You can't say we're not a Top 10 state in wacky government performances
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When the Oklahoma Legislature wrapped up its session last year, it was with a note of optimism about the future. A big chunk of the grocery tax had been repealed, our struggling public schools had been given more money with a raise for teachers, and the traditionally secretive process of approving the state's budget had been made a bit more transparent.
This year?
If there are words to describe what went on in the final weeks of this year's session, they would have to include ― Astonishing. Incredible. Unsettling.
What else could you call it when the head of a major state agency, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, goes before a legislative committee to ask for an emergency $20 million to meet its payroll and then has no explanation for how this crisis suddenly materialized?
Asked what was going on and whether the department might need even more money to meet its obligations, Mental Health Commissioner Allie Friesen said, "The fact of the matter is, I don't think we have a confident understanding of that yet."
More: Grading Oklahoma Mental Health
And then we had the spectacle of Ryan Walters, the elected state schools superintendent, calling an "emergency" news conference to deliver a rambling and at times almost incomprehensible litany of complaints about the Legislature, critics of President Donald Trump, lobbyists, opponents of putting Bibles in every state classroom, teachers' unions, his own treatment in the media, and most of all, high taxes.
"What has this got to do with education?" a reporter asked at one point when he took a breath.
"Education is the No. 1 thing we fund in this state," Walters replied, going on to say that taxes could be lowered because schools really didn't need more money.
"It's not a revenue problem, it's a spending probem," he said. "Let's eliminate administrator positions. Let's eliminate bureaucratic positions. You eliminate all these things, folks, the money's there."
Walters went on to say that the tiny nibble in the state income tax that the Legislature seems ready to approve is hardly enough.
"When are we actually going to see real tax reform?" Walters asked, "Why are we not moving forward with eliminating property taxes? We shouldn't have a property tax. Why do we continue to tax someone's property, often after they have paid for it, year after year after year?"
According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, property tax collections in Oklahoma totaled $3.7 billion in 2021 and are the single largest source of local government revenue (excluding intergovernmental collections).
Currently in Oklahoma, property taxes are essential for (among other things) the operation of public schools, county services including the court system, and city services like police and fire departments, parks and recreation and bond payments. No other state in the nation has eliminated its property tax, and doing so in Oklahoma, to say the least, would be a major undertaking with undeterminable consequences.
"I expect a lot of repercussions for speaking this directly and fighting for taxpayers today," Walters said, but "somebody" has to do it.
"Somebody" will need to figure out how to fund state government if "nobody" is paying taxes.
More: My biggest problems as a high school teacher ― none were the school's fault | Opinion
Friesen, according to her LinkedIn profile, was the director of a behavioral health clinical program at Integris Health before she was appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt to her current position in 2024. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Texas Christian University.
Asked by a legislator if she had budget experience, Friesen seemed irritated, saying, "Yes, sir, I did. It was not my primary function, and with all due respect, I am here to answer questions related to this current financial crisis, because every moment we're sitting in here answering questions, we are delaying solutions for you all."
Stitt, who picked Friesen to lead the department in January 2024, announced on May 20 that an outside accountant he picked to look into the department's finances found the shortage to be closer to $30 million than the $20 million Friesen had estimated. That was the eighth different estimate of how much the department is in the red.
Stitt has been supportive of Friesen and has suggested that the problems couldn't be his fault because they have existed for "decades."
Attorney General Gentner Drummond, now a candidate for governor, has called on Stitt to fire Friesen, saying she's unqualified for the job.
Friesen has responded that she's the one trying to root out long-existing problems in the agency, which has been the governor's responsibility since he took office in 2017.
When the rhetoric shifts to blame people who are "brave enough to confront years of likely fraudulent and grossly unethical behavior, it causes internal chaos," Friesen said.
Yes, Oklahoma, we may have terrible prisons, low-performing schools and a mental health agency that seems in total disarray, but we have the best soap opera performances in the nation.
Wertz is deputy opinion editor of The Oklahoman. If you have a comment on what he's written or a suggestion for a future topic or someone he should talk to, his address is wwertz@oklahoman.com.
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