Todd Hiett Removed As Chairman Of Corporation Commission

Todd Hiett has been removed as Chairman of Corporation Commission following new allegations.

According to a press release from Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony, Wednesday the Oklahoma Corporation Commission voted to replace Commissioner Todd Hiettt as chairman of the Commission, giving the position immediately to Commissioner Kim David. Hiett faces allegations of sexual assault against the employee of a regulated company while in Minnesota in June at a conference on official commission business.  Anthony has called for Hiett to resign, but Hiett has refused

At the Commission's meeting on July 31, immediately after the sexual misconduct allegations were made public, David did not join Anthony’s call for Hiett’s resignation. David said she favored an independent investigation of the incident.

At the Wednesday meeting, Anthony learned that David had already been working with the commission’s director of administration, Brandy Wreath, to hire an investigator from a hand-picked list of people suggested by OMES and the Attorney General’s office

Anthony questioned whether a process to hire an independent investigator to investigate wrongdoing at the agency, that was led by the agency’s own director of administration with the assistance of the Attorney General (who is a party to cases at the commission), could actually be independent. David promised to keep Anthony better informed about the process going forward. No vote authorizing any kind of investigation was taken.A proposal by Anthony that the Commission immediately suspend destruction or deletion of any agency records for 12 months also met with resistance from David and a commission attorney, so no action was taken on that item either.

When Anthony’s proposed parameters for the independent investigation were not even discussed, and the meeting prepared to move on, Anthony announced he would launch his own inquiry. 

Wednesday, Anthony filed a Notice of Inquiry/Examination/Inspection “of past corruption and improper conduct involving the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, its staff and individual commissioners.” The wording was exactly the same as a 1996 Notice of Inquiry Anthony filed to examine the consequences of public corruption at the Commission after an OCC commissioner and the agency’s former general counsel were convicted of bribery and sent to federal prison

Anthony issued the following statement after Wednesday’s OCC meeting:

"My position has not changed. Commissioner Hiett’s alleged sexual assault against the attorney of a company that appears before this commission is also an assault on this commission. 

The only possible remedy to our compromised constitutional legitimacy and judicial integrity is for Commissioner Hiett to resign. It is completely unethical and unacceptable for him to continue to vote on cases impacting the employer of his victim and/or witnesses, as he did last week. Frankly, it is completely unacceptable for him to continue to occupy a seat on this Commission period.

As long as he refuses to resign, the Corporation Commission has an obligation to do everything in its power to limit the further damage Hiett is able to inflict on this agency. Removing him as chairman was an important and necessary first step. Replacing him as the OCC’s representative to the Southwest Power Pool (involving regular travel to out-of-state meetings) was another.

As OCC chairman, Hiett’s office controlled the commission calendar and was partially responsible for prematurely posting an order to approve a multi-million-dollar rate increase for a regulated utility that may have direct knowledge of Hiett’s improper behavior in June. Had a vote been taken on that order today, in my opinion, every party to the case would have grounds to appeal based solely on Hiett’s participation.

Business at the state’s most economically powerful state agency cannot be brought to a standstill while Hiett is investigated or gets “treatment” that cannot solve the integrity and credibility problem at this agency that Hiett has created. 

That said, as long as Hiett refuses to do what is in the best interests of this State and this agency, I will do everything in my power to assure a speedy, thorough, and transparent investigation. It was my hope it would also be independent, professionally led and properly resourced, but if I have to conduct it myself to ensure openness and transparency, I will.

If Hiett needs to be reminded that what happened on June 9 was not an isolated incident, there are people disgusted by his behavior who are ready to step up and help him remember.

House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson has issued a statement following this news saying:

"I am pleased to see Commissioner Todd Hiett stepped down as chairman of the Oklahoma Corporation Commision. This is a step in the right direction. There is still time for him to remove himself entirely and take full accountability for his actions and the harm and danger they have caused others. I once again ask the Governor to issue the call for Special Session and let us begin this work to seek justice and put this situation behind us. Oklahomans deserve answers and action. Oklahomans deserve to know the people in power are committed to keeping them safe and are held to the same standards as everyone else. Commissioner Hiett maintains his work is too important for him to step down entirely. I agree his work is important, which is why he should have thought about that before his harmful behavior"