Change alarms Ethics Commission
The State Ethics Commission expressed alarm Friday that there is a movement afoot by some members of the Legislature to make powerless the watchdog group authorized by a vote of the people.
Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, informed commissioners that he had discovered a clause slipped into an ethics measure earlier that would take away the power of the commission to name its own director "whose duties will be defined by the Legislature."
Reynolds told the commission that he learned it was former House Speaker Lance Cargill who requested the language that the lawmaker said would "destroy the commission."
Cargill, who stepped aside as speaker in late January after news reports about his tax problems, has been the subject of an ethics commission probe due to questionable activities when he headed the House Political Action Committee.
The commission applauded Reynolds for bringing the information to their attention. Commissioner Don Bingham asked those who wanted such a measure put into law to publicly state why they wanted legislation that apparently would weaken the commission, which monitors political campaigns for irregularities.
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