Oklahoma Municipal League Officials Question Lobbying Contracts

Sunday, July 22nd 2007, 2:20 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Board members from the Oklahoma Municipal League are questioning their organization's executive director concerning two sizable lobbying contracts of which board members say they were unaware until recently.

One contract is an agreement paying $48,000 annually to the brother of a state legislator who has control over energy legislation. Another contract, with the Grand River Dam Authority, is worth $49,500 annually to the league.

Elgin Mayor Larry Thoma is president of the Oklahoma Municipal League, a nonprofit corporation that represents the interests of its member cities. He says that the league's board members should have known about the contracts.

The Municipal League's executive director, Danny George, says he will be glad to review the contracts with board members.

He says he has not done so earlier because he thought the contracts were part of the league's routine day-to-day operations and did not concern matters of policy.