Failure to collect

Authorized by the Oklahoma Constitution, the five-member Ethics Commission is charged with developing and administering rules of ethical conduct for state officers and employees and campaigns for elective state offices, state initiatives and referenda.

The commission is also responsible for investigating and prosecuting violations of campaign financial disclosure laws and recommending civil penalties in district court.

Marilyn Hughes, who retired as Ethics Commission executive director in 2012, said that during her tenure the agency faced various obstacles in collecting late fees.

“The bulk of what was uncollected came from candidates who completely disappeared,” Hughes said. “These were people who lost an election and you couldn’t find them again.”

Hughes said many candidates who lost primary elections would drop out of sight and could not be contacted after the election. The agency tried working with other state agencies to outsource the collection of past-due fees, but the cost of those efforts was higher than the return.

“It was costing us more than we collected,” she said.