Mark Costello

Worker Protections?

October 16, 2011 by Blue Oklahoma

Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello's use of anti-worker political rhetoric and his independent, anti-union and anti-public employee website, Parity in Oklahoma, raises the question whether an elected official can essentially work against the historical and constitutional mandates of a state office.

Costello referred to public employees as "feral hogs" in a recent speech, which has drawn widespread criticism from the Oklahoma Democratic Party, union officials, state employees and teachers. His website, which is not state funded but uses his name and title prominently, argues state and local governments should not collect union dues from paychecks and criticizes the retirement benefits of some state employees. It also supposedly points out the "perks" of public employees and criticizes state merit rules that "actually reward bad employee behavior."

High Court Considers Information Restrictions

September 25, 2011 by Blue Oklahoma

An Oklahoma Supreme Court proposal that would remove some personal identifiers from court documents would be a blow to openness and transparency, but opposition to the idea from the state's largest newspaper seems hypocritical given its own secretive and slanted style of journalism.

The court has asked for comments about the proposal, which is in advance of a new electronic document system. (I'll consider this my comment.) If approved, identifying information, such as addresses, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and similar data would be removed from court documents. Here's the entire proposal. Here is a thorough article about it in the Tulsa World.

Costello Pushed To Resign After 'Feral Hogs' Comparison

September 22, 2011 by Blue Oklahoma

"I don't know if you know much about feral hogs, but they reproduce three or four times a year, they eat anything and everything, and I kind of think there is some comparison between bureaucrats and feral hogs."-Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello as quoted in the Tulsa World.

Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello might be trying to backtrack on his comments comparing at least some state employees to "feral hogs," but, if anything, he's only making it worse.

On Sept. 13, Costello, pictured right, spoke before the Republican Women's Club of Tulsa County and introduced his new organization, "Parity in Oklahoma, whose primary purpose appears to be undermining state employee benefits and protections," according to a story in the Tulsa World. Along the way, the story states, Costello compared bureaucrats to feral hogs.