Former Senate leader seeks statewide office
The former leader of the Oklahoma Senate is running for a seat on the Corporation Commission.
Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, said Tuesday the commission could use some new blood in handling the broad swath of Oklahoma’s economy that it regulates.
The Corporation Commission has oversight of several industrial, transport and utility industries.
It also regulates drilling and has had a frontrow seat to the state’s earthquake epidemic, ordering changes to wastewater injection wells when seismic activity picks up.
“Every residence in the state of Oklahoma has a connection to the Corporation Commission,” Bingman said.
Bingman, 63, finished his last Senate term in 2016, serving as president pro tempore.
For nearly the past four decades, he has also worked in the oil and gas industry.
He now serves as a land management executive for Upland Resources.
The commission has been bogged down, he said, leaving consumers waiting for orders in cases brought before the state agency.
“I think they would welcome a fresh set of eyes,” he said.
Bingman is running for the seat now held by Commissioner Bob Anthony, who has been on the commission since 1988.
Commissioner Dana Murphy is running for lieutenant governor. If she wins, the governor would appoint someone to fill her unexpired sixyear term.