Who’s ready for another edition of Oklahoma lawmakers behaving badly?
Earlier this week, I started hearing whispers through the Ogle Mole Network that State Rep. Danny Williams – a 76-year-old creeper from the Seminole area who chairs the House Children, Youth and Family Services Committee – had been