Latest news with #AllieFriesen
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers upset after Gov. Stitt brings family member into Friesen fallout
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The back-and-forth between the governor and Republican leadership was relatively stable all session until Thursday, when Commissioner Allie Friesen was unseated. 'It's just not going to work. So I urge a yes vote,' said the author of SCR 12, Senator Paul Rosino (R-Oklahoma City). Rosino headed a resolution that would remove Commissioner Friesen from the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Numerous issues, including the disappearance of millions of dollars and layoffs, have marked her tenure as leader of the agency. For almost two months, there have been hearings and press conferences to address the many issues. Throughout that time, Governor Stitt has seemed to stand by her side. When asked about her leadership, he said many times that she got rid of previous staff members and uprooted problems, and that is why the current issues are being found. On Thursday, when there was a rumor that lawmakers were going to bring up a resolution to remove her, and with it came a statement from the governor that lawmakers did not agree with. 'From the start, this was nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt. I tasked Allie Friesen with bringing accountability and transparency to the agency. She disturbed the status quo and questioned long-held practices at the agency. An agency rife with sweetheart deals and criminal elements was disrupted, and now, elected officials are quickly working to set the apple cart right for those who seek to get rich off of Oklahoma taxpayers. Josh West and Paul Rosino need to first answer what they stand to gain from Allie Friesen being removed. What are they trying to keep covered up? What conflicts of interest are they trying to hide? Is Senator Rosino trying to help his wife avoid responsibility for her role in the finance department there? Oklahomans deserve answers,' said Gov. Stitt in a statement. The resolution came up for a vote on the Senate floor late Thursday, and with it were several statements from Senators shaming that anyone would bring up a family member with the vote to remove Commissioner Friesen. Senate votes to remove ODMHSAS Commissioner Allie Friesen, will now go through the House Senator Shane Jett (R-Shawnee), however, was not upset about that sort of statement and instead asked the question the governor seemed to be posing. 'Reports in the media indicate that there is a spouse who works in this department. Is that true?' asked Senator Jett. Several other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle spoke out against that question even being brought up. 'I will cut your throat to protect my district, don't get me wrong. But we have, there are standards, there are rules, and we leave family out of it,' said Senator Casey Murdoc (R-Felt). 'We keep family out of it,' said Senator Aaron Reinhardt (R-Jenks). 'What a vicious and callous attack on one of the kindest, nicest, and most Christian women I've ever met,' said Senator Rosino. In the end, the Senate passed the resolution with Senator Jett being the only no vote. Then it went to the House, where a small handful of representatives voted no. 'ODMHSAS has taken decisive steps in recent months to confront long-standing operational and financial challenges, proactively seeking oversight and support from the executive branch, the Legislature, and independent auditors, accountants, and investigators. While many of these reviews are still in progress, ODMHSAS has already begun implementing initial recommendations. Experts have advised that fully addressing the agency's entrenched systemic issues will require at least 18 months of sustained effort. Though the path ahead is challenging, ODMHSAS is staffed by deeply committed public servants. Our leadership remains focused on working in partnership with Governor Stitt, legislative leaders, and the governing board to uphold a shared commitment to transparency, meaningful reform, and improved care for Oklahoma's most vulnerable citizens.' Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Oklahoma lawmakers were trying to finish for the year. Then everything stopped over this bill
A stalemate dominated what was expected to be the final day of the 2025 session of the Oklahoma Legislature, with a Senate vote to override the governor's veto of a House bill taking five hours and delaying action on 49 other attempted veto overrides. Both legislative chambers remained in session well into the night of Thursday, May 29, and early Friday morning, to handle those overrides – all but two of them eventually succeeded, and those could be considered when the House returns for a final session later Friday morning. Both chambers also voted to approve a resolution to oust state mental health commissioner Allie Friesen. The Senate adjourned sine die, ending its 2025 session, at 12:25 a.m. Friday. By law, the Legislature has to adjourn by 5 p.m. Friday. The marathon Thursday was due to the fact that work in both chambers stalled for hours — from the afternoon until 9:13 p.m. — and only resumed after a Republican legislator in the Senate switched his vote to complete a successful override of House Bill 2769. The measure, authored by Rep. Chris Kannady, R-Oklahoma City, would create a financial assistance program for Oklahoma guard members who enroll in a technology center. It also would create a fund to pay members when they become eligible for retirement benefits from the Defense Finance Accounting Service. It was the first measure the House voted on earlier Thursday when both chambers were voting to override Gov. Kevin Stitt's vetos of bills that had originated in their chambers. Once bills passed their original chambers, the measures moved across the Capitol rotunda to the other chamber. But the tradeoff turned into a stalemate over HB 2769. The House did not act on any vetoed bills until the Senate approved the measure, a process that took hours. What to know: Oklahoma governor signs income tax cut deal It's common practice late in a legislative session for one chamber to not act on a priority of the other chamber until the first chamber's priority is dealt with. Apparently, HB 2769 was such a priority for the Republican-led House. To override a veto, a bill must receive a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers, and a three-quarters majority in both chambers if it has an emergency clause attached that would make it take effect immediately. At 4:11 p.m., the Senate opened its override vote for HB 2769, which needed 32 Senate votes to succeed. An initial vote was 30-16, without the votes of two senators – Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, and Sen. Dana Prieto, R-Tulsa. Pugh was out of state on personal business, a Senate spokesman said – although he arrived in time for the post-midnight votes. Prieto's whereabouts were unknown, although he had been present during a morning session. The margin was just short of the bar needed to pass HB 2769 into law. Bargaining over votes occupied the ensuing hours. About 5:50 p.m., Sen. Nikki Nice of Oklahoma City, one of two Democratic senators who initially had voted no, re-entered the Senate chamber and changed her vote, pushing the tally to 31-15. But about 6:30, Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, switched his vote from 'yes' to 'no.' Sen. