Francis Anthony Keating II (born David Rowland Keating; February 10, 1944) is an American attorney, politician, and a former FBI special agent who served as the 25th governor of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2003.
As of the 2022 Oklahoma gubernatorial election, Keating is one of only five governors in Oklahoma history, in addition to George Nigh, Brad Henry, Mary Fallin, and Kevin Stitt to hold consecutive terms and the first Republican to accomplish that feat. As governor, he oversaw the state's response to the Oklahoma City bombing. His term was also marked by the enactment of welfare reform and tax cuts.
Keating oversaw the execution of 52 people under his term as governor, a record unmatched as of 2023.
Early life Keating was born on February 10, 1944, in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Mary Ann (Martin) and Anthony Francis Keating. He was born David Rowland Keating, but his name was changed to Francis Anthony Keating II when he was two. Before he was six months old, his family moved to Oklahoma and settled in Tulsa.Everett, Diana. Keating, Frank Anthony (1944– ) , Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (accessed April 4, 2013). A practicing Catholic, Keating attended Monte Cassino School then Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa, graduating in 1962. Keating attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where he was president of the college student body, an editor of The Hoya, and a member of the Philodemic Debating Society, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in history, in 1966. He obtained a J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, in 1969, where he also was student body president.
Upon completing law school, Keating began his career in law enforcement. The same year he finished law school, Keating was made a Special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Relocated to the West Coast, Keating was charged with investigating terrorism incidents in the area and other various duties. After years on the coast, Keating returned to Tulsa to become an assistant district attorney.
In 1973, Keating, was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He would serve a single term in the House, until 1975, when he was elected to the Oklahoma Senate. He would serve in the Senate from 1975 until 1981. While in the Senate, Keating became the minority leader.
Federal career Keating's law enforcement career and prominence in the Oklahoma Republican Party prompted newly elected President Ronald Reagan to appoint Keating as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma.Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating (accessed April 6, 2013). Keating served from 1981 until 1983, serving for part of that time as chairman of all U.S. Attorneys. During this time, he was one of three US Attorneys in Oklahoma handling the Oklahoma county commissioner scandal, which resulted in conviction of 230 people, including 110 county commissioners, for public corruption. He gave up that post in 1983Keating resigns as U.S. Attorney, Newsok.com, December 2, 1983 (accessed April 6, 2013). to run for Congress in and ran a competitive race which fell short of defeating Democratic Congressman and House Budget Committee chairman James R. Jones, who won re-election with 52 percent of the vote even though Republican President Reagan carried the district.
Shortly after Reagan was sworn in for his second term, he appointed Keating to serve as an assistant secretary of the Treasury and later elevated him to associate attorney general, the third ranking official within the U.S. Department of Justice. These appointments made Keating the highest ranking Oklahoman during the Reagan administration. In his positions as assistant secretary of the Treasury and associate attorney general, Keating oversaw both the Justice and Treasury's law enforcement agencies. These included the United States Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Secret Service, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, all 94 U.S. Attorneys and the U.S. role in Interpol.
Late in the Reagan Administration, Keating continued to serve in the Justice Department in his role as associate attorney general. In 1990, President Bush elevated Keating to general counsel and acting deputy secretary of Housing and Urban Development, that department's second highest office, under Secretary Jack Kemp. He would serve as deputy secretary until 1993. As was the case in the Reagan administration, Keating became the highest ranking Oklahoman in the federal government, under Bush.
On November 14, 1991, Bush nominated Keating to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, but with Democratic control of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Keating's nomination languished and no hearing was held before Bush's presidency ended. President Bill Clinton chose not to renominate Keating, instead nominating former Oklahoma Attorney General Robert Harlan Henry, who was subsequently confirmed.Google Search
Gubernatorial campaigns
1994
After two years of private life, in 1994, Keating received the Republican nomination for Governor of Oklahoma. In a three-way race against Democratic nominee Jack Mildren and independent Wes Watkins, Keating was elected with just under 47 percent of the vote. He was undoubtedly helped by the presence of Watkins, a former Democratic Congressman, on the ballot; Watkins siphoned off a number of votes that would have likely gone to Mildren in a two-way race with Keating; his 233,300 votes far exceeded Keating's 171,000-vote margin of victory. Keating was sworn in as the 25th Governor of Oklahoma on January 9, 1995. He was only the third Republican ever to hold the post.
1998
Keating faced Democratic state Representative Laura Boyd, the first woman to receive a major party's nomination for Oklahoma Governor, in his 1998 re-election campaign. Keating won by a comfortable margin, the second of five Governors in Oklahoma history to win two consecutive terms (after George Nigh) and preceding Democrat Brad Henry. He was the only Republican to do so before Mary Fallin in 2014
Governor of Oklahoma The Cabinet of Governor Frank Keating (1995–2003) Office Name TermGovernorFrank Keating1995–2003Lieutenant GovernorMary Fallin1995–2003Secretary of StateTom Cole1995–1999Michael J. Hunter1999–2002Kay Dudley2002–2003Attorney GeneralDrew Edmondson1995–2003State Auditor and InspectorClifton Scott1995–2003State TreasurerRobert Butkin1995–2003Insurance CommissionerJohn Crawford1995–1999Carroll Fisher1999–2003Labor CommissionerBrenda Reneau1995–2003Superintendent of Public InstructionSandy Garrett1995–2003Secretary of AdministrationTom Brennan1995–1997Pam Warren1997–2003Secretary of AgricultureDennis Howard1995–2003Secretary of CommerceDean Werries1995–1997Ron Rosenfeld1997–1998Howard Barnett Jr.1998–1999Russell M. Perry1999–2000Vacant2000–2003Secretary of EducationFloyd Coppedge1995–2003Secretary of EnergyCarl Michael Smith1995–2002Robert J. Sullivan Jr.2002–2003Secretary of the EnvironmentGary Sherrer1995–1997Brian C. Griffin1997–2003Secretary of Finance and RevenueTom Daxon1995–2003Secretary of Health and Human ServicesKen Lackey1995–1997Jerry Regier1997–2002Howard Hendrick2002–2003Secretary of Human ResourcesOscar B. Jackson Jr.1995–2003Secretary of the MilitaryStephen Cortright1995–2003Secretary of Safety and SecurityRobert Ricks1995–2003Secretary of Science and TechnologyW. Arthur Porter1999–2003Secretary of Tourism and RecreationEdward H. Cook1995–1999Jane Jayroe1999–2003Secretary of TransportationNeal A. McCaleb1995–2001Herschal Crow2001–2003Secretary of Veterans AffairsNorman Lamb1995–2003
Oklahoma City bombing
Within three months of taking office, on April 19, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed in the Oklahoma City bombing, in which the lives of 168 people were lost and over 800 people were injured. The blast destroyed or damaged more than 300 buildings in the surrounding area, leaving several hundred people homeless and shutting down business.
Governor Keating mobilized relief and rescue teams to handle the crisis. Over 12,000 people participated in relief and rescue operations in the days following the blast. The national and worldwide humanitarian response was immediate and overwhelming. Governor Keating declared a state of emergency, which allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to activate 11 of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces to assist in rescue and recovery operations.
The national focus climaxed on April 23, when President Bill Clinton, along with Governor Keating and the Reverend Billy Graham, spoke in Oklahoma City. In the weeks following the bombing, rescue efforts ceased and the building was imploded. Through both his own works and the works of his wife Cathy Keating, Governor Keating gained both national and international attention for his efforts to help the victims and their families. Governor Keating also created a $6 million fund to assist victims and provide for college scholarships for children who lost a parent, or both parents, in the attack.
First term Governor Keating set out with an agenda for the state under his administration, with many of his initiatives passed, despite an often hostile Democratic controlled Legislature. Many of Keating's proposals were policies designed for growth and reform for Oklahoma. These included education reform, environmental protection, tax relief, road building, economic development, public safety, and tougher law enforcement. Keating created a public-private partnership to assure care for the indigent as well as a stronger medical education program.
Keating's first major success was the passage of the first welfare reform law in the nation in 1995.Welfare Reform in Oklahoma , Oksenate.gov Issue Papers (accessed April 6, 2013).History of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (accessed April 6, 2013). The success of the law served as a model for President Clinton's welfare reform act of 1996. Keating managed to improve road and highway conditions throughout the state without raising taxes.
Keating implemented tougher parole policies and introduced a landmark truth-in-sentencing legislation. Keating also provided no amnesty when handling death sentence criminals, allowing all of those sentenced to death to be executed. Keating also raised the salaries of Oklahoma's state troopers from the lowest in the nation to the 24th highest.
Keating appointed a special task force that created tougher regulations on Oklahoma's hog and poultry industries.Biographical Note on Frank Keating , Oklahoma Department of Libraries (accessed April 6, 2013).
In 1998, Keating became the first governor in 50 years to achieve a tax cut in the state's income tax. This combined with reduction in the sales tax, estate tax, and unemployment tax formed the largest tax break in the state's history until that point.
Second term
Sworn in on January 11, 1999, Keating's second term began with a progressive agenda, based primarily on education. In his 1999 inaugural address, Keating set four goals for Oklahoma for his second term: Raising Oklahoma's ACT to the national average by 2005, Decreasing Oklahoma's divorce rate by 50% before 2010, Ensure one out of every three Oklahomans has a college degree by 2010, and Raising Oklahoma's per capita income to reach the national average by 2025