Democratic members of Legislative Office for Fiscal Transparency protest lack of transparency in hiring of executive director

Statement on Hiring of Executive Director for LOFT

OKLAHOMA CITY – The following statement was issued by the Democratic members of the Legislative Oversight for Fiscal Transparency (LOFT), Sen. Julia Kirt, Sen. Michael Brooks, Rep. Cyndi Munson, and Rep. Meloyde Blancett:

“We are disappointed by the process used to hire the new director of the Legislative Office for Fiscal Transparency (LOFT). The objective of the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency was to provide openness and transparency.  This vote today to hire a director and the process by which this was brought forth was nothing close to transparent, which begs the question of how effective LOFT will  be if this is the way we conduct our actions.

There should have been a more transparent process for hiring the director of a new taxpayer-funded office launched to focus on transparency. The candidate selected was not one of the original applicants for the position. As members of the LOFT Oversight Committee, we were previously told we would have input in the vetting of candidates for the director position and on who was selected after the interview process. That is not what happened. Moving forward, the work of LOFT and the LOFT Oversight committee must be conducted with more openness, public participation and accountability."