Obnoxious, Arrogant, Egotistical Jim Roth

Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth is fast becoming known as the most arrogant, obnoxious, egotistical political candidate in Oklahoma’s history. Bob


OCTOBER 15, 2008

For Dana Murphy
Ideal qualities of a corporation commissioner wrapped up in one

BY MICHAEL D. BATES


http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A25089
The commission regulates the public utilities that we depend upon to provide phone service and to light and heat our homes.
There are three corporation commissioners -- each serves a six-year term. Typically, we elect one corporation commissioner every two years, but this year due to Denise Bode's resignation, we have a special election in addition to the usual six-year rotation. The winner of the short-term race will finish Bode's term and go before voters again in 2010.
It's an unusual election in that the challenger has more on-the-job experience than the incumbent.
Dana Murphy served more than five years as an administrative law judge for the OCC, presiding over more than 5,000 cases, weighing evidence and testimony and making judgments, and acting as a gatekeeper and making recommendations on issues coming before the three commissioners.
Murphy earned her undergraduate degree in geology, and worked as a petroleum geologist in the oil patch for 10 years while putting herself through law school. She left the OCC to run for Corporation Commissioner in 2002, finishing first in the primary but falling short in the runoff. Since then, she's been working as an oil and gas attorney, staying current in the issues that take up most of the OCC's time.
By contrast, incumbent Jim Roth has been in the job for little more than a year, elevated by Gov. Brad Henry to his current post from the Oklahoma County Commission, which has nothing in common with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission beyond its initials. Prior to serving as a county commissioner, Roth was an assistant to the county clerk and a previous county commissioner. He has no expertise in the oil and gas industry.
What Roth does have is a disturbingly cozy relationship with Aubrey McClendon, the CEO and chairman of Chesapeake Energy, one of the companies regulated by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission as the largest producer of natural gas in Oklahoma. The Roth-McClendon connection has been extensively documented by muckraking Oklahoma City journalist Mike McCarville on his website at www.tmrcom.blogspot.com.
In 2005, as a county commissioner, Roth pushed for road and bridge improvements for a lightly traveled dead-end road leading to property owned by McClendon. McClendon gave the maximum contribution to Roth's 2006 re-election campaign.
Meanwhile, McClendon was running into some trouble with his basketball team, the Seattle Supersonics. According to a May 27, 2008, Seattle Times story by Jim Brunner, McClendon's 2004 donations to an anti-gay-marriage organization "didn't sit well in the Democrat-controlled Washington Legislature, which was then considering whether to fund the Sonics' Renton arena proposal."
In an e-mail to McClendon, which emerged in a lawsuit by the City of Seattle against McClendon and his fellow Sonics owners, Roth "offered to contact Seattle media to defend McClendon against accusations of being anti-gay."
Roth's letter appeared in the March 4, 2007, Seattle Times. It read in part:
"When I was elected in 2002, I became Oklahoma's first openly gay elected official. From the beginning, Clay [Bennett] and Aubrey [McClendon] initiated a genuine kindness and friendship toward my partner and me. They have publicly and consistently supported me, even pushing back when right-wing attacks have occurred. Their support is unconditional and has helped improve the overall climate for expanding tolerance here at home."
Setting aside the social issues involved in the story, it points to a friendship between Roth and McClendon sufficiently close that Roth should recuse himself when McClendon's interests are before the Commission. Instead, in a key decision, Roth sided with McClendon and against anyone who pays an electric bill in Oklahoma.
When Corporation Commissioner Denise Bode stepped down in 2007 to take a job with the McClendon-founded and funded American Clean Skies Foundation, Jim Roth was appointed to take her place, with the support of McClendon and former state Democratic Party chairman Pat Hall, now a Chesapeake lobbyist.
One of Roth's first decisions involved a pre-application by AEP-PSO and OG+E, the two largest electric utilities in Oklahoma, to build a new coal-fired power plant at Red Rock. OCC administrative law judge Maribeth Snapp recommended approval, writing that the high-tech plant would save ratepayers over a billion dollars in utility bills over the life of the plant over a comparable natural gas plant.
McClendon's Chesapeake ran a high-profile campaign against coal plants here and in surrounding states, including TV ads proclaiming that "coal is filthy."
Given Roth's close friendship with McClendon, he should have recused himself from the vote. Instead, taking his cue from McClendon, Roth voted against the Red Rock pre-approval, killing the plant. The move makes Oklahoma's electricity consumers more dependent for upon natural gas from Chesapeake and other suppliers.
And guess who's co-chairing Roth's 2008 campaign? Aubrey McClendon. According to the daily paper, McClendon's employees and executives at Chesapeake have contributed over $100,000 to Roth's campaign. McClendon is said to have raised over a half-million dollars for Roth.
In years past, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission has been plagued by favoritism and outright corruption. In 1994, former Commissioner Bob Hopkins, a Democrat, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for bribery.
The OCC began to change for the better when Bob Anthony, a Republican, was elected in 1988. When regulated entities offered bribes to Anthony, he wore a wire to gather evidence for the Feds.
Oklahoma voters need commissioners who, like Anthony, aren't entangled with regulated corporations, commissioners who will put the interests of all Oklahomans ahead of the machinations of special interests. Oklahoma needs Dana Murphy.
I've known Dana since 2002 and have seen firsthand the energy she puts into any job she undertakes and the grace with which she handles pressure and political attacks. In a political world filled with self-promoters, Dana Murphy is a rare example of humility and Christian servanthood. Add her character to her years of service with the OCC and her thorough grounding in oil and gas exploration, and you have the ideal qualities of a corporation commissioner wrapped up in one candidate.
Whether you're a liberal who worries about corporate influence over regulators or a conservative who wants a corporation commissioner who shares your values and will be fair to business, (all businesses, not just special friends) or just an Oklahoman who wants someone with knowledge, experience, and character ruling on utility rates and oil and gas matters, the clear choice is Dana Murphy.

