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Born Francis Anthony Keating on February 10, 1944 in St. Louis, Missouri,
Keating was not even six months old when his family moved to Oklahoma and
settled in Tulsa. A devout Roman Catholic, Keating attended Cascia Hall
Preparatory School in Tulsa, from which he graduated in 1962. Keating was
accepted to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.. He would go on to
receive as Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1966. After receiving his
degree, Keating would return to Oklahoma to further his education. He
received a Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in
1969.
Upon receiving his law degree, 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 would
return to Tulsa to become an Assistant District Attorney. In 1973,
Keating, under the Republican Party banner, was elected to the Oklahoma
House of Representatives. He would only 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, winning reelection in 1978. While in the
Senate, Keating rose to become the highest ranking Republican as the
Senate Minority Leader.
Keating’s law enforcement career and prominence in the Oklahoma Republican
Party prompted newly elected President of the United States Ronald Reagan
to appoint Keating as the United States Attorney for the Northern District
of Oklahoma. Keating served as the US Attorney from 1981 until 1985,
becoming the chairman of all US Attorneys within that four year time.
Following President Reagan’s reelection in 1984, Reagan once against
tapped Keating to serve in the federal government.
Reagan appointed Keating to serve as an Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury and later elevated him to United States Associate Attorney
General, the third ranking official within the United States 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 over saw both the
Justice and Treasury departments’ law enforcement agencies. These included
the United States Customs Service, the Bureau of Alchoal, Tobacco, and
Firearms, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Federal Bureau
of Prisons, the United States Marshals service, the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, all 94 United States Attorneys, the United States
role in Interpol and the United States Secret Service.
Following the election of George H.W. Bush as President in 1988, Keating
continued to serve in the Justice Department in his role as Associate
Attorney General. President Bush elevated Keating in 1990 to General
Counsel and Acting Deputy Secretary of House and Urban Development, that
Department’s second highest office, under Secretary Jack Kemp. He would
serve as the Deputy Secretary until 1993. As with the case of the Reagan
administration, Keating became the highest ranking Oklahoman in the
federal government under Bush. Bush had planned to appoint Keating to the
federal judiciary, but partisan wrangling in Congress delayed his
confirmation until after the 1992 election, when it was scuttled by the
incoming Clinton Administration.
After over a decade of service to the federal government, Keating returned
home to Oklahoma.
After two years of private life, in 1994, Keating received the Republican
nomination for Governor of Oklahoma. In a three way race, Keating received
47% of the vote and defeated the Democratic nominee by 17 points. Keating
was sworn in as the 25th Governor of Oklahoma on January 9, 1995.
The Oklahoma City Bombing would bring Governor Keating international
recognition for his works.Main article: Oklahoma City Bombing
Governor Keating had little time to relax upon taking office. 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 Oklahomans 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 offices in downtown Oklahoma City.
Governor Keating immediately mobilized relief and rescue teams to handle
the crisis, assuring prompt assistance. 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 FEMA to
activated 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 scholarships for children who have lost a parent
in the attack.
Governor Keating set out with an impressive agenda for the state under his
administration, with many of his initiatives passed, despite an often
hostile Democrat controlled Legislature. Many of Keating’s proposals were
polices 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
also lead the charge in privatizing the state’s teacher hospital system,
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. The law, by 2001, had reduced Oklahoma’s
welfare rolls by over 70%. The success of the law served as a model for
President Clinton’s welfare reform act of 1996, the first major reform of
Social Security since its institution. Keating even managed to improve
road and highway conditions throughout the state without raising taxes
through his policies.
A law and order politician, Keating used his career in law enforcement to
serve Oklahomans. He implemented tough parole policies and introduced the
landmark truth-in-sentencing legislation. Keating also showed little
amnesty when handling death sentence criminals, allowing many 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.
Governor Keating has been at the forefront of tougher regulations on
Oklahoma’s hog and poultry industries. Keating appointed a special
committee to craft legislation to address the issue. His Animal Waste and
Water Quality Protection Task Force studied the problem, and created a
solution that both regulated the commerce of the industries as well as to
protected the environment.
Keating’s greatest success of his first term come in 1998 when he become
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. Keating’s policies and tax cuts created the greatest era of
prosperity Oklahoma had ever seen, causing the creation of over 130,000
new jobs for Oklahomans.
As the 1998 general election rolled around, Keating won in a landslide
victory, becoming only the second Governor in Oklahoma history to win two
consecutive terms (after George Nigh) and the only Republican to do so.
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,
Insure 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
Keating focused largely on education. He increased spending for common, vo-tech,
and higher education facilities throughout the state and introduced
charter schools to Oklahoma for the first time. His policies and
recommendations on education to the Legislature lead to the largest
investment, over $100 million, on higher education. Keating, in 2000, also
raised teacher pay by over $3000 annually, the largest raise Oklahoma’s
teacher had ever experienced. Keating even managed to get higher
educational facilities attracted to Tulsa for the first time.
