Credit: Brad Gregg

That
buildup, first reported by the eCapitol online service, has some
legislators questioning whether Doak has been watching too many gangster
flicks.

“Is Al Capone back in town?” state Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, told the Tulsa World. “Are
we looking for stills in the woods? Come on, it’s a joke.” A state
senator, Seminole Republican Harry Coates, called it “government
overreach.”

Doak
defended the expenditures, pointing to a Louisiana case last year in
which a pair of insurance department agents were shot and killed on the
job.

“They investigate
serious crimes including embezzlement, exploitation of the elderly and
fraud. We’ve had cases where victims lost their life savings,” Doak said
in a statement. “Protecting Oklahomans is my top priority. I will do
whatever I can to keep them and my investigators safe.”

Fair enough, and perhaps there is a call for some Samuel L.
Jackson-style badassery in the realm of fraudulent insurance claims. We
just think it’s well past time for the Oklahoma Peanut Commission to get
a helicopter mounted with an infrared camera.

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