I guess Bob Mills isn’t the only right-wing Trumpamaniac with a thing for hot air balloons!
On Friday afternoon, just in time for Ryan Walters’s return from Wrestlemania 45: GOP National Convention Edition, KFOR greeted our State School Superintendent with yet another investigative report into his use of taxpayer-funded travel expenses.
This time around, as opposed to driving down to Dallas for right-wing movie premieres, Ryan and Co. apparently lived it up by spending over $12,000 to visit five-star resorts and fancy hotels, where they could then network, self-promote, and hobnob with right-wing elites while going on early morning hot air balloon rides.
We know this thanks to open records:
State Superintendent Ryan Walters and his top staff continue to bill Oklahoma taxpayers for expenses related to out-of-state trips — including for talk show appearances, a multi-day retreat, PragerU events at five-star resorts, and even a hot air balloon tour — according to open records obtained by News 4.
This week, News 4 obtained out-of-state travel expense records for State Superintendent Ryan Walters, his Chief Policy Advisor Matt Langston, and his spokesperson Dan Isett dating back to the day Walters took office in 2023.
Republican lawmakers seek AG investigation of OSDE advisor Langston. News 4 did not obtain the records through the Oklahoma State Department of Education, but rather from the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES).
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve always been a big fan of the journalism hit pieces that focus on a politician's travel expenses, especially when I break them!
Sure, they’re a bit of a media trope and the expenses may only account for a crumb or two in the whole grifty scheme of things, but they provide delicious low-hanging journalism fruit for the outrage machine that’s easy to pick, easy to digest, and – just like a creamy cappuccino from the Harbor Mountain Coffee Shop in Muskogee – very easy to enjoy.
Here’s more:
The records obtained by News 4 indicate Walters went to Phoenix for a five-day retreat hosted by the national conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation.
Walters’ travel itinerary for March 19 scheduled him to begin the day at 5:45 a.m. for a “sunrise hot air balloon tour.”
Other things on Walters’ five-day itinerary included attending sessions titled “Philosophy and Conservative Vision of Education” and “How do we grow the movement,” among others.
There are a lot of shitty jobs in the world, but I imagine that being the hot air balloon pilot who had to fly Ryan Walters, Matt Langston, and Dan Isett up into the sky could be the worst of them. Seriously, wouldn’t that be awful? I'd rather be on the Hindenburg than that thing. I bet the pilot was upset there weren't any telephone wires to crash into.
I skimmed through most of the open records that KFOR’s Spencer Humphrey obtained, and, for the most part, he did a good job breaking it all down.
The only thing he may have missed is that, in addition to being a frequent user of taxpayer travel dollars, Ryan is an inconsistent Uber tipper.
According to the open records, Ryan took nine Uber rides on his many voyages, but on two occasions, he didn’t even leave a tip!
For example, he totally stiffed Dallas on his trip from the hotel back to the Phoenix airport.
Ryan did the very same thing when he visited Palm Springs for a PragerU conference. When catching a ride from his hotel to the airport, he didn’t tip Pedro!
Listen. I think we all know why Ryan didn’t tip Pedro, but I wonder what Dallas did to earn his ire?
Was he a toe-licking woke teacher, drag queen, or bullied trans teen, or did he simply forget to give Ryan a Nazi salute and wish him safe travels when dropping him off? I guess we’ll never know.
Either way, on behalf of all Oklahoma taxpayers, I’d like to offer both Dallas and Pedro my sincerest apologies.
Yes, it’s frustrating that we have to foot the bill for politicians to travel to fancy hotels so they can promote themselves and network with other right-wing nuts over hot air balloon rides, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t properly compensate the plebs and commoners who have to chauffeur them around!
If Dallas or Pedro want to reach out on the TLO tip line, I’ll happily send them $10. That may seem excessive, but it will more than make up for the delay and the expenses they incurred to get the smell of Ryan’s right-wing BO out of their vehicles.
Anyway, if you want to pore through the open records yourself and see if you can spot any other curious expenses (or lack of expenses), KFOR has them embedded on their site.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
