It’s nice to have friends in high places. Or to sit on high yourself – way up above the law. Or so Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson must think, as he chirps from his high perch.
Last year, State Representative Mike Reynolds detailed publicly that Attorney General Edmondson had violated campaign finance laws. Numerous times.
Some of these Edmondson then sought to rectify, years after the fact. Some not.
But the Attorney General has not been prosecuted. Why, you ask? Well, it’s his job to prosecute such violations, and he has, not too surprisingly, not indicted himself.
Funny though, how Edmondson, a Democrat, has indicted Republicans Brent Rinehardt and Tim Pope for similar alleged violations.
Reynolds has now written to the governor, asking him to appoint an independent counsel. Reynolds argues that the Ethics Commission turns over matters for criminal or civil investigation to Edmondson, who “is hardly in a position to investigate his own campaign committee.”
But Edmondson told a newspaper, “It would be a waste of taxpayer money to pay another attorney to review what the Ethics Commission has already received.”
A spokesman for Governor Brad Henry, also a Democrat, says that the governor will not appoint an independent counsel.
Friends in high places . . . is for the birds.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.