The Tulsa Tribune
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Potential jurors gather for Draper vote fraud trial’
By Jim Gipson
Tribune State Writer
MUSKOGEE – Jury selection in the vote fraud trial of House Speaker Dan Draper and Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon was to began today in federal court.
Sixty potential jurors from 26 eastern Oklahoma counties waited for the process to begin while attorneys discussed late motions and procedures with U.S. District Judge Frank Seay.
The government has accused the Democratic legislators of participating in a 1982 fraud to elect the speaker’s father to the Oklahoma House District 86 seat.
A federal grand jury in June indicted Draper, D-Stillwater, and Fitzgibbon, D-Miami, charging they manipulated absentee ballots in the election.
The Speaker’s father, Daniel Draper II, was an unsuccessful candidate for the post, which covers Adair County and parts of Delaware and Mayes counties.
The indictments contend the younger Draper, assisted by Fitzgibbon and several eastern Oklahomans, arranged to have absentee ballots falsely notarized and voted.
Barney Girdner, who was indicted with the lawmakers, two weeks ago swore Draper and Fitzgibbon participated in the scheme, when he pleaded guilty to mail fraud before Judge Seay.
Girdner, 46, said the fraud began in September 1982 before the Democratic runoff.
Draper and Fitzgibbon say they campaigned for Draper’s father, but know nothing about fraudulent absentee ballots.
The defendants have charged the allegations are political volleys fired by Republican U.S. Attorney Gary Richardson.
Draper is represented by Muskogee attorney Bruce Green. Fitzgibbon is defended by McAlester lawyers state Sen. Gene Stipes and Eddie Harper.
The prosecution and defense have subpoenaed 87 witnesses, many of them voters.
A key witness is expected to be Girdner, a Sallisaw disabled veteran who was eliminated from the District 86 race during the August primary election.
Girdner pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in exchange for other charges being dropped and immunity for his family.
He told Seay that Draper and Fitzgibbon watched as the fraudulent ballots were either notarized or mailed, but never specifically said either legislator knew the ballots were faked.
When Girdner’s father was alive, the family was a cornerstone of political machine of Ray fine, an eastern Oklahoma power who served in the Legislature in the 1950s and 1960s.
Girdner, a past state commander of the Disabled American Veterans, is well-known to veterans in the district and is a widely known lobbyist.
The family operates a grocery store on U.S. 59 between Stilwell and Sallisaw at the small community named Bunch.
The prosecution maintains it was the Girdner family that obtained the absentee ballots and first used them in the primary election to benefit Girdner.
When Girdner was eliminated in the first round of balloting, the accusations maintain, the family offered the absentee ballots for sale.
Girdner was named in the one indictment as a co-conspirator with Draper and Fitzgibbon. His mother, Dora Girdner, was accused of a misdemeanor offense of obstruction of the mails.
His son, John and his sister, Ruth Ann Hembree, were named as unindicted co-conspirators.
In exchange for her testimony, Mrs. Girdner will be allowed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor count.
Mrs. Hembree is on probation for a federal food stamp fraud conviction that stems from her business dealings with the family store.
Prosecutors have identified other residents of the eastern Oklahoma area as part of the alleged conspiracy, including former legislator Bob Parris and his wife Carol, and a rural school superintendent, L.J. Ketcher.
They were not indicted.
Parris was named a co-conspirator in the indictment that said he was the person Draper phoned to ask where in Sallisaw he could hire a notary.
Notary Faye Newton, a Sequoyah County Deputy Court Clerk, was named in the indictment, but has agreed to testify for the government in exchange for probation.
Larry Adair, who won the race from Draper’s father, received 46 absentee votes in the primary election and 77 in the runoff.
Barney Girdner received 96 in the primary, which he lost.
Draper’s father received five votes by absentee in the primary and 97 in the runoff, records show.
The indictment alleges Draper, Girdner and Fitzgibbon met Sep.6 and 10 to “discuss Balloting in southern Adair County.”
On Sept 14, Draper is alleged to have contacted Parris seeking a notary public to notarize absentee ballots.
The same day, grand jurors allege, Draper and Girdner watched as Newton notarized ballots in the back room of the small Girdner Grocery in Bunch.
Prosecutors charge Newton was paid for fraudulently notarizing ballots.
On Sept. 18, Draper and Newton mailed 10 absentee ballots, the charges state, and the next day Fitzgibbon is alleged to have paid Girdner $500.
On Sept. 20, Fitzgibbon and Girdner met with Ketcher and arranged for fraudulent notarization of ballots and the men mailed nine ballots that day, the prosecution contends.
Sources said Fitzgibbon invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and refused to answer questions posed by the grand jury.
Sources also said federal agents took his fingerprints at the request of a grand juror.
Draper’s political life may hinge on the outcome of the trial.
His lifestyle-public and private-has drawn criticism.
An arrest on drunken driving charges occurred earlier this year, in the midst of his fight to keep the House from raising the drinking age for 3.2 beer.
Shortly before that, news stories were published about a Colorado ski trip partly paid by lobbyists, in which Draper participated. He also was alleged to have accepted a sizable rate discount on of his downtown Oklahoma City hotel room.
He had rebounded from bad publicity in 1978 when it was revealed he had gambling debts.
Draper said he was receiving counseling for his admitted gambling problem.
The indictments have raised the hopes of several Democratic foes in the House who wan to succeed Draper as speaker.
Since 1973, Fitzgibbon has served the far northeastern Oklahoma district, which borders to the north, the district that the federal allegations concern.
Known at the Capitol as “Little Joe” because of his small build the former trucking company owner has a reputation as one of the friendliest and best liked men in the Legislature.
One of Fitzgibbon’s attorneys is Stipe, one of Oklahoma’s best-known political figures.
The McAlester Democrat, famed for his defense of scores of policos who have faced criminal charges, himself has been tried three times before federal juries.
He never has been convicted.
Draper’s attorney of record is Bruce Green, Greens’ son, Mark, formerly worked for Richardson in the federal prosecutor’s office.
Green has been the attorney for a number of county commissioners charged in a federal investigation of kickbacks paid by suppliers.
The prosecutor, Richardson has twice tried to unseat U.S. Rep Mike Synar in the 2nd District with the backing of the Moral Majority and new conservative right.
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