Tulsa Tribune
Friday, August 19,1982
Speaker known as a Fighter
Defeat in uncommon for Speaker
By Michael Carrier
Tribune Capital Bureau
OKLAHOMA CITY – “I was thinking inwardly, they just can’t do this to me.
House Speaker Dan Draper could have said that Thursday when he was found guilty of trying to fix his father’s unsuccessful 1982 House race.
But he did not.
The statement was made in 1977 when Draper was explaining his disdain and shock that professional gamblers in Las Vegas casinos had repeatedly defeated him, causing him to run up a six-figure betting debt.
Yet, the statement, ringing with arrogance and disbelief, says more about the aloof Stillwater Democrat than anything he could have said inside or outside a Muskogee federal courthouse.
Daniel David Draper Jr., 43, and father of two, today faces up to 55 years in federal prison, removal from the House seat he has held since 1971 and destruction of his political career.
Draper’s conviction on 10 counts of federal mail fraud and 1 count of conspiracy may, by law, force Gov. George Nigh to suspend him from office.
His top House lieutenant, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Miami, also was convicted
If Draper is suspended, he could return if the conviction is overturned.
If and appeal fails, Draper would probably face expulsion from his legislative seat.
To the people of Stillwater, the conviction could mean a new representative.
To the House it means a scramble to replace the once-mighty Draper.
For the speaker’s disciples it is a time to try to salvage their own political futures.
Several legislators have announced their intention to seek the speakership.
Leading candidates are Rep. Jim Barker, D-Muskogee and a Draper supporter, and Rep. David Riggs, D-Sand Springs and a Draper enemy.
Draper still has a little matter to settle in Oklahoma City – a drunken driving arrest.
He is scheduled for trial here in September for allegedly being under the influence of alcohol when his car hit the rear of a stopped pickup truck about 2 a.m. on a Sunday in March.
The Muskogee trial and the Oklahoma City case are part of the personal and political rollercoaster Draper has been on for more than a year.
It has been a long and often miserable time for Draper since he first stepped into the House chamber in 1971.
He ascended to the House throne in 1979, defeating the hand-picked candidate of Speaker Bill Willis in the first secret-ballot speaker’s election in history.
It would be the first time Draper’s personal life almost wrecked his career.
Shortly before the election, reports surfaced that Draper had amassed a gambling debt to several Las Vegas casinos that exceeded $100,000.
Shrewdly, Draper admitted his problem before his colleagues, swore off the gaming tables and said he was seeking counseling.
His method of explanation would be used again in 1983.
As Draper continued his reign, his power grew, his circle of friends and confidants shrank and complaints about his leadership began to surface.
There were grumblings about Draper’s clique holding long after session meetings at Oklahoma City taverns and restaurants and parties paid for by lobbyists.
Although he had restored much of the House’s dominance over the Senate, Draper was not well-liked by many representatives.
He was arrogant, vengeful, unfair, secretive and too close to some lobbyists, some said.
Despite his detractors, the tight lipped leader had built a strong band of supporters who welcome massive power and brought other legislators to bay out of fear or a desire to become politically potent.
The dissidents, however, finally attacked in 1981 when rebel Democrats and Republicans held up passage of key appropriations bills by refusing to approve emergency clauses that provided immediate a bill passed the House that relaxed state laws on where mobile homes could be place.
Fitzgibbon was author of the bill.
In the months that followed, a number of Draper trips on state planes would come under scrutiny.
One was a Florida fishing trip with other lawmakers, taken when he was supposed to be at a conference at state expense.
Then, during the 1983 session, Draper, who was once likened to Adolf Hitler by a Tulsa Republican representative, became embroiled in a bitter struggle with Riggs.
Riggs wanted to hike Oklahoma’s beer drinking age to 21, and Draper did not.
Despite about 70 House members co-authoring Riggs’ bill, Draper used his speaker’s power to keep the bill bottled up in a committee which he controlled.
His actions left some of his staunchest backers griping because Draper had put them in a no-win situation with their constituents.
Draper’s closeness to beer lobbyist Sandy Schaefer, who is frequently in the speaker’s office, also brought increased cries form his opponents.
His friends had to choose between allegiance to him and what most of them said was what their constituents wanted.
Draper finally lost.
But it was his drunken driving arrest that many believe forced Draper to acquiesce and let the beer bill come to a full House vote. It passed overwhelmingly and later was made law.
Draper used the same approach he had with his gambling problem to squelch the House uprising.
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