Politics has always had a seamy side. Encarta calls it calculated advancement involving the use of tactics and strategy to gain power in a group or organization. Another definition refers to it as inter-relationships in a specific field capable of manipulation.
Thoughts of manipulative politics surfaced while reading an Associated Press story about the skeleton in John McCain’s closet the family would like to leave there — his grandpa’s antics as a bootlegger, oil wildcatter and operator of a gambling house while the family lived in Muskogee from 1904 to 1926. Muskogee wasn’t much different then than a lot of other territorial communities growing into statehood. According to local historians, Archibald Wright abandoned this lifestyle when his twin daughters were born, one of them being McCain’s mother, Roberta Wright McCain.
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Elements of the story rekindled memories of time spent in the Muskogee/Okmulgee vicinity with local newspapers, particularly related to politics. Mudslinging and calculated advancement politics were still alive and thriving during the 1950s. It was a learning experience and fantastic training ground for a cub reporter.
Without question, the Wagoner County election scandal was a major story emerging in that region.
Wagoner County got blamed, but the scandal leading to a major overhaul of Oklahoma’s political system didn’t originate in the community bordering Fort Gibson Lake. A woman’s pride led to the disclosure that election workers circulating absentee ballots were being paid with state welfare department emergency relief checks. The woman truly believed in her candidate. She was offended when the $20 relief check was delivered to her home. She called the campaign manager of the challenging candidate, who in turn hired a private investigator. A Sunday afternoon news conference in the campaign manager’s Okmulgee office broke the story.
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The scandal erupted during a state Senate race between Johnny Russell and Tom Payne. Some avid backers of the incumbent used a perfectly legal scheme to register 700 people for absentee ballots. They even had the court attorney approve their application form.
Court testimony explained the operation: Workers delivered absentee ballots to a Wagoner implement business and signed a (folded) form to purportedly provide a record of campaign expenses. They actually signed an application for an emergency relief check which was hand-delivered to Oklahoma City, where warrants were issued, picked up and returned to Okmulgee and Wagoner.
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The county sheriff had a key role as the guardian of the absentee ballots. Responding to the court order, he put the ballot box in a vacant jail cell, locked the door and put the key in his pocket. When asked about picture possibilities, he was most accommodating.
“Young man, don’t be bashful. Whatever you want, ask me ... just be sure you spell my name right — N o e l C h o a t e,” he said, adding he had been re-elected four times.
