The screeching of brakes you heard at the State Capitol are coming from the office of the governor in a flap over the high salary to be paid to a former energy regulator.
If Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has anything to say about it, the $250,000 salary the State Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust wants to pay former Corporation Commissioner Patrice Douglas won’t happen.
Governor Fallin has ordered a halt to the salary to be paid in the Trust’s hiring of Douglas as its new CEO. She said TSET’s failure to file necessary hiring paperwork would violate the spirit of an executive order she issued in February 2015.
“This agency needs to play by the same rules it has been playing under until it decided to create a new top-level position with such a high salary,” explained the governor. “At the bare minimum, TSET needs to submit the same paperwork for this position as it has for many others.”
She said the salary also sends the wrong message when the state is facing a difficult economic and budget climate.
“These are public trust funds, and the public will lose trust in this important agency if this salary takes effect,” added the Governor. So she has ordered Health and Human Services Secretary Terry Cline to deny the salary. The governor’s office indicated that the most recent state study on agency director salaries recommended a maximum salary of $143,714 for the TSET leader. State law enacted by the legislature and the governor in 2013 requires agencies and their governing boards to set chief executive salaries within the range recommended in the director salary reports.
“Patrice Douglas was a fine public servant who I expect would be a wonderful asset to TSET, but the board has to understand the concern about this salary,” continued Gov. Fallin. “The board never consulted me about this decision. If I had been, I would have strongly advised each of them to set a more appropriate salary.”
