Terrill reponds to trustee's motion

By M. Scott Carter
The Moore American

OKLAHOMA CITY September 17, 2008 02:26 pm

— State Representative Randy Terrill and his wife Angela have asked a federal judge to deny a motion by the trustee in their 2005 bankruptcy to turn over more than $11,000.
The Terrills’ request — filed last Friday in the Western Oklahoma District Federal Bankruptcy Court — asked federal judge T.M. Weaver to “deny the motion to turn over property as it applies to the turnover of the alleged $11,301 requested by the trustee and if needed set this matter for hearing.”
The couple’s attorney — Oklahoma City attorney Jeffrey West — filed the motion the same day an extension for more time granted by Weaver expired.
In his 16-page motion, West noted that “it is clear Mr. Terrill did contribute (without any intent or expectation of repayment) $11,301 to his own campaign for goods or services from June 2003 to October 2004.
But Terrill, West argued, “has never received any money for repayment of any loan.”
“Mr. Terrill contributed these funds one year prior to filing bankruptcy when he was solvent and not bankrupt,” West wrote. “All contributions were made to pay the ordinary and routine expenditures of the campaign. In addition, neither a promissory note or repayment schedule was contemplated nor was an expectation of repayment ever intended by Mr. Terrill.”
The Terrills’ bankruptcy was reopened Aug. 7 by Weaver — the same federal bankruptcy judge who originally ordered Terrill’s discharge — after stories published in an Oklahoma City Hispanic newspaper alleged irregularities between Terrill’s bankruptcy petition and his state campaign filings.
Those campaign filings are at the center of the dispute between Terrill and Edmond attorney John D. Mashburn, the creditor’s trustee for the case.
In July, Mashburn asked the bankruptcy court to reopen the case, saying state campaign reports showed Terrill had received funds from his campaign. Those funds, Mashburn said, could be considered an asset in his bankruptcy.
However Terrill said those funds were not “loans in the original sense” and in their motion Friday, the Terrills claimed “there is a distinction between Randy Terrill the person who filed for bankruptcy and the separate legal entity known as Randal Terrill for State Representative.”
“Mr. Terrill was the only one paying the campaign bills during these reporting times. But the money he contributed to his campaign was no more his money than any other contributor.”
Additionally, the Terrills’ attorney said some of Terrill’s 2004 campaign filings contained “scrivener errors” that, according to state law, “can and will be amended.”
“In fact,” West wrote, “other than the scrivener errors … the ‘loans’ do not exist and only the reporting errors make it appear that ‘loans’ did exist.”
“At no time was a promissory note or repayment schedule ever completed to indicate (that) Mr. Terrill had actually loaned the campaign money and at no time did Mr. Terrill have the intent or expectation of a loan repayment by the campaign.”
West said Terrill made an error in reporting the funds and claimed Terrill was following the advice of officials with the Ethics Commission.
“The reported amounts are a scrivener error in that they should have been reported as an “in-kind contribution,” West wrote. “In fact, Mr. Terrill was advised by the Ethics Commission staff to report these entries as loans. Said advice was either misunderstood by Mr. Terrill or he was inaccurately informed.”
Further, West claimed it was “relevant” that Terrill “at no time” received any loan repayments from his campaign.
“Mr. Terrill did receive $2,500 paid by the campaign in April and May 2006 for reimbursement of OU football tickets for which Mr. Terrill has proof of the purchase and reimbursement,” he wrote.
West’s motion also downplayed Terrill’s work as an adjunct professor for Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in Moore.
Terrill, West said, informed the attorney who originally handled his bankruptcy — Oklahoma City attorney S. Louis Little — “of all the employment at the time of the filing and specifically discussed the existence of the 2004 campaign.”
“Mr. Terrill was told by the firm that they would discuss the matter,” West wrote. “The fact is Mr. Terrill was an adjunct professor of Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College for one class that began in the fall semester of 2005. Those classes began at the beginning of September 2005 and concluded in December 2005. Mr. Terrill did not receive any compensation from the college until after the filing of bankruptcy,” he said.
Records show Terrill was paid $1,500.
But while the Terrills oppose the payment of additional funds, the couple did not contest everything in Mashburn’s motion. According to their response, the Terrills have turned over personal financial information, campaign information and tax returns to Mashburn.
Those documents were requested by Mashburn.
“Debtor’s attorney has contacted the trustee and informed him of the documentation and the debtor’s attorney intends to forward all of said documentation to the trustee for review,” West wrote.
Terrill, a Republican lawmaker from Moore, serves as chair of the House of Representatives’ Revenue and Taxation Committee. He faces Democrat Troy Green in the November general election.