Attorney General Gentner Drummond made the following remarks after Gov. Stitt’s veto today of Senate Bill 1196. The measure would have provided an exemption allowing two office-holders – specifically, the executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and a member of a governing body of higher education – to simultaneously serve in the Governor’s Cabinet.
SB 1196 emerged after a formal opinion by the Attorney General on Feb. 28 found that an individual may not simultaneously hold more than one “public office.” The opinion noted there are 30 statutory exemptions to the prohibition on dual office-holding.
“I applaud the Legislature for its efforts to provide dual-office exemptions to Secretaries Arthur and Winchester, which is the only appropriate way for one person to legally hold multiple offices,” Drummond said. “The Governor could have approved these exemptions and allowed his appointees to continue serving without any uncertainty regarding their proper status. However, his veto makes clear that he is more interested in pursuing needless litigation than working with policymakers to solve the problem.”
Gov. Stitt filed a lawsuit March 7 challenging the opinion. The matter is currently being litigated in Oklahoma County District Court.
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