Along with the agenda set forth in his inaugural address, Keating also
tackled out-of-wedlock births, substance abuse, and child abuse. Enlisting
state government, community groups, and faith organizations, Governor
Keating organized the statewide initiative to strengthen marriage. Keating
laid the groundwork for the movement to define marriage in the Oklahoma
Constitution as a “union of one man and one woman.” The executive branch
agencies that dealt with health issues were reorganized by Keating in 2000
admit a purge of legislative patronage to the Oklahoma State Department of
Health.
Next on Keating’s list was a reform of Oklahoma’s antiquated worker’s
compensation system. Keating, a staunch proponent of right to work laws,
struggled to get his reforms passed while the Democratic legislature
debated his measures. In reasons, Keating adjusted polices, made new
appointments to Oklahoma’s Worker’s Compensation Court, and other measures
to control Oklahoma’s rising worker’s compensation coasts. Despite his
works, Keating would have to wait two years to see his vision fulfilled.
In 2000 when Republicans gained many seats within both the Oklahoma House
and Oklahoma Senate, the Legislature decided to put right to work laws to
a referenda to be held in 2001. Keating’s six year battle came to an end
when, on September 21, 2001, Oklahomans approved the measure into law.
As he had done in first term, Keating sought to grant broad-based tax
cuts. To further reduce taxes, Keating won passage of an income tax break
and of the creation of Oklahoma’s earned income credit system to benefit
the poor. Also, under Keating’s auspicious, both Democratic and Republican
leaders in the Legislature launched studies to examine Oklahoma’s tax
system, with the purpose of overhauling the entire system. During the
study, the complete elimination of Oklahoma’s income tax was proposed.
Also continuing with his tough crime policies, Keating signed a major
criminal justice bill that reformed Truth in Sentencing (TIS) to Oklahoma.
This legislation extended TIS of previous administrations to insure that
violent and repeat offenders would remain in jail. To represent this to
Oklahomans, Keating issues very few pardons or paroles to individuals
sentenced to long detentions or capital punishment.
In other legislative initiatives, Keating repeals a 31 year old statue
involving the inspection of vehicles that had out lives its usefulness. He
also granted state correctional officers a much needed pay raise. Keating
addressed the problems faced in Oklahoma’s Tar Creek Superfund site by
appointing a task force on the issue.
Keating's accomplishments included overseeing the largest road
construction project in Oklahoma history, the first cut in the state
income tax in 50 years, and a dramatic decline in the welfare rolls. He
also led a successful attempt to win a public vote on right-to-work.
Keating raised more than $20 million in private money towards completion
of the Oklahoma State Capitol with a dome. The capitol was originally
designed for a dome, but state funding for it had run dry during World War
I.
During the United States presidential election, 2000, Keating, while still
Governor of Oklahoma, was considered a potential candidate for the
Republican nomination of Vice President of the United States under George
W. Bush. After Bush chose Dick Cheney, and won the Presidential election,
Keating was a contender for U.S. Attorney General in Bush’s
administration. However, he was rejected when it was reported that from
1990 through 1997 Keating had accepted gifts of nearly $250,000 from
mutual fund pioneer Jack Dreyfus. Keating publicly stated that the gifts
were fully disclosed and were approved by the Federal Office of Government
Ethics.
Following his two terms as governor, Keating accepted a position as
president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers, the trade
association for the life insurance and retirement security industry. In
2002 he authored a children's book about Oklahoma humorist Will Rogers.
Another children's book about Theodore Roosevelt followed in 2006. Keating
also served on the boards of the National Archives and Mt. Vernon. He
currently lives in McLean, Va. Keating and his wife Cathy are the parents
of three children, Carrie, Kelly, and Chip. In 2001, Cathy Keating was an
unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination to one of Oklahoma's
seats in the U.S. House of Representatives being vacated by Steve Largent.
In 2006, Chip Keating was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican
nomination to a seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
On December 2, 2006 columnist Robert Novak suggested Keating might be a
candidate for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination.
On December 20, 2006, Keating visited Columbia, SC, where he spoke to a
group of GOP supporters about a possible 2008 Presidential bid.
On January 17, 2007, Keating was quoted in the Tulsa World as declining a
possible run for the U.S. Presidency in 2008. His reasons for not running
were associated with the relative head starts in preparations of U.S.
Senator John McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. In
February 2007 Keating appeared in Spartanburg, South Carolina and endorsed
McCain's bid. In 2002 McCain had supported the ACLI position by opposing
permanent repeal of the federal estate tax.
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