The State Inspector has served two subpoenas and requested an investigation by the Attorney General

We take a closer look at the back and forth between State Inspector Ryan Walters and State Rep. Mark McBride. Rep. McBride has now served Walters with two subpoenas and requested an investigation by the Attorney General.

On May 23, Ryan Walters was sent a subpoena that read, among other things, “You are hereby requested to produce all contracts related to Matt Langston’s work on behalf of the Oklahoma State Department of Education…”

The subpoena is signed by Representative Mark McBride and Speaker of the House Charles McCall and gives Walters until 9 a.m. on June 3 to provide the information he requests.

Walters responded on May 30, saying in part, “In response to the surprising and unusual action of sending a subpoena to my office for a second time, I would like to respond in a timely manner. It is unfortunate, but the subpoena contains points to which my office has already responded. It appears you have been misinformed.”

Days after the subpoena, both parties remain dissatisfied. Rep. McBride says he doesn’t have all the information he needs on Matt Langston, while Walters says this is all an attack on him and his administration.

“There are just a lot of questions,” said Rep. McBride. “I think the victory is in knowing the truth.”

“I don’t think Matt Langston has a positive role for the Oklahoma Department of Education. I think he’s there to write a check, and for what reason, I don’t know, but I don’t think he’s had any positive impact at all on our education system in Oklahoma,” said Rep. Mark McBride, chairman of the House A&B Committee on Education (R).

According to Ryan Walters, Langston serves as the department’s “senior policy advisor.”

McBride has raised his concerns with the Attorney General and asked him to investigate whether Langston is a “ghost employee.”

McBride sent a letter to Attorney General Genter Drummond asking his office to conduct a thorough investigation to determine:

1. Whether Mr Langston is currently employed by OSDE
2. The specific duties and responsibilities assigned to Mr. Langston
3. Evidence of Mr Langston’s performance of these duties, including work records, attendance and completed projects
4. Any discrepancies or irregularities in the records relating to Mr Langston’s employment

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said the request for an investigation is still under review. Walters says he is not concerned.

“I’m not worried about it. I mean, Mark can send as many stupid letters as he wants. Mark doesn’t even understand what he’s asking for,” Walters said.

The state inspector now claims that Rep. McBride is being persuaded by outside groups.

“We’ve been watching for a long time that teachers unions and these radical LGBTQ+ groups are targeting my administration,” Walters said. “Mark McBride is their champion.”

We investigated the State Board of Education’s claim that Rep. McBride was “bought and run by the teachers unions.”

We looked at campaign finance reports to find out if the Oklahoma Education Association supported his campaign. Candidates must file regular reports with the Ethics Commission. These reports are published online and are available for anyone to view.

Rep. McBride says the OEA contributed to his campaign fund of nearly $400,000, but only a small amount over the years.

“My only connection to anyone is the OEA, which is not a union. They’ve given me maybe $6,000 or $8,000, so it’s not like I’m taking a ton of money from them,” said Rep. McBride.

The OEA has reportedly contributed $15,000 to McBride’s campaign since 2018. McBride has served as chair of the Education Subcommittee on Appropriations and Budget since 2021.

“The teachers union and the radical LGBTQ+ groups reach out to Mark McBride and say, ‘Hey, we want you to attack Ryan, subpoena him again,’ and he says, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that,’ and he gets the speaker to sign it too,” Walters said.

Walters has been criticizing Representative McBride for months and is now, for the first time, attacking Speaker of the House Charles McCall.

“He sided with Mark McBride, the LGBTQ+ group, the teachers union and the Democrats. He allowed the Democrats to control him and his office on these subpoenas. He knew they had all the information, so he chose to work with them. So that’s a decision he has to face,” Walters said.

McBride describes Walters’ recent moves as a “political drama.”

“The childish behavior of insulting and belittling others is evidence of a little man’s intent to bully others,” said Rep. McBride.

House Speaker Charles McCall responded in a statement, saying:

“Personally, I have always supported Ryan Walters in his role as Secretary of State. In addition, the House of Representatives appropriated additional funding this session and maintained the proposed SDE rules. In fact, the House has been the primary source of dozens of strong, conservative policies in recent years, and both my and the House Majority Caucus’ conservative credentials speak for themselves. The Oklahoma Legislature was recently ranked as one of the two most conservative in the country.

With that in mind, the House has a duty to ensure that the agencies we oversee are spending taxpayer dollars lawfully and responsibly. I take that responsibility very seriously. To fulfill that duty, our budget officers regularly reach out to the agencies they oversee and request the documents they need to verify questionable spending. Most agencies provide those documents immediately. On rare occasions, an agency does not immediately comply with a request. Twice this session, the SDE has failed to provide timely documentation on questions about the use of taxpayer dollars after multiple requests. I believe most Oklahomans would agree that holding agencies accountable for the use of taxpayer dollars is the right and conservative course of action.”

The Oklahoma Education Association responded in a statement:

“A Republican lawmaker and a Republican Speaker of the House have subpoenaed SDE as part of its oversight of public funds over a ‘ghost employee’ earning a six-figure salary.

It is unfortunate that instead of addressing concerns about the waste of taxpayer money, the State Inspector General continues to lie, create scare stories, distract, and resort to name-calling about the OEA to avoid consequences and accountability.

As educators, we would not accept such behavior from our students, and we should not accept such behavior from him either.”

While all this is happening, Democrats continue to call for Walters’ impeachment. Republicans have said from the beginning that impeachment would only happen if Walters committed a crime.