Oklahoma Inc. – Governor Stitt’s Appointment Swamp

Governor Stitt has never had any problem appointing people during his terms.

In fact, the appointments he’s made during his time in the Governor’s chair tell us a story. They tell us that he doesn’t see a government that is Of The People, By The People, For The People, but more a government of the people, for the people, by the people he likes and does business with.

The people he appoints to his positions – and he’ll move people around wherever it suits him for whatever purpose he has – by and large, have worked with him previously, or come from Tulsa, or have donated to his campaign, or have ties to him through the Chamber, or Jeb Bush – they’re not We The People, they’re We The Buddies.

I’m not going to throw in a bunch of links in here to prove the veracity of this statement, a simple internet search on Governor Stitt and his appointments will bring those home for you. It’s all there. It’s not hard to find.

In order to drive the point home, however, here are several examples of my assertion.

Donelle Harder:

Here are Donelle’s stats from her LinkedIn page:

Here’s an article that doesn’t say why she left Stitt’s office in 2020 as his “Senior Advisor”, but the move didn’t hurt her.

She went on to DC (essentially) and started her own Consulting firm, Pliris Strategies, which she then sold to Pinkston (the company where she began her career), during which time she was not only appointed to the Gateway Banking/Mortgage Board, but was owner of Harder Consulting, LLC as well. Talk about landing on your feet.

Prior to that, however, she was

Communications Advisor U.S. House of Representatives May 2010 – Jul 2012

Communications Director U.S. Senate July 2012 – Nov 2016

Vice President Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association Nov 2016 – Dec 2017

Deputy Campaign Manager Kevin Stitt for Governor Oct 2017 – Jan 2019

Executive Team Member Governor-elect Kevin Stitt Transition Team Nov 2018 – Jan 2019

Doubtless, Mrs. Harder has worked very hard and had a very successful career – mostly in government, mostly with Governor Stitt.

As you can tell from the post above, Governor Stitt recently appointed Harder to the position of Secretary of State (after sitting SOS, Josh Cockroft suddenly decided to step down with four other Stitt appointees), only to find that Harder couldn’t serve as Secretary of State – a 4-year appointment that will extend into the next OK governor’s term and be a member of the next Governor’s cabinet whether they want them there or not – because she couldn’t fulfill the residency requirement of 10 years.

But no worries, again, the move won’t hurt her – she’ll now be Chief of Staff – an easy jump since she’s already been his “Senior Advisor”.

I personally think the most telling thing – the most infuriating thing – from Harder’s Facebook post is that she’s all good with her position. She’s giddy that the people she’s working with now – the same ones she’s worked within the past – are all back together and isn’t that grand? She is completely tone deaf to the fact that she doesn’t work for Kevin Stitt in a private business, she works for the people of Oklahoma, which is managed for We The People by Kevin Sitt. Her salary is paid by taxpayers, therefore her duty is to the taxpayers, not to a boss, or the buddies she’s worked with before, as would be the case in private business. But then, this is Oklahoma Inc. thinking for you.

Government is not to be run as a private business. It can’t be. The government of the state of Oklahoma is the PEOPLE OF OKLAHOMA, not the elected and appointed officials. The PEOPLE OF OKLAHOMA elect their fellow citizens to government office to manage the state for them using the dollars that are forcibly taken from them in the way of taxes and fees. Because they are forcibly taken, the employees of the PEOPLE OF OKLAHOMA have a duty to manage those tax dollars appropriately while working continuously to protect their liberty – the only job any elected official has.

Dustin Hilliary:

Notice he’s now Stitt’s “Chief Negotiator”. What is that? Well, we’ll never know because there is no job for that in the Oklahoma Job Catalog. Interesting. How much will this employee make off the back of taxpayers? How could we know?

Hilliary has donated quite a lot of money to Stitt – who appointed him to a 9-year term as an Oklahoma State Reagent (he’s now the Chair) though he never got a college degree. An article in the Oklahoman had this to say about Hilliary and Ostrowe – also included in Harder’s post.

Benjamin Lepak:

Benjamin is the son of current Representative Mark Lepak.

