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. Shawn, statewide elected officials in Oklahoma will be getting a pay raise after next November's general election. A new commission created by the legislature earlier this year made the decision at its first meeting. What did they decide to do and why did they think it was necessary to do it now?
Shawn Ashley: The commission voted to increase statewide elected official salaries by a total of about $500 million. But that number is a little deceiving because the salaries were set individually. There was no across the board pay increase. The board gave the governor the smallest percentage in dollar increase, 5.4% and $8,000, while the superintendent of public instruction received a 101% increase of more than $125,000 per year. Under the new scheme, the labor commissioner's salary will remain the lowest, now at $135,000 annually. And the superintendent of public instruction’s annual salary is the highest at $250,000 per year. The governor - whose salary was the highest before - will now be about in the middle.
Now procedurally, they had to do it now because the commission only meets in odd-numbered years. Commissioner Chip Carter seemed to express the members’ sentiment about the current salaries. He said, “I'm embarrassed and ashamed in Oklahoma that we have not compensated our officials better than we have.”
Dick Pryor: Who is on this new commission?
Shawn Ashley: Carter is one of five members appointed by the governor. The governor's other appointees include Jennifer Miller, Robert DeNegri, and Scott Douglas, who chairs the commission. The Senate President Pro Tem and House Speaker each appoint two members. They include Gary Unruh, Jeff Baumann, Matt Tilly, and James Leewright, a former state senator. Each represents a different segment of the state, such as education, media, the nonprofit sector, agriculture, among others.
Dick Pryor: Those are the same people who serve on a separate board that met the same day and decided not to raise legislator pay. Why did the board decide that way?
Shawn Ashley: At its meeting Tuesday, the board voted not to reconsider its October 21st decision not to increase legislators' base pay. During that October meeting, DeNegri noted Oklahoma lawmaker salaries were at or above those of neighboring states. And so the motion to leave legislators' base pay unchanged passed six to three.
Dick Pryor: So, what is legislator pay now in Oklahoma?
Shawn Ashley: Base pay for legislators is $47,500 annually. Legislators who live more than 50 miles from the Capitol, about two thirds in each chamber, receive per diem for each legislative day. During the 2025 session, that was just over $13,320 per member. They also receive a benefits package comparable to state employees of just over $8,700 dollars and retirement contributions totaling $3,325. Combined, that's nearly $73,000 annually for those who live more than 50 miles from the capitol and about $60,000 if they live less than 50 miles away.
Dick Pryor: All right, thanks for that. Governor Kevin Stitt has appointed a special prosecutor to prosecute certain hunting crimes. It's the second time this year the governor has appointed a special prosecutor, but the underlying situations are very different.
Shawn Ashley: Yeah, that's right. In May, Governor Stitt appointed attorney Robert McCampbell special counsel to conduct a full independent investigation into the financially troubled Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. He gave McCampbell authority to investigate potential abuse, waste, mismanagement and fraud, allegedly uncovered by then commissioner Ali Friesen. On Thursday, Stitt named Russ Cochran, a former assistant district attorney for Lincoln and Pottawatomie counties and former general counsel for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics as a special prosecutor for hunting related crimes, particularly in eastern Oklahoma.
Dick Pryor: So, what was the rationale given for this, this latest appointment, and is there more to the story?
Shawn Ashley: Stitt said Thursday, state and federal courts have been clear: the state of Oklahoma can prosecute Indians who commit non-major crimes in our state. But of course, there is more to the story. This involves questions about tribal sovereignty, specifically whether tribal members need a state license to hunt within their traditional reservations. And that goes back to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the McGirt case and whether it applies to the state's civil and regulatory laws. The Oklahoma Supreme Court refused to extend McGirt to those areas in July. The case involved there is now being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. And if they take up the case, it might perhaps answer that question once and for all.
Dick Pryor: Thank you, Shawn.
Shawn Ashley: You’re very welcome.
Dick Pryor: For more information, go to quorumcall.online. You can find video of Capitol Insider segments on the KGOU You Tube channel. Audio and transcripts are 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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