Oklahoma governor renames cabinet secretaries after dust up

Transportation Secretary Tim Gatz participates in an Oklahoma Turnpike Authority meeting. (Photo by Carmen Forman/Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY – After losing a public battle over cabinet secretaries, Gov. Kevin Stitt quietly renamed them “chief advisors.”

He’s since reinstated his former transportation cabinet secretary as one of his “advisors.”

It wasn’t clear Friday though if the name change is enough to circumvent a May court ruling that found that cabinet secretaries can’t serve in other state leadership roles.

 “The Governor began to consider making this change when it became clear that a certain public official was increasingly interested in targeting public servants for political purposes,” said Meyer Siegfried, Stitt’s spokesperson.

Siegfried did not specify which public official he was referring. 

Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman, have both questioned Stitt’s appointments of state officials who work in other capacities.

The name change was first reported by QuorumCall, a subscription-based, online news and bill  tracking service.

After Drummond on Feb. 28 issued an opinion saying members of Stitt’s cabinet couldn’t hold dual offices, Tim Gatz and Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell resigned from their cabinet posts. 

Gatz had been transportation secretary. He retained his role as head of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, but quit as head of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.

Pinnell had been workforce development secretary.

On March 7, Stitt and three of his cabinet secretaries sued Drummond. Secretary of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage Shelley Zumwalt later removed her name as cabinet secretary and from the suit, leaving Blayne Arthur and Dr. Deborah Shropshire as plaintiffs. 

Zumwalt is executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation.

Arthur was serving as agriculture secretary and remains head of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. Shropshire is head of the Department of Human Services, but did not get confirmed as human services secretary.

In a May 31 order, Oklahoma County District Judge Richard C. Ogden wrote “Cabinet Secretaries are office holders or officers of the state of Oklahoma and are not excepted from the dual office holding prohibition under law.”

Stitt vowed to appeal and renamed his cabinet secretaries chief advisors.     

Gatz returned as chief transportation advisor.

Siegfried said Stitt’s decision to change the name “was further solidified when the Senate chose to abdicate its duties to provide advice and consent to the Governor’s nominations and not even hold hearings on two of his cabinet nominations this session.”

Siegfried said he did not know if the advisors were paid or how much.

Drummond’s office on Friday did not respond to a question concerning whether the title change satisfied his dual office-holding concerns.

“The response from our office is that we are pleased with the judge’s ruling and we look forward to defending it on appeal,” said Leslie Berger, a spokesperson.

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