Former Oklahoma lawmaker details fall from grace in new book

(AP) — A former state lawmaker has written a book detailing his rise to political power and a spiraling fall that sent him to federal prison.

The 323-page book details his upbringing as one of eight children from a poor family, young adulthood, religion, life as politician, gambling addiction and the highly publicized downfall.

The Tulsa World (http://bit.ly/2b6Vk77 ) reports that the book, published by Tate Publishing, toggles between his life on the outside and the two years he spent in federal prison for taking a $40,000 kickback in exchange for funneling state dollars to a certain project.

Mass entered a plea agreement, saying if he were to be found guilty by a jury, he would have faced a sentence of 18 years to life.

Mass lives in a modest home just east of Hartshorne with his wife of 46 years, Suzanne, who was also his high school sweetheart.

Over pork chops, fried okra, sliced tomatoes and mashed potatoes, he talks about the high life as a cigar-chomping politician to the dredges of working in the prison laundry.

Mass notes that everything in the meal but the pork chops was grown in his nearby garden, which he calls his sanctuary, a place to think and remember his childhood.

"From distance, the long rows of vines were a thing of natural beauty — lush and green, sprinkled with bright yellow blooms," he wrote.

The dense vines not only concealed the ideal cucumbers, but, at times, also the black widow spider and copperhead snake.

"When you go from where I come from and go up there and people are in your office every 15 minutes with a gift and calling you Mr. Representative and Mr. this and that and tables are set at night with white linen and steak, it did something to me," Mass said.

In 2009, Mass began his two-year federal prison sentence, where inmates gave him the nickname "Governor."