Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Expected

The speculation is that either Jack Mildren or Cathy Taylor will be the new Secretary of Commerce and Tourism in Oklahoma. It seems that it is Governor Brad Henry's intent to combine these two agencies or at least name a Secretary to oversee both agencies. Jack Mildren is a former Lt. Governor and Cathy Taylor is a Tulsa attorney married to the former owner of Thrifty Car Company. Both seem to be capable. Hopefully, the Governor will continue to keep the Secretary and Executive Director positions in each agency separate. It would take a superhuman person to be effective holding both positions simultaneously. Agencies and their regulatory requirements are too complicated for a person to handle both the details and the "vision thing". Lets hope Henry doesn't make the mistake of politicizing agencies with political appointments below the Executive Director levels. Many states have poisoned their bureaucracies by removing professionals and replacing them with political hacks. We can't afford this kind of politics and neither can Henry.

So far, Henry seems to be appointing friends of cronies rather than his cronies. It's an odd strategy.