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| Senator removed from task force |
| By Julie Bisbee |
| Published: 04/16/2009 |
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Days after a Democratic senator spoke out about a study eyeing the closure of three state prisons, Senate President Pro Tem Sen. Glenn Coffee removed him from a state task force. Sen. Tom Ivester, D-Sayre, said he was informed on April 9 that he would no longer be a member of the Oklahoma State Council for Educational Opportunity for Military Children. Ivester, who spent five years of active duty in the U.S. Army and is now a member of the Oklahoma National Guard, was appointed to the council by former Senate co-leader Mike Morgan. Ivester’s removal from the council is one of a few moves by Coffee following the public release of a report studying the possibility of closing some state prisons. Coffee filed an amendment to do away with the Board of Corrections and make the director of the Corrections Department appointed by the governor. He filed the amendment after a report on the cost of closing prisons was released to the media. Coffee has said the change is part of the recommendations made by an exhaustive audit of the Corrections Department in 2007 and had been in the works for several weeks. Ivester said he had been on the council two years. Under the statute that created the task force, members appointed by the leader of the Senate serve three-year terms. Coffee replaced Ivester with Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond. Coffee said the change was routine and part of his review of all appointments made by the previous administration. Coffee said he was unaware of the term specified in statute. “I hadn’t paid much attention to it,” Coffee said. “I was just looking at appointments of people who serve at the discretion of the pro tempore.” Ivester said he found out he was replaced when a letter was hand-delivered to him on the Senate floor last week. The letter, dated April 9, was addressed to Jolley, informing Jolley that he had been named to the council. Ivester, Gov. Brad Henry, House Speaker Chris Benge and other state officials and staff were copied on the letter. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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