By Theodore King

Oklahoma has changed its political affiliation from Democrat to Republican. For a century, Oklahoma was a Democrat state known for its good old boy politicians, most infamously State Senator Gene Stipe who knew how to work the system for his own benefit. But in recent years the state has changed sides, going to the Republicans. As it turns out, Republicans can play the same game for their own benefit just as well as the Democrats.

The Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) is a state agency created in 1935 to manage Grand River in northeastern Oklahoma. GRDA operates a coal-fired plant in Mayes County and three hydroelectric facilities and manages Grand Lake of the Cherokees, Lake Hudson, and the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir.

Upon the resignation of former Democrat State Senator Kevin Easley, who had been executive director, board member Brent LaGere promoted the hiring of State Representative Dan Sullivan (no relation to Cong. John Sullivan) of Tulsa as the new executive director. LaGere is the owner of National American Insurance Company in Grove. LaGere, his associates, and their company's political action committee contributed $12,000 to Sullivan's state House campaigns. Senator Cliff Aldridge (R-Midwest City) also received $12,000 for his campaigns. Sen. Aldridge was the co-chair with Sullivan of a task force to privatize CompuSource, the state's workmen's compensation fund. LaGere worked with Sullivan to get this passed because he wanted to purchase the state workmen's compensation program for his insurance company after it was privatized. Despite Sullivan's and LaGere's efforts, that deal never took place. In addition to the contributions to Sullivan and Aldridge, LaGere and his associates and their PAC contributed $5,000 to then insurance commissioner Kim Holland, a Democrat.

In a story that appeared in the Tulsa World Oct 14, 2011, LaGere said of Sullivan, "He's a leader; he's intelligent; he's been one of the managing partners of his law firm. I think with him we go from having essentially no relationship with the legislature to a good one." The vote to hire Sullivan was not a unanimous decision. GRDA board members LaGere, David Chernicky, Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett, and Greg Grodhaus voted to hire him, and chairman of the GRDA board, Steve Spears; Betty Kerns, a former Democrat lobbyist; and Chris Meyers voted against Sullivan. Kerns complained to the Tulsa World at the time that Sullivan was a politician with no experience in energy, environment, or finance. Sullivan took office December 1, 2011. During his time in the Legislature, Sullivan was one of the more politically moderate Republicans, earning only a 61 percent rating on the Oklahoma Conservative Index.

During the 2012 legislative session, Tulsa area Republican State Representative Weldon Watson authored House Bill 2502, changing GRDA board members' terms to potential lifetime appointments. Prior to Watson's bill, which passed out of the House and Senate and was signed by Governor Mary Fallin, board members could serve only one seven-year term. Now, with Rep. Watson's bill becoming law, board members may serve an unlimited number of terms, if reappointed to the GRDA board. The term of office was shortened from seven years to five. This came at a time when members of the legislature, the governor, and all other state wide elected officials are term limited. Rep. Watson told me that he authored H.B. 2502 because he was on the GRDA task force at the state capitol, and this was a recommended change to make the authority run more efficiently. While there is nothing sinister in Rep. Watson's change, the potential for board members becoming "chummy" with one another after decades on the board is a real possibility.

Recently, the GRDA board, on Bartlett's recommendation, hired the firm of KPMG, of which Terry Simonson is an employee, for a performance audit. According to Jason Alberty, the spokesman for GRDA, this was the first time for GRDA to have such an audit done. GRDA will pay KPMG $223,000 to do this audit. Simonson had been chief of staff for Mayor Jim Inhofe and was chief of staff for Mayor Bartlett. Simonson resigned in September 2011 from his post with Bartlett when it was alleged that Simonson tried to leverage influence with Tulsa fire chief, Allen LaCroix, for his son to have a job with the fire department.

When Terry Simonson ran for mayor of Tulsa in 2002, Dan Sullivan's then wife, Janet, ran Simonson's campaign. Simonson did not win his bid to be mayor of Tulsa and owed Janet Sullivan $4,250, for which Dan Sullivan had to sue Simonson in 2006 on Janet's behalf. The case was settled in 2007. Dan and Janet Sullivan were divorced in 2009.

In May 2012, Dan Sullivan announced that GRDA engineers are going to be moved from the GRDA facility in Pryor to Tulsa, where GRDA is not a provider of electricity. In May, GRDA purchased a 40,000 square foot office complex in east Tulsa for those engineers. There are five of them. Sullivan argued that engineers don't want to work in Pryor. Google maintains a data center in Pryor at the MidAmerica Industrial Park. If Pryor is good enough for Google, isn't Pryor not good enough for GRDA?

It was reported in the Tulsa World, October 11, that three members of the GRDA board balked at paying KPMG $7,315 for travel expenses associated with completion of this audit. Board member Steve Spears said: "I don't really see how we're going to implement this in terms of substantial savings...Most of the things I read ... are actually increasing costs, not decreasing costs."

KPMG's efficiency report was presented to Governor Fallin and key legislators before it was presented to the GRDA board. Board member Groudhaus said the report showed that more than half of GRDA employees commute from Tulsa to GRDA headquarters in Vinita. Is that why GRDA purchased the 40,000 sq. ft. building in Tulsa?

The Grand River Dam Authority under Dan Sullivan is likely to prove to be an interesting saga. Stay tuned.