Oklahoma City attorney Beau Patterson said Friday that he wrote legislative language aimed at restricting the power of county commissioners to regulate landfills, as well as a lawsuit petition challenging the authority of Kay County commissioners to adopt such regulations, and was not told that he had to run it by former Senate leader Mike Morgan.

Morgan, Oklahoma City attorney Martin Stringer and lobbyist William “Andy” Skeith have been charged with 62 counts of extortion, conspiracy and mail fraud in three situations, including the landfill case. Morgan alone stands charged with bribery in a case dealing with an assisted-living company. The third was an ultimately unsuccessful power plant project between Tenaska and the Grand River Dam Authority.

Prosecutors contend that Morgan, a Stillwater lawyer, was paid $141,000 by the landfill company, $250,000 by Tenaska and $12,000 by the assisted-living company, not for legal services, but for using his authority as Senate president pro tempore to gain positive outcomes for the three businesses.

Patterson, an attorney with McAfee and Taft, said that Stringer was the billing lawyer on the Dilworth account.

Patterson discussed his work on legislation that followed on the heels of 2005 statutory language that—had it survived—would have prohibited new landfills to be located within 20 miles of an existing site.

He told Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Williams that he researched state law and came up with a proposed revision that would not allow local landfill regulations to be more stringent than those of the Department of Environmental Quality.

Patterson said he talked with Skeith, the lobbyist hired to work on the Dilworth matter, Stringer and other attorneys.

He said it is not unusual for proposed legislation to be drafted by private attorneys.

“That happens all the time,” Patterson said.

He also said it was not unusual for a lobbyist to be involved in legislative issues.

Williams took Patterson through several emails and law firm billings records, some of which indicate he spoke with Skeith, Stringer, or both, as they followed the legislative draft through the process.

One message expresses the opinion that the legislative effort will be “OK unless DeWitt or someone gives us trouble” and mentions that Morgan will “be around” a few days later.

Earlier this week, Rep. Dale DeWitt, R-Braman, testified that he pushed for removal of the 20-mile restriction, which was added to a measure requested by DEQ, in order to ensure that the department’s bill passed.

Patterson testified that the effort to help the Dilworth clients continued into 2007, with new proposed language that would give cities and towns, not counties, regulatory authority over landfills.

The lawsuit against the Kay County commissioners, the petition for which Patterson said he drafted, was ultimately successful. Patterson said the commissioners had adopted regulations in an area they were not allowed to address under state law. He said one regulation would have established a “tipping fee” for solid waste deposited at the Dilworth landfill.

Earlier Friday, former McKinney Stringer attorney Derek Hardberger discussed the process that led to the battle over the “20 mile” language in SB 41 (2005).

“Anything related to legislature issues would have been handled by Martin (Stringer),” Hardberger said.

Hardberger said he was at a June 28, 2005, meeting where he met Morgan.

“I was under the impression he was there as an elected official,” Hardberger said.

Williams asked who would have invited the Senate president pro tempore.

“It would have been Mr. Stringer,” Hardberger said.

He said part of his duties as the case moved along was to keep Morgan informed about what was happening in Kay County.

At one point Hardberger said he was initially unaware that Morgan was an attorney.

However, Morgan attorney David Ogle produced a fax sent from Hardberger to Morgan’s law office.

Hardberger also told Stringer Attorney Drew Neville that he did not recall telling Edith Denton, a co-owner of Dilworth, that the company needed to get $50,000 together to pay Morgan.

Also on Friday, Jolene Ford, a Dilworth co-owner, said that Morgan was hired to watch out for potentially harmful legislation that could derail the landfill project.

“He was going to watch so that no one like DeWitt or Myers could put another bill through,” she said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Vicki Behenna took Ford through the list of legal services Morgan was to provide, including advice on state and local laws, site selection, real estate and zoning, easements, tax abatements and related matters. Ford said the site was already selected and the land was not zoned. She said she was not aware that Morgan provided any of the professional services listed.