About Us

CapitolBeatOK is an independent, non-partisan, and locally-managed news service based in Oklahoma City. The staff covers events at the Oklahoma state Capitol, and provides regular coverage of the Legislature, executive branch, agencies and the judiciary. CapitolBeatOK.com’s focus includes Oklahoma local governments (including Oklahoma City, Edmond, Tulsa and other municipalities), the U.S. government and selected coverage of government policies around the world. The website also serves as an archive for the work of Patrick B. McGuigan, founder of CapitolBeatOK.com. Therefore, CapitolBeatOK.com has reporting, commentary, analysis and reviews on a wide range of historical, cultural and other issues. It includes arts, entertainment, autobiographical entries and reflections on the lives and careers of notable Americans and non-Americans.

CapitolBeatOK supports the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists. Founded in 2009 as a project of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, in 2011, CapitolBeatOK became a project of the Frankin Center for Government & Public Integrity. After several years of that affiliation, CapitolBeatOK became an independent organization.

Staff

The editor of CapitolBeatOK is Patrick B. McGuigan, an award-winning journalist with more than four decades of experience in news porting, policy analysis and commentary focused on politics, political people, arts, culture, history and other areas of broad human interest. After a decade in Washington, D.C. (1980-1990), McGuigan returned to his home state, Oklahoma. He served 12 years as opinion editor at The Oklahoman, the state’s largest newspaper. His affiliations have included time with Tulsa Today, the Franklin Center and its Watchdog.org news organization, and as publisher and editor at The City Sentinel newspaper in Oklahoma City. He contributes essays from time to time to the research and journalism of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt research organization. McGuigan has state executive branch experience from his work at the Oklahoma Department of Labor, 2003-07, including as Deputy Commissioner of Labor, 2005-07. McGuigan is also a certified teacher, and worked as curriculum director for a public charter alternative school in Oklahoma City. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Press Club, and Tulsa Press Club. He is a past president of Oklahoma City Gridiron Club. While in Washington, D.C., McGuigan served as chairman of the Library and Archives Committee at the National Press Club. He is the editor of seven books on legal policy and the author of three books, including The Politics of Direct Democracy: Case Studies in Popular Decision Making.

Joni Forsythe-Menton is the technical director for CapitolBeatOK. She served several years in this capacity early in CapitolBeatOK’s history, and returned to this work in the summer of 2021.