The Muskogee Phoenix
Saturday, August 20, 1983
House leaders suspended
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Gov. George Nigh announced Friday he suspended House Speaker Dan Draper and Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon because of their convictions on federal vote fraud charges, leaving House Democrats in search of new leaders.
Nigh can appoint their replacements but it remained unclear Friday how the leadership positions will be filled.
The governor told reporters Draper and Fitzgibbon concurred with the suspensions, saying they were both “voluntary” and ‘automatic” under a 1981 law.
The governor said he told the speaker two weeks ago that he would “take the course of action” in the event of a conviction.
Draper and Fitzgibbon were convicted in a Muskogee federal court Thursday of conspiracy and mail fraud. The charges arose from their efforts to secure votes for Draper’s father in an unsuccessful House race in northeast Oklahoma.
Nigh said he had no plans to call a special session to let House members choose a new speaker, although he did not rule out the possibility.
State law requires the governor to appoint replacements to officials convicted of felonies. Nigh said he would delay replacing Draper and Fitzgibbon since the Legislature is not in session.
“Frankly, I would like more time to name replacements,” he said.
In an exclusive telephone interview with The Associated Press, Draper had said he did not plan to resign but agreed with Nigh that suspension was required under the law “until this matter is resolved.”
“I plan to take no other action than voluntary suspension,” he said.
Nigh, who announced the suspensions at a 3 p.m. news conference, said he considered them effective upon the conviction of Draper and Fitzgibbon.
Under the 1981 law, Draper, 43 and Fitzgibbon, 48, will be suspended until their appeals are concluded. Each has more than a year to go on his current two-year term.
Fitzgibbon on Friday called the verdict “a travesty of justice. In my opinion the matter should never have gotten as far as it did. I was just totally shocked when the verdict came in, as I believe was everyone else in the courtroom.”
The Miami Democrat also blamed the press for his conviction.
“It looked to me like we were tried before we ever went to court. The grand jury investigation prior to the proceedings was so widely publicized by the metropolitan press that I feel they really did convict us before the trial even began.”
Fitzgibbon’s wife, Pearle Anne, said she was “Shocked that they would convict my husband.”
She said the verdict upset Draper’s father, Dan Draper II, so much that the 72-year-old retired school superintendent had to be taken to a hospital in Tahlequah.
“He was near hysterics,” she said adding the family was afraid he might suffer a heart attack.
“He’s all right,” Draper said of his father, who was not implicated in the vote fraud scandal. A hospital spokesman said Draper’s father was not at the hospital and referred all other questions to the family. Draper declined further comment.
Nigh, in a subdued news conference, repeated he was “surprised by the verdict” but had nothing else to say about the effect of the first conviction of a sitting House speaker on state government.
Draper was convicted of one count of conspiracy count and 10 counts of mail fraud. Fitzgibbon was found guilty of one conspiracy count and eight of nine mail fraud counts.
Nigh was a character witness for both Draper and Fitzgibbon, saying he had no reason to question their integrity.
Some lawmakers had expressed qualms that Nigh would be running afoul of the constitution by suspending the lawmakers. They noted a constitutional provision that the Legislature is the sole authority of its membership.
Rep. Robert Henry, Democratic caucus chairman from Shawnee, said he thought Nigh “handled the situation well by announcing they were voluntary suspensions.”
Friends say Draper had been planning to announce for a fourth term before his indictment by a federal grand jury in Muskogee near the end of the legislative session in June. Draper called the indictments politically inspired by Republican U.S. Attorney Gary Richardson.
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