TRANSCRIPT
Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider - taking you inside politics, policy and government in Oklahoma. I'm Dick Pryor with Quorum Call publisher Shawn Ashley. In legislative races, this has been a surprisingly bad year for incumbents. We saw that again on Tuesday in the Oklahoma primary runoff election. Three incumbent legislators were on the ballot and all three lost. Shawn, the most stunning upset was in House District 32, where House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Kevin Wallace of Wellston lost to Jim Shaw in the Republican runoff. Wallace won that seat five times. He was running for his sixth and final two-year term. A stunning loss, but given what we have seen this year, not entirely surprising.
Shawn Ashley: Not at all. And let's remember in June we saw Senator Greg McCortney, the current Senate Majority Floor Leader and the man picked by the Senate Republican caucus to be the Senate President Pro Tem, the highest-ranking position in the Senate, lose in the primary election. Two other incumbent senators also lost their bids for reelection that day, along with one incumbent member of the House. Now, those aren't particularly big numbers, but they are big titles, and that is what makes this very unusual this year. And it looks like anything can happen.
Dick Pryor: The A and B chair is a highly influential position that takes years to learn. With Wallace out, is anyone in the Republican majority prepared to jump into that powerful role?
Shawn Ashley: That's not entirely clear. Wallace served as chair of the committee for four years, but he has had a series of vice chairs during that time. Representative Trey Caldwell, the committee's current vice chair, was just appointed to that position in December, and he missed several weeks of this year's budget negotiations after his wife gave birth in April. So, he really doesn't have much experience. It will be up to the new speaker, Representative Kyle Hilbert, who is one of Wallace's former vice chairs, to decide who fills that role.
Dick Pryor: There was more agency head churn in state government over the last several days. One especially notable development was the resignation of Dr. Deborah Shropshire as director of the Department of Human Services. She was director for just about a year and a half after serving at DHS for ten years. What does her impending departure do to the agency?
Shawn Ashley: Well, first of all, the DHS is losing all of Dr. Shropshire's institutional knowledge during her ten years with the agency. She served as director of child welfare, deputy director of community partnerships and medical director. That's a lot of knowledge and experience that will be leaving the agency on September 13th. Now, state statutes don't provide for a line of succession at most state agencies. That means a particular agency's governing board has to hire a new director, like the Ethics Commission and the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs did earlier this year, or the governor has to appoint a replacement. DHS is one of several agencies where the governor appoints the director. On Wednesday, Stitt named Jeffrey Cartmell the new DHS director. Cartmell previously served as deputy general counsel to then-Governor Murray Fallin and has held several positions in Stitt’s administration. Currently, he is the executive director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs.
Dick Pryor: Other agencies are also seeing changes in leadership as directors rotate, as you say, from one department to another. That seems to be happening more.
Shawn Ashley: Yes, it does. Stitt will have to find a replacement for Cartmell at the Office of Juvenile Affairs. Katie DeMuth, who has been serving as interim director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services since June when John Sutter resigned, will join Cartmell at DHS. On Wednesday, Stitt also named Rick Rose, who was House Speaker Charles McCall's chief of staff and special counsel, to be the new OMES director. Cartmell, Rose and Stitt’s eventual appointee to lead OJA are all subject to Senate approval, and that can be an issue. The Senate voted down two of Stitt’s cabinet appointees in 2023 and failed to take up a number of his cabinet and agency appointments.during this year's regular session. Stitt said, “that often makes it hard to find people willing to serve.” And then he is also entering his final two years of his administration, which may make it that much harder to find appointees.
Dick Pryor: In an election year, politics picks up after Labor Day. It becomes an especially busy time for lawmakers.
Shawn Ashley: Yeah, we usually say the legislative session ends in May, but in August, September and October, committees hold interim studies on topics requested by lawmakers, while at the same time incumbents are out trying to campaign. So, they'll be splitting their time between their districts and meeting with constituents and knocking on doors and hearing studies in committee hearings at the state Capitol.
Dick Pryor: All right. Thank you, Shawn.
Shawn Ashley: You're very welcome.
Dick Pryor: For more information, go to quorumcall.online. You can find audio and transcripts at kgou.org and look for Capitol Insider where you get podcasts. Until next time, with Shawn Ashley, I'm Dick Pryor.
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