Names surfacing for key jobs in Governor-elect Brad Henry administration

Wednesday, November 13th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ One week after Gov.-elect Brad Henry's stunning victory, chatter at the state Capitol is filled with names of people who may fill key positions in his administration.

Before he is sworn in on Jan. 13, Henry, a Democratic state senator, is expected to fill more than a dozen positions on his cabinet and elsewhere in state government with the people who will manage and guide state agencies as Henry begins his four-year term.

Henry's transition team has no shortage of candidates.

``We really don't need to seek resumes. They've just been pouring in,'' Thomas Larson, a former campaign worker for Henry who is acting as press secretary during the transition, said Tuesday.

``Everyone wants a job,'' Larson said.

While no positions have been filled, speculation is rampant about who will get the top jobs in Henry's administration, including chief of staff and state finance director.

The governor's chief of staff is the office's top administrator. One of the most influential jobs in state government, the chief of staff manages the governor's office, controls access to the governor and helps set his agenda.

Possible candidates include Gerald Adams, who worked for 15 years as chief spokesman for the state attorney general's office.

Before going to work for the state, Adams worked as an editor, reporter and columnist in Henry's hometown of Shawnee for the Shawnee News-Star.

Adams, now communications director at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, declined to comment on the reports.

The Office of State Finance, already one of the most important agencies in state government, has taken on new importance because of the state's deepening revenue shortfall.

University of Oklahoma economics professor Lex Holmes, a personal friend of Henry's who taught the governor-elect economics at OU, has been repeatedly mentioned for either director of finance or special economic adviser to Henry.

Holmes would neither confirm nor deny the report. ``I ought not to speak on this subject,'' he said.

Between 1987-1991, Holmes served as director of the Office of State Revenue as well as cabinet secretary for finance and revenue in the administration of former Gov. Henry Bellmon.

Holmes' service included a state revenue shortfall due to the oil bust of the 1980s similar to the current one.

``The downturn in the economy in 1987 was much worse than it is now,'' he said.

Outgoing Sens. Dave Herbert, D-Midwest City, and Brooks Douglass, R-Oklahoma City, are among a handful of Henry's state Senate colleagues who have been suggested as candidates for various government posts.

Herbert said he has been rumored as director of state tourism as well as secretary of the Commerce and Transportation departments.

Herbert said he is not actively seeking any of the positions but would consider either the commerce or transportation posts. Douglass has also been suggested as a candidate for commerce secretary.

Larson said Henry is vacationing with his family out of state and no positions are expected to be named before next week.

Henry's law partners, Matt Hopkins and John Canavan, are in charge of Henry's transition team until a chief of staff is named. They were out of their office Tuesday and unavailable for comment.