Two of the three candidates for the open seat on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission have raised less than $2,000, while the third has raised more than $400,000.
Republican candidate Brian Bingman also has secured a host of high-profile endorsements, including from Todd Hiett, a current commissioner at the center of a public controversy that has embroiled the influential commission. Hiett was accused of sexual harassment and drunkenness while representing the commission at a conference earlier this year and has ignored calls to resign.
Bingman, who is vying to succeed Hiett’s sharpest critic on the three-member commission, said he supports Hiett maintaining his seat and seeking treatment. Both served at the same time in the state Legislature, Bingman in the Senate and Hiett in the House.
The debate over Hiett’s future on the commission has grabbed attention from its day-to-day business of regulating public utilities, oil, gas and other energy sources, commercial transportation and petroleum storage tanks, among other lesser-known industries such as cotton gins and railroads.