Ex-assistant at Okla. DOI Alleges Wrongful Termination

A former executive assistant at the Oklahoma Insurance Department has filed a $175,000 claim against the state, alleging she was fired after uncovering unethical conduct by Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland.

Karen Russell filed an eight-page tort claim against the state last week. It is the first step toward bringing a lawsuit over her dismissal.

Russell was fired Nov. 17, 2005, after almost four years at the insurance department.

She claims Holland hired friends to positions at the Insurance Department then let them work on her campaign at taxpayers’ expense and that Holland accepted free tickets to the University of Oklahoma – University of Texas football game.

“Commissioner Holland publicly stated that her goal was to re-establish public confidence in the OID,” Russell wrote in the claim. “Unfortunately, from almost the very beginning … it became clear that she was much more interested in her own political aspirations and, if anything, the ethical climate … began to deteriorate.”

Holland, a Tulsa Democrat appointed to replace disgraced Commissioner Carroll Fisher, said, “I’m really proud of the track record that I have established in the Oklahoma Insurance Department for accountability … My job was to clean up that office. … These claims are totally false.”

The commissioner questioned why the allegations are being raised in the weeks before the Nov. 7 election.

“I’ll let you draw your own conclusion about that,” she said. “I had an open-door policy … None of these issues were ever brought up, because they’re not real.”

Holland is running for insurance commissioner against Rep. Bill Case, a Republican from Midwest City.

The state has 90 days to act on the claim.

Information from: The Oklahoman, www.newsok.com.