Late last week, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt – a proud proponent of government transparency – was caught hiding official White House Coronavirus Taskforce reports from municipalities, health officials, and just about everyone else in the state.
The reports included recommendations that Oklahoma shut down bars, close gyms, mandate masks and lots of other things that will never happen in Oklahoma.
Now, like any honest person caught withholding public health data and guidelines from the people they're supposed to govern, Kevin Stitt released the document after it was leaked online.
Via NewsOK.com:
Following complaints from local Oklahoma officials who say they have been kept out of the loop, Gov. Kevin Stitt said his administration will make public coronavirus reports the state receives from the White House.
Stitt has not been releasing the reports from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, nor implementing many of the public health recommendations in those reports.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, a Republican, said the city had not received copies of reports that have been critical of Oklahoma's handling of the pandemic. U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma City, on Friday accused Stitt of hiding the task force’s recommendations.
The latest report, first published by the Center for Public Integrity, shows Oklahoma is one of nine states in the “red zone” for coronavirus infections because of more than 100 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.
How much do you want to bet that Kevin Stitt thought Oklahoma being in the Coronavirus Red Zone was a good thing?
"Wow. We're in the red zone! Imagine that! Now let's punch it in there and score a touchdown!"
"Actually, that's a different red zone, sir, this one is –"
"Down... set... hut one... "
Seriously, he probably thought releasing the reports would give away our state's Mike Stoops-caliber gameplan to stop the Coronavirus and didn't want to risk it.
Anyway, there's been a lot of online outrage about Stitt hiding the reports. I understand why, but at this point, does it even matter? Do we really need a White House report to know that the Coronavirus is going strong in Oklahoma, and that we should be implementing public health measures that will never be implemented? In this state, it's basically every person on their own. We don't need a report to tell us that.
