

A five-month investigation into the conduct of Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett, spurred by reports he allegedly got blackout drunk and groped an energy industry employee at a conference last summer in Minneapolis, has produced a 10-page report that found the commissioner did not say or do anything that constituted sexual harassment during a 2023 party at an Oklahoma City steakhouse.
The comment made by Hiett was found to be “isolated,” wrote Melvin Hall, an attorney with the Riggs Abney law firm that was hired in August by the OCC to look into any allegations improper behavior by Hiett or any other commissioner. Hall led the investigation into commissioner misconduct “impacting commission employees or others who do business with the commission,” according to the nature and scope of the investigation.
Hall, relying on an article by Nolan Clay of The Oklahoman, said in his report two OCC employees who spoke to the newspaper on the condition they not be identified said Hiett became intoxicated at a launch party for a new law firm in the upstairs area of the Broadway 10 Bar & Chophouse. One employee said she helped Hiett down the stairs as the party wound down, and the second employee also assisted Hiett, saying she had to hold him up at one point.
In his report, Hall said Hiett said to the second employee: “How are me and you going to do this?” The next week, Hall said, Hiett spoke to the employee about the incident and apologized for his behavior.
“The comment can only be construed as ‘isolated’ and consequently did not amount to discriminatory changes in the terms and conditions of employment,” Hall wrote. “In addition, such a statement on its face cannot be interpreted as sexual in nature because it did not contain any sexually explicit language, sexually explicit propositions or sexual innuendo.”
Majority of information submitted ‘not relevant’ to investigation
OCC employees were advised to contact Hall in August if they had any information of improper behavior by Hiett or any commissioner. The law firm received voluntary and confidential information from people both within and outside the OCC, Hall wrote.
“The overwhelming majority of the information voluntarily submitted was not relevant to the nature and scope of the investigation,” Hall wrote. “Consequently, my analysis will relate to the assertion reportedly made by Commissioner Hiett, ‘How are me and you going to do this?'”
Hall did not mention the Minneapolis incident in his report, which was released Wednesday by the OCC. The victim of Hiett’s alleged sexual battery in June reportedly works for a regulated company that comes before Hiett and the rest of the Corporation Commission. Hiett has said he cannot recall the incident.
A pair of Kansas Corporation Commission employees made written reports alleging that an “extensively intoxicated” Hiett repeatedly rubbed a man’s arm and crotch in a group setting.
“It felt like, given the fact this was a commissioner, it required we make a graceful exit and not cause a scene. Hiett was basically sitting there looking ahead or down with a sort of glazed look in his face,” one KCC employee wrote. “I then saw his hand go down to [redacted]’s upper thigh and begin touching his thigh. Again, very quickly he moved from [redacted’s] thigh to [redacted’s] lap and placed his open palm on [redacted’s] lab (sic) and groin area. (…) I was horrified. [Redacted] was visibly horrified himself and removed the commissioner’s hand from his lap.”
But with no mention of the Minneapolis incident, Hall’s investigation instead centered on the comment Hiett made to the OCC employee during the June 21, 2023, party at Broadway 10.
Asked his reaction to Hall’s findings, Hiett responded in a text message Wednesday, “I will just let the report speak for itself.”
OCC Chairwoman Kim David did not respond to a request for comment ahead of the publication of this article.
Hall said the law firm received statements from 10 people and “over approximately 4,000 pages of documents.” He said he also received information from a non-employee of OCC which was referred to the Attorney General’s Office.
Phil Bacharach, communications director for Attorney General Gentner Drummond, said Wednesday the Attorney General’s Office recently was made aware of allegations of improper behavior by Hiett in June 2017.
“The statute of limitations applicable to the alleged conduct has expired, so there is no investigation,” Bacharach said.
Hall said he also reviewed newspaper articles, attorney general opinions, Oklahoma Supreme Court cases and OCC personnel and policy manuals. Hall and fellow Riggs Abney attorney Don Bingham were contracted at a rate of $300 per hour to conduct the investigation, which was not expected to cost more than $25,000, according to an engagement letter Hall wrote to the OCC in August.
However, OCC public information manager Trey Davis said Riggs Abney had billed the Corporation Commission $58,750.42 for work through Jan. 28. Davis said that although the total was not marked as being final, he did not anticipate additional costs.
Hiett is an elected official and not an employee of the OCC, Hall wrote.
“He also is not the appointing authority for the agency, and he has no supervisory responsibility over any employees of OCC, with the exception of his immediate staff,” Hall wrote. “Consequently, the law requires that Commissioner Hiett’s conduct be evaluated as that of an outsider to the agency, such as a customer or non-employee. Therefore, even assuming that the statement reportedly made to an OCC employee on June 21, 2023, constituted sexual harassment, the OCC would be liable only if it was placed on notice and failed to protect the employee.”
While Hall’s investigation is complete, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission disclosed earlier this month that it “is actively investigating a complaint” against Hiett. Although matters taken up by the Ethics Commission are typically kept confidential, Rep. Tom Gann (R-Inola) removed any doubts about the existence of an ethics investigation when he said he filed a complaint against Hiett in September with the watchdog agency. He made the disclosure in a December press release to announce he, Rep. Kevin West (R-Moore) and Rep. Rick West (R-Heavener) had filed an appeal with the Oklahoma Supreme Court to overturn the OCC’s November order granting a rate increase for OG&E. Gann and the Wests unsuccessfully asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court last year to disqualify Hiett from hearing certain cases, including ones involving OG&E.
In his report, Hall cited several court cases to determine whether Hiett’s comment could be considered sexual harassment or part of a hostile work environment.
In Fox v. Pittsburg State University, a federal court in Kansas held that “in determining whether an objectively ‘severe or pervasive’ hostile environment exists,’ it is necessary to look at all the circumstances involved, including the frequency of the discriminatory conduct; its severity; whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance,” Hall wrote.
According to the U.S. Supreme Court case Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, while offending conduct is not required to have “seriously affected the plaintiff’s psychological well-being,” the “conduct must be extreme; simple teasing, offhand comments and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not amount to discriminatory changes in the terms and conditions of employment,” Hall wrote.
Conduct from the Broadway 10 incident that was nonsexual and facially gender neutral — such as accusations that Hiett was drinking to the point of intoxication and operated his vehicle in such a condition — can contribute to a sexual harassment claim, Hall wrote.
“The Tenth Circuit (U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals) allows for consideration of facially gender-neutral abusive conduct,” Hall said. “In the Tenth Circuit, gender-neutral abusive conduct can support a gender-based claim when viewed in the context of other, more overtly gender-discriminatory conduct. However, if the gender-discriminatory conduct is isolated and not asserted as evidence in this investigation, the gender-neutral abusive conduct described above does not support a hostile work environment. Stated another way, the gender-neutral conduct attributed to Commissioner Hiett does not contribute to the reported statement, because the reported statement by itself does not rise to the level of creating a hostile work environment.”
(Update: This article was updated at 6:10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, to include additional information about the cost of the Riggs Abney report.)