Meeting held over Oklahoma juvenile center bid clouded by affair

An agency director met Thursday with the leader of the state Senate as part of an investigation into alleged bid rigging involving a multimillion-dollar state contract.

By JOHN ESTUS The Oklahoman & BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau | Published: December 3, 2010 Comment on this article

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State officials are considering whether to delay awarding the contract to a group favored by Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole, and lobbyist Haley Atwood, who are having an extramarital affair.

The contract is to be signed Dec. 6. It is for new juvenile detention centers needed in part because the problematic L.E. Rader Center in Sand Springs is expected to be closed soon.

Brian Bingman, expected to be the Senate president pro tem, met in his office for about 45 minutes Thursday with Office of Juvenile Affairs Director Gene Christian. They declined to answer questions about what was discussed.

Christian has come under fire from failed bidders who claim he, Coates and Atwood rigged the bidding process to favor a client of Atwood.

Bingman's spokesman, Jared Brejcha, said the Senate investigation is "serious" and of an "explosive" nature.

"We will continue to reserve judgment on the matter until the full facts are known," Bingman, R-Sapulpa, said in a written statement.

The Oklahoman revealed Wednesday that Coates, 60, and Atwood, 29, were having an affair while working together to help steer the $10 million-a-year contract to a group working with Rite of Passage, a private juvenile academy operator that had hired Atwood.

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