Gov. Stitt: ongoing fleet modernization effort has saved $5M+, turned in 572 underutilized vehicles so far

GOVERNOR STITT PROVIDES UPDATE ON ONGOING FLEET MODERNIZATION INITIATIVE

OKLAHOMA CITY (July 21, 2023) - Governor Stitt and the Office of Management and Enterprise Services provided an update today on the ongoing state fleet modernization initiative previously announced in February.

To date, agencies have turned in a total of 572 underutilized vehicles, saving Oklahoma taxpayers an estimated $5.15 million. Additionally, Geotab trackers have been installed in 3,200 out of 10,500 vehicles statewide.

As conservative policies advance, people are moving to Oklahoma

AS CONSERVATIVE POLICIES ADVANCE, PEOPLE ARE MOVING TO OKLAHOMA

By Ray Carter (February 3, 2023) | During Gov. Kevin Stitt’s first term in office, he cut taxes, expanded school choice, restrained government growth to build up record state savings, and imposed COVID restrictions that were far more limited in scope and duration than those in many states.

Today, Stitt is calling for more tax cuts and wants to expand school choice so all families can use tax funds for any school, including private schools.

Stitt’s critics have decried those policy choices. But new data show that citizens across the country have reached their own verdict: Many now see Oklahoma as a place they want to live.

1889 Institute: What GameStop can teach us about Good Governance

What GameStop Can Teach Us about Good Governance

by Mike Davis (1889 Institute)

The law doesn’t govern most interactions. Everyone gets in line at the grocer; that’s what we’ve always done. We rely on unwritten rules of fair play, trusting they will be observed. What happens when we rewrite those rules? Escalating rule-changing that makes everybody worse-off. The recent kerfuffle with GameStop is illustrative, and it should serve as a warning to those willing to erode governmental traditions for short term wins.

Robinhood, a website that lets users trade stocks without a per-trade fee, froze its trading of GameStop and other highly-volatile stocks. The everyman Robinhood traders were locked out, while elites still had access through traditional hedge funds. Outrage was swift, and Robinhood reversed its decision.

But these actions didn’t happen in a vacuum: GameStop was volatile because of a targeted attack– a short squeeze. Many hedge funds were short-selling GameStop and other stocks that have been hit hard by lockdowns. Short selling, in very simple terms, is a bet that the price of a stock will go down. If it does, the short-seller makes money. If it goes up, they lose money. A group of Robinhood traders bought shares of GameStop, driving up the price. Hedge funds lost billions of dollars. Traditional brokerages seemingly have a justifiable bone to pick. But do they?

Stitt issues four executive orders, including sale of private plane for Governor

GOVERNOR KEVIN STITT ANNOUNCES FIRST EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Oklahoma City, Okla. (January 24, 2019) – Governor Kevin Stitt announced today four new executive orders that focus on increasing transparency, accountability, and efficiency in state government.

“My commitment is to get to the bottom of every dollar spent by state government and ensure every hard-earned tax dollar matches the mission and values of Oklahomans,” said Gov. Stitt. “These executive orders will help us achieve my administration’s mission through the restructuring of the governor’s cabinet, enforcing transparency on the use of contract lobbyists by state agencies, and giving agency leaders more flexibility to restructure staff within the confines of their budgets.”

The executive orders issued by Gov. Stitt are as follows:

Cabinet Executive Order: Gov. Stitt’s first executive order creates his administration’s official cabinet and assigns various agencies, commissions and boards to each cabinet secretary. The cabinet will consist of 15 positions, with a few operating in a volunteer capacity.

Changes made to the cabinet structure include:

• The Secretary of Finance is now divided into three positions focused on agency accountability, transparency, and modernization. The responsibilities of this role will now be spread across the following titles: Secretary of Agency Accountability, Secretary of Budget, and Secretary of Digital Transformation and Administration.
• The Secretary of Health and Human Services is now divided into two positions. The Stitt administration will have a Secretary of Health and Mental Health and a Secretary of Human Services and Early Childhood Initiatives.
• The Secretary of Education will be rolled into the Secretary of State’s title so that this cabinet position can focus on the holistic picture of education while pursuing a collaborative relationship with the elected State Superintendent.
• The Secretary of Tourism and Commerce position is now divided into two secretaries, with Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell serving on the cabinet as Secretary of Tourism and Branding and with a second cabinet position created that couples workforce development with job recruitment under the Secretary of Commerce and Workforce Development.

Agency Transparency on Contract Lobbyists Executive Order: After learning that information is not readily available or accessible around contracts state agencies are entering into with outside lobbyists, Gov. Stitt formed this executive order to require all agencies, boards and commissions to submit a list of every contract lobbyist hired and the amount of each contract. He has requested this information for any contracts from 2015 to the present day. While documents are being produced, this executive order places a freeze on agencies, board, and commissions from entering into new contracts with outside lobbyists or extending current contract agreements.

