Despite reports of his bankrupt oil company shorting the state agency, former White Star Chief Executive Officer Elliot Chambers was chosen Tuesday to become the new Secretary of the Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office.
The vote was 3-0 as Gov. Kevin Stitt, who nominated Chambers, defended his choice.
“We know he’s the right guy for this service,” said the Governor, according to a report by The Oklahoman. “Unfortunately, sometimes politics get involved and people inside of the agency are pushing for one of their people and end up causing some controversy.”
Stitt called Chambers a “proven leader, CEO quality person with a “great financial background.”
He didn’t stop there in his defense of Chambers, pointing out bankruptcies are common in the oil and gas industry.
“The company that he was a CEO of filed bankruptcy and at that point they worked out a settlement just like any other bankruptcy court case is going to do with any other creditor.”
The Oklahoman had earlier reported, through documents obtained by the Open Records Act, that White Star Petroleum owed more than $207,000 to the Land Office but challenged the amount and ended up settling for an amount of more than $176,000.
The newspaper also reported that when Chambers was a vice president of finance for Chesapeake Energy in 2013, the firm agreed to pay the Commissioners of the Land Office $18 million to settle litigation over underpayment of royalties.
Source: The Oklahoman