Mark McBride is a former Republican Representative from Moore. He's asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to step in and stop State Question 848, which Stitt unilaterally placed on a ballot in April next year.
In his petition, McBride argues the governor has no right to call a special election asking voters if they want to launch a convention to alter the state constitution.
"I think surely they know his decision, or what he did, can't stand," McBride said. "I mean, it's the legislative process that he's overstepping using his authority, which he does not have the authority to do."
He is seeking a declaration from the State Supreme Court that Stitt's move was illegal, and a stop to next year's special election. And representing him in the litigation is constitutional attorney Bob Burke and lawyers from several heavyweight law firms in Oklahoma City, including Whitten Burrage, Buxton Law Group and McGuire Law Firm.
McBride, who said he supports having a constitutional convention himself, doesn't buy Stitt's case for having the authority to put one on the ballot himself, calling it a ploy by the governor to capture headlines on his way out of office.
"I think Governor Stitt is looking for any kind of headline he can get right now," he said. "He's got a few more months left in his term. And I think, well, he just kind of latched on to this."
McBride's issue is with the governor overstepping his power, not the possibility of a convention down the road.
"He's encumbering a future legislature by setting a date for this," he said. "And I just don't get it. I think he should have just stayed out of this deal and let it fall as it may, because I think the legislature is going to do something. They worked on it last year."
Stitt is also unlawfully spending taxpayer money, according to the petition.
"Taxpayers have a legal right to the lawful appropriation and expenditure of public funds," The petition reads. "The Supreme Court held in Thomas v. Henry…resident taxpayers have standing to challenge the constitutionality of non-fiscal/non-appropriation bills if there is a sufficient involvement of public funds such that implementing and enforcing the challenged act could result in the wrongful expenditure of public funds."
McBride said when Stitt ordered the Oklahoma Secretary of State and the State Election Board to begin planning an election before lawmakers got the chance to organize a constitutional convention, he chose to approve spending tax money on an unlawful mandate.
Legislative leaders House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, and Senate Pro Temp Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, share their former colleague's concerns. Neither of them has publicly called Stitt's order and proclamation outright illegal. The State Attorney General Gentner Drummond, however, has.
Spokesperson for Stitt's office Tevis Hillis said late last month that the legislature's role in calling a constitutional convention is not being circumvented, saying lawmakers are "still in the driver's seat" when it comes to how a convention is organized.
In a statement provided after publication, Hillis reaffirmed the governor's position.
"The Constitution is clear," Hillis said. "At least every 20 years, Oklahomans are to be given the opportunity to vote on whether or not the State has a Constitutional Convention.
"It's been 56 years since we've had the opportunity to make this choice. Governor Stitt acted to fulfill this obligation to the people."