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa – at that point her party's lone 'no' vote – came back into the chamber but soon left again without changing her vote. Murdock could be seen conferring in the rotunda with legislative leaders. But as the bell that summons legislators to their chambers echoed through the Capitol for hours, the 30-16 vote remained posted on the electronic board inside the Senate. Murdock then switched his vote back to 'yes', and then Sen. Roland Pederson, R-Burlington, switched his vote. Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, who was presiding over the session, quickly closed the vote when the tally reached 32-14. Shortly after 9 p.m., the House voted to suspend its rules to allow food on the floor and to be able to work past midnight. The Senate later did the same. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: This bill sparked a five-hour stalemate in the Oklahoma Legislature
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
You can't say we're not a Top 10 state in wacky government performances
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@ This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: At least government performances have been lively this year | Opinion
USA Today
21-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
You can't say we're not a Top 10 state in wacky government performances
You can't say we're not a Top 10 state in wacky government performances | Opinion Show Caption Hide Caption Stay connected with The Oklahoman: How to subscribe online Through our website, app, e-edition, newsletters, news alerts, social media and more, The Oklahoman is here for you. Here's how to stay connected. 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@
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
May is mental health awareness month, and one Oklahoma leader has made sure no one forgets that
Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner Allie Friesen attends a meeting April 17 at the state Capitol. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) May is the annual month designed to raise awareness for mental health issues. But unfortunately Oklahoma's mental health agency is shining the wrong sort of spotlight on the issue. Instead of focusing on how to improve outcomes for the 1 in 4 Oklahomans who suffer from mental illness, all eyes are on the massive amounts of financial disarray at the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services jeopardizing both employees and patient care. Provider contracts have been cut or canceled. There's been revelations that officials can't figure out how to use their appropriated money to make payroll. The agency's interim chief financial officer couldn't answer basic questions about payroll costs or why the agency only needed $6.2 million to fill a $43 million shortfall. And, they haven't been able to produce a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The list goes on and on. And it seems like every time our state mental health officials open their mouths, it exposes a new level of ineptitude. Last week, Mental Health Commissioner Allie Friesen practically begged lawmakers to figure out her own agency's budget woes when she's supposed to be able to discuss the nuances of its over $600 million budget. Is it any wonder that lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated? Friesen, meanwhile, is pointing the finger at her predecessors. She's supposed to have been leading this agency since she was appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt in January 2024. But in blaming her predecessor, Carrie Slatton-Hodges, Friesen is pointing her finger at Stitt, who appointed Slatton-Hodges and touted her as being a great fit. I could see blaming her predecessor if Friesen was hired last month, but she's been at the helm for over a year now. What has she been doingr? Earlier this month I found myself chuckling grimly. As lawmakers were scrambling on a Friday to address revelations that the agency couldn't pay its 2,000 employees, Friesen's team put out a press release celebrating the resurrection of its halted naloxone vending machine project. That's the same program that Friesen abruptly shuttered in September because she said it wasn't cost effective. Offering free medication that reverses drug overdoses in vending machines as a way to help save lives and reduce the stigma is definitely a worthwhile program, and might be critical to the agency's mission. But so is paying the employees who are core to meeting a state agency's goals. Maybe that's part of the issue. Perhaps Friesen doesn't know what the core functions of mental health are and how to prioritize programs. Or maybe hers is an agency that doesn't know how to live within the confines of a budget — or perhaps that it even has a budget. After all, Friesen didn't prioritize launching a search for a permanent, qualified CFO, until a day after lawmakers humiliated her interim one. During public hearings, lawmakers flagged that the agency hired 20 employees with salaries of at least $100,000. A dozen employees saw their salaries raised to that level. Lawmakers discovered that Skip Leonard, the agency's now former interim CFO, was making $165 an hour — or up to $343,000 a year — despite not being a certified public accountant and having no experience running finances for a state agency. At another hearing, Friesen brought with her an employee she hired just over a month ago to work in her 'operational excellence division.' There is no 'operational excellence' going on right now. It all gives the impression that Friesen is just creating random jobs or promoting people into high-paying jobs without an ounce of cents — literally. Hiring people at high salaries for state jobs might explain why the agency suddenly can't make payroll. Creating random divisions that seemingly go beyond the agency's core mission is a head scratcher. There's no excuse for this level of ineptitude. It seems like it might be time to go back to basics and get better at providing the core services before looking at adding in shiny objects that look pretty but aren't necessary to function. It boggles the mind that Stitt – who, like other Republicans, promises to run state government like a business – continues to defend Friesen. If anybody else ran a business in such a haphazard way, their governing board would fire them. So let's hope that Stitt knows something the rest of us don't and that he can get the wheels back on this clown car before it hurts the people who rely on it most — our mentally ill and the people that care for them. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
