Governor Kevin Stitt is pulling out all the stops to make sure Oklahoma remains a bottom 10 state!
Last week, Ole’ Stitter announced that he’s “tapped” Rick Rose to be the new leader of OMES – the omnibus state agency in charge of running Oklahoma’s poorly funded and mismanaged government.
Today, Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Rick Rose as the next director of Oklahoma Management and Enterprise Services (OMES).
“Rick Rose has a deep understanding of state government and firm commitment to serving Oklahomans,” said Governor Stitt. “To be a Top Ten state, we need a government that works for the people. I’m confident that under Rick’s leadership, OMES will continue to be a driving force in making that a reality.”
Based on his resume, Rick has all the conservative credentials and lack of qualifications Stitt looks for when making a big hire to sabotage Oklahoma’s government from the inside.
He is an attorney, former oil and gas lobbyist, and recently served as Chief of Staff to House Speaker Charles McCall, where his crowning achievement was leaving his wife of 30+ years for a legislative aide who worked for him!
In addition to that, we recently learned via the Ogle Mole Network that Rick was the lead singer of Erotic Suicide – a “sleazy,” “hard-hitting,” Oklahoma City-based glam hair metal act that tried to make it big in the grunge era of the mid-90s.
Here’s the then-and-now of Rick:
Quite a transformation, huh? Since there's nothing more rock n' roll than state government bureaucracy, I’m sure Rick’s going to do a great job in this new post!
If you want to see Rick in full glam action, here he is running around on stage in a puffy shirt and stone-washed denim for the music video “Can’t Remember.”
Yep, that’s the guy Kevin Stitt put in charge of OMES. Imagine that, huh? The only way he can top this is by appointing the lead singer of Wakeland as the new director of DHS!
In all honesty, I had never heard of Erotic Suicide until an Ogle Mole emailed me about all this, so I did a little deep dive into the band.
Although the hair metal craze peaked in 1987 and was the most uncool thing on the planet by the time 1994 rolled around, these guys were not some messy Spaghetti Incident!
Their not-in-any-way-problematically-named debut album Abusement Park features glittery globs of sing-along anthems like “Babylon.”
Here’s a live demo:
Yikes! Instead of Erotic Suicide, they should have called themselves Guns N' Posers or This Music Will Make You Want to Commit Suicide.
On that note, did the members of the band not have any friends, groupies, or drug dealers who could have told them about grunge and flannel? If they had updated their sound and style to match the times, they could have easily been the next Candlebox or Ugly Kid Joe!
Out of all the Erotic Suicide tracks I listened to, my favorite is “Mean Sex Machine.”
I don’t know about you, but in honor of Rose’s appointment as Executive Director, OMES should probably make this track its new on-hold music.
Although it may lead to some state employees stabbing pencils into their ears, I think most would enjoy hearing those riffs and vocals while waiting for a password reset!
Just like his old band, Rick’s personal choices and ethics also feel stuck in a different era.
As I mentioned earlier, while serving as Chief of Staff to Speaker McCall, Rick left his wife of 30+ years to marry a legislative aide who reported to him. That aide is Nitasha Devan, and conveniently, she’s now the Director of Policy and Legislation for the Speaker.
Here’s a pic of the couple:
Working for Speaker McCall was apparently a good gig for both Rick and Nitasha.
Not only were they both able to score nice jobs, new spouses and good salaries, but they also landed Nitasha’s sister, Perm, a job working for the Speaker. That’s a nice way to keep taxpayers’ money in the family!
In other news, if you work for OMES, expect Nitasha or Perm – or maybe even one of Rick’s old bandmates – to be your boss in the near future. If it’s the latter, I’m pulling for the guy wearing the “I Lick. You Suck.” shirt.
Then again, that guy could also be Rick, so who knows.
“Whatever, Patrick. We all made mistakes in the 1990s. Just because this guy was in a tacky, behind-the-times rock band 30 years ago doesn’t mean he’s not qualified to lead the agency. Plus, most agency directors leave their wives for staffers who work for them. He’ll fit right in!”
I don’t necessarily disagree.
Under the Stitt regime, the bar has been set so low for agency directors that we should just hope Rick doesn’t fall for Facebook copy pasta or accidentally fire off a gun in the OMES break room…
Anyway, if you know any agency directors with amusing pasts, or are aware of any other obscure Oklahoma rock acts from the 1990s that I should check out – hit us up on the TLO tip line.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
