Next week, Oklahomans will decide who takes a seat on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which oversees utilities and the oil and gas industry. For the first time in more than 30 years, the seat is up for grabs.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has been around since the state was founded in 1907. Bob Anthony has held a spot on the commission for almost one-third of that time.
Anthony first joined the commission back in 1989, making him not only the longest-serving statewide elected official in Oklahoma but also the longest-serving utilities commissioner in the entire country. He was just the second Republican to win a seat on the commission, but times have changed since then—since 2009, all three seats have been held by Republicans.
After serving six six-year terms, Anthony can’t run for reelection. This is due to a 2010 ballot measure that limits commissioners to two terms. But the clock for Anthony didn’t start until he was reelected in 2012.
Three candidates are now in the running to replace Anthony. Brian Bingman won the Republican primary, beating out two other candidates. Democrat Harold Spradling and Libertarian Chad Williams had no primary opposition.
The other two seats on the commission aren’t up for election this year.
Brian Bingman, the Republican candidate, says he’d use his spot on the commission to push back against what he calls “attacks on our energy companies and the left’s radical attempt to destroy our industry and livelihoods.” Bingman, a 70-year-old citizen of the Muscogee Nation, lives near Sapulpa. Before his political career, he worked as a landman in the oil and gas industry.
In the 1990s, Bingman served as Sapulpa’s city commissioner and mayor. He later represented the Tulsa area in both the Oklahoma House and Senate. Most recently, Bingman worked in Gov. Kevin Stitt’s cabinet as Secretary of State and Secretary of Native American Affairs, before stepping down last year to run for the commission seat.
Bingman has the endorsement of Gov. Stitt, as well as current Corporation Commissioners Kim David and Todd Hiett. Interestingly, Hiett himself has faced controversy, with allegations of sexual misconduct involving employees of companies regulated by the commission.
Bingman previously ran for Anthony’s seat in 2018 but lost in a primary runoff by about 7%.
Harold Spradling, the Democratic candidate, is no stranger to running for the commission either—he also ran for Anthony’s seat in 2018 and has sought other commission seats since then. Spradling, a 90-year-old ordained minister and retired counselor from southern Oklahoma, describes himself as a “pre-Trump conservative.” He says he identifies with the Democratic Party due to his beliefs on social equality.
Spradling has expressed a view similar to Anthony’s on utility regulation. “I’m not against the utilities, but they’re getting free passes too easily,” Spradling told Oklahoma Voice earlier this month. He added that if he were on the commission, he wouldn’t always side with the utilities.
The Libertarian candidate, Chad Williams, is a political activist from Choctaw, Oklahoma. He’s worked in the oilfield and is a former Marine. Williams has also held multiple leadership roles within the Oklahoma Libertarian Party and previously served on the Choctaw City Council.
Williams has said that he supports performance-based regulation for utilities, and wants the commission to deregulate some older technologies like cotton gins and landlines. He believes the Corporation Commission is the most important entity in the state after the governor and the legislature. This is his first run for statewide office.
