The Oklahoma Public Employees Association expressed their shock at the brazen behavior of State Labor Commissioner Lloyd Fields, who entered the offices of OPEA on Tuesday, retrieved an Association document from a private office and destroyed it.
The document, an OPEAPAC survey to political candidates, was returned by Fields earlier this week. However, on Tuesday he returned to the OPEA office and entered the office of an OPEA employee taking his survey off the employee’s desk and tore it up in front of another employee.
Labor Commissioner Lloyd Fields, seems to be upset with the Oklahoma Public Employees Association. The Association’s political action committee has contributed funds to one of the Republican candidates facing a primary election in the Labor Commissioner’s race on July 27, according to ethics filing.
“Our PAC did contribute to Jason Reese after interviewing him,” said OPEA Executive Director Sterling Zearley. “They felt like he was the best candidate in the Republican primary. However, we have not, nor were we going to make an endorsement in the general election until the candidates had returned a survey and had interviews with the PAC board.
“Fields spoke to a third employee and was visibly upset because we had given the other candidate a contribution,” said Zearley. “He did not have permission nor did he ask permission to enter the private office of one of my employees and take something off his desk.
“It seems that Mr. Fields may have a habit of taking things that don’t belong to him,” said Zearley, referring to an incident in which Fields was accused of taking a guitar that didn’t belong to him. This move landed Fields in the Public Inebriate Alternative Center, a detox center near Bricktown.
“We have contributed to primary races where we believe one candidate is more supportive of state employee issues than the other,” Zearley added. “This is one of those occasions. But, we have not contributed to general election races where we are awaiting the outcome of the primary.”
“It shows that Mr. Fields has no respect for the professionalism and fair manner in which the Association handles the political process and endorsements,” Zearley continued.
“For Mr. Fields to come into our offices and remove something that is clearly Association property may be a violation of the law and we are examining the possibility of action against Mr. Fields,” he concluded.
Posted on
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
by Trish Frazier