Cockroft says he’ll rescind subpoenas
The lengthy subpoenas issued to top executive branch officials is an obvious hostile swipe at Gov. Mary Fallin’s administration, one of the governor’s longtime advisers said Friday.
Preston Doerflinger, who is one of three officials issued a subpoena by the Oklahoma House Investigation Committee, was Fallin’s chief budget adviser, led the Office of Management and Enterprise Services for nearly all of her time in office so far and was recently tapped by the governor to lead the Oklahoma State Department of Health after its former commissioner resigned.
"I believe that God and everyone knows exactly what that's about. And I think everyone can see it for what it is," said Doerflinger. "It's odd to me the first three people who were subpoenaed are not directly related to the purpose of the investigative committee."
The House committee was formed primarily to investigate allegations that the Health Department mismanaged funds for years. Office of Management and Enterprise Services Acting Director Denise Northrup and Fallin's chief of staff, Chris Benge, also received a request for detailed records.
Committee Chair Josh Cockroft, R-Wanette, said late Friday that he would withdraw the subpoenas because all of the subjects were willing to cooperate.
"They assured us there is no need for a subpoena and they are each willing to appear before the committee to provide answers to our questions as early as the end of next week," Cockroft wrote in a statement distributed after a version of this story was published online.
Fallin said late Friday that all officials in the executive branch and agencies are "happy to voluntarily assist" the House inquiry.
“My office wants full transparency on what caused the serious financial issues at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. On Oct. 30, I brought together the fiscal staff of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, the state attorney general’s office and the office of the state auditor and inspector to look into the matter to immediately investigate and bring forth clarity to the situation, and offer solutions to ensure proper fiscal management of the Department of Health. Legislative leaders have been briefed about the situation.
She encouraged the House panel to confer with the attorney general and the state auditor and inspector who are also looking into the Health Department.
“I am pleased this matter could be resolved professionally and amicably. This will bring all of us to focus and exert our energy and attention on developing a long-term, predictable solution to fix our budget, fund core services, and provide a teacher pay raise.”
Only part of the requests issued by the House ask for Health Department records; the committee also wants to investigate state agency involvement in state Capitol rallies and what led up to the governor's veto of the special session budget bill.
Relations between the House and executive branch have been chilly, especially since the veto two weeks ago. House leadership walked out of a meeting in the last week of special session believing the governor would sign the bill that filled most of the $215 million budget shortfall with a combination of cash and cuts.
House lawmakers were also frustrated by reports that agencies would have to cut services after weeks of legislative inaction. Specifically, state Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Oklahoma City, questioned an Oklahoma Health Care Authority budget plan that would have cut nursing home reimbursement rates if legislators didn't find a way to put $70 million back into the agency.
"We have some people right outside the hall here that are saying, 'Don’t make me homeless because I’m old,'" Calvey said during debate on a bill last month that would specifically prohibit those kinds of cuts. "A vote no on this bill is a vote to allow people like those good people out there to be used as a bargaining chip to extort votes out of the Legislature. When they’re talking about kicking vulnerable people out, that’s a tiny, tiny fraction of the Legislative budget."
While the governor vetoed most of the funding sources in the budget bill, she kept portions that sent funds to the three health care agencies most affected by the loss of revenue from an unconstitutional cigarette fee struck down in August.
An OMES spokeswoman said the department is working with staff to collect records and comply with the subpoena. Fallin said her office would first have to determine whether providing the records asked of Benge would interfere with investigations at the state Health Department.
Doerflinger said he is assembling documents requested by the committee.
"I also have interacted and consulted with my long-term personal attorney, and we'll figure out how we approach our interaction with this investigative committee," he said.
A spokesman for House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, deferred questions to Cockroft.