Pruitt campaign defends candidate’s constitutional credentials

By Andrew Griffin on July 17, 2010

By ANDREW W. GRIFFIN

Oklahoma Watchdog, editor

Posted: July 17, 2010

andrew@oklahomawatchdog.org

OKLAHOMA CITY — The campaign for Oklahoma attorney general candidate Scott Pruitt responded to Oklahoma Watchdog‘s exclusive story about Pruitt’s claims that he is an expert in Constitutional law, a claim that has been a cornerstone of the Pruitt campaign.

This website, which began looking into Pruitt’s claims of being a Constitutional law expert over a week ago following calls to our tip line, made multiple attempts to get a comment from the Pruitt campaign via a phone number at ScottPruitt.com and via the emails pruitt2010@gmail.com and pruittvolunteers@gmail.com. These attempts were unsuccessful.

Only after the story was posted late Friday afternoon did the Pruitt campaign finally respond.

Tyler Laughlin, Pruitt’s campaign manager, released a statement to Oklahoma Watchdog and other media late Friday, stating: “This is ridiculous. This is not the first time we have heard about these anonymous tips, but others have contacted Scott and the campaign and quickly found out these accusations are erroneous.”

“After graduating from law school, Scott began Christian Legal Services, Inc. in Tulsa and could be found in the phone book under Constitutional Attorney. Scott’s first case was about defending First Amendment rights – and you can see part of the story on Scott’s website. Scott has been an attorney involved on Constitutional issues in the Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma Federal Courts and in the state supreme court of Oklahoma. In fact, Scott’s involvement in Sharp v. Tulsa County Election Board that went before the Oklahoma Supreme Court and was related to the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, was published by West Law.”

“Furthermore, Broken Arrow Public Schools who sought to integrate the First Amendment correctly into the school system selected Scott to participate in advising them and the Southern Baptist Convention has called on Scott’s expertise on church state issues nationally under the First Amendment. These are just two of many examples that prove Scott has the experience we need,” Laughlin continued.

“You simply do not become the statewide point person for the non-profit Rutherford Institute, or be a speaker on church-state relations for one of the nation’s largest religious denominations without having expertise,” Laughlin stated.

“While my political antennae believes that something sinister is behind this tip happening so late in the cycle, I will try to give these ‘anonymous’ tipsters the benefit of the doubt. If they go back and do their research looking for ‘E. Scott Pruitt’ or “Edward Pruitt”, they’ll likely find many more cases of Scott Pruitt protecting our Constitutional rights,” Laughlin concluded.

– END –

What is interesting is that Laughlin does not dispute the fact that Pruitt has never tried a case or that he has never been a prosecutor. As for the Sharp v. Tulsa County Election Board case that took place 16 years ago, in 1994, Pruitt’s campaign manager never specifies the role Pruitt had in the case. He notes Pruitt’s “involvement” in the Sharp case but never specifically how he was involved.

Laughlin notes that looking up the names “E. Scott Pruitt” or “Edward Pruitt” would lead to more examples of Pruitt “protecting our Constitutional rights.” This website examined documents showing the name “Edward Scott Pruitt” and “E. Scott Pruitt.” Those examples were linked in the original story. As for Pruitt’s role in advising the Broken Arrow Public Schools and the Southern Baptist Convention, Oklahoma Watchdog could not find evidence of that in the public record. If the Pruitt campaign wishes to offer further evidence of his participation in advising someone in those instances, we would certainly look at that. At the same time, the public records speak for themselves.

Interestingly, in a 2004 story in The Oklahoman headlined “Creating major league fans: Partner helps minor league club build raving following,” Pruitt, talking about his role as the managing general partner of the Oklahoma RedHawks baseball team, talks about being a State Senator representing District 36 and his background in running a law practice, which he had started 11 years earlier.

“I joke often that I am a recovering attorney,” Pruitt told The Oklahoman.

It would seem that between representing District 36 in the State Senate and getting people fired up about the local ball club, Pruitt had basically admitted he was no longer practicing law, which puts a dent in the claim that he has been practicing Constitutional law for 17 years.

Posted under Blog.
Tags: attorney, Broken Arrow, Constitution, constitutional law, E. Scott Pruitt, Edward Scott Pruitt, Scott Pruitt, Sharp v. Tulsa County election board, tulsa, Tyler Laughlin

4 Comments For This Post So Far

Florida Phone Systems
2:06 am on July 30th, 2010

How did you learn about this? I was trying to find it for days. Thanks for the post.

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