Agency Employee Reform Executive Order: This executive order maintains the hiring freeze on state employees as it pertains to classified positions. However, the executive order lifts the hiring freeze on unclassified positions in agencies so long as agencies remain within their budgets.

This order reduces excessive paperwork and gives agency leaders flexibility to reform and modernize their workforce to meet the current mission of agencies to deliver core services and to anticipate future needs.

The order on classified employees remains in effect due to the difficulty to dissolve these positions no matter how outdated the practice or how unnecessary the function the position services. While some classified positions may be necessary in the future, Gov. Stitt is first asking his cabinet secretaries to focus on a full review of their agency, boards, and commissions to help identify needs for each entity to deliver services effectively and efficiently.

Selling the State’s Private Plane Servicing the Governor Executive Order: Under this executive order, Gov. Stitt instructs the Commissioner of Public Safety to sell the King Air, a private plane servicing the governor. The governor will continue to travel the state and will be reviewing more cost-efficient ways to get out to communities in all 77 counties.

A Time for Action

With the new gains in the State House and State Senate last night, Republicans now have an iron grip on the state legislature. The GOP holds 70 of 101 seats in the House, and 32 of 48 seats in the Senate.

Control of the legislature has been transitioning to the Republicans over the past decade, but last night the GOP hit the gas pedal. Democrats now cannot stop any procedure without Republicans joining them. In addition, every statewide office is now held by a Republican.

This means that the GOP is in total control of policy-setting from inception to implementation. This also means that the GOP has no one to blame for failure to follow conservative ideals.

The time has come to stop talking about reforming Oklahoma government; now is the time for action. And let's start with a new House Appropriations & Budget chairman.

I call on incoming Speaker of the House Kris Steele to appoint State Rep. Mike Reynolds as the 2011-2012 Appropriations & Budget Committee chairman.

No one in the State House knows as much about the appropriations process as Mike Reynolds does, and no one is as good a choice for reforming the way things are done. He owes no one, and is not afraid to step on toes to get things accomplished - two valuable traits when it comes to reform.

Reynolds is not owned by any special interest group, or any firm of political consultants. He will be a reformer that will make Oklahoma's budget process much more open, transparent, and accessible - for legislative members and the public alike. Currently, the budget process is decided by a tiny handful of people - the average legislator knows next to nothing about the budget numbers until the actual budget is revealed from behind closed doors. Under the current arrangement, our elected representatives have nothing to do except vote up or down on the final version; they have extremely little to no input on the budget. This must change.

Mr. Speaker, do you want to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse in Oklahoma's budget? A&B Chairman Mike Reynolds, together with State Auditor Gary Jones, will be the best team to accomplish that. Do you really believe that less government means more freedom? A&B Chairman Mike Reynolds will work toward that goal more so than anyone else in that position would. Do you want an A&B Chairman who is not controlled by consultants, lobbyists, unions or other special interest groups? Do you want an A&B Chairman who will stand resolute against corruption, and will expose and end the waste, fraud and abuse that we know exists in our budget? Do you want an A&B Chairman who will resist the all-too-common urge to grow government, and will instead seek to restrain it? If so, State Rep. Mike Reynolds is your man.

Will it make you popular with the powers-that-be who always seek to influence Oklahoma government? No. Will it make you popular with the political consultants who have run the show for years? No. Will it make you popular with bureaucrats and lobbyists? No.

Mr. Speaker, if you truly wish to really reform Oklahoma government… if you want to end the ‘good ole boy’ budget process… if you desire to advance conservatism, then Oklahoma needs you to appoint Mike Reynolds as chairman of the Appropriations & Budget Committee.

The Conservative View: Role Models

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner and conservative activist Russell Turner (R-Stilwell).

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Role Models

We Americans have become a nation of whiners and complainers. All anyone has to do is to visit the local coffee shop and set down and listen for a while, invariably someone will bring up the subject of politics and start to complain about the way our government is run. I have often thought that if our people were really serious about having good government, none of us would have to put up bad government for more than four years. Most of our elected officials are on a two or four year term of office. If an elected official mismanages funds or is corrupt, he or she can be voted out in the next election cycle. Sadly I have noticed that far too many of our citizens are more concerned about what is good for them and not what it good for our country.

For our government to be efficient and fair we citizens must also be fair and efficient. When our country was founded James Madison, the Father of the US Constitution and the 4th US President, made an observation that all of us need to reflect upon. He said, "But I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks--no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them."

I know that it is human nature for all of us to take care of our needs first, but we also need to realize that our country was founded by men that believed all men are equal and deserve equal protection and representation. Anytime bad spending legislation is passed there is someone somewhere that will benefit from it. When any of us ask for special favors from government that are not available to everyone it is nothing short of corruption. It is easy for us to demand that our elected officials be role models to the citizens, but I believe that it is us, the average citizen, that should be the role model to the ones we elect.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.