A prosecution witness in a political corruption trial testified Tuesday that her landfill development company paid a state Senate leader more than $141,000 for his influence in the Legislature, not for his legal advice.
The witness told jurors the company hired Mike Morgan, then Senate president pro tem, in the summer of 2005 at the urging of Oklahoma City attorney Martin Stringer.
“Martin Stringer, he said we needed him,” Edith Denton testified in federal court in Oklahoma City. “It was to watch our back.”
The testimony came on the second day of the bribery and conspiracy trial for Morgan, Stringer and longtime lobbyist Andrew Skeith.
Denton recalled that Stringer explained her company, Dilworth Development, would need someone “in the Senate to be able to block things that were going to cause us trouble.” The company had hired Stringer in 2003 to help in its plans to build a landfill in Kay County, which is in far north Oklahoma.
Denton, who lives in Blackwell, said after a year she wanted to stop paying Morgan $4,166.66 a month because the senator was too expensive. She said their attorneys advised her and other owners “it would be better if we paid him until we got our permit.”
“Were you afraid not to?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Vicki Behenna asked.
“Yes,” she said.
Hey whats the problem. Oklahoma politics is just as sleazy as Chicago.