Attorney General Demands Transparency From Oklahoma Turnpike Authority
Residents gather to protest the actions of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority. (Source: Pike Off OTA.)
A few months ago, Strong Towns reported that Oklahoma residents took the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) to court, arguing that its plans for a $15 billion turnpike expansion not only lacked transparency, but were illegal. The judge presiding agreed, ruling that the OTA “wilfully violated” Oklahoma’s Open Meetings Act. As a result, over 150 plaintiffs celebrated their first major legal victory in the fight against the project, known as ACCESS Oklahoma. On March 15, 2023, Oklahoma’s attorney general stepped in and seemingly sided with the plaintiffs, requesting an audit of the OTA.
Addressed to the state auditor, Cindy Byrd, the attorney general’s letter airs misgivings about OTA’s conduct. “Such a blatant disregard for openness and transparency suggest to me a willingness to engage in any manner of unlawful conduct,” he wrote, referring to the evidence uncovered in the aforementioned Open Meetings Act case.
The letter calls for an investigation into the improper movement of funds between the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the OTA. The agencies share executive personnel—most notably, Tim Gatz holds both the titles of secretary of transportation and executive director of the OTA—and have been described by activists as “deeply interwoven.”
The letter also joins over a year’s worth of documentation collected by individuals opposed to ACCESS Oklahoma testifying to OTA’s dishonesty. “The turnpike authority has engaged in a number of questionable activities over the past few years,” Dr. Katherine “Tassie” Hirshchfeld, a plaintiff in the Open Meetings Act case, told the Norman Transcript earlier this month. “I am relieved to know the state auditor’s office will conduct a thorough investigation.”
Some of those questionable activities include an email exchange exposing the use of public funds to purchase—and consequently restrict access to—domain names exclusively expressing opposition to ACCESS Oklahoma. In the exchange, a representative from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation requested that Jones PR purchase domains such as StopAccessOklahoma.com, NoAccessOklahoma.com, StopThePike.com, StopOTA.com, and dozens of others for a total of $412.80.
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For people like Stan Ward, who represented the plaintiffs in the Open Meetings Act case and whose home is in the path of the proposed turnpike, that exchange signaled a deliberate attempt to curb dissent. It also cemented OTA’s reputation as an agency uninterested in transparency. With regards to the attorney general’s request for an audit, Ward and his co-counsel are optimistic it will “ferret out the truth of what appears to be an empire of crony capitalism, secrecy and mismanagement.”
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