Oklahoma formed its Corporation Commission the same year it became a state — 1907. Bob Anthony has served on the commission for nearly one-third of the time since then.
Anthony first took his seat on the commission in 1989. According to his official bio, that makes him the longest-serving statewide elected official in Oklahoma and the longest-serving utilities commissioner in the country. Anthony was only the second Republican elected to the commission, but times have changed — all three commission seats have been held by Republicans since 2009.
After six six-year terms in office, Anthony can’t seek reelection to the Corporation Commission. Oklahoma voters approved a ballot measure in 2010 that limits Corporation Commissioners to two terms. The clock didn’t start ticking for Anthony until he was reelected in 2012.
Three candidates are vying to replace him. Brian Bingman beat two other Republican candidates in the June primaries. Democrat Harold Spradling and Libertarian Chad Williams did not face primary opposition.
The other two seats on the Corporation Commission aren’t up for election this year.
Republican Brian Bingman said he would use a seat on the Corporation Commission to push back against what he calls “attacks on our energy companies and the left’s radical attempt to destroy our industry and livelihoods.”
Bingman is a 70-year-old Muscogee Nation citizen who lives in the Sapulpa area. Before his political career, he worked in the oil and gas industry as a landman.
In the 1990s, Bingman served as city commissioner and mayor of Sapulpa. He then represented the Tulsa area in both chambers of the state legislature. Most recently, Bingman acted as Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Secretary of State and Secretary of Native American Affairs of Oklahoma. He resigned from the cabinet last year to run for Corporation Commission.
Stitt has endorsed Bingman’s candidacy; so have Corporation Commissioners Kim David and Todd Hiett. Hiett’s own role on the commission is in question after he was accused of sexual misconduct involving employees of companies the commission regulates.
Bingman ran for Anthony’s seat in 2018, triggering a primary runoff. Anthony edged Bingman out by about 7% of the vote.
Democrat Harold Spradling also ran for Anthony’s seat in the 2018 election and has run in the two elections for other seats on the commission since then.
The 90-year-old is an ordained minister and a retired licensed professional counselor from southern Oklahoma. According to his website, Spradling considers himself a “pre-Trump conservative” but said he’s affiliated with the Democratic Party because of his beliefs on social equality.
Spradling has also espoused an Anthony-esque belief that Oklahoma utilities should be more closely regulated.
“I’m not against the utilities, but they’re getting free passes too easily,” Spradling told non-profit news outlet Oklahoma Voice earlier this month. “If I were on the Commission I would sometimes vote with them, but not always.”
Libertarian Chad Williams describes himself as a political activist from Choctaw in central Oklahoma. An oilfield worker and former Marine, Williams has served in multiple leadership positions within the Oklahoma Libertarian Party. He also sat on the Choctaw City Council.
According to his statements on a Ballotpedia questionnaire, Williams favors performance-based regulation for utilities. He’d also like to see the Corporation Commission deregulate some of the older technologies under its governance, like cotton gins and landlines.
Williams called the Corporation Commission the most important entity in the state after the governor and the legislature. This is the 43-year-old’s first bid for statewide office.
