Gov. Kevin Stitt has a simple solution to deal with statewide elected officials who fall out of favor with voters while in office: Let the governor appoint them in the first place.
“I think that the governor should appoint all these positions because you’ve got one neck to choke, and the four million Oklahomans vote on the governor,” Stitt said Dec. 20.
Stitt made the remark after a meeting of the State Board of Equalization when he was asked about the drama surrounding Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett, a statewide elected official accused over the summer of drunkenly committing sexual battery against a man who works for a company regulated by the commission.
Oklahomans are basically hamstrung when it comes to ousting a statewide elected official. The only way an elected official like Hiett can be removed from office is through impeachment. If Stitt had his way, future governors would be able to remove such officials from office if they failed their duties or brought embarrassment to the state.
“Let the governor then appoint the superintendent of education, let them appoint the corporation commissioners,” Stitt said. “It’s the right way to do it. Labor (commissioner), insurance (commissioner), all that.”
While Stitt said he wants the Legislature to create a ballot question that would eliminate future elections for some of Oklahoma’s numerous statewide officials, lawmakers’ appetite for such wholesale change is murky. Spokespersons for neither incoming House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow) nor incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle) responded to requests for comment.
However, two lawmakers are working on legislation that would provide a method to give Oklahomans the option to recall an elected state official. Sen. Bill Coleman (R-Ponca City) recently announced he intends to run legislation this year that would ask voters to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to allow for recall elections of state elected officials — if the Legislature calls for one.
“This legislation is not directed at any one individual, but I hope it serves as an important accountability measure to ensure all politicians, including state lawmakers, set aside their personal interests and focus on serving the public,” Coleman said in a press release.
Rep. Scott Fetgatter (R-Okmulgee) said he will be filing his own resolution during the upcoming session, which begins Feb. 3, that would ask voters if they would support a type of constitutional convention, during which changes could be made regarding the how statewide officials are selected and, potentially, removed.
Article 24, Section 2 of the Oklahoma Constitution requires that legislators call a constitutional convention at least once every 20 years, but Oklahoma voters rejected constitutional conventions in 1926, 1950 and 1970, and no election has been held on a constitutional convention since. A state question to eliminate the requirement that a constitutional convention proposal be submitted to voters every 20 years was defeated in a Nov. 8, 1994, election.
“I have filed a resolution this year to put on a ballot (a state question) to ask the citizens of Oklahoma if they would like a state constitutional convention,” Fetgatter said when asked about Stitt’s proposal that the governor appoint currently elected positions. “I believe it would take a constitutional change for these types of issues, and I think the citizens should vote on whether they would like us to make some changes to the state’s Constitution.”
Currently, impeachment proceedings against an elected official who breaks state law or willfully neglects their duties are initiated in the Legislature. However, legislators can be hesitant to initiate an action that could overturn the wishes of voters. A recall election is not currently an option to deal with state officials. So, voters who become unhappy with a statewide elected official once in office usually have to grin and bear it until the next election.
In 2024, the topic of impeachment came up in Oklahoma involving Hiett and Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters. Polling data conducted earlier this year show Walters, who took office in January 2023, has significant unfavorable ratings among a variety of demographics, but calls for his impeachment — primarily from Democrats — languished as a state grand jury report ended an investigation into how pandemic-era relief funds were handled by finding “gross misconduct” but “insufficient evidence” for criminal charges.
Hiett, a former House speaker, has resisted calls to resign his post after the allegations surfaced that he got blackout drunk and groped an energy industry employee at a conference in Minnesota. Other stories of alleged misconduct have surfaced. The three-member Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities and other businesses, does not have the power to remove one of its members from office.
There appears to be little appetite among the GOP-controlled Legislature to impeach or investigate either Republican official. More than two dozen House Republicans during the summer asked then-House Speaker Charles McCall, whose term ended in November, to launch a special investigation of Walters. But McCall said he would not consider the request until 51 or more Republicans in the 101-member House signed the letter and requested the investigative committee to be formed. Meanwhile, Rep. Justin Humphrey (R-Lane) has asked Hiett to resign and has threatened to introduce a resolution calling for his resignation.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission hired a law firm in August to conduct a “personnel investigation” into the behavior of Hiett. Commission Chairwoman Kim David said the investigation’s focus is on personnel matters, but if investigators learn of issues that could be criminal in nature, she said those findings would be turned over to Attorney General Gentner Drummond. While David said she expects the final report on the investigation will be released, the investigation remains ongoing four months after it began.
On Dec. 20, Rep. Tom Gann (R-Inola) issued a press release saying he sent the Oklahoma Ethics Commission a six-page supplement to his original Sept. 10 complaint filed against Hiett. With 250 pages of exhibits, Gann said his supplement documents more than 15 additional occasions of Hiett allegedly violating State Ethics Rule 4.7 since the original complaint was filed. Ethics Rule 4.7 prohibits state officers from participating in matters in which their impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
Gann, Rep. Kevin West (R-Moore) and Rep. Rick West (R-Heavener) recently asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to disqualify Hiett from voting on cases involving companies with direct knowledge of his alleged criminal conduct. The individual he allegedly groped was a person whose employer is regulated by the Corporation Commission. The Supreme Court denied the three House members’ request.
