Oklahoma Law And Government

The capital of the state is Oklahoma City and the Governor of Oklahoma is Brad Henry (Democrat). Other Executive Branch elected officials include Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma Jari Askins (Democrat), State Auditor Jeff McMahan (Democrat), Attorney General Drew Edmondson (Democrat), State Treasurer Scott Meacham (Democrat), State School Superintendent Sandy Garrett (Democrat), Labor Commissioner Lloyd Fields (Democrat), Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland (Democrat), and the three member State Corporation Commission which currently consists of Bob Anthony (Republican), Jeff Cloud (Republican), and Jim Roth (Democrat). The Governor appoints the Secretary of State, currently M. Susan Savage (Democrat). As a result of the 2006 elections, the Lieutenant Governor became Jari Askins (Democrat) and the new Labor Commissioner became Lloyd Fields. They took office on January 8, 2007.

The Legislature of Oklahoma consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 48 members serving four-year terms, while the House has 101 members with two year terms. The state has term limits for their legislature that restrict any one person to a total of twelve years service in both the House and Senate. In the 2007–2008 state legislature, the Republicans control the House of Representatives (57 to 44) and the Senate is currently evenly divided (24 to 24). This changes the government's make-up; before the 2004 election the Democrats had controlled both chambers since 1921. Republicans have never controlled the State Senate outright.

The state's judicial branch consists of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, and 77 District Courts which serve one county apiece. The Oklahoma judiciary also contains two independent courts: a Court of Impeachment (which is the Senate sitting) and the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary. Oklahoma is unusual in that it has two courts of last resort, the state Supreme Court hears civil cases, and the state Court of Criminal Appeals hears criminal cases (the state of Texas uses a similar system). Judges of those two courts, as well as the Court of Civil Appeals are appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the state Judicial Nominating Commission, and are subject to a non-partisan retention vote on a six-year rotating schedule.

Due to Oklahoma's restrictive ballot access laws (deemed by many to be the most restrictive in the nation), third parties have very limited access to the primary ballots. However, the state does have the following active third parties: Oklahoma Libertarian Party, Green Party of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Constitution Party. There are also organizers from the Communist Party USA working in the state.

The state is divided into 77 counties which deliver local government. Each is governed by a three member commission. Other county elected officials are the tax assessor, clerk, court clerk, treasurer, and sheriff. Cities and towns are established under the rights granted in the Oklahoma statutes (in comparison, Oklahoma gives municipal governments a great deal of latitude in chartering new governments). Towns are municipalities of under 1000 residents, while cities have more than 1000 residents. Major cities are also allowed to form "charter governments," in which the voters choose the form of government they want to use in place of the statutory forms. Other local government units in Oklahoma include independent and dependent school districts, Technology Center Districts (known as CareerTech), community college districts, rural fire departments, rural water districts, and other special use districts.

After the 2000 census the Oklahoma delegation to the U.S. House was reduced from six to five representatives. For the 110th Congress (2007–2009) there are no changes in party strength, and the delegation has four Republicans and one Democrat. Oklahoma's two U.S. senators are Jim Inhofe (Republican) and Tom Coburn (Republican). The U.S. Representatives are John Sullivan (Republican) of District 1, Dan Boren (Democrat) of District 2, Frank D. Lucas (Republican) of District 3, Tom Cole (Republican) of District 4, and Mary Fallin (Republican) of District 5.

Although there are more registered Democrats in Oklahoma than registered Republicans,[11] it has become a solidly Republican state in presidential elections, voting for the Republican in every election from 1968 forward. (The 1976 Carter-Ford race was close, however.) In 2004, George W. Bush carried every county in the state and 65.6% of the statewide vote.

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Oklahoma Capitol building with oil derrick.