House special investigation expands to include Dept. of Tourism, OMES
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — A House Special Investigation has expanded to include the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
The committee has been looking into the mismanagement of state funds in the Oklahoma State Department of Health. That investigation has now expanded to include the tourism department and OMES. State Rep. Josh Cockroft, who heads the committee, says that he has contacted Dick Dutton, executive director of the Department of Tourism, Claudia Conner, deputy director of the Department of Tourism, Denise Northrup, interim director at OMES and Bo Reese, chief information officer at OMES, to request their cooperation in the investigation.
“We have said from the beginning that we are going to conduct a thorough investigation into the Department of Health, but that we would absolutely be following up on leads that may expand the scope of our investigation into other agencies,” Cockroft said. “There have been several news reports and various tips that we have received related to the Department of Tourism and OMES that we feel warrant further inquiry. We have no timetable for wrapping up our work. As long as we continue to receive substantive leads regarding misconduct, waste or mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, we are going to compel leadership at those agencies to cooperate with the Committee.”
Cockroft says that he will re-issue a subpoena for Dept. of Health Chief Financial Officer Mike Romero to appear before the committee on Jan. 12. Romero was scheduled to appear before the committee on Jan. 4. The Oklahoma State Department of Healthfiled a motion late Wednesday asking for more time to produce records. The injunction was denied.
"Unfortunately, it appears this is nothing more than a delay tactic from leadership at the Department. We have been told that the culture of deceit that allowed previous Department leadership to mismanage more than $30 million in taxpayer dollars is gone. While I hope that is true, it appears to me that the culture remains. We are going to continue investigating the Department of Health because the taxpayers of Oklahoma expect accountability,” Cockroft said.