Coffee Admits 'Dumb Mistake,' Stays In Place

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee has apologized to his caucus for having a tax lien filed against him and says he will remain as the Senate leader despite calls from Democrats that he resign.

"Well, the problem with dumb mistakes is that you have to answer for them,” Coffee said Monday after a meeting with Senate Republicans. "That is what I am here today to do. I made a dumb decision, and I went into caucus today to apologize for that and answer questions from members of my caucus.”

In 2006, Coffee said, he filed an extension for his federal income taxes but let it expire before taking care of the tax bill: "I was working on filing an amended return, and by no one’s fault but my own, I didn’t get it done in time,” he said.

The IRS filed a $28,822.67 lien against Coffee and his wife, Lisa, in November. The taxes were paid, and the lien was released in December.

Coffee said he has income outside of his legislative pay. In 2006, his legislative pay was $50,764, said Randy Swanson, Coffee’s spokesman.

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World: Cargill Apologizes At State Expense

By Mick Hinton, Tulsa World ~ Former House Speaker Lance Cargill is planning to mail out 6,000 letters, at state expense, to apologize to his constituents for failing to pay his taxes on time. Bulk mailing through the House costs 22 cents per letter, so the cost of mailing Cargill's 6,000 copies would be $1,320.

House Chief of Staff Chad Warmington said Friday that it was Cargill's decision to send the letters through the House mail room. They hadn't been mailed Friday because a postage machine was broken.

In a copy of the letter obtained by the Tulsa World, Cargill said when he got busy with House leadership duties, "regrettably, I often put my personal business and finances on the back burner." "As a result, I was late in paying the property taxes on my law office and also allowed state income tax extensions to lapse," the letter states.

Warmington has advised members in a memo that their House mailings "should focus on your role as a lawmaker, share information about the Legislature with constituents and provide public policy updates." Warmington said he does not review the letters before they are mailed.

In late January, Cargill and four other lawmakers were informed by the Oklahoma Tax Commission that they had not filed their returns on time. Although Cargill's filings were late for two years, he has noted that he ended up receiving refunds.

In addition, Cargill, R-Harrah, was late six years in a row in paying the property taxes on his Harrah law office.

Cargill's letter states, "my property taxes, although late, were always paid in addition to late penalty fines and interest."

Taxes on his office were about $700 annually, and he paid penalties totaling $562.44, according to Oklahoma County Treasurer Butch Freeman.

After news stories about his tax problems appeared, Cargill stepped aside as speaker. In the letter, Cargill also said, "This was irresponsible and I am deeply sorry I allowed it to happen."

Although copies of the letter were printed on House equipment, the stationery apparently was supplied by Cargill and had a notation at the bottom saying the state had not paid for the stationery. The stationery with the letterhead "Office of the Speaker" apparently was left over from Cargill's tenure as speaker of the House. He resigned the post on Jan. 28.

Cargill could not be reached for comment Friday.

The other lawmakers who did not have major leadership positions say they have taken care of their late tax filings.

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Late Tax Allegations Fly On Some Blogs

Some posters on Oklahoma blogs today are asserting that members of the Legislature, Republican and Democrat, have been late paying property taxes when the facts don't substantiate the allegations.

Following revelations in The Oklahoman and Tulsa World about unpaid taxes, some blog posters have begun researching records themselves and then posting what they believe they found. The problem is that what they believe they found doesn't match the practice in the county where they believe they found something.

In Grady County, for example, the property tax collector has a standing policy that taxes paid before January 15th are paid on time. Just looking at records, however, would prompt the conclusion that someone who paid on January 5th or 6th therefore was "late," when that's not the case.

An added complication is that some taxpayers mail their payments in late December and because of holidays and the crush of payments to be processed, some county offices don't get the payments posted until early or mid January. Regardless of the posting date, payments in envelopes postmarked December 31st are deemed paid on time. In some counties, the time lapse can be a week to two weeks between receipt of the payment and its posting.

In its examination of tax records across the state, The Oklahoman apparently found that in some counties, the established deadline for payment is December 31st and in others, it is January 31st. In most counties, a grace period extends for a time after the tax payment due date.

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Wesselhoft Questions Blackwell's Future Role

Republican Rep. Paul Wesselhoft (pictured) told KFOR-TV Thursday night that the next question GOP legislators face is, "Should Gus Blackwell remain our speaker pro tem? I think not."

Wesselhoft joined other, although less public, GOP House members in questioning whether Blackwell, Goodwell Republican, should retain his leadership post after it was revealed he was late paying his Texas County property taxes for 13 years in a row.

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The Oklahoman: Morrissette Late Paying Taxes

The Oklahoman reports that Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, traveled Thursday to the Oklahoma County courthouse to personally pay his late 2007 property tax on a rental house.

Morrissette paid $518.46, including $7.66 in interest for being late.

