In case you missed it, late last week – on Thursday evening before a holiday weekend, if we’re being exact – Oklahoma AG / soon-to-be Governor Gentner Drummond announced that State Representative Ty Burns “received a one-year suspended sentence” after pleading guilty “to one misdemeanor count of domestic abuse and two misdemeanor counts of assault.”
He’ll also have to go through something called a Batterers Intervention Program.
“These are serious charges,“ Drummond said. “While there is no excuse for domestic violence, I am encouraged that the representative has taken responsibility for his actions and will receive counseling under terms of his sentence. Domestic violence is tragically all too common in our state. It must stop.”
The whole thing was shocking and generated various levels of outrage for a variety of reasons…
1. The sentence seemed kind of light.
Sure, he’s a first-time offender, suffered from what George Carlin would call “shell shock,” and there are complexities to any domestic situation, but… the dude seemed to get off kind of light. He just has to be on good behavior for a year, say the right things, go to some therapy and classes, and that’s that.
2. The powers that be – lawmakers, law enforcement, AG’s office, etc. – seemed to work extra hard to keep the investigation quiet, under wraps, and out of public view.
Seriously, you’re telling me Nolan Clay couldn’t score at least one grand jury leak on this one? That alone is fishy, but then once everything was wrapped up, they conveniently handed everything to the media like it was a DoorDash order. You know, one from a fancy place that puts your food in a fancy black to-go boxes, and uses oversized brown paper sacks complete with a “sealed for your protection” sticker
Basically, everything seemed to fit together a bit too perfectly. It reeked of cronyism, special treatment, and favoritism, which was only made worse by the most shocking development.
3. He didn’t resign!
When I covered this on Friday, I was shocked that the dude had not yet resigned. Here’s what I had to say:
I know PTSD is a tough condition, and I have friends who have it. It’s a scary thing. But A) the guy hasn’t been cured yet, and B) you can’t have a dude who’s freakin’ attending a year-long batterers intervention program serving in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He needs to resign or be forced out of office!
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Kevin Stitt – seeing an opportunity to question a political rival – also called for his resignation.
I’d like to give Stitt credit for taking a moral stand, but doesn’t this feel more like political theater than principle?
Gentner and Burns come from the same military / law enforcement wing of the Oklahoma GOP, and if one of Stitt’s evangelical preacher pals were caught in a similar mess, you know he’d be working and praying extra hard behind the scenes to shield them.
As the story continued to pick up steam, calls for Burns to resign increased on social media and amongst the GOP donor elite. Then, on the Saturday of a holiday weekend, just hours before an OU football game, Burns sent the governor a letter announcing his resignation to take place on October 1:
Yep, he finally resigned. Although he should have stepped down immediately, oh well, I’ll take that.
Sure, the clandestine way this case was handled is fishy and weird, but I bet surrendering the political career that once gave him so much pride and purpose is a tough pill to swallow. Not as tough as having someone jam a finger into your eye during a fit of rage, but painful nonetheless.
Now if someone can remind the digital media team at the OSMA that he's no longer in office, that would be great:
Anyway, we wish Burns and his family the best of luck in their recovery.
In the meantime, the wait is on to see who will be the next Oklahoma lawmaker to resign in disgrace after pleading guilty to criminal charges. Leave your opinions in the comments.