Coleman told NonDoc he does not think there is a conflict of interest involving Hiett.
“I think if there was, he probably would step down,” Coleman said.
Impeachments in Oklahoma are rare, and usually serious criminal allegations must be made before such proceedings occur. The last impeachment of a state elected official in Oklahoma occurred 20 years ago after then-Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher was charged with three counts of embezzlement. The House passed the articles of impeachment in, but Fisher resigned before the Senate took up the matter.
Hiett, who was House minority leader at the time, voted in favor of Fisher’s impeachment.
“I think it was the right thing to do,” Hiett said after the votes in September 2004. “We said as a Legislature, both Democrats and Republicans, that we demand accountability.”
Hiett offered similar remarks that same month when Rep. Mike O’Neal (R-Enid) agreed to spend 30 days in jail for drunkenly groping a woman at an Oklahoma City hotel.
“If guilt has been determined, then he should resign,” Hiett said of O’Neal.
‘We have a system in place, and I don’t see it broke’
Oklahomans elect more public officials than many states. Beyond a slate of county offices, Oklahomans vote statewide for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, commissioner of labor, commissioner of insurance, three corporation commissioners, state treasurer, and state auditor and inspector.
Paring down Oklahoma’s number of statewide elected officials has been discussed for decades, but as term limits have set a 12-year maximum on legislative service, politically ambitious lawmakers have elongated their elective careers by running for jobs that are largely bureaucratic in nature.
Stitt said his proposal for the governor to appoint statewide executive officials is far from outrageous, as that’s the practice in several states. In Florida and Texas, for example, the posts of state superintendent of instruction and insurance commissioner are appointed instead of elected like in Oklahoma.
“What happens is, if you’re running for one of these offices, the way they get elected is all the special interests are promoting those individual people, and it’s hard to make real change,” Stitt said. “Oklahomans see that you need one neck to choke, and it’s usually the governor, and then let the governor (…) put these people in place and then hold them accountable.”
Stitt implied that the drama at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission involving Hiett, which has lingered for nearly six months, would have been handled much more quickly if the governor appointed the Corporation Commission members in the first place.
“I think we need to run a piece of legislation and take it to the vote of the people where the governor gets to appoint the Corporation Commission,” Stitt said. “That would solve the problem.”
Fetgatter said Stitt’s idea bears consideration because some state offices, such as labor commissioner, insurance commissioner and superintendent of public instruction, have vague duties and carry no specific qualifications to run for those posts. That can lead to unqualified people being elected to lead state agencies, Fetgatter said.
“I have a lot of constituents during an election year [asking] me about a corporation commissioner, asking me about labor commissioner [candidates],” he said. “They’re struggling to understand maybe what those positions actually do, and I take the time as their representative to try to explain to them as best I can what those positions do so that they can make an informed decision, based on what they learn from that conversation and then go research.”
Fetgatter said his proposal for a constitutional convention would allow for greater conversation about Stitt’s idea of appointing those statewide posts. However, Fetgatter said his resolution’s language has yet to be finalized for 2025, but his version of a constitutional convention would be slightly different than the state’s original gathering. Fetgatter said he believes the Legislature itself should constitute the slate of convention delegates, which lawmakers agreeing to proposed changes and sending them to the public on statewide ballots.
“We should come together and we should format what we would like to see in the constitution, and we should put it before a vote of the people. We’d take input, obviously, and have open meetings very similar to redistricting and things like that where we would get input from the citizens,” Fetgatter said. “The state of Oklahoma has one of the longest constitutions in the world. (…) We are, without a doubt, one of the top two most conservative states in the country, and we are trying to have conservative values and principles, but we are governing our state by one of the longest governing documents.”
Coleman said he is not on board with Stitt’s suggestion about appointing statewide officials.
“We have a system in place, and I don’t see it broke,” Coleman said. “If something was broke, yeah, let’s look at it, but I don’t see anything broke.”
Instead, Coleman wants to allow the Legislature to refer recall propositions to the ballot so voters can decide whether to remove or retain a specific state official when controversy erupts. Because the legislation would alter the state’s constitution, it would have to pass both legislative chambers and then be approved by voters to become effective.
“Oklahoma law only allows for impeachment in limited circumstances, and such proceedings are extremely rare because many lawmakers rightly feel it is inappropriate to overturn the will of the voters,” Coleman said in his press release. “Allowing for recall elections gives the Legislature another option that puts Oklahoma voters in charge of saying whether an elected official stays or goes.”
Coleman said 19 states permit the recall of some state officials. He said his proposed legislation is not directed at Walters, Hiett or anyone else.
Asked his thoughts on Hiett’s situation, Coleman said he “made a mistake.”
He’s lived up to it,” Coleman said. “He’s trying to fix it.”
While Coleman didn’t agree with Stitt’s idea to have the governor appoint positions that are currently selected by voters, if a state elected official is recalled under his plan, the governor would appoint someone to fill the unexpired term. State representatives and senators would be excluded from his recall proposal, he said.
“I think the people of Oklahoma, if they elect somebody, I think they should be involved in unelecting somebody (…) only if the Legislature says they can,” Coleman said.