"It was an oversight and it has been taken care of," Morrissette said. "The taxes have been paid. I'm even with the county."

Records show it was the fourth year in a row that Morrissette was late in paying property taxes on the rental house in northwest Oklahoma City. Previous payments have been anywhere from five months to nearly a year and a half late. The tardiness has cost him $271.01 in penalties and interest.

"I can assure you this: It won't happen again," he said.

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The Oklahoman: Blackwell Repeatedly Late On Taxes

From www.newsok.com, by Nolan Clay, Randy Ellis and Michael McNutt ~ A leading candidate to become the next state House speaker dropped out of the race Thursday because he repeatedly paid his property taxes late.

"I'm not blaming anyone but myself," Rep. Gus Blackwell said at the Capitol.

Blackwell, R-Goodwell, dropped out just hours after The Oklahoman asked him for an explanation for his late taxes.

He said he mistakenly thought he had until March 31 to pay property taxes on his home and three rental properties in Goodwell. He said except for one or two years he had met that deadline, usually paying around February.

He said he contacted the Texas County treasurer Thursday and was shocked to find out he was wrong. "The county got every dime they were entitled to," he said. "I have never been told that my taxes were late in any way, shape or form."

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Oklahoman: Cargill Late Paying Law Firm Taxes

House Speaker Lance Cargill has been delinquent in paying property taxes on his Harrah law office six years in a row, The Oklahoman reports.

The Sunday edition story by reporters Nolan Clay and Randy Ellis has Cargill apologizing: "I take full responsibility for this error. I certainly apologize to the people of Oklahoma and to my colleagues, and will take steps to ensure these matters are handled in a timely and efficient manner in the future," he said.

Cargill has faced other tax problems recently; The Oklahoman reported the speaker failed to file his 2005 and 2006 personal income tax returns until he received a warning letter from the Tax Commission.

Of Cargill's failure to file property taxes, County Treasurer Butch Freeman, like Cargill a Republican, said, "He's one of my favorite taxpayers because we make a lot of money on him in interest and penalty."

The taxes on Cargill's Harrah law firm are not large, about $750 per year. The paper reports he or his company have paid $562.44 in penalities, interest and fees by paying late.

The paper also reports, "Cargill sent in a $1,623.93 check, dated Jan. 10, to pay his overdue 2007 and 2006 property taxes on his law office, records show. The 2006 tax was more than a year overdue. The 2007 tax, at that point, was just days overdue."

Freeman said Cargill took care of previous taxes in most years after getting "delinquent tax notices."

The Tulsa World's Mick Hinton reported the story on Sunday, with a sidebar detailing controversies involving Cargill:

Three other controversies involving House Speaker Lance Cargill have emerged in the the past year.

They deal with: A fundraiser he attended in December. Meetings with lobbyists outside the state Capitol last spring. An alleged investigation of House Republican PAC activities being conducted by the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.

A report surfaced earlier this month that Cargill and six other Republican lawmakers attended a Texas fundraiser for presidential candidate Mike Huckabee held at the home of controversial Texas businessman Gene Phillips.

At first, Cargill said he didn’t know where the fundraiser was being held but subsequently learned it was at the Dallas home of Phillips.

Former state insurance commissioner Carroll Fisher, a Democrat now in prison, allegedly accepted a $25,000 gift from Phillips and also furniture for Fisher’s office.

Last legislative session, Cargill sponsored an ethics bill to outlaw campaign money from being given to lawmakers inside the state Capitol.At the same time Cargill was proposing reforms, he was calling lobbyists at 15- minute intervals to the Oklahoma City office of Fount Holland, who conducts numerous Republican political campaigns. Cargill was asking lobbyists how much they would contribute to the House PAC, his own campaign and two other GOP-related entities.

The speaker said at the time that the meetings involved “potential contributors who we meet with all the time to try and raise financial support for our political efforts.”

Meanwhile, questionable activity of the House Republican PAC in the 2004 and 2006 election cycles apparently has sparked the attention of the state Ethics Commission, although it cannot confirm whether an investigation is occurring.

Republican Party chairman Gary Jones, former state Rep. Ray Vaughn and state Rep. John Trebilcock, R-Tulsa, have confirmed that late last year they visited the office of the Ethics Commission.

Earlier, Vaughn and some other lawmakers said they were displeased to learn that their $5,000 campaign contributions designated for the state party — sometimes called a Victory Fund — had ended up with the Oklahoma County Republican Party.

Cargill said at the time, “I did not solicit, receive, deposit or expend any Victory Fund checks.”

But in 2004, leaders of the PAC headed by Cargill allegedly found a way to capture that money by turning over bills to the Oklahoma County party, which paid them, documents indicate.

Documents obtained by the Tulsa World indicated that the county party was paying some of the expenses of the House Republican PAC, which hired field representatives to work on key legislative races.

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