Legislator Wants Stipe's Name Removed From Capitol Dome

Calls it an embarassment.
By Jerry Bohnen
Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Republican State Representative Mike Reynolds figures former State Senator Gene Stipe is enough of an embarassment for the State, so he's calling for the removal of Stipe's name chiseled into the dome of the State Capitol.

"I think we need to carefully evalute whether or not it's appropriate to have the Stipe family memorialized on the dome of the capitol," said Reynolds in an interview with KTOK's Peter J. Rudy. But he also explained that the dome is not owned by the State of Oklahoma--rather by a foundation so it would be up to the foundation to remove the name.

"You know--I might even vote for a tax increase if they chisel his name off," remarked the Republican legislator.

Stipe's legal problems have grown in the past year.

First he came under a federal investigation for his alleged role in a scheme of bribery and funneling state money to his private business interests; then the government started efforts to revoke his probation from a previous campaign contrbution scheme and conviction.

This week, a federal prison psychologist form Springfield, Missouri said that after conducting medical and psychological tests on the 80 year old Stipe, he determined Stipe was not mentally competent to handle the revocation hearing in Muskogee federal court.

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