Gov. Mary Fallin blasts decision to kick Auditor Gary Jones out of Capitol. Gov. Mary Fallin weighed in on the issue Wednesday, saying she believes the state auditor's office should remain in the Capitol. “Certainly I think it is important for a state elected official to have an office in the Capitol,” Fallin said. Fallin said she was unaware of a plan to move the auditor's office out of the Capitol building until she read about it in the newspaper. The Restoration Project spokesman, John Estus; claims House Speaker Jeff Hickman & Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman (both termed out of office this Fall) agreed that Jones' office has to go. John Estus, spokesman for the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, denied that The Restoration manager's office acted alone. The news was evidently delivered in person by Trait Thompson, the project manage; and Preston Doerflinger, executive director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (a Fallin appointee). “The representative's comment that the restoration project manager made this decision is totally false,” Estus said. “The decision was made jointly by the House speaker's office, Senate pro tem's office and our office with assistance from architects and engineers working on the restoration project. You can contact the legislative leaders' offices to confirm.” | The capitol building which had been big enough to house all govt. agencies during 80 years of Democrat control, are now way too small to handle the massively exploding Republican vision for even bigger government. In recent years the Supreme Court moved all their operations out of the building, making most of the 2nd floor available to other agencies. Instead, the legislature took those accommodations for themselves. Evidently a legislator needs a gymnasium in the building at taxpayers' expense. |
“This is like a grade school fight over who gets to play on the swings,” said McBride. “This should never have happened. Neither has the Oklahoma House of Representatives ever held any discussions on moving the state auditor from the Capitol,” McBride said. “No legislative member that I have talked to has any recollection of ever discussing this move. I am very disappointed in the way this decision was made.”
Still no one has mentioned that the legislature should give up their free gymnasium or barbershop which is taking up plenty of room in the capitol building.