Nolan Clay
The Oklahoman
An owner of a landfill development company testified Wednesday hiring the then-Senate leader Mike Morgan in 2005 to stop legislation harmful to the company was simply “the cost of doing business.”
Richard Denton, of Blackwell, was the second owner of Dilworth Development Inc. to testify that Morgan, a former Senate president pro tem, was paid for his political influence.
He told a jury Morgan and lobbyist Andrew Skeith were hired on the recommendation of attorney Martin Stringer. He said company owners first met Morgan and Skeith at Stringer’s law offices in Oklahoma City on June 28, 2005.
He said the four owners were told Morgan had stopped a bill that would have made their landfill plans “dead in the water.” He said they were told the same thing could happen any time going forward. He said they were told if they had Morgan “on our team” he could stop the bills at the Senate.
He said they agreed to pay Morgan $50,000 a year.
“I think we took it as the cost of doing business,” he said.
