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Jari Askins joins Scott Pruitt in accepting Big Chicken's money...8/4/10
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By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Published: 8/3/2010 2:21 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY — Poultry industry executives who are locked in a long, contentious lawsuit with the state of Oklahoma gave Lt. Gov. Jari Askins' gubernatorial campaign $23,000 in the days leading up to last week's Democratic primary.
Askins defeated Attorney General Drew Edmondson — who brought the suit against the poultry companies — by 1,500 votes in the July 27 election.
A report filed with the state Ethics Commission shows that Askins received $5,000 each from Don Tyson, CEO of Tyson Foods; John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods; and Mark Simmons, head of Simmons Foods.
She received lesser amounts from other executives of Simmons and George's Inc.
She also received $2,000 from Randall Goins, a director of O.K. Industries, a Fort Smith, Ark., poultry feed maker, and $1,000 from Steve Butler, a Westville poultry farmer, bringing to $26,000 the amount contributed by the poultry insiders.
Askins campaign manager, Sid Hudson, said Askins met with more than a dozen poultry industry representatives in Siloam Springs, Ark., on July 22, the day after a gubernatorial forum at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.
Hudson said the meeting was arranged at the urging of former legislator Rick Littlefield.
"Jari walked in, and the first thing she said was, 'We're not talking about the lawsuit,'" Hudson said.
"They said they were hopeful that if she was elected she would have an open door to discuss things. She
said her door has always been open, and they said, 'That's all we're looking for.'?"
The poultry lawsuit is now before a Tulsa federal judge.
Askins reported to the Ethics Commission on July 26 that she had loaned her campaign an additional $100,000, bringing to $775,000 the amount of her own money she has put into the race.
Randy Krehbiel 581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com
By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
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