Editor’s note: The Frontier is looking back at some of its most memorable stories of the past decade as it counts down to its 10th anniversary celebration 6 p.m. April 29 at the Tulsa Central Library.
In the fall of 2012, Tulsa police officers responded to a 911 call at Preston Doerflinger’s home, where he allegedly choked his then-wife and interfered with her call to police.
At the time, Doerflinger had recently been appointed as interim director of Oklahoma Human Services. Rumors about the alleged assault had circulated for years. But Frontier Executive Editor Dylan Goforth was not given key records about the incident from the Tulsa Police Department.
Eventually, a police department staffer agreed to read Goforth the police report over the phone in 2018, detailing the allegations that Doerflinger had choked his then-wife twice and abruptly ended her 911 call. She later asked to withdraw her victim’s statement, and no charges were filed. The two later divorced.
Doerflinger held several other high-profile appointments, including leading the Office of Management and Enterprise Services and finance secretary for Gov. Mary Fallin. Doerflinger was tapped as interim commissioner at the Oklahoma State Department of Health in 2017 following a $30-million financial mismanagement scandal during a statewide economic downturn.
In February 2018, The Frontier published a story outlining the allegations. Within 24 hours, at a regularly scheduled Board of Health meeting, Doerflinger resigned. The Board of Health and Doerflinger went into executive session, and Doerflinger did not return after. Doerflinger also immediately resigned from his other government positions.
The quick response from the Board of Health was unexpected, Goforth said. No charges had been filed against Doerflinger for the alleged domestic violence incident, and he was appointed as the interim health commissioner even though he did not meet the qualifications for the position outlined in state law. And The Frontier, then only three years old, was still building its readership.
“This is a good example of why you just don’t give up,” Goforth said. “That’s the power of journalism.”
After exiting state government, it’s not clear where Doerflinger landed. He did not respond to a phone call or text requesting comment.
In recent years, Gov. Kevin Stitt has tried to appoint a few individuals to lead state agencies who didn’t meet the legal requirements for the job, including at the Health Department. But legislation in 2022 did change requirements to lead the Health Department to no longer require a health-specific background. And the governor can now appoint several agency heads instead of those individuals being appointed by governing boards.
Obtaining records from the Tulsa Police Department has continued to be challenging. Most recently, The Frontier requested records on the location of more than 200 surveillance cameras the department operates around the city. The department said The Frontier would have to get a subpoena, and later tried to make it costly to get the records despite not being legally allowed to charge those fees.
