Former Corporation Commissioner honored by national association

When a national organization of state regulators and corporation commissioners from across the U.S. gathered this week in Washington, D.C. it honored former Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony.

All three Oklahoma corporation commissioners, including Todd Hiett, the man Anthony urged to resign over his public drunkenness and sexual abuse scandal that developed last year, were registered to attend the meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The occasion was the Winter Policy Summit of NARUC held at the Westin DC Downtown hotel, an “upscale Washington D.C. hotel” as described by the Association. Anthony did not attend the event.

The honorary resolution pointed out that Anthony, who was term-limited and left office in January, was not only the “the longest serving utility commissioner in the United States” but “was a courageous regulator who promoted openness, transparency, and
accountability at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission—and served with honor and integrity.”

Resolution Honoring Commissioner Bob Anthony

Whereas Bob Anthony was elected as a Commissioner of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in 1988 and began serving his initial six-year term in January 1989;
Whereas Bob Anthony was re-elected as an Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner in 1994, 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018, serving a total of 36 years at the completion of his last term in January 2025;
Whereas among the nine Oklahoma offices elected statewide, Commissioner Bob Anthony served longer than any other Oklahoma office holder in state history;
Whereas Bob Anthony served six times as chairman of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission;
Whereas Bob Anthony served as a member of the board of directors for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and served as a member of the NARUC Gas Committee;
Whereas Bob Anthony was a past chairman of the National Regulatory Research Institute;
Whereas Bob Anthony was the longest serving utility commissioner in the United States;
Whereas Bob Anthony served as a member of the National Petroleum Council, having been appointed by the United States Secretary of Energy;
Whereas Bob Anthony is a past president of the Mid-America Regulatory Conference; a member and past president of the Economic Club of Oklahoma; and for eight years, was a delegate to the worldwide General Conference of the United Methodist Church;
Whereas Bob Anthony earned a Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania; a Master of Science from the London School of Economics; a Master of Arts from Yale University; and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University;
Whereas Bob Anthony rose to the rank of captain in the U.S. Army Reserve;
Whereas in 1972, Bob Anthony served as a staff economist for the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1976 as a consultant to the U.S. Library of
Congress;
Whereas from 1979 to 1980, Bob Anthony served on the Oklahoma City Council as a Ward 2 Councilman and then as vice mayor;
Whereas in 1980, at age thirty-two, Bob Anthony became president of C.R. Anthony Company retail stores, then the largest privately-owned firm headquartered in Oklahoma;
Whereas in 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation honored Bob Anthony with its highest award given to a citizen who “at great personal sacrifice, has unselfishly served his community and the nation;”
Whereas Bob Anthony was a courageous regulator who promoted openness, transparency, and accountability at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission; and
Whereas Bob Anthony served with honor and integrity; now therefore be it Resolved that the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners, convened at its 2025 Winter Policy Summit in Washington, DC, congratulates Commissioner Emeritus Bob Anthony on his tenure at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and thanks him for
his leadership, vision, and dedication to public service.”
______________________________
Passed the Committees on Gas on February 25, 2025
Adopted by the NARUC Board of Directors on February 26, 2025

Commissioners Kim David, Todd Hiett and Brian Bingman weren’t the only commission representatives or employees registered for the event. Five other employees were also on the list and registered to attend the Feb. 23-26 summit.

It was at previous NARUC meetings where some of the allegations of public drunkenness involving Commissioner Hiett arose.

Those registered to attend from Oklahoma included: