Oklahoma’s new senator, Alan Armstrong, has staffed up with some energy industry heavyweights as he looks to participate in negotiations toward a permitting reform deal.
The Oklahoma Republican — appointed to replace former Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who is now Homeland Security secretary — hired three staffers from oil and gas giant Williams Cos., where he was CEO for the past 14 years.
“We have a really great group of experts that are staffing and helping out on this,” Armstrong told the POLITICO Energy podcast. “People who really care about this issue and are experts in it and know how important it is to our country.”
That group includes chief of staff Lane Wilson, who was Williams’ general counsel for nearly nine years; legislative director Taylor Playforth, who was at Williams for a year between stints on Capitol Hill and the Trump Department of Energy; and senior adviser Elise Krekorian, who was Williams’ federal regulatory affairs director after eight years on the Hill, including nearly two at the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
