Private club dinner, law change are latest in juvenile contract dispute

The April 15 dinner meeting came while Office of Juvenile Affairs officials were working to change state law so a company that is part of the group could work with the agency, records obtained by The Oklahoman show.

The group dining with agency officials included officials from Ada and private juvenile academy operator Rite of Passage.

Together, they made a successful joint bid for the agency's juvenile center contract that has since fallen under scrutiny.

The group also was working with lobbyist Haley Atwood, 29, who has had an extramarital affair with state Sen. Harry Coates, 60.

Their romance has factored into scrutiny of the bid the group made because Atwood and Coates, R-Seminole, supported it.

Failed bidders have alleged Office of Juvenile Affairs Director Gene Christian, Atwood and Coates rigged the bidding process to favor the Ada group and Rite of Passage.

Christian, Atwood and Coates have denied wrongdoing.

The contract signing between the Ada group and Office of Juvenile Affairs was set for this past Monday, but has been delayed a month so the attorney general's office can review the bidding process.

Senate leaders asked for the review.

Christian and his chief of staff ate dinner with Rite of Passage President S. James Broman at the Petroleum Club in downtown Oklahoma City the night before Rite of Passage and other bidders made their proposals to the agency's board, records show.

Also dining with them was Steve Turner, chairman of the committee that organized Ada's proposal for the juvenile academy and a vice president at East Central University in Ada.