Former DHS commissioner requests rescission of public reprimand

Dow was publicly reprimanded by the Ethics Commission May 29 for serving as a DHS commissioner at the same time he was the unpaid chief executive officer of Community Action Project of Tulsa County, a nonprofit agency that contracts with DHS to provide day care and child education services.

The Ethics Commission ruled that was a conflict of interest and Dow resigned as a Department of Human Services commissioner the next day.

In Dow's resignation letter to the governor, he wrote that he was “surprised and disappointed” by the Ethics Commission's decision.

Dow wrote that he had informed then-Gov. Brad Henry's office of the potential conflict when Henry first appointed him, and said Henry's “legal counsel and chief of staff thoroughly investigated and researched the matter, concluding that there was not a violation of any provision of the Constitution or statute.”