Another OK court decision?

Sometimes courts make the right decision. Really. It happens. But it didn’t happen this past week in Oklahoma.

Oh, we should probably be glad it’s not another petition with hundreds of thousands of voter signatures being tossed out. And no, it’s not nearly as crazy as that ruling allowing a man to photograph up the skirts of girls at the mall.

Sitting Oklahoma legislators get paid $38,400 a year, so I wonder about a pension that pays a retired legislator more than twice what a working legislator makes. That’s fishy, no?

You probably wonder: Who is this guy, Stipe? And why should anyone give a hoot about his pension?

Gene Stipe was a state legislator for 54 years. He held onto his senate seat longer than anyone else in Oklahoma history. But in 2003, already facing imminent removal thanks to term limits, Stipe was indicted by a federal grand jury for illegally funneling money into a 1998 congressional race and for perjury. Stipe resigned.

It would not be unusual for someone to resign the seat in such a circumstance, of course. But Stipe is not your average politician. He had been indicted before. Repeatedly. And yet had not given up his political perch.

In 1968, he was indicted on income tax evasion. He was later acquitted of the charges. In 1975, he was alleged to have illegally diverted funds in a bankruptcy case and agreed in an out-of-court settlement to repay $60,000. In 1979, he was indicted again, this time for his involvement in securing a fraudulent Small Business Administration loan. Again, he was acquitted. Before the SBA loan case was concluded, Stipe was indicted for a fourth time. The charges? Fraud, extortion and conspiracy stemming from the extradition case of a Colorado man. And for the fourth time, Stipe was acquitted.

Well, the fifth indictment in 2003 was apparently the charm. Stipe not only resigned his state senate seat, but, in 2004, he pled guilty to perjury, obstructing the investigation, and conspiracy. Stipe was sentenced to six months home detention, five years probation, 1,000 hours of community service and fined more than a million dollars. He also lost his law license.

Which brings us to the question of Mr. Stipe’s pension. Well, almost. First, I should mention that Stipe has since been indicted a sixth time, in 2007, for mail fraud, witness tampering, money laundering, and (once again) conspiracy. The charges involve an alleged plot to acquire state funding for use by private businesses.

Gene’s brother, Francis Stipe, has already pled guilty to all counts. Whether Gene, 81, will be tried for the same crimes depends now on his mental competency to stand trial. Suffering from apparent dementia, he has been declared incompetent and is currently being re-evaluated by prison doctors in Springfield, Missouri.

Now that you know a little bit about Mr. Stipe, you should also know that the state board administering Oklahoma’s retirement system ruled that Stipe’s crimes violated his oath of office. That’s important because a 1981 law requires that when crimes committed by a legislator violate the oath of office, that legislator’s pension benefits are to be forfeit.

Thus, the state of Oklahoma began sending Stipe a monthly pension of $1,572, for that portion of the long-tenured legislator’s pension related to his “work” before the 1981 law took effect. Stipe went to court arguing he should receive $7,042 a month.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed this past week to give Stipe his full pension, arguing that his crimes did not amount to a violation of his oath of office. The lone dissenter, Chief Justice Winchester, wrote, “I would assert that tampering with an election strikes at the very heart” of the oath. He was outvoted 7 to 1.

Three state supreme court justices sat this case out. Justices Yvonne Kauger and Steven Taylor recused themselves. Taylor cited his exposure to local news coverage about the case. Another justice, James Edmondson, brother of Attorney General Drew Edmondson, disqualified himself without explanation.

Stipe turns out to be a large contributor to Attorney General Edmondson, so it is no surprise that several Oklahomans have wondered out loud why the ever-activist state AG hasn’t been involved in going after all the corruption discovered by federal investigators, including that of solon Stipe. And reporters asked why the AG hadn’t returned a $1,000 contribution from Stipe.

Attorney General Edmondson has a ready reply . . . well, at least regarding the thousand-dollar check. He explained simply that he hadn’t returned Stipe’s money, because there was no conflict of interest, since, after all, he wasn’t investigating Stipe.

“I think most people in OK have known he was a crook for 53 out of the 54 years, he represents SE OK which is rampant with welfare people and they vote for him in droves, he keeps the money coming”

The problem is, everyone else in the state has to live with policies that he voted for.

This reminds me of the Sullivan law in New York, which made it illegal for anyone to obtain a handgun without begging permission from the “authorities”.

Tim Sullivan was a Thug that was part of the organized crime in New York, who was disturbed because Italian immigrants chose to fight back instead of paying extortion. So, he sponsored and got a law passed so that only people that his gang approved of could legally posses handguns.

The people of New York have had to live (and die) with the travesty ever since.

check the former senator’s trip on the blood trail.

Thanks for the bump, thinden. As you know, Sen. Stipe was on the infamous Dr. Stough's payroll. Stough started the program of harvesting blood from prisoners in Arkansas that continued throughout Clinton's term as governor and was not ended until the Clintons were occupying the White House. During Clinton's tenure as governor of Arkansas, the blood from his prison system spread hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS to hemophiliacs in Canada.

In Arkansas prisons, a great deal of human experimentation went on. The infamous Dr. Stough ran his Menegle-style operation at Cummins Prison at the behest of pharmaceutical giants like Merck and Cutter, and many, many inmates died as a result. And yes, there was a cover-up.
But Stough didn't stop there. He had the bright idea to begin bleeding prisoners in 1963 and the plasmapheresis business was born....
Now, the pathogens that Stough injected into his prison subjects, to test and create new powerful drugs to fight diseases, were being spread through blood in the plasma donor program due to unsanitary conditions and faulty equipment.
Epidemics in 1963 and 1968 at Cummins Prison were investigated by the CDC. Yet, despite these outbreaks, the dangerous practice was allowed to continue.
As a result, not only were people behind the prison walls infected BUT the public at large from the use of this contaminated blood.
Then in 1983, more problems were exposed -- resulting in two failed international recalls of bad blood from the Arkansas Department of Correction and the FDA shut down the prison program because of severe regulatory problems. The state's license to collect blood was revoked in 1984.
Yet, despite these problems, the State of Arkansas, under Gov. Clinton, allowed to program to be reopened. And for another decade it ran before closing its doors for good in 1994.
John Byus, the medical administrator for the ADC, even went so far as to say that he'd still be running the program today if he could. Will he get another chance?
Now, drug companies want to test AIDS and Hep-C treatments on inmates for the public good. SEE the strong IRONY there?
Two "captive" groups of people ... the incarcerated and hemophiliacs were grossly exploited because they had no voice, no power. And once those who stand to make a great deal of money off these cheap and plentiful human guinea pigs get started again -- all bets are off. ... Many more people will get hurt...

(Panel Suggests Using Inmates in Drug Trials)

Dr. Stough also lined up political support outside the prisons, a tactic that demonstrated its importance when members of the Oklahoma Legislature began to ask whether his penitentiary operations were sanctioned by law. One of Dr. Stough's most vehement opponents was Gene Stipe, then a State Senator. But early in 1963 Senator Stipe changed sides and successfully pushed a bill that firmly established the physician's standing in the prison.
Later it was discovered that at about the time this change of direction occurred and the saving law was enacted, Mr. Stipe, a lawyer, began to receive a $1,000-a-month retainer from the concern headed by Dr. Stough.

(PRISON DRUG AND PLASMA PROJECTS LEAVE FATAL TRAIL)

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