Jim Roth Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund

Record number of out gays seeking office
2 incumbents in tight races; Baldwin, Frank, Polis favored to win
By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade Oct 8, 9:54 AM

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is touting an unprecedented number of endorsements this year, but many of those candidates are facing significant challenges in their bids for public office.

As of Tuesday, the Victory Fund had backed 100 candidates in this year’s election — more than the 88 candidates it endorsed in 2006 or the 65 it endorsed in 2004.

Denis Dison, a Victory Fund spokesperson, said he expected a few more endorsements in the weeks remaining before Election Day.

He said one reason more openly gay candidates are running is because of victories of other gay people in previous elections.

“When you see that people are able to run openly, then I think it encourages other people who wanted to step into politics … to help their communities,” Dison said.

One candidate endorsed by the Victory Fund this year is Jim Roth, an Oklahoma Democratic candidate who is seeking to be retained as one of three members on the state’s Corporation Commission, which regulates Oklahoma’s energy and utility companies.

A former county Commissioner, Roth was appointed to his position on the Corporation Commission on June 1, 2007, by Oklahoma’s Democratic Gov. Brad Henry. While Roth won elections as county commissioner, this election marks the first time he has sought voter approval for statewide office. If he succeeds, he would be the first openly gay candidate to win statewide office in Oklahoma.

His Republican opponent in the race is Dana Murphy, a geologist and attorney.

Roth said he wanted to pursue an additional term in office because “it’s a chance to serve 100 percent of our state and to push Oklahoma in a more progressive energy direction.”

He said Oklahoma has largely untapped wind energy potential because his predecessors “have thought very narrowly about energy issues in our state.”

While Oklahoma provides about 4 percent of domestic oil production in the United States and 10 percent of its natural gas production, the state could produce 90 percent of the country’s wind energy, Roth said.

Stephen Rhymer, spokesperson for the Murphy campaign, said Roth’s sexual orientation is not an issue and Murphy’s supporters are backing her because she’s the most qualified candidate for the job.

Rhymer said Murphy has “20 years experience in the oil and gas industry” as a geologist in the oil patch, attorney in the oil and gas industry and an expert witness for the Corporation Commission.

Recent polls have Roth trailing Murphy. A poll published Sept. 30 by SurveyUSA found that 50 percent of Oklahoma voters favor Murphy while 41 percent support Roth.
Roth said the poll “is not accurate” because SurveyUSA used automated calls that didn’t determine whether responders were registered to vote or whether responders were likely to vote. He noted his campaign commissioned its own poll and found that one-third of Oklahoma residents support him, another third favor Murphy and the remaining third are undecided.

Roth said the Victory Fund has been helpful to his campaign and offered “incredible talent and altruistic people that provide tremendous moral support.”
“I think they’ve done a good job of making sure that good people are being elected because they’re good — not just because they’re gay,” he said.