Judge's recusal in Oklahoma Youth Expo civil suit moves it back
BY WAYNE GREENE World Senior Writer
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
11/21/12 at 4:02 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY - A hearing on a contempt-of-court allegation in a civil suit against the Oklahoma Youth Expo was put off Tuesday after the judge in the case recused himself.
The case was transferred from Oklahoma County District Judge Bill Graves to District Judge Lisa Davis, who has not set a date for hearing the contempt issue.
The suit - brought by Republican state Reps. Mike Reynolds of Oklahoma City and Mike Ritze of Broken Arrow - alleges that $2 million in state Department of Agriculture funding given to the Youth Expo was an unconstitutional gift of taxpayer money to a private group.
Although Graves' reason for handing off the case isn't clear, he is a former legislator.
The Youth Expo funding was part of the unofficial state budget deal but wasn't specified in the budget voted on by lawmakers in the final days of the legislative session.
Reynolds and Ritze had obtained a subpoena for documents from the Youth Expo - the world's largest junior livestock show - and when they didn't receive them by the court's deadline, they filed a contempt citation.
Jeff Todd, an attorney representing the Youth Expo, has said the subpoenaed documents would not lead to relevant evidence.
