The Tulsa Tribune
August 10, 1983
Witness links lawmakers to fraud
By Jim Gipson
Tribune State Writer
MUSKOGEE – House Speaker Dan Draper was present as several absentee ballots were filled out and notarized in a Bunch grocery store without some of the persons named on the ballots being 
defendants by their first names as he testified.
Under questioning by U.S. Attorney Gary Richardson, Girdner admitted that as an unsuccessful candidate in the primary election during the same race, he controlled a group of absentee votes.
The prosecution is alleging Girdner and his family operated a scheme fraudulently to register people to vote by absentee ballot and then used that system to aid him in the primary election
….morning after he lost the primary election Aug. 24, the elder Draper telephoned him, saying he wanted “ my assistance in the campaign.”
“He said Dan Jr. would get in touch with me,” Girdner said.
Girdner said a couple of days later the speaker telephoned him, saying, “He would be over there and he was helping his father.”
He said Draper visited with him in his home on two occasions prior to the run-off and Fitzgibbon was in his Sallisaw house three times.
On one occasion when Fitzgibbon was there but not Draper, Girdner said he showed the Fitzgibbon three or four absentee ballots which belonged to his wife’s family.
He said during one conversation with Draper, while they were discussing Girdner’s assistance in the election, “Dan said he would send some money down closer to the election.”
Fitzgibbon later brought him $500, Girdner said.
About the second week in September, Girdner said he, his mother, his sister, and his brother-in-law, a notary public and Draper met in the evening at the Girdners’ family-owned grocer store in Bunch.
He said they decided to meet there after a previous meeting at a café in Stilwell at which “my mother approached Dan about needing a notary.
“She Said she was getting her voters together and she was needing a notary,” he testified.
He said while the notary, his son and sister were marking ballots in the rear room of the grocery, the speaker arrived.
When Richardson asked it anyone else came to the store that evening Girdner hesitated and his voice cracked before he replied, “Dan Draper.”
“There was ballots being notarized when he walked back in the room,” Girdner said. “There were ballots on the table.”
Girdner said in many instances, there were no voters present when the ballots were being filled out.
Girdner testified he took the three or four ballots he previously had shown Fitzgibbon to the store that evening to be notarized. He said they were in the names of his wife’s sister, daughter and husband.
Asked what happened to the ballots being notarized in the store, Girdner responded, “I gave him the ballots.”
“Who?” Richardson asked.
“Dan,” Girdner replied.
He said the speaker and Girdner’s spoke about the election and the store, talking about “ways his father could do better in the southern part of
the county.
“Dan said he was going to send some money down, and she said he had better spend it in other ways,” Girdner testified.
After the meeting at Bunch, Girdner testified he and Fitzgibbon met and returned to the store where they picked up 12 other absentee ballots which had not been notarized.
He said they drove to the school at the small community of Cave Springs, went inside and approached Superintendent Dave Patrick about the ballots.
“Joe asked him to notarize the ballots,” Girdner said. “He (Patrick) said the school couldn’t stand the scandal.”
Girdner said he and Fitzgibbon left the school and drove to meet former Cave Springs school board president L.J. Ketcher and “told him we needed a notary.”
He said the three men returned to the school house where Fitzgibbon and Ketcher went inside while he waited outside.
He said the 12 ballots, wrapped in a sheet of newspaper when they were taken in the building, were returned by Fitzgibbon and they had been notarized.
Ten People Tuesday told of fraudulent voting in the election, linking the illegal activity to Girdner and his family.
None of the prosecution witnesses linked the scheme to Draper or Fitzgibbon.
Attorneys said each witness’s testimony revealed numerous violations of state election laws, but no charges have been filed in Adair County.
Adair County District Attorney Gerald Hunter sent his investigator to listen to testimony Tuesday.
Jurors and U.S. District, Judge Frank Seay were told election materials were manipulated by the family of Girdner.
