Henry's Spokesman Denies Auditor Search

By The Oklahoman's Tony Thornton on www.newsok.com ~ Governor Brad Henry's office is taking issue with a higher education official's statement concerning a potential vacancy in the state auditor's job.

Paul Sund, Henry's communications director, said no one representing Henry contacted Greg Sawyer about possibly filling state Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan's position.

A federal grand jury indicted McMahan and his wife Friday, accusing them of taking bribes from southeast Oklahoma businessman Steve Phipps in return for favorable treatment.

The indictment prompted some legislators to call for McMahan's resignation. Henry said McMahan should step aside during the criminal proceedings.

Sawyer, an associate vice chancellor for higher education, told The Oklahoman Friday he was approached weeks or months ago about replacing McMahan if the job came open. On Friday, he wouldn't name who contacted him, saying only it was someone representing the governor.

"We have contacted no one about the auditor's job, and anyone who suggests otherwise is not telling the truth," Sund wrote in an e-mail Saturday night.

"We are quite disappointed that someone would distort the facts and say that we contacted him about taking over the auditor's post when that never happened," Sund said.

Sawyer said Sunday the person who contacted him months ago about the potential opening was Tony Hutchison, Henry’s state finance director.

Sawyer said Hutchison told him, “If you’re interested, you need to let somebody know.”
Sawyer said he then spoke twice to Gerald Adams, Henry’s chief of staff.

“I don’t want to get in a debate with Paul Sund or anybody. ... I understand they don’t want to make it look like they’re pushing Jeff out,” Sawyer said.

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Henry, Trial Lawyers, Judicial Nominating Commission Member Take Brazilian Fishing Trip

UPDATED ~ Five months after he vetoed a tort reform bill described by its advocates as comprehensive and by its trial lawyer opponents as flawed, Governor Brad Henry today is on a Brazilian fishing trip with some of Oklahoma's most prominent trial lawyers who opposed the measure. He took a similar trip in 2003. On the current trip are a member of the Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission and two former members, and three past presidents of the Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association.

A document obtained by The McCarville Report Online shows that on September 21st and 22nd, Henry and 23 others were among those in a Wet-A-Line Tours group booked into the Tropical Manaus Hotel in Ponta Negre, Brazil, an outlying part of the city of Manaus. The hotel is a jumping-off point for Amazon River charter fishing tours that last up to a week.

Paul Sund, Henry's spokesman, confirmed that the governor is on the trip along with his chief of staff, Gerald Adams, and an Oklahoma Highway Patrol security trooper, Patrick Mays. Sund said Henry and Adams paid for their portions of the fishing charter, as well as for surface and air transportation to Brazil. He said the state will pay the costs of Trooper Mays.

Wet-A-Line Tours' normal charge for the Tropical Manaus fishing trip, its website shows, is $4,250 per person. Wet-A-Line Tours is owned, documents show, by Richard W. Schair and is based in Gainesville, Georgia.

The Tropical Manaus Hotel listed 24 persons in the Wet-A-Line Tours group, among them at least 10 Oklahoma trial lawyers as well as Henry, Adams and Mays.

Among those listed are Shawnee attorney Terry West (pictured), two-time past president of the Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association, one of Henry's earliest supporters. West, a longtime friend of the Henry family, was the roommate of Brad Henry's father in college. The governor, also an attorney, calls him "Uncle Terry."

Also listed are Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission member and former Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association President Jimmy D. Loftis, and fellow attorneys Blake Virgin, John R. Hargrave, John W. Norman, John B. Norman, 2006 Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association president Brad West, Bart West (Terry West's sons), former Judicial Nominating Commission member William E. Woodson, oilman Paul Hale, Robert D. Bell, Robert L. Bell and Mike Oliver. Hale, Oliver, Loftis, Virgin, Woodson and the Bells also took the 2003 trip based on a report in The Oklahoman at the time. Also listed is Richard R. Dunning, a member of the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents, appointed by Henry earlier this year. Sund said Dunning resigned from the Judicial Nominating Commission earlier this year.

Said Sund: "It is similar to the 2003 trip. It is a charter fishing trip planned by Terry West, an old family friend of the Henrys from Shawnee. Terry West organized everything and invited the various participants. The group is fishing on the Amazon River for a week. They left last weekend and will return Monday. As I understand it, there are more than a dozen people in the group, but I do not know all of the names of the participants other than Governor Henry, Gerald Adams, Terry West and, I believe, some members of the West family. The governor would prefer that security not accompany him on such trips, but as you know, state law requires DPS to provide security to the governor and his family at all times. DPS Commissioner Kevin Ward could address any costs associated with the accompanying security officer or procedures involved in providing security to governors. The governor and the chief of staff are paying for the cost of their trip. No state funds are being expended on them."

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