I guess it’s time to – once again – give it up to ourselves!
A couple of years ago, while the traditional local media (a.k.a. News 9 and The Oklahoman) was giving Stitt darling Shelley Zumwalt the heroic star treatment and mythologizing the media-friendly maven’s meteoric rise up the halls of state government, we sang a slightly different tune.
Instead of amplifying state propaganda about how she whipped various agencies into bureaucratic shape – or following her around with a camera as she gave donuts to people waiting in an unemployment line – we chronicled the wage discrimination claims and judgements filed against her, shady conflicts of interest she had with her hubby’s IT firm, and shitty beer she drank as a N. Western barfly in the mid-2000s.
You know, run-of-the-mill TLO Stuff.
Even though, according to Shelley, we don’t hold ourselves to the same standards as legitimate news sources, I guess our coverage of her various scandals, controversies, and general reign of terror at the tourism department painted a more accurate picture of Ole Zums than the traditional media.
Yesterday afternoon, just six months after Zumwalt retired from the public sector following a scthing ethic investigation, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission reached a settlement deal that carries a $20,000 fine.
Here are the details via KFOR:
The former head of the Oklahoma State Department of Tourism and the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission is banned from holding any public office for the next two years.
Shelley Zumwalt must also pay $20,000 in civil penalties for violating state ethics rules.
Shelley Zumwalt told the Governor she could step down if needed
Zumwalt agreed to the terms of a settlement reached with the state ethics commission.She admitted to approving millions in taxpayer dollars for payments to a software company where her husband worked as vice president.
Listen. Even when you earn a $200,000+ salary as a state bureaucrat – and your husband is an executive with a local IT firm that bids on lucrative government contracts – $20,000 is a lot of cash!
I guess if you notice Shelley shopping for “frumpy” clothing at Ross, that probably explains why!
One Mole who’s in – or at least – was in the know reached out to let me know the settlement offer was a sweetheart deal. They pointed out that neither Shelley, her husband, nor the IT firm will have to return any part of the multi-million dollar contract that was at the center of the controversy.
They also noted:
“I know Shelley. There’s no way she would have accepted this if they didn’t have enough to prosecute.”
That's probably fair, but as opposed to other self-serving politicians, bureaucrats and grifters who made money on the public dime during Stitt’s reign of idiocracy, at least Shelley has to pay something.
Plus, she won't be able to suck the government teats like it's a can of Lost Lake for the next couple of years. I guess that means we’ll never get to see the “It’s Go Time with Shelley."
That was a real-life, now very ironic, proposed web series she tried to get taxpayers to pay for during her time as tourism Czar. With that being on the cutting room floor, does this mean the elderly get to welcome Dino Lalli back to the living room TV set?
Anyway, we wish Shelley the best of luck in her future endeavors. I know lots and lots of politicos, musicians, advertising folks, budget consultants and other N. Western ball crawlers who know her, like her, and even after all this, still vouch for her.
Now that she’s not a risk to taxpayers, perhaps I'll feel more comfortable taking her up on future lunch offers… even if they’re combative.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
