Coffee Defends Morgan's Mexico Trip

The Tulsa World's Barbara Hoberock reports that Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee says a recent trip that top aide Fred Morgan took with a private prison lobbyist was not improper.

Morgan, Coffee's senior policy adviser and a former Republican House member, traveled to Mexico in December with Brett Robinson, a lobbyist for GEO, a private prison company that has a facility in Lawton.

Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said that there is no validity to suggestions of wrongdoing surrounding the trip, adding that Morgan paid his own way: "They had a prior relationship before they were a lobbyist and a government official," Coffee said in an interview with the World. "I think people have personal relationships and they have lives outside of the Capitol building."

Robinson said the trip to Punta Mita, Mexico, involved Morgan and his wife, Page; Robinson and his wife, Karma, and another lobbyist and her husband.

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Political Firms Announce Merger

Two Oklahoma political firms announced today they've merged.

The firms are Public Issue Advisers, Inc. (PIA), under Karma Robinson, and Sagac Public Affairs (Sagac) under Trey and Jeri Richardson.

Director, finalized its merger today with one of the country’s top political action committee finance and management firms, Sagac Public Affairs, LLC (Sagac), Trey and Jeri Richardson, Principals.

“For those who watch Oklahoma politics this is no great surprise. We have worked together successfully going back to 1990 and continue to support each other’s operations in Oklahoma almost daily,” said Richardson.

Sagac is a national company with offices in Northern, Virginia, and Oklahoma City. Sagac's principals and senior management provide fundraising and communications solutions to hundreds of political, non-profit and corporate organizations. Sagac’s clients currently represent some $120 million in federal political action committee funds annually.

Trey and Jeri Richardson are widely recognized leaders in the political community as strategists and practitioners on issue advocacy and political action committees. Known for their creativity and research-driven approach to political marketing, they have influenced the direction of political initiatives throughout the United States for the last 20 years.

Robinson is credited with raising millions of dollars for numerous presidential, gubernatorial, congressional, legislative and issue campaigns.

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