By Jeff Arnold
Stephens Media

FORT SMITH — Republican Steve Womack said today he would continue working with a part-time consultant to his 3rd District congressional campaign who resigned as Oklahoma house speaker under a cloud.

Lance Cargill stepped down from that state’s top legislative post in January 2008 after it was revealed he was repeatedly delinquent in paying property taxes on his Harrah law office and failed to file his federal and state personal income tax returns on time, according to a Jan. 27, 2008, article in the Tulsa World.

Cargill has also been cited by the Oklahoma Ethics Commission for fundraising irregularities. In August 2008, the panel reprimanded him for diverting about $44,000 in funds collected for the Republican State House Committee to the Oklahoma County Republican Committee.

“Simply put, this is a case of the redirection of campaign contributions intended for one party committee to another, contrary to the intent of the donors,” wrote Don Bingham, then-chairman of the ethics commission, in a letter of reprimand.

The $44,000 was collected for get-out-the vote efforts, voter registration drives, party advertising and overall efforts to get Republicans elected to state and federal offices.

Instead, Cargill, RSHC and OCRC planned to “deposit these checks into a county party and have it pay expenses they or RSHC incurred to support their hand-picked candidate campaigns,” according to the letter of reprimand.

Cargill is a partner in Harrah, Okla.-based JC Partners, a fundraising and consulting firm, which has a contract with the Womack campaign.

JC Partners is advising the candidate part-time on campaign organization and structure — to include tasks like advertising and market research — not guiding the direction of the campaign, Womack said.

Womack, the Rogers mayor, said Cargill never faced criminal charges. He characterized the matters in Cargill’s past as “personal issues” and said someone like Cargill has a “big target” on his back.

In 2004, Cargill was the “de facto” head of the RSHC — according to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission — which raised funds for GOP candidates and causes, when Republicans captured a majority in the Oklahoma House for the first time in more than 80 years.

Three years later, Republicans chose Cargill as Oklahoma’s House speaker.

When it was pointed out the fundraising matter was not a personal issue, Womack said Cargill is not raising funds for his campaign so he is not worried about Cargill’s being involved in any financial malfeasance.

Although he acknowledged working with Cargill, Womack said his contract is with JC Partners and its president, Jessica Caswell.
On the JC Partners Web site, a link named “Portfolio” lists Web development and direct mail as services the firm has provided to the Womack campaign.

The site also lists Web development as a service provided to state Sen. Kim Hendren’s campaign for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

Hendren said Tuesday that Cargill provided consulting services to his campaign for about two months, but the relationship ended earlier this year. He said he did not learn about Cargill’s past problems until after hiring him, but he said Cargill’s past was not the reason he stopped using his services.

“We took our campaign in a different direction,” Hendren said.

Cargill could not be reached for comment today.