The race to select a new Tulsa County district attorney took another turn Monday, with one candidate taking court action to challenge the eligibility of the other two who filed for the office.
Tulsa County Assistant District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler filed a petition Monday in Oklahoma County District Court, seeking a judicial finding that the other two men who filed for the District Attorney’s Office — state Rep. Fred Jordan and state Sen. Brian Crain — are both prohibited under the state constitution from being elected to the office.
Crain had voluntarily withdrawn from the race on May 23, saying he had discovered the day before that a judicial pay raise, approved by the state Legislature that week, made him ineligible to hold the office.
That law, House Joint Resolution 1096, increased the salaries of Oklahoma district judges and therefore also increased the salaries of all state district attorneys. Crain said he discovered that the Oklahoma Constitution forbids someone who is serving in the Legislature when a pay raise is approved from running for the position for which the pay was increased.
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Crain said in May that he believed he could go to court, argue that he is indeed eligible for the district attorney’s position and ultimately win, but he said he thought remaining in the race wouldn’t be fair to Tulsa County voters.
“It’s a tough position (for the voters) to be in, because I would be in a lawsuit at the time of the election,” Crain said then. “I didn’t want to do that. … I don’t want to leave Tulsa without a DA if I’m elected and then later ruled ineligible.”
At that time, Jordan said he did not believe he was affected by the statute because he was at the end of his legislative term, while Crain was in the middle of his.
The pertinent section of the Oklahoma Constitution — Article V, Section 23 — says: “No member of the Legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any office or commission in the State, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during his term of office.”
Jordan is at the end of his current term in the House of Representatives and chose to forgo a re-election bid to run for district attorney.
Crain is in the middle of a four-year Senate term. He did not have to resign from his legislative seat to run for district attorney.
By the time Crain announced that he was withdrawing from the election, the ballots had already been printed, so all three men’s names will be on the June 24 Republican primary ballot.
There is no Democratic candidate for the district attorney’s post, which Tim Harris is relinquishing by not seeking another term of office.
Kunzweiler’s filing on Monday also seeks a ruling that the Oklahoma State Election Board, another named defendant in the case, is constitutionally prohibited from certifying either Jordan or Crain as being elected to the DA’s position.
Kunzweiler, a 24-year prosecutor, said at a press conference Monday that the office of district attorney “is too important to public safety to risk a period of disruption.”
He indicated in a news release Monday that after consulting with many attorneys, “it was clear to me that Jordan’s candidacy violates both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
In response, Jordan said, “Oklahoma law is clear. I am eligible to be a candidate for district attorney despite the incorrect claims my opponent is making.”
Kunzweiler’s attempt to “walk into this critical office unopposed” shows a “misunderstanding of the law” and is “nothing but a last-minute distraction from the campaign,” Jordan continued.
According to Jordan, the state Supreme Court has previously ruled on this issue, and the precedent supports his position.
