Democrats Scrutinize Oklahoma Senate Leader's Spending

By Colleen Chen, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- State Senator Glenn Coffee is facing more tough questions about how he deals with money, and some Democrats argue the state ethics commission needs to get involved.

In the last two weeks, Senator Coffee has faced questions about unpaid traffic tickets and admitted to taking out a loan to pay off back taxes only after a lien was put on his house.

Dr. Ivan Holmes, Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairman, said while scrolling the expense reports on the state ethics commission Web site, he saw something worrisome when it came to Senator Coffee's records.

"If it was small amounts, you might be able to rationalize, but that's a lot of money for meals and travel," Holmes said.

The records show most of Coffee's campaign fund spending last year was spent under the broad category of Travel, Meals, and Lodging. According to the records, Coffee spent more than $58,000 worth on campaign funds under the category, including $10,000 in one setting.

"When people go out and spend that kind of money on themselves, I don't know how they're going to be frugal with taxpayer money," Holmes said.

Coffee's communications director said the following in a statement:

"The fact is, Senator Coffee has traveled the state and the nation in his effort to achieve a Republican majority in the State Senate. Such travel does not come cheaply, nor is it funded by the taxpayers."

Using the donor funds to pay for travel is allowed by the ethics commission, but they could have a problem if the practice is incorrectly documented or spent. Holmes thinks that may be happening since the majority of the expenses show up as even, rounded numbers.

"I didn't think expenses work that way," Holmes said. "If you go out and spend money, it's dollars and cents."

What Holmes calls questionable spending only adds fuel to the fire for Senator Kenneth Corn, Democratic Caucus Chairman. Corn issued a letter to Coffee last week, demanding details about that loan Coffee said he got to pay off his federal taxes.

The proof has not been provided.

"We just want to make sure that whole loan he got has no conflict of interest, that everything's above board, that he's gotten the same treatment as normal Oklahomans," Corn said.

Holmes wants Coffee to provide receipts to verify the spending.

While politicians are required to keep them for three years, they don't have to provide them unless the ethics commission starts an audit.

Other lawmakers spent around the same amount of money or more, however, they did not spend as much on travel, meals, and lodging, according to state records.