• Lawmakers pick leader for fiscal transparency office,

A legislative committee on Friday hired a former lobbyist and legislator to run a new state entity devoted to creating more transparency in state spending.

The Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency Oversight Committee, made up of House and Senate members, hired former State Chamber of Oklahoma lobbyist Mike Jackson to serve as the entity' s inaugural director.

Jackson, who joined the Chamber in 2014, terminated his state lobbyist registration Wednesday.

A former Republican legislator from Enid, Jackson served in the Oklahoma House for a decade, including a two-year stint as speaker pro tempore.

He declined to file for reelection in 2014.

It was not immediately clear Friday how much he will be paid as the salary will be set by Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, and House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Roger Thompson, R-Okemah, said the salary will be in line with what is paid to state auditors.

A salary range of $115,000$124,000 annually was given at the meeting.

“The Legislature is incredibly focused on ensuring transparency and accountability in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars and LOFT (Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency) will greatly aid in our efforts,” McCall said. “As a former legislator, Mike Jackson understands how our government works— and sometimes doesn't work — and knows the right questions to ask as we track the expenditure of taxpayer dollars

Jackson's appointment was approved on a partyline vote of 9-4. Legislative Democrats, who said they found out that on Thursday Jackson was likely to be tapped for the position, criticized the process as not being transparent.

The members of the oversight committee were asked in the fall to review a stack of applications for the position. Jackson, who was recommended for the position by McCall and Treat, was not one of the original applicants.

In a joint statement, the four Democrats — Sens. Julia Kirt and Michael Brooks and Reps. Cyndi Munson and

Meloyde Blancett — on the committee said the work of LOFT and the oversight committee needs to be conducted with more openness and accountability.

“There should have been a more transparent process for hiring the director of a new taxpayer-funded office launched to focus on transparency,” they said. “The candidate selected was not one of the original applicants for the position. As members of the LOFT Oversight Committee, we were previously told we would have input in the vetting of candidates for the director position and on who was selected after the interview process. That is not what happened.”

Republican members of the committee praised Jackson as talented and a known quantity.

“One of the things I'm sold about him is he knows this building well and he knows the process of this building and for this particular office, we need someone like that," said Thompson, who started talking to Jackson in January about the job. Jackson will start immediately. He will be able to hire a staff to assist his work.

Legislative budget writers already have Jackson's first assignments.

They want Jackson to create a multiyear outlook for the office and look into how federal CARES Act funds are being doled out by Gov. Kevin Stitt's administration.

Legislators have increasingly asked for more transparency on how Stitt plans to spend up to nearly $800 million in stimulus funds used to help the state through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The thing is, I don't know how that money is being spent right now,” Thompson said.

Asked about legislators' statements about wanting more transparency on the CARES Act funding, Stitt said he's all about state audits.

He pointed to audits he requested of the state Medicaid rolls and the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.

But Stitt questioned the timing, saying Oklahoma is still in the middle of a pandemic and his team is working to acquire protective gear for health care workers and first responders.

"There will be plenty of time to audit," he said. "I've actually stood up a very robust tracking system so every single penny is tracked in this, but we're right in the middle of this pandemic."