Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ hired the same lobbying firm as the parent company of a financial firm he later recommended for a state contract, raising more questions about whether the treasurer’s compressed selection process was fair and transparent.
The contract gives 311 Capital Management LLC, a subsidiary of Citizen Capital LLC, a potentially lucrative investment advisory role over billions of dollars of investments from state pension and trust funds.
Russ’ office ran the bidding process. He led discussion on the three competing firms, and personally recommended 311 Capital for the contract before casting one of the Invest in Oklahoma board’s five votes to approve it on Feb. 17.
The common lobbying thread is The 1907 Group, which represented the interests of Citizen Capital before the treasurer, governor and lawmakers for the past two years, according to lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.
Russ’ office hired the lobbying firm just weeks before he cast his vote at the Invest in Oklahoma board meeting. The 1907 Group is composed of Matt Latham, Jason Dunnington and Jamie Benda. Dunnington was among the attendees at the Feb. 17 board meeting.
Latham said The 1907 Group represented Citizen Capital on economic development issues for a couple of years and the treasurer’s office for the current legislative year.
Latham said in an emailed statement that The 1907 Group has a defined scope of work with all its clients to ensure there are no conflicts.
The lobbying ties are part of the fallout from an Oklahoma Watch story that showed previously undisclosed business links between Gov. Kevin Stitt and his former chief of staff, Bond Payne. Payne owns Citizen Capital, which set up 311 Capital in September. Stitt, as chairman of the Invest in Oklahoma board, also cast his vote in favor of 311 Capital for the financial advisory contract.
Payne’s ownership of 311 Capital was never discussed during the meeting, nor did Stitt disclose he was an early investor in JRB Citizen LLC, another of Payne’s companies. JRB Citizen developed and owns the new 12-story Citizen Building in downtown Oklahoma City. After questions from Oklahoma Watch, the governor filed updated personal financial disclosure forms on April 9 to reflect that he divested from JRB Citizen in June 2024.
In a written statement, Payne said Citizen Capital engaged The 1907 Group in early 2025 to represent it on a range of issues at the Capitol.
“I was not aware of any relationship between our lobbyist and the Office of the Treasurer,” Payne said. “This engagement predated any consideration of changes to the Invest in Oklahoma Act.”
Ethics Commission filings show Russ’ office had not hired outside lobbyists before this year. Previous people listed were direct employees of the treasurer’s office, including Russ, his deputy treasurer, Jordan Harvey, and Andy Ferguson, chief policy advisor.
Russ’ office didn’t respond to detailed questions from Oklahoma Watch. Instead, the office provided a general statement that Russ hired a contract lobbyist to save more than half of what it would cost to hire a full-time equivalent as an employee. The lobbying contract covered protecting the privacy of Oklahomans’ unclaimed property, improving state debt-management services and securing industry-specific legal representation, the statement said.
Oklahoma Watch requested a copy of the treasurer’s lobbying contract with The 1907 Group on April 16. The treasurer’s office has not responded to or acknowledged the open records request.
Compressed Bidding Timeline
The Invest in Oklahoma program, which started in 2021, encourages state pensions and endowment trusts to invest up to 5% of their assets in Oklahoma-based private equity, venture capital and growth funds.
The Invest in Oklahoma board was formed under HB 2765, which moved quickly through the process in the final weeks of the 2025 legislative session. The bill also moved the program from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology to the state treasurer’s office. The law took effect Nov. 1.
The treasurer’s office on Nov. 21 put out a request for proposal for a financial advisor to bring possible investment opportunities before the Invest in Oklahoma board. But only one firm, 311 Capital, responded within the two-week window, which included Thanksgiving week. The treasurer scrapped that RFP and issued a new one on Jan. 8 with a deadline of Jan. 23. Three firms responded: 311 Capital, MEMCO and GCM Grosvernor.
Nothing in the law said the reconstituted Invest in Oklahoma program had to have a financial advisor in place by any specific date. Other than electing a vice chairman, there was little business at the board’s first meeting on Feb. 17 apart from hiring a financial advisor and approving an investment policy.
The two legislative appointees, Zack Hall from the Senate and Brady Sidwell from the House, did not get appointed until Jan. 9 and Feb. 10, respectively. Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell is the fifth member of the board.
The compressed timeline for the Invest in Oklahoma investment advisory bid contrasts with Russ’ complaints in 2023 with the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System over whether it should end its relationships with Black Rock and State Street.
Russ put those financial firms on his banking blacklist over their environmental, social and governance policies that he said discriminated against Oklahoma oil and gas firms. The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the state’s anti-ESG blacklist law this month.
In a September 2023 letter to OPERS, Russ expressed surprise that the pension system gave respondents just three weeks to respond to a request for proposal.
“In contrast, the last time OPERS issued an RFP for a fund manager in late 2022, it allowed over six weeks for responses even though the RFP considered only one type of fund,” Russ wrote.
Russ’ office has a request for proposal out for a new global private equity investment manager for the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust’s board of investors. That RFP gives bidders four weeks to respond. Another RFP from his office last year gave bidders five weeks to respond.
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