The government and defense attorneys agree Girdner and his family attempted to fix his legislative race by registering unqualified voters, gaining control of their absentee ballots and casting them.
The speaker’s attorney, Bruce Green of Muskogee, has agreed election fraud was committed, but said the lawmakers and the elder Draper did not know about it.
Green said that after the primary, Girdner’s aid was sought to elect the elder Draper, but the Drapers and Fitzgibbon are innocent of
wrongdoing.
The string of government witnesses, questioned by Richardson and his assistant, Donn Baker, told how they filled out election papers which in most cases were falsified.
Only one of the witnesses said he recognized both Draper and Fitzgibbon.
“I’ve never met them, I know who they are,” said Army Lt. James A. Bliss.
The following testified Tuesday:
Leonard Bean, 37, Barney Dale, Girdner’s son, is married to Bean’s niece.
Bean, who said he has lived in Fort Smith for more than four years, said he signed registration papers to vote in Adair County after being contacted by the Girdner family about the election.
“I guess I was registered,” he said. “I never voted.” Absentee ballots bearing his name were mailed to the Adair County Election Board.
-Delano Bean, 34, wife of Leonard Bean.
“I’ve never lived in Adair Count,” she said.
She said she signed election documents when her husband did and never saw the person who notarized her signature.
I don’t hardly ever read anything I sign,” she testified.
Chris Prewett, 55, Sallisaw, the sister of Betty Girdner, Girdner’s wife.
She said she was asked by family members to vote for Girdner, despite never having lived in Adair County.
Shown affidavits for absentee balloting in the August primary, Prewett said, “That’s not my signature. She said she did sign registration documents.
“They just brought the papers to the liquor store I run in Sallisaw and I signed them,” she said
-Donnie Martin, 22, Sallisaw, Prewett’s son-in-law.
Shown the election documents cast in Adair County, Martin said he could remember signing one of the papers, but could not tell much about other items Richardson showed him.
“I can’t read,” he said.
-Sherry Martin, 20 Sallisaw, Martin’s wife and Prewett’s daughter.
“I was asked to vote for my Uncle Barney and to sign a piece of paper,” she said. “My Aunt Betty called and asked if I would vote and I said yes and she said they would be waiting for me at the liquor store.”
-Bliss, 27, stationed at an army post in North Carolina, and the estranged husband of Girdner’s eldest daughter, Dana.
Bliss was on maneuvers in Egypt during the last half of 1982, he said.
Formerly of Muskogee, he said he never has lived in Adair County, but learned a person using his name had cast an absentee ballot there in 1982.
-Tammy Anderson, 22, Muskogee, an acquaintance of a friend of John Girdner, another Girdner son.
“I’ve never voted.” She said.
She said John Girdner brought registration papers to Muskogee and she signed them. The address on the material bearing her name listed a post office box in the northern Adair County community of Westville.
“So you know where Westville is?” asked Richardson.
“No sir,” she replied.
-Jimmy Shoe of Muskogee, who said he serves under John Girdner in the Oklahoma National Guard.
“He wanted me to help get his dad elected in Adair County,” Shoe said. “I didn’t read the oath (of truthfulness on elections papers), I just signed them.”
Under cross-examination by Green, Shoe altered testimony he gave before a federal grand jury in January.
Shoe told grand jurors John Girdner offered him $50 if he would not cooperated with postal inspectors investigating election fraud.
Shoe denied Tuesday that John Girdner offered him money and said portions of the transcript of grand jury testimony were wrong.
-Peggy Stamper, Muskogee, a teacher’s aide who knows John Girdner.
She said she signed blank applications for absentee ballots.
“Did you know what you were doing was illegal?” Baker asked.
“No sir,” she replied. “I signed the document because John Girdner asked me to sign it to vote for his father.”
-Willinda Neale, 21, formerly of Stilwell and Girdner’s niece.
Neale testified she registered more than 200 people to vote, at least 12 of them fraudulently.
She testified the purpose she became a registrar was to help gather votes, not increase voter registration rolls.
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