Senator Taylor Comments on Keating Health Dept. Remarks

Statement by Senator Stratton Taylor,
Senate President Pro Tempore

"If any blame should be assessed, it should be against Governor Keating. As chief executive of the state of Oklahoma, he controls the executive branch that directly oversees state agencies like the Health Department. The Governor, not the Legislature, appoints the board that is in charge of
running the department."

"Governor Keating admitted in his statement that he had known about problems at the department for quite some time. He was apparently content to look the other way until federal authorities got involved earlier this year. Now that the corruption that occurred on his watch has been exposed, Governor Keating is trying to fashion himself as some kind of reformer, instead of admitting that he ignored the problem until he was forced to acknowledge it. That is simply unacceptable."

"Governor Keating has been in office for six years. It's time he took responsibility for the problems in his administration, instead of trying to shift the blame to someone else."