Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett experienced yet another setback at the hands of the Oklahoma Supreme Court when it ruled Monday against Hiett’s move to stop fellow Commissioner Bob Anthony from reviewing actions of the commission that involved Hiett.
All nine justices concurred in the court’s decision.
https://www.oscn.net/dockets/GetDocument.aspx?ct=appellate&bc=1059562330&cn=PR-122441&fmt=pdf
“Commissioner Anthony independently launched his own investigation into the performance or non-performance of the Corporation Commission, its staff, and commissioners by filing a Notice of Inquiry at the Commission. Commissioner Anthony has determined that the investigation will conclude when he personally files a written report,” the Court wrote. “This Court does not have jurisdiction to review this type of Commissioner action.”
The Supreme Court ruled against Hiett last week in another case involving three legislators who want him prohibited from voting in cases involving three major utilities. They contend there is a conflict of interest over the allegations that led to Anthony’s call for Hiett to resign from office. The Court denied Hiett’s request for an extension to respond to the legislator’s motion for a writ of prohibition.
“As I have argued, and it appears the court agrees, tribunals like the OCC have a responsibility to protect their own legitimacy and integrity,” said Commissioner Bob Anthony upon hearing of the court’s decision.
“There can be no tolerance for Hiett’s alleged actions, especially when directed toward persons whose companies, industries and/or jobs are directly affected by the regulatory decisions we make.”
Commissioner Anthony still contends that Hiett should resign from the agency over the allegations of sexual assault of a man at a hotel bar during a national convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Other allegations against Hiett involve public drunkenness to which Hiett has admitted he has an “affliction” with alcohol and is undergoing treatment. But Hiett said it would be “detrimental” to utilities for him to step down totally from the 3-member regulatory body.
“The only possible remedy to the OCC’s compromised constitutional legitimacy and judicial integrity is Commissioner Hiett’s immediate departure from the OCC,” added Commissioner Anthony.
“Since Hiett refuses to resign and continues to taint cases involving the victims and witnesses of his illegal conduct, I have an obligation to do everything in my power to limit the damage he is able to inflict and ensure total transparency until someone with the authority to actually stop him does. I am thankful the Supreme Court has endorsed this interpretation of my duties and responsibilities as a Corporation Commissioner,” Anthony said.
Anthony called for Hiett’s resignation on July 30 after multiple reports of public drunkenness and alleged sexual misconduct surfaced in July, including incidents involving employees and representatives of regulated utility companies with cases worth billions pending before the OCC. When Hiett refused to resign, and the OCC staff arranged for a limited, “confidential fact-finding” into commissioner misconduct that explicitly excluded the criminal allegations, Anthony filed his own Notice of Inquiry that he said would include “an examination of past corruption and improper conduct involving the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, its staff and individual commissioners.”
On August 19, Hiett filed a petition at the Oklahoma Supreme Court asking the Court to prohibit Anthony from taking any further part in the OCC’s misconduct investigation, from making any public comments or filings related to that investigation, and from attempting to perform his own investigation, citing specifically Anthony’s Notice of Inquiry. On Monday, the court summarily denied all three requests.
Still pending before the court is a similar petition filed by three Republican State Representatives on September 13 asking the Court to disqualify Hiett from OCC cases involving parties (including ONG, OG&E and PSO) with direct knowledge of Hiett’s alleged criminal conduct. A decision in that case could come at any time.