Bankruptcy reopening doesn't stun state Rep. Randy Terrill
Bankruptcy case reopening doesn't stun Rep. Randy Terrill

By Michael McNutt

Published: August 9, 2008

A federal judge is reopening state Rep. Randy Terrill's bankruptcy case.

The move comes amid questions about whether Terrill failed to list as an asset money his 2004 campaign committee owed him.

Bankruptcy trustee John D. Mashburn, who requested the case be reopened, declined to comment on the case Friday.

Terrill, R-Moore, said he was not surprised by federal Judge T.M. Weaver's action because he and his wife did not contest Mashburn's request to reopen the case.

"We just want what is clearly a personal and private financial matter that is being exploited for political purposes to be resolved,” Terrill said.

Terrill, the author of House Bill 1804, the state's immigration law that went into effect last year, said the bankruptcy was tied to college loans incurred by his wife.

However, none of his 2004 campaign expenses were part of the credit card debt listed in his bankruptcy case that eventually was forgiven, he said.

Terrill said documents about his bankruptcy were circulated before last week's Republican primary in an effort to sway voters.

Terrill, seeking a third term, won 74 percent of the vote; he faces a Democratic opponent in November.

"All of this is politically motivated,” he said. "This was a story that was gemmed up and shopped around by my opponents, in particular those people who were opposed to House Bill 1804 and making English the official language.”

Questions also have been raised on whether Terrill failed to report income he received as an adjunct professor at Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in Moore. Terrill said any money he earned from the college was a small amount, and his attorneys told him it did not need to be reported at the time.

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