George Gibbs is no stranger to District Judge Linda Morrissey’s courtroom.
The founding partner of the Gibbs Armstrong & Borochoff law firm has spent much of his career litigating in Tulsa County, where Morrissey has been a district judge for 22 years.
Gibbs is listed as an attorney in four cases that went before Morrissey in the past two years. One is an open case where Gibbs represents a Tulsa bar’s holding company being sued for at least $150,000 for alleged negligence and civil liability.
In January, while the case was active, Gibbs made a $2,700 contribution, the maximum allowed, to Morrissey’s re-election campaign, making him one of the judge’s top donors this election cycle.
But that judge-donor relationship didn’t prompt changes in any of the four cases, such as Morrissey recusing herself or Gibbs removing himself from a case.
Judges rarely recuse themselves voluntarily or on request because they received money from attorneys arguing before them, according to interviews and a review of court records. That is despite the fact that attorneys represent the largest number of donors to district judges’ campaigns.
An Oklahoma Watch review of campaign finance records shows that attorneys’ donations represented more than half of the $1.6 million in contributions from individuals to district judge candidates so far in this election cycle (through Aug. 13).
Court filings show many of those attorneys frequently have appeared in court before the candidates to whom they gave money; some donated to judges while the judge was still presiding over their case.
Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that produces in-depth and investigative journalism on a range of public-policy issues facing the state. For more Oklahoma Watch content, go to www.oklahomawatch.org.
