Earlier this week, we told you that TSET was for some reason hiring a new Chief Executive Officer to lead the 22-person organization. The job pays $250,000 a year, because you know, Oklahoma has such an insane budget surplus and can afford just about anything. We asked around the Ogle Mole Network and provided some Dean's Percentages™ for who we thought would get the cushy job. The betting favorite was former Corporation Commissioner / failed Congressional Candidate Patrice Douglas.
Here's what we had to say:
Patrice Douglas
Odds She Gets The Job: 50%
This would make sense. She's the former mayor of Edmond and a former Corporation Commissioner. In fact, during her brief tenure as Corporation Commissioner, Patrice worked with Continental Resources executives to intimidate State Seismologist Austin Holland and pressure him to NOT link Oklahoma earthquakes to oil and gas activities. That's a strong qualification. With experience like that, she'll have no problem helping tobacco companies intimidate, coerce and suppress Oklahoma physicians.
Well, pass the Mazzio's, call the Fat Jack and play some "Be Happy Friday" music! It's time to give it up to ourselves. It was announced yesterday that Patrice Douglass, the banker turned lawyer turned politician (this gives her the rare triple crown for reviled occupations), landed the quarter-million dollar gig.
Via NewsOK.com:
Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Patrice Douglas plans private sector return after term
Outgoing Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Patrice Douglas said she’s anticipating her return the private sector when her term ends Monday and has no regrets about her stint on the commission.
“I’m excited. My family’s excited. We’re ready to move on,” Douglas said.
The former Edmond mayor, whose business background is in banking and law, served for more than three years on the commission after being appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin in September 2011.
In an interview Thursday after casting her final votes from the commission bench, Douglas remained coy about her next job, saying she would rather not announce it while she’s still a sitting commissioner.
“We’ve been real quiet about it. We’re going to stay that way for a little while,” Douglas said. “It’ll be fun. I’m staying in Oklahoma. My kids are excited about it. We’re ready for the next step. I come from the private sector, and I’m going back to the private sector.”
Oops! My bad! That's a NewsOK.com article from January 2015 where Patrice brags about how she's "come from the private sector" and "is going back to the private sector." I guess the private sector was more challenging than she thought!
Here's the article from Tuesday about her accepting a $250,000 a year job with a charitable trust...
The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust announced Tuesday Patrice Douglas has accepted a newly created $250,000-a-year job heading up the state agency.
Douglas is a former Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner, a former Edmond mayor and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S. House.
The announcement came a week after the trust stirred public concern with word that it was starting a lucrative new position and had offered it to an undisclosed person at a time when most state agencies are facing severe budget cutbacks.
The trust manages $1 billion in tobacco settlement money, spending only the interest, mainly to discourage smoking.
Tracey Strader, 57, who has been leading the trust as executive director, earns $120,000 a year. She was expected to stay on with the agency, which has 22 employees.
You know what, you can't really blame Patrice for this. If TSET offered me $250,000 to sit in an office all day and surf Pinterest, I'd probably do it, so congrats to her for capitalizing on all the personal and private connections she made while representing energy companies... errrr.... taxpayers in the Corporation Commission and landing this gig. It's nice to see such a conservative enthusiast from the private sector coming back to work for the government. We wish her the best of luck.
