Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs

The organization has a small affiliate organization, OCPA Impact, that engages in direct lobbying activity. ²

Background

The Oklahoma Public Affairs Council was founded in 1993 as the Oklahoma state-level affiliate of the State Policy Network (SPN). The State Policy Network is a national center-right policy organization that supports state-based policy and advocacy organizations across the United States. Like many other State Policy Network-affiliated groups, the organization was formed with the intention of modeling a state level conservative-leaning think tank after national groups such as the Heritage Foundation. ¹

The founding of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs was led by David Brown, an Oklahoma City- based orthopedic surgeon and clinical professor at the University of Oklahoma. In addition to his role in founding the OCPA, Brown has sat as a board member of several groups including the Heritage Foundation and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. ³

Activity

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs promotes policies and publishes research around many free-market issues including school choice, taxation, criminal justice, and public pensions. ⁴ The organization also hosts several collections of state open records, including data on state employee salaries, state employee and teacher pensions, state revenue and expenses, and state payments to vendors. ⁵

The organization has also launched a program called Aim Higher OK that promotes conservative principles among college students and targets an alleged predominance of left-leaning thought and political stances on college campuses. The group also runs a fellowship program named after late historian Rufus Fears that teaches students about traditional free-market and conservative theory. ⁶

The OCPA is also involved with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-leaning membership group for state lawmakers that has been criticized by many left-leaning organizations and activists. In 2013, during left-wing protests at the ALEC annual meeting in Chicago, the OCPA issued a statement supporting ALEC, praising the group for several of its policy priorities and for hosting then-Governor Mary Fallin (R-OK), who was a former ALEC “legislator of the year” award winner. ⁷ OCPA’s current president, Jonathan Small, is a former recipient of the ALEC private-sector member of the year award. ⁸

The OCPA has also received financial support from the right-of-center Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which provided $450,000 in funds to the organization and its now defunct national affiliate, the OCPA Liberty Foundation, in 2014. ⁹

Paycom SLAPP Controversy

In March 2020, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs published a news article¹⁰ that criticized Chad Richison, CEO of payroll technology company Paycom, who had sent a letter to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) recommending stricter lockdowns in the state, including bans on nonessential air travel and closures of personal-care businesses, to prevent spread of COVID-19. ¹¹

Paycom responded by filing a lawsuit against OCPA;¹² OCPA alleged that the lawsuit amounted a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) that violated the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act, legislation to combat litigation intended to silence protected speech. ¹³ In February 2021, a state court dismissed Paycom’s suit with prejudice, holding that “Paycom’s claims against OCPA relate to or are in response to the OCPA’s exercise of the right to free speech.” ¹⁴

As of March 2021, OCPA was involved in court proceedings seeking to recover legal fees from Paycom under Oklahoma law. ¹⁵