Investigator testifies before Carroll Fisher panel

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ An investigator with the attorney general's office testified Wednesday that Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher gave conflicting stories about how he obtained confidential

Wednesday, April 28th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ An investigator with the attorney general's office testified Wednesday that Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher gave conflicting stories about how he obtained confidential employment records of his opponent during his 2002 re-election campaign.

Rhonda Langley, who investigated Fisher at the request of the State Ethics Commission, testified before a special House committee investigating whether Fisher has committee impeachable offenses.

Langley said Fisher told her he obtained Doug Barry's employment records from Farmers Insurance Group after receiving an anonymous phone call. Langley said Fisher told her he then called Farmers' headquarters in Kansas and asked the woman who answered the phone to fax documents from Barry's file.

Langley testified that Fisher initially told her he could not recall who he spoke to at Farmers or whether the documents were faxed to his office or his campaign headquarters. She said a copy of the faxed documents provided to her by Fisher's attorney, Lee Slater, did not have an originating fax number on them.

Langley also said she was provided with audio tapes of interviews Fisher gave to several Oklahoma radio stations. Langley said after reviewing and transcribing the taped interviews, Fisher appeared to give conflicting versions of how he requested the information.

``It's my understanding that in one of them (interviews) he requested the documentation as a candidate running for insurance commissioner,'' Langley said. ``Another time it was as the insurance commissioner, and another time it was as a private citizen.''

The investigative committee has also been granted access to transcripts and documents that led to criminal indictments against Fisher by a multicounty grand jury.

Judge Robert Simms ruled on Tuesday that information leading to those indictments could be released to the committee. However, Simms ordered that the documents not be released until noon Monday to give Fisher's attorney, Irven Box, time to appeal Simms' decision.

The committee plans to meet again at 8:30 AM Tuesday.