As lawmakers try to unravel how much money the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) needs to get by this fiscal year due to financial mismanagement, Governor Kevin Stitt has hired a special counsel to conduct an investigation. Former U.S. Attorney Robert McCampbell has been tapped for the task.
Stitt is asking McCampbell to investigate potential abuse, waste, mismanagement, and fraud uncovered by Commissioner Allie Friesen.
“Robert and his team will leave no stone unturned, because the people of Oklahoma deserve to know exactly what went wrong and who is responsible. I want ODMHSAS to earn the public’s trust and operate with the integrity that Oklahomans expect and deserve. These problems didn’t develop overnight and solving them won’t happen overnight either. But we are moving quickly, and we are not looking the other way,” said Stitt.
Earlier this year, Friesen reported that the agency had some financial issues. Since then, officials have struggled to come up with a budget number for the Department of Mental Health to last the rest of the current fiscal year and make sure it has enough appropriated in the next state budget.
