Walt Roberts was a personable type. I was running for office at the same time and appeared at a large number of political speaking (a big thing in SE Oklahoma) with Walt. He was a great fiddle player and a pretty good singer. He was a nice enough guy, but he sure wasn't congressional material. He was a straw candidate. Had he won, Gene Stipe would have been the congressman. Everyone who had even an ounce of smarts knew the score on that one. What was amazing was that he beat some pretty good candidates in the primary and primary runoff, before being beat by Wes Watkins in the general. But Gene Stipe was there all along the way. Stipe has been a devisive force in Oklahoma politics for 4 decades. The justice department has gone after him several times, with no success. He has been investigated more than any politician in OK history. Yet he is still there. He is surely made of teflon. Nothing has ever stuck. My only hope in this deal is that Roberts has made some statements that incriminate Stipe. But I doubt it. Since this article reveals that stipe has continued to pay Roberts $3,500 a month until July 2002. That is almost 4 years.
Stipe has run that part of OK forever. Most everyone that is in an appointed state position got it because of Stipe. And a large number of the state employees in the McAlester region got their state jobs because of Stipe. That is why he is so untouchable. Everyone owes him, so no one will rat on him. Truely an amazing story. Would make for a great made-for-TV movie.
Stipe, as I said, runs "Little Dixie" like a feudal lord. He holds audience (or used to) at his law offices in McAlester every Saturday morning, on an walk in and chat basis. I'm from SE OK, and I know that Stipe got a guy off a murder charge when there were eye witnesses that saw the guy shoot the victim in the head and leave him along the roadside.
For what it's worth, poor ol' Walt was just a fiddle player and like most of that ilk (;) was as full of $hit as a Christmas goose. He's a natural at the glad handing crap you have to do as a Little Dixie pol, but he never was the sharpest knife in the drawer. I think Gene Stipe quite obviously used Walt, befriended him, and got him in so far over his head that Walt was sunk before he even knew it.
As for Teflon, Gene Stipe makes Gotti look like a piker.