We found another German thing Ryan Walters likes – the Autobahn!
Earlier this week, Oklahoma Voice published the findings of an open records investigation into a mysterious state vehicle linked to Ryan Walters and one of his staffers, some dude named Joseph Porter.
According to the report, a Suburban registered to Porter made over 140 stops from the Oklahoma State Department of Education to Ryan Walters’s home, along with regular stops at Walmart, CVS, and a hair salon. They also took trips to Texas that coincided with Walters-linked political travel.
The whole pattern led to two assumptions: 1. Ryan was using the vehicle for personal travel — which likely violates state law, or 2. Porter was spending way, way, way too much time running errands and creepily hanging out at his boss’s house.
Whatever the answer, it’s weird and, like most things involving Walters, doesn’t smell right.
After reading the Oklahoma Voice report, Beth and I obtained the full set of open records sent to the publication. You can view them here.
Once I started sifting through the jumbled hodgepodge of data in the PDF, I was reminded of two things:
1. Open Records research sucks.
I’ve taken open records cases all the way to the Supreme Court thanks to an old buddy of mine (RIP), so trust me — the only thing more annoying than tracking down a record is having to sift through one. It’s like being an archaeologist digging through piles of dirt for one measly headline.
2. Ryan Walters still likes to drive fast.
Back in 2022 — before he became a household name thanks to his crusade to privatize public education and impose Christian nationalist doctrine on schoolkids — we reported he spent three months driving with a suspended license after failing to pay speeding tickets. It didn’t gain traction because he was still a relative nobody, but it holds up.
Well, dangerous driving habits die hard.
In the open records, the last section of the report showed the top speed the Chevy reached on each trip. As I scrolled through, some triple-digit speeds caught my eye.
For example, on one trip, it hit top speeds of 106 and 101 on multiple occasions:
Seriously… 106 mph. In a state-owned Chevy Suburban?!
What exactly was going on? Were Ryan and Jo chasing down woke teachers in the Oklahoma countryside? Did the car get hijacked by that mad judge from Enid?
"Whatever, Patrick. You're making fun of the guy for driving too fast? I mean, I hate him too, but..."
Hey, I can drive fast too — in my own car, on my own dime, but I’m not dumb enough to do it in a state vehicle that’s being tracked! Given that Suburbans aren’t exactly known for speed, acceleration, or reliability, this is a gross abuse of state property. I mean, there's probably a good reason it spent so much time at OKC Auto Works — an auto body shop at 701 SE 89th St.
Yikes. When Ryan once proudly handed his fleet of car keys to Kevin Stitt, he didn’t specify he was leaving one for himself — or his assistant — to drive into the ground!
We don’t know why Ryan's vehicle was in the shop, but even a homeschool student would know it’s because – ding ding ding – something was wrong with the car.
Was it an accident? A head gasket blown by a wannabe NASCAR driver? Who knows. But we’re filing an open records request for the maintenance logs to find out. We’ll let you know how that – sigh – goes.
In the meantime, if you want to scroll through the records and let us know what you find, feel free to leave a comment.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
