2 State Employees Named as Whistleblowers in Lawmaker Corruption Probe

News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- District Attorney David Prater confirmed the Medical Examiner's spokesperson Cherokee Ballard and former Chief Administrative Officer Tom Jordan were the whistleblowers in a political corruption investigation involving three state lawmakers and the embattled M.E.'s office.

Prater is investigating whether state lawmakers Randy Terrill, Mike Christian and Debbe Leftwich conspired to have Leftwich give up her Senate seat in return for a high-paying job within the M.E.'s office.

Leftwich announced on the last day of the session that she wasn't running for re-election. All three have denied wrongdoing.

Democrat, Richard Morrissette said most of the business done at the legislature happens during the last days of the session, and most times, lawmakers don't even read the complete bills. He said that rushed way of doing deals causes a lot of problems.

"Now is the time to redo all of this, new speaker, new pro tem, new governor. What a perfect time to bring openness and transparency to government and too specifically the legislature," Morrissette said.

Prater will present all the information to a multicounty grand jury in July.

Ballard and Jordan were not available for comment. 

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