Note: To this point (and possibly for at least part of this week, beginning tomorrow) the Mike Morgan trial has centered on federal prosecutors’ allegations that the former Senate leader used his authority to try to gain a positive outcome for Dilworth Development, a Kay County company seeking a permit for a new landfill. Following are explanations of the government’s case in two other situations, involving Tenaska Inc. and Silver Oak Senior Living. A couple of caveats: An indictment is just a charging document, not a conviction. Also, no one with any of the three companies has been charged with any criminal offense.

Beginning around October of 2004, federal prosecutors allege, the Nebraska-based energy company Tenaska Inc. started on a path its executives hoped would lead to a partnership with the Grand River Dam Authority, a state power agency in northeastern Oklahoma, to construct a coal-fired plant.

Martin Stringer was lead Oklahoma attorney for the Tenaska project, with William “Andy” Skeith serving as a lobbyist assisting the company, the government contends.

Lawyers with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma allege that on Oct. 21, 2004, Skeith met with Sen. Mike Morgan and a Tenaska representative at an Oklahoma City restaurant to talk about the power plant project. Within weeks, in November of that year, Tenaska and Morgan had entered into a legal-services retainer agreement under which the Stillwater attorney would be paid $5,000 per month, prosecutors say.

Over four years beginning in December 2004, the government says, Morgan was paid $250,000.

“[N]o witnesses from Tenaska and no one who was working with Mr. Stringer has identified any legal services that Mr. Morgan might have performed,” federal attorneys stated in their trial brief. “Rather than selling legal work, Mr. Morgan was selling his influence in the legislature.”

Tenaska anticipated it would need legislative help modifying Oklahoma laws “that threatened the joint venture with GRDA,” the government told the court. Prosecutors say that in late 2004-early 2005 Stringer had attorneys at McKinney & Stringer review the law, which they determined would subject GRDA to requirements for competitive bidding and bonding, mandates that “would make the joint venture much more expensive and potentially unworkable.”

A federal grand jury indictment handed down last March alleged that on March 21, 2005, Tenaska prepared an internal report that read in part: “In a legislative leadership change, it appears that Senator Mike Morgan, who i[s] very familiar with issues of concern to [Company B (Tenaska)], will assume the role of president pro tempore of the Senate.”

According to the indictment, Morgan was chosen Senate president pro tempore on March 23, 2005, succeeding Sen. Cal Hobson in the post.

Within a week after Morgan became pro tem, federal attorneys contend, language was added to a Senate bill [SB 620] that would exempt GRDA from the requirements.

The indictment alleges that on March 30, 2005, Stringer billed “Company B” (Tenaska) for a meeting with Morgan and the GRDA CEO (at the time, former Sen. Kevin Easley, who is listed as a potential witness in the case) about the power plant project. A day later, the document states, the exemption language was inserted into the bill.

According to legislative records, the exemption language was added in the House. SB 620 had passed the Senate on March 15, 2005, without the exemption.

“Mr. Stringer had several lengthy conversations with Mr. Morgan and Mr. Skeith during April of 2005 concerning this legislation,” the court was told in the government’s brief.

The amended measure passed out of a House committee on April 6, passing the full House on April 13, 2005.

According to the indictment: On April 5, Morgan, Stringer and Skeith talked on the phone about the project; on April 14 Stringer billed the company for a phone call with Skeith, then on April 21 for a personal conference with Morgan, both about the bill.

The grand jury alleged that Stringer and Skeith included Morgan in meetings with public officials to suggest the new pro tem’s support for the power plant.

The final version of SB 620 came out of a joint conference committee, with the exemption language intact. It passed the Senate May 17, the House on May 19, 2005. It was signed into law on May 26.

The exemption covered GRDA power plant construction contracts entered into before Nov. 1, 2006, enough time, the federal lawyers said, for the joint venture to be put in place.

The indictment alleges that Morgan, Stringer and Skeith continued to meet with officials of “Company B” (Tenaska) and GRDA on financial and other issues regarding the power plant.

Around Nov. 12, 2008, the document states, a company official sent an email to another executive that read as follows: “Mike Morgan is no longer in the OK legislature as of Dec. 31. Assume we will want to cancel his contract at that time. (I’ve discussed with Andy Skeith and he agrees with this direction and the fact that it’s a logical time).”

Note:  The Tenaska-GRDA partnership never actually got off the ground. Tenaska decided to pursue a power plant project near Sallisaw.

Morgan, Stringer and Skeith were indicted on 62 counts of extortion, mail fraud and conspiracy for allegedly scheming to use Morgan’s Senate leadership clout to favor Tenaska and Dilworth Development Co. The latter is a Kay County company that was seeking a permit for a new landfill. The first week of the trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks, was spent on Dilworth. Morgan was allegedly paid $141,000 by that company.

In a separate matter involving Silver Oak Senior Living, an Edmond assisted living company, Morgan alone is accused of bribery.

Following is a brief version of the government’s allegations in the bribery case:

NOTE: In the federal government’s trial brief and in the indictment handed down last March accusing Morgan of bribery, the assisted living company involved is referred to as “Company C.” The firm is actually Silver Oak Senior Living, based in Edmond. In the following post, it is referred to by name.

In 2006, federal attorneys told the court in their trial brief, the State Department of Health enforced certain regulations against assisted living centers, if agency officials concluded that residents were receiving inadequate care, even if the resident wanted to remain at the assisted living center.

According to the indictment issued in March 2011, in late May of 2006 Morgan met with an official from Silver Oak and a lobbyist in his Capitol office.

“The lobbyist had arranged the meeting to seek Morgan’s support for Company C’s efforts to limit the Oklahoma Department of Health’s regulation of assisted living facilities,” the indictment reads. “During the meeting, Morgan told the owner that if Company C wanted his assistance in dealing with the Oklahoma Department of Health, it would have to hire him as a lawyer and pay him a retainer of $1,000 per month.”

The meeting, with health department officials and the lobbyist, allegedly took place on May 25, 2006.

Federal prosecutors contend that Morgan was paid a total of $12,000.

“The evidence will show that he did not give Company C any legal advice or other legal services,” the government’s trial brief states.

In 2007, the indictment alleges, Morgan authored SB 738, which would have limited the state agency’s ability to remove residents from assisted living facilities. In amended form, it was signed into law in June of that year. According to the indictment, the final measure gave assisted living centers certain rights in disputes with the health department.

Click here to view SB 738 as it was initially filed.

Click here to see the version that passed the Senate.

Click here to view the bill as it passed the House.

Here is a link to the final conference version of the bill, as it was signed into law.

Conviction of extortion, conspiracy or mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. Conviction of bribery can result in a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

All three defendants have denied any wrongdoing.