Weekly Opinion Editorial
THE
EXPANSION OF THE ROLE OF GOVERNOR!
by
Steve Fair
In
2018, six of Oklahoma’s statewide elected officials will term out. The offices of Governor, Lt. Governor, State
Auditor & Inspector, Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and one Corporation
Commission seat will be up for grabs because Oklahomans approved a two term
limit on those offices. At least three
of the six that are termed out in one office will likely seek another office.
The race for Governor appears to be the
one that is drawing the most attention.
Gary Richardson, a Tulsa area attorney, who ran in 2002 as an
Independent, played spoiler that year and got enough votes to throw the race to
Democrat Brad Henry. Henry won over
Richardson and Steve Largen, the GOP nominee, with less than 50% of the vote. This time around, Richardson is running as a
Republican. His challenge will be explaining
to GOP primary voters how he is now a loyal Republican after helping get Henry
elected. It’s a cinch that Lt. Governor
Todd Lamb will run. Lamb is popular with
the Republican base, has raised lots of money, and is more fiscally
conservative than the current Governor. Gary
Jones, State Auditor & Inspector, has indicated he has formed an
exploratory committee to decide if he will run for Governor. Jones, the former State GOP Chair, won the
Auditor’s job with grassroots support.
In a large field, Jones would be formidable. His supporters are loyal, understand the
political process and can get the vote out.
There are rumors of other candidates looking at the GOP nomination who
can self-fund, but at this point, none have declared publically. It is a little early- filing isn’t for
another year.
The office of Governor in Oklahoma was
created weak when compared to the office in other states. Part of that is because of there were abuses
by Territorial Governors in the state’s history, the writers of the State Constitution
tried to restrict and limit the power of the office. It wasn’t until 1966 that an Oklahoma
Governor could immediately succeed themselves.
The reason Oklahoma directly elects so many statewide elected officials
as Oklahoma is because the founders’ feared corruption and their fears were
well founded. The Oklahoma legislature
impeached two early Governors for corruption.
Through the years, the office of Oklahoma Governor
has gained power, primarily by persuading the legislature to cooperate to circumvent
those eleven constitutional offices. A
prime example is the Oklahoma Office of State Finance. For years its role was to help the Governor
develop the annual state budget, which was then presented to the legislature,
but the Governor persuaded lawmakers to exponentially expand their role,
usurping the roles of constitutionally created offices- in particular the
office of State Auditor & Inspector.
The head of the Office of State
Finance is appointed by the Governor, accountable to no one but the Governor.
Slowly and methodically, Oklahoma’s
Governors- Republican and Democrat- have restructured the role of the office of
Governor. With the legislature’s help,
they have expanded the Governor’s power.
Most of the largest state agencies are now headed by appointees of the
Governor, not by elected officials. Much
of this happened right under the nose of unsuspecting Oklahomans and without a
vote of the people.
Every candidate for Governor in 2018 should
be asked if they will respect the state constitution and not seek to expand the
duties of Governor without a vote of the people? We already have too many ‘appointed’ heads of
state agencies. Will the candidate
reduce or expand the footprint of Oklahoma government? Those are fundamental questions.
The majority of voters base their vote on
personality-likability, or some complicated scientific formula like how many
yard signs they pass on the way to the voting site. But sometimes the candidate who is not as
politically savvy, who is abrasive, candid and insulting wins. A classic example is Donald Trump. The reason
Trump won was because people are fed up with the status quo. It wasn’t his late night tweets or posts on
social media about how great he is that got their vote. They wanted someone to change things. That same dynamic is true in Oklahoma. The
candidate who has a definite, logical plan to address Oklahoma’s problems and
who can execute that plan will get the Republican nomination.
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