OK Watch: Independent Group, Shannon Campaign Ties Examined
Election Records: ‘Dark-Money,’ Campaign Groups Have Close Connections
By: CLIFTON ADCOCK
Key individuals involved in a so-called “dark-money” group supporting T.W. Shannon for U.S. Senate this year have had close ties with the campaign or its main consulting firm, according to state, federal and other public documents.
Those same individuals helped lead a separate independent political group in 2012 that had close connections to the consulting firm representing some state candidates also supported by the political group.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said this week his office is looking into possible criminal conduct stemming from allegations that the campaign of former state House Speaker Shannon, who is running against initial frontrunner U.S. Rep. James Lankford in the GOP primary for Senate, improperly colluded with an outside group that has spent more than $1 million on advertising to benefit Shannon.
Prater said this week that his office is in a “fact-finding” mode to determine the merit of the complaints; no one has been charged with wrongdoing.
In a story in The Oklahoman on Thursday, Shannon’s campaign denied coordinating with the nonprofit group supporting him, Oklahomans for a Conservative Future. The group was incorporated with the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s Office a week after Shannon announced his candidacy Jan. 29 for the seat being vacated by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee.