Less than a year after Attorney General Gentner Drummond fired an attorney hired by the State Treasurer to defend a lawsuit against Oklahoma’s anti-ESG Act, a State Senate committee approved a measure to give the Treasurer the authority to hire an in-house lawyer.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-0 in support of Sen. Julie Daniels’ SB419 which also included the ability of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, and the Oklahoma Wildlife
Conservation Commission to hire “in-house” attorneys. There was no debate during the Committee meeting.
Sen. Daniels did not offer an explanation of what prompted the bill. But last year, Attorney General Gentner Drummond removed the attorneys hired by Treasurer Todd Russ to defend his office against a lawsuit that challenged Oklahoma’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act of 2022. The firing came after an Oklahoma County Judge ruled against the authority of Russ to enforce the act over ESG policies of financial firms who discriminated against the oil and gas industry.
When questioned whether Treasurer Russ had asked for the measure, Lara Blubaugh, Marketing & Communications with the Treasurer’s Office stated, “The Treasurer is grateful that this unusual and largely unknown aspect of Oklahoma law is being addressed, regardless of how the issue came to the forefront. At this time, the Treasurer has not been asked to participate in any hearings but, as always, he is willing to discuss this or any other matter with the Legislature.”
She said Treasurer Russ agrees there is a distinction between spending “outrageous” sums of public money on private law firms instead of having a full-time state employee for day-to-day operations.
“It appears that this bill is aimed at addressing that distinction.”
At the time the Attorney General removed the attorney hired by Russ, the Treasurer’s office contended it had sought representation by the Attorney General in the lawsuit.
“As recounted many times, the Treasurer originally requested representation from the Attorney General and was refused. He then followed the 20i process and received approval only to have the case forcibly yanked out from under him. Interestingly, the Oklahoma Supreme Court recently noted that the Attorney General “does not possess ‘complete dominion’ over all litigation involving the State or state offices,” ” added Blubaugh.
The approval of the bill in committee comes as Treasurer Russ expands his fight against “so-called woke investing” reported Oklahoma Watch.