the bankruptcy filed by the trustee and if needed set this matter for a hearing and order such other and further relief as is just a proper," Oklahoma City attorney Jeffrey West, wrote.

West, listed as the attorney for both Terrill and his wife, Angela, filed the motion in Oklahoma City's federal bankruptcy court at 12:37 p.m. Friday, a little more than 24 hours after federal judge T.M. Weaver issued his order.

In his motion, West said the allegation that Terrill had received a "loan repayment" from his campaign was not, in fact, a loan."...That payment was for a re-imbursement for expenditures that the debtor incurred during his normal course of business in operating his campaign," West wrote. "...These are not "loans" in the traditional sense of the word and are monies the debtor put into his campaign for operation and payment of expenditures. At no time was money ever exchanged or received by the debtors in regard to these 'loans.'"

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Bankruptcy Court Reopens Terrill Case

A federal judge has reopened Rep. Randy Terrill's 2005 bankruptcy filing after reports alleged that the Republican legislator failed to disclose an asset in the form of a campaign loan the trustee claims should have been declared as an asset and shared with debtors.

Federal Bankruptcy Judge T.M. Weaver reopened the case Thursday in response to a petition from bankruptcy trustee John D. Mashburn.

Mashburn asked that the case be reopened because Terrill, the head of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, failed to list as an asset money his campaign owed him.

Mashburn said he expected Weaver to reopen the case. He also expects Weaver to re-appoint him as trustee to oversee the case.

Mashburn said the judge's order allows creditors to try to recover additional funds from Terrill's estate.

Oklahoma Ethics Commission reports show Terrill was reimbursed between $9,800 and about $11,000 for campaign expenses.

Questions also have been raised as to whether Terrill failed to report income he received as an adjunct professor at Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in Moore. However, Terrill said any money he earned from the college was a small amount, and his attorneys have assured him it did not need to be reported as an asset at the time.

Terrill contends that reopening the case is a "smear tactic." He said the bankruptcy was tied to college loans incurred by his wife.

"The purpose of this reopening, as far as I'm concerned, is to try and recover assets, or what appears to be assets, of the estate," Mashburn said.

Terrill and his wife filed their Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition Oct. 14, 2005, less than a year after he was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

In July, Terrill downplayed the request to reopen the case, attributing it to his political opponents.

"Neither my wife, nor I have any problem with the court taking a second look," Terrill said. "We don't object at all to the court taking a second look to make sure everything was done properly."

However, Terrill, who is up for re-election, said his political foes in the Hispanic community are using the bankruptcy against him because he sponsored the new immigration law.

"I would reiterate that this is a dirty, nasty, sleazy political tactic which causes people not to run for elective office," he said.

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Attorney: Reopen Terrill Bankruptcy Case

UPDATED ~ Following allegations first reported in a Spanish language newspaper, El Nacional de Oklahoma (http://www.noticiasok.com/), and given wider circulation by the Democrats of Oklahoma Community Forum, http://www.demookie.com/, Oklahoma City attorney John Mashburn has asked the U. S. Bankruptcy Court in Oklahoma City to reopen the 2005 bankruptcy filing of Rep. Randy Terrill, architect of the state's new immigration law.

Mashburn (pictured), who says in the filing on July 18th that he was the original trustee in the Randy and Angela Terrill bankruptcy case in 2005, alleges there may be assets that were not included in the final settlement in 2006. Mashburn apparently was trustee for creditors.

Terrill told The McCarville Report Online, "I don't mind the trustee taking a second look to make sure everything was done properly."

Mashburn's filing came after the reports alleged Terrill's campaign committee owed him money and that the debt was repaid after his bankruptcy was discharged and the debt, an alleged undisclosed Terrill asset, was not included in the filing.

Terrill said, "...it's unfortunate...that some...are trying to damage me politically" because of a family bankruptcy filing prompted by his wife's college debts: "I find it despicable that someone would exploit my wife's financial difficulties during college to damage me politically."

Terrill said the "loan" repayments listed on his campaign documents covered ordinary campaign expenses for which he paid and was later reimbursed. He said many of the expenses occurred in 2003 and 2004 prior to the bankruptcy filing.

He said there were no "loans" in "the traditional sense of the word."

Terrill added that those who oppose him because of his sponsorship of the state's new immigration law and advocacy of "English only" have "been trying to pedal this story...for some time."

Terrill, who said he's not yet been officially notified of Mashburn's filing with the court, said he's confident that a review of the bankruptcy case and all the documents related to it will find nothing wrong.

The original post on the Democrats of Oklahoma Community Forum: Escrito por Redacción Local Viernes 18 de Julio de 2008 19:05 After declaring bankruptcy, State Legislator Randy Terrill contributes a substantial funding to his own campaign. On October 14, 2005, Randy Terrill filed a Bankruptcy Petition. Included in the petition is a Summary of Schedules in which claimed assets by Terrill total the amount of $12,854.40. Of the total claimed assets Randy Terrill only claimed to have $500.00 in a checking account and no cash on hand, no accounts receivable, and no liquidated debts. In Schedule I-Current Income of Individual Debtor(s) Randy Terrill stated his occupation to be a Consultant for the State of Oklahoma instead of a Legislator with a monthly income of $3,200.00 gross and $2316.19 net. On January 1, 2006, a Campaign Contributions and Expenditures Report showed a loan made by Randy Terrill to his Campaign Committee in the amount of $9,801.00 while his bankruptcy was still pending. On March 1, 2006 one day before Discharge of Debtor was granted to Randy Terrill, a loan repayment in the amount of $1,500.00 was shown in Schedule E. Monetary Expenditures of Campaign with a reporting period from January 1, 2006 to March 31, 2006. Discharge of Debtor was dated March 2, 2006. On July 6, 2006, after Discharge of Debtor was granted to Terrill, a loan repayment in the amount of $7,209.50 was shown in Schedule E Monetary Expenditures of Campaign with a reporting period from April 1, 2006 to July 10, 2006. Based on this information, there is a possibility that Terrill could face charges of perjury and or fraud.Ultima actualización ( Viernes 18 de Julio de 2008 19:29 )

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