Patrice Douglas got the cushy $250,000 a year TSET job…

Patrice Douglas

Odds She Gets The Job: 50%

This would make sense. She's the former mayor of Edmond and a former Corporation Commissioner. In fact, during her brief tenure as Corporation Commissioner, Patrice worked with Continental Resources executives to intimidate State Seismologist Austin Holland and pressure him to NOT link Oklahoma earthquakes to oil and gas activities. That's a strong qualification. With experience like that, she'll have no problem helping tobacco companies intimidate, coerce and suppress Oklahoma physicians.

Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Patrice Douglas plans private sector return after term

Outgoing Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Patrice Douglas said she’s anticipating her return the private sector when her term ends Monday and has no regrets about her stint on the commission.

“I’m excited. My family’s excited. We’re ready to move on,” Douglas said.

The former Edmond mayor, whose business background is in banking and law, served for more than three years on the commission after being appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin in September 2011.

In an interview Thursday after casting her final votes from the commission bench, Douglas remained coy about her next job, saying she would rather not announce it while she’s still a sitting commissioner.

“We’ve been real quiet about it. We’re going to stay that way for a little while,” Douglas said. “It’ll be fun. I’m staying in Oklahoma. My kids are excited about it. We’re ready for the next step. I come from the private sector, and I’m going back to the private sector.”

The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust announced Tuesday Patrice Douglas has accepted a newly created $250,000-a-year job heading up the state agency.

Douglas is a former Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner, a former Edmond mayor and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S. House.

The announcement came a week after the trust stirred public concern with word that it was starting a lucrative new position and had offered it to an undisclosed person at a time when most state agencies are facing severe budget cutbacks.

The trust manages $1 billion in tobacco settlement money, spending only the interest, mainly to discourage smoking.

Tracey Strader, 57, who has been leading the trust as executive director, earns $120,000 a year. She was expected to stay on with the agency, which has 22 employees.