We have some sad news to report.
Ryan Walters isn’t being indicted… for now.
Yesterday afternoon, Attorney General Gentner “Done” Drummond released the findings of a Multi-County Grand Jury investigation into the infamous ClassWallet/GEER fund grifting scheme.
If you remember correctly, this was the scheme orchestrated by Stitt and Walters, along with their Young Presidents cronies, to use federal COVID relief funds to put taxpayer money into the hands of privileged private school parents and school privatization advocates, so they could buy new grills, TVs, and Pac-Man video game cabinets.
The grand jury report essentially confirmed what media reports, state auditor reports, and TPS reports have already uncovered—that Ryan Walters obviously played favorites and blatantly bungled the distribution of funds while administering the program.
However, thanks to Ryan’s plausible deniability defense of “Hey, none of this was intentional. I’m just stupid and incompetent and was in way over my head,” the grand jury stopped short of accusing him of any criminal wrongdoing.
Here are the basic details via The Oklahoman’s Nolan Clay, who is probably mad he wasn’t leaked the report ahead of time:
The state's multicounty grand jury on Tuesday blamed Gov. Kevin Stitt and State Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters—without specifically naming them—for the misspending of pandemic relief funds, calling it "grossly negligent."
Grand jurors issued a 31-page report after hearing testimony in September and October about the GEER Fund programs in Oklahoma.
They did not issue any indictments, saying they found insufficient evidence to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a crime was committed. They did say their investigation "uncovered deeply troubling practices.
Naturally, Stitt and Walters are a bit chippy that yet another report has confirmed they are, at best, incompetent morons and, at worst, shady grifters who criminally steer government funding to their friends and allies.
Instead of taking accountability for their actions or apologizing to Oklahomans for their blatant negligence and stupidity, they instead blamed the vendor that helped them implement their scheme.
Via Yawn Doc:
In an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon, OSDE Director of Communications Dan Isett again cast blame on ClassWallet.
“Superintendent Walters has prioritized carefully and efficiently using taxpayer funds. Unfortunately, in this case, the vendor involved did not adhere to the same standards,” Isett said. “Superintendent Walters’ deep commitment to fiscal responsibility and taxpayer accountability has been borne out during his time as secretary and now as state superintendent. Under his leadership, OSDE has instituted the highest standards to ensure the most efficient use of taxpayer money possible.”
Yep, nothing to see here. The program that allowed parents to buy Apple Watches, power tools and Weber grills and call them school supplies is all the fault of that pesky vendor that Ryan single-handedly selected to help implement the program.
It’s a good thing there aren’t any emails out there that show Ryan gave the company permission to let this happen, huh?
Okay, so maybe there’s one email, but that doesn’t prove criminal intent. It merely suggests or implies it, which I guess isn’t enough to indict.
Stitt also blamed ClassWallet but also accused his arch-rival—AG Drummond—of conducting a political hit job, because you know, nothing screams innocence like blaming a political rival:
Stitt's Communications Director, Abegail Cave, reiterated claims of malfeasance against ClassWallet in an emailed statement.
“As said at the start of this report, no criminal activity or willful corruption occurred. The state trusted a vendor, and that vendor failed to do its job,” Cave said. “The AG has weaponized a grand jury to sign off on a press statement his office prepared. Ultimately, this was an inappropriate and unlawful use of a grand jury, all to pursue a headline in the attorney general’s campaign for governor. Oklahomans can see right through this weaponization of the law.”
There’s probably a bit of truth to Stitt’s statement. Drummond is likely going to run for governor and is definitely pursuing headlines here.
On that note, isn’t that awesome?
It’s very refreshing to see a real-life conservative Oklahoma Republican actually hold politicians accountable and seem to want our government and its institutions to function and operate normally, instead of, you know, sabotaging them from the inside and using it as a mechanism to funnel money towards his friends and allies.
If that’s “weaponization of the law,” then load up and fire away!
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
