Audit of Tulsa County treasurerâ€™s office finds bundling cost were small

Monday, April 10th 2006, 12:51 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- An audit of Tulsa County Treasurer Dennis Semler's practice of bundling hotel expenses for himself and his employees earned him thousands of reward points from the Marriott Hotel.

The audit came after it was revealed Semler used his credit card to pay for hotel rooms for himself and employees while attending various meetings with Semler collecting reward points and credit card bonuses.

The audit says Semler received 120,000 reward points and $23.55 in bonuses from January 2002 through July of last year.

State Auditor Jeff McMahan has called the practice "questionable" and is sending the audit to District Attorney Richard Gray.

The audit also says that a week before the audit began Semler redeemed 411,000 hotel reward points for checks which were given to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Semler attorney Clark Brewster has called the case silly and said Monday that it is a virtual "complete vindication" of how Semler conducts business.

The audit also recommends that Tulsa County officers and employees provide better documentation of travel claims.