Corporation Commissioner Asks State Supreme Court To Muzzle Fellow Commissioner As Investigation Continues

Allegations against Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett were once again front and center at Tuesday’s commission meeting, however, the controversy is now extending beyond the commission in new court documents.

In documents filed Monday, Hiett asks the Oklahoma State Supreme Court to muzzle fellow commissioner Bob Anthony from interfering with an ongoing investigation.

Hiett slammed Anthony and “the raging manifesto of one commissioner with a personal vendetta,” at last week’s commission meeting.

Anothny called the ongoing personnel investigation “ridiculous,” adding, “If we are going to take this matter seriously, we are in a crisis mode.”

The investigation comes after a Minnesota Industry conference where two people reported Hiett had drunkenly groped a man who regularly appears before Oklahoma regulators.

“How can you have us looking at one of these attorneys knowing one of us has sexually assaulted a lawyer representing that firm, and this isn’t a hypothetical,” Anthony said.

The legal hot potato as to who should investigate that, and any other claims landed on the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office taking any criminal complaints while an outside Oklahoma City law firm handles the personnel investigation.

Anthony has called the investigation “illegitimate” and a “sham” arguing a law enforcement agency like the FBI or district attorney’s office should investigate.

Hiett is asking the state’s high court to “prohibit Anthony from any further efforts, whether public or private, to taint, derail or impair the independent, fair and impartial investigation.”

“I am truly sorry we have to consume the public’s time on this because of my alcohol dependency and recent years,” Hiett said at the meeting. “But the commission should take account Commissioner Anthony’s, record of bitter and vengeful dissatisfaction while charting it’s pathway forward.” 

Anthony has called on Hiett to resign. Hiett said he plans to continue his work as he receives treatment for alcohol abuse.