Transportation Commissioner T.W. Shannon questioned why a kick off meeting for a project in his district was suddenly canceled with no notice. During Monday’s Oklahoma Transportation Commission meeting Shannon asked Transportation Secretary Tim Gatz if that meeting was canceled due to political pressure from the Governor’s Office due to issues with tribal relations.
Shannon referred to an Eight-Year Plan project for an interchange on I-35 and Highway 9 west which involved a proposal from the Chickasaw Nation. The tribe owns a casino near that interchange.
“I guess my question to you, Mr. Secretary, and you’ve been open and, and very forthright with this commission is, you know, is there any, what, what’s the status of this project? Is there any political pressure being applied from anywhere regarding this project?” asked Shannon.
“The thing that I think is a little bit different is in the context of interactions with the tribal governments. I think that given all of the, the things that are new in the discussion in that ranges from compacting to, um, you know, some of the, the things that are uncertainties in the McGirt case, et cetera, uh, are going to cause the Department to engage the Governor’s Office for advice and counsel on a regular basis as we work our way through, uh, tribal agreements,” said Gatz as part of his explanation.
Questioning continued by Shannon for several minutes about the nature of the interaction between the Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Office concerning projects which may involve tribal nations. He has called for the emails and correspondence between the Department and the Governor’s Office to be presented at next month’s Transportation Commission meeting.
Gatz said he would put together a presentation as the Commissioner requested.
Shannon is a former Oklahoma House Speaker and works for the Chickasaw Nation. He was appointed to the Commission by House Speaker Charles McCall in 2019.
You can watch Shannon and Gatz’ exchange at the meeting below. The exchange begins approximately 34:00 mark.
