It worked for Tulsa County twenty years ago.

The new normal in government is transparent and accountable which is increasingly popular, but maybe it always has been. For the record, Tulsa County set this standard in the early 2000s. President Bill Clinton, even earlier, promoted government efficiency in a National Partnership for Reinventing Government but now Democrats claim the effort unconstitutional – screaming like toddlers deprived of their blankie.

The Trump Administration is doing what most elected officials in every party promised for decades yet failed. The latest proposal is to return to the people twenty percent of recovered funds (est. $5,000.00 per taxpayer) and the rest to pay down the national debt – that does Make America Great Again, to say nothing of preventing economic collapse. No individual, organization, or nation can spend more than it earns. Go DOGE and show all details, regardless.

“The Treasury Department sent $4.7 trillion dollars of payments without an identification code that links Treasury payments to a budget line item… making the payments ‘almost impossible’ to trace… called TAS for Treasury Access Symbol, [it] is now required — as of last Saturday — to increase the ‘insight into where money is actually going,’” Breitbart.com reported. Only Feds could get away with that, everyone else would go to jail for unidentified/unknown expenditures of other-peoples-money.

In Tulsa County for the $530 million Vision 2025 infrastructure program and others funded by taxpayers, Commissioner Bob Dick first pulled the program management team together and told all, “Like you, may love you, but not going to jail for you, so don’t make a mistake.” We took him seriously.

I was the public information manager on the voter approved bond projects “4-to-Fix” and “Vision 2025.” I maintained ongoing relationships with public officials, media and over thirty project sponsors and mitigated criticism with accurate information.

I managed programing and design to produce two program specific web sites www.Vision2025.info and 4-To-Fix. I also designed, wrote and managed printing and distribution of an annual newsletter mailed to every household of registered voters in Tulsa County. Each expense on every project within the entire program was tracked and detailed.

During my tenure, the programs maintained over sixty percent public approval despite continual criticism from bloggers and talk radio shock jocks. They said the BOK Center would never be built or successful – they were wrong. They said the program was corrupt, but our Citizens Oversight Committee met every month to review the expenditures and approve details. No corruption occurred during the life of the programs now complete.

Once, in the print report, our team simply rounded cents into whole dollars by standard accounting practices yet that almost triggered a full program audit. It was demanded we prove our math. We did. Over time, the “Vision” name became so beloved, the City of Tulsa stole it for several of their infrastructure programs.

Transparency works. It helps if married to “competency and caring” as Elon Musk noted during a recent interview with Fox News. DOGE is increasingly popular.

Conservative analyst and writer Mollie Hemingway on FOX News asserted DOGE is absolutely necessary, highlighting that while Democrats have been asking who elected Elon Musk, America is asking who elected the bureaucratic state, and why do they have so much of our money? And control over our daily lives this writer would add.

Cliff Maloney, CEO of Citizens Alliance and the founder of the PA Chase, writing for Breitbart.com opined, “With DOGE’s investigations into the Department of Education’s finances and the shuttering of the liberal globalist slush fund once known as USAID, it is clear that this model of aggressive oversight and accountability is not just necessary—it is essential for all 50 states.

“The federal government has long resisted any serious attempt to scrutinize its spending, but Musk, armed with the tools to investigate and the will to drag these vampires into the light, is exposing the rot within the swamp.

“The opposition to DOGE’s work is predictable. Democrats, federal unions, and career bureaucrats are panicking because, for the first time in decades, real accountability is coming,” Maloney added. The Breitbart headline, “We Need a DOGE in Every State.”

Former Oklahoma State Senator and Sec. of Budget, Mike Mazzei recently wrote in support of Governor Stitt’s call for an Oklahoma DOGE in addition to the existing Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT). The LOFT portal online allows anyone to research policy ideas, reports, and agency recommendations. At nearly six years old, LOFT has just recently been expanded.

“The groundwork for DOGE has already been laid, and we have the tools we need to finish the job,” Mazzei added (click here for more).

This writer on Tulsa Today covered Tulsa County Commissioner Lonnie Sims’ proposal in early February reporting, “The effort by Commission Chairman Sims is named Office of Government Efficiency and Transparency (OGET) and would be tasked with alerting County Government and the public of national, state, and local changes that could potentially impact County services and maintain regular reporting on programs and services provided by Tulsa County.”

OGET would “assist the Board of County Commissioners make informed, data-driven decisions that promote accountability, maximize resource utilization, and ensure the effectiveness of county programs and services,” according to the official description of the program.

Commissioner Sims (Dist. 2) said, “Tulsa County’s OGET would align with President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as well as the state’s LOFT program. The point is to move accurate information clearly and concisely among constituent groups, increase efficiency of government, grow public understanding, and address questions on specific programs and services.”

Commissioner Stan Sallee (Dist. 1) said, “Like President Trump and Elon Musk, I support continued efforts to review operations and provide better efficiency in country government. Since being elected, I continue to work with our state auditors and elected officials in reviewing all departments for efficiency and transparency. I welcome any additional audits and reviews.

Commissioner Kelly Dunkerley (Dist. 3) said, “I see a great need for Tulsa County to increase public interaction so citizens can see how their tax dollars are utilized to improve County roads, bridges, and public safety. More transparency benefits all levels of government. County does a great deal well, but we can do better.”

DOGE national, state or county is not the same as a public infrastructure project. But as directed by the County Commissioners, OGET would build public credibility for Tulsa County Government with aggressive transparency.

Let us hope the entire Tulsa County Budget Board (comprised of eight elected officials: three County Commissioners, County Clerk, Court Clerk, County Assessor, County Treasurer and Sheriff) see the long-term value of increasing credibility for and the knowledge of County Government with transparency that may be outside existing swim-lanes.

Editor’s Note: This story first published February 21, 2025 on David Arnett’s email based website, Arnett.Substack.Com which welcomes both free and paid subscribers. Stories posted there are later posted on Tulsa Today and other sites. Tulsa Today was established in 1996 by Arnett as an diverse platform for local writers.