Fallin responds to Lamb's cabinet resignation

Governor Mary Fallin Statement on Resignation of Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb from Her Cabinet

OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor Mary Fallin today issued the following statement after Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb announced his resignation from her Cabinet, where he served as small business advocate:

“I was disappointed and surprised to learn from a press release that Lt. Gov. Lamb had decided to quit serving as a member of my Cabinet.

 “I have always valued Todd’s independent voice. I valued it when we first came into office when we dealt with a similar financial crisis and I value his independent voice today. I’ve never been afraid to have dissenting voices at the table. I think the people of Oklahoma benefit from that. There will always be a seat at the table for his independent voice.

 “Leading a state is never easy, especially when there are so many challenges and we are faced with a prolonged economic downturn. But through ideas, hard work, long hours and making tough decisions, we can find solutions to those challenges our state faces. We have to.

 “As governor, I have provided a reality check of doing the same thing over and over with the structural deficits of our budget and expecting a different outcome. If we want to educate our children, a teacher pay raise and ensure the health and public safety of our citizens as well as improve our roads and bridges, we must fix the structure of our budget so we don’t keep having budget shortfalls and uncertainty.”

Fallin says she heard about Lamb's resignation from reading his press release. That's interesting. Lamb told KFAQ radio host Pat Campbell, and the Tulsa World reported as well, that Lamb's chief of staff Keith Beall met with the Governor's chief of staff Chris Benge Thursday morning before his announcement went out... so it sounds like either Governor Fallin is being dishonest, or her staff hid it from her. Campbell said on air that it reminded him of Barack Obama's "I learned about it like you did, on the TV news."

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