His sister Sarah Lepak was Governor Stitt’s Assistant General Counsel at Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC, for five years from Apr 2012 – Mar 2017. She also served on the Oklahoma State Board of Education – one of two not fired when Governor Stitt fired Donald Burdick, Kendra Wesson, and Katie Quebedeaux – until Governor Stitt removed she and the other member, Zach Archer quietly on October 2nd. (In their place he has appointed Brian Bobek and Wes Nofire. Both have been appointed by Stitt to other Oklahoma boards previously.)

Benjamin is the current General Counsel to the Governor – since October of 2024. Might it be worth asking how Lepak’s “brilliant mind” didn’t know that Harder couldn’t be appointed SOS? Prior to that, Benjamin was the Executive Director of the State Chamber Research Foundation Oklahoma 21st Century from November 2020 until taking the General Counsel position.

Why Is Any Of This A Problem?

Here’s why. There is a process set up by which We The People may send in application to be appointed to serve on a Board, or a Commission in Oklahoma.

Ideally, qualified individuals from the population of We The People in Oklahoma use this form to submit an application for specific appointments in which they have interest. People from the Governor’s office, then, ideally, look over the applications and move forward those most qualified to the Governor for his selection.

This is clearly not happening – certainly, not at top levels.

Let’s review some of the most controversial of Governor Stitt’s appointments so far.

Shelley Zumwalt – according to her LinkdIn page, Zumwalt graduated from University of Central Oklahoma in 2002 with a BS in Business/Corporate Communications. There is nothing on her LinkdIn that accounts for the years 2002-2012, but in 2012, she became the “Communications Manager” for OMES. After that, it was off to the races with one government job after another; Director of Public Affairs for Governor Mary Fallin, Director of Public Affairs for OMES – then, in 2019, she was appointed “Chief Communications and Strategic Engagement Officer Oklahoma” of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority by Governor Stitt – yet another job not in the Oklahoma Job Description Manager. After that, she was in another made up job – Chief Innovation Officer at OMES – and then an actual job posting, Executive Director, Oklahoma Employment Security Commission and finally Executive Director at the Oklahoma Tourism Department.

Essentially forced out of office after Cindy Bird’s scathing audit about her use of taxpayer dollars during the pandemic – where it was found that she essentially paid her husband’s firm for software work and then told the public it wasn’t a big deal because there was nothing going on.

Jefferey Cartmell – Cartmell got his JD in 2012 from OU, after which he became Governor Mary Fallin’s General Counsel. Gosh. One minute you’re an OU law student and the next you’re the Governor’s General Counsel. Amazing.

After that, it was nearly just one government job after the next for Cartmell; Director and Counsel State of Oklahoma – Gaming Compliance for two years, Associate Attorney Lytle Soule & Curlee, for 2 years, Deputy General Counsel Office of Governor Kevin Stitt (starting from the time he took office in 2019) for 2 years, Counsel to Secretary of State – Oklahoma Secretary of State 2 years, Executive Director – Office Of Juvenile Affairs 1 year, Director, Oklahoma DHS.

Now mind you, Cartmell may be a great attorney, but I see nothing that would make him even eligible to be appointed to the Executive Director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs or OKDHS positions. In fact, after allegations of widespread abuse at the Tulsa Juvenile Center resulted in lawsuits, investigations and at least one person charged for having sex with a minor, Carmell was moved from the OJA to OKDHS. How many people do you know are moved to a larger oversight job when they’ve apparently failed at the lesser oversight job? It’s worth it to ask.

Now Cartmell is in a position over an agency that we know – thanks to the wonderful detective/reporting work of Katy Smith at V1SUT – has – at minimum – trafficked children to pedophiles and taken them away from their parents for forced medical treatment. Unfortunately, swamp creatures are much better at landing other government jobs than protecting We The People from the agencies they head. It is actually disgusting.

I can only hope that Oklahomans have learned valuable lessons from King – sorry – Governor Stitt’s tenure and that they’ll never again fall for a fast-talking businessman with an ethically iffy business background who wants to turn Oklahoma into a business his buddies can run on the backs of We The People.