Weekly Opinion Editorial
AUDITOR
BEING EVICTED!
by Steve
Fair
State Auditor Gary Jones says his office
has been informed they will be evicted from their State Capitol office after
the upcoming legislative session (May 2017).
In a post on Facebook, Jones said: “Since
the Oklahoma State Capitol was built the Oklahoma State Auditor's office has
had an office there. Sadly we were just notified that after the next legislative session we are being told to vacate and find rental
space somewhere else. We are not happy! This decision was made by the House, Senate,
and Office of Management Services with no input from our office.” According the Jones,
the reason for the ouster is the Secretary of State and the Office of State
Finance need more office ‘meeting’ space. What happened to this ‘streamline’ government
campaign promise? Jones says his office will have to pay $70,000 plus annually
for rent.
First, Jones has obviously made some enemies
at the Capitol. The Auditor has never
been shy about expressing his opinion on how other elected officials do their
job. He took on the legislature when
they cut his budget and said their budget expertise reminded him of a verse of
scripture- “forgive them Lord for they know not what they do.” Jones traveled the state promoting a unicameral
legislature (one body) similar to Nebraska, saying we needed to send half of
the 149 state legislators’ home permanently.
Those statements didn’t set
well with legislative leadership. Whether
you agree with the Auditor’s opinion or not, you have to admire someone who
doesn’t bow to political pressure and speaks the truth to power. According to Jones, Secretary of State
Finance Preston Doerflinger was the messenger, but rest assured the decision to
boot the Auditor out of the Capitol was made by House and Senate leadership
with the approval of the Governor. If
that is not the case and the decision was made solely by a bureaucrat, then it needs
to be walked back quickly and there should be some ’plaining done. When Jones’ political enemies retaliate by
costing Oklahoma taxpayers money, it ceases to be a personal vendetta- it
becomes everyone’s business.
Second, this was either a boneheaded
political move or one with a very definitive objective. Jones’ political enemies knew how he would
react to being thrown out of the Capitol.
He is not one to go gentle into that good night. They knew he would react publically, so why did
they do it? Did they throw Jones a rope to help him hang himself or did they
fail to see how the general public would react to a clearly political
move? Like they say, “some people are
stupid like a fox.” The fact is Jones,
the former State Chair of the Oklahoma GOP, presents a real threat to special
interests in Oklahoma. He has been vocal
about transferable tax credits and pushed to have the legislature give his
office authority to audit those who receive the tax credits. That went nowhere in the legislature in spite
of record revenue shortfalls, partially due to tax credits. That makes some powerful people unhappy. It could be the real objective is to make
Jones look like a whiner in the eyes of the public, but that is a risky move. Time will tell if Jones’ political enemies
are geniuses or idiots.
Third,
how is it that an appointed official can tell an elected official to vacate
their office? Doerflinger was appointed
by the Governor. He serves at the will
of the Governor. Jones is an elected
official. What has happened to our state
government when bureaucrats believe they have more power than those who face
voters at the ballot box? Perhaps Jones
should tell Doerflinger to get a court order to evict the Auditor from the
Capitol and see how far that goes.
True conservative state legislators
should be asking some questions about this.
Political retaliation happens all the time but when it costs the
taxpayers money and removes a vital State Agency’s office from the people’s
house, it is wrong. This is precisely why
Oklahoma should have the ability to recall elected officials. Term limits and Recall must go hand in
hand. When elected officials are term
limited and know they will not face the voters again, they often believe they
are a great sovereign ruler and not a public servant. They ignore their constituents. Contact your state legislator and ask them
why the Auditor is being evicted from the people’s house- and make them give
you an answer that makes sense.
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