Guests: Consideration of any OTA bond offerings should be postponed until after audit

The recent ruling of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma in the case of Pike Off OTA v. the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority represents a dangerous shift in the way our state government will operate going forward. It grants the executive branch, via its obedient proxy the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, extensive new powers to seize private property without oversight or accountability. As Justice Rowe stated in a strong dissenting opinion, “… no other agency, entity or branch of government is [now] charged with oversight of OTA.”

For those not familiar with this case, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s proposed ACCESS Oklahoma turnpike routes were challenged in the state Supreme Court in fall 2022. A skilled team of attorneys representing hundreds of plaintiffs presented evidence that the authority was acting far outside legislative approval with these plans. Acting outside legislative approval essentially means acting outside the law, making the proposed highways illegal. This argument was supported by an extensive array of maps, charts and historical research. These documents showed the proposed ACCESS routes were many miles away and running in completely different directions from the routes authorized by the Legislature decades ago.

The turnpike authority’s legal case, on the other hand, consisted of very little other than various iterations of “the Supreme court should not inject itself into our business.” Many of us who attended the hearing were alternately amused, embarrassed and appalled by these weak arguments.

So, it was quite a shock to learn that a majority of justices found the authority’s legal case to be credible. One expects better from the state’s highest court. But it was not to be. And now it is imperative that all Oklahomans understand how this irresponsible ruling could destabilize our state government and put everyone’s rights at risk.

More: Ever wonder why the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Board makes the decisions that it does?

The governor is an ex-officio member of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Board. He personally appoints the other board members, the authority director and the secretary of transportation. The authority's board has never voted no on a single agenda item for as long as we can find records. We interpret this voting pattern as a sign the authority's board will never challenge the governor, no matter how ill-conceived or potentially illegal his plans may be.

This kind of unchecked power in the executive branch is not compatible with a democratic system of government. Any future governor with autocratic aspirations, for instance, could easily use the turnpike authority or another executive level agency to target political opponents with threats of eminent domain based on vaguely defined highway plans developed decades ago. This creates the potential for destabilizing land grabs, massive population dislocations and multi-billion dollar debt burdens for the state.

We predict that all of these unsavory things will come to pass if the turnpike authority's $5 billion ACCESS Oklahoma expansion plans are allowed to move forward. We strongly urge the Council on Bond Oversight to postpone consideration of any turnpike authority bond offerings until the investigative audit is complete and the state Legislature has had a chance to enact common-sense laws that redistribute power back to residents and their elected representatives.

Katherine Hirschfeld and Whitney Mullica are board members with the grassroots movement Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guests: Oklahoma Supreme Court issued dangerous turnpike ruling