Over the past couple of weeks, in a planned build-up to Wednesday's big announcement that Zooters Falcone's Pizza is coming to Oklahoma State Parks, Stitt and Co. have gone out of their way to promote Shelley Zumwalt – the pretty new face and leader of the Oklahoma Travel and Tourism Department.
Naturally, The Oklahoman and News 9 – two traditional allies of the local ruling establishment – took the bait, providing overly chipper, incredibly positive looks at Zumwalt.
They profiled her meteoric rise up the ladder of Stitt's state government, documenting her time leading the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission through the chaotic throes of the pandemic, and detailing how she's now going to bring buzzwords like "accountability," "transparency," and "trust" to the foggy bottoms of the Oklahoma Tourism Department.
You know, typical state-manufactured propaganda kind of stuff.
For some reason, though, the profiles don't mention a thing about Zumwalt being the center of an age and gender discrimination lawsuit that was recently filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
According to this article on Law.com, Claudia Conner – a long-time state employee who most recently reported to Zumwalt as General Counsel for Employment Security Commission – is suing the state, claiming Zumwalt hired her as a cover for an organized purge of "dowdy and frumpy" older employees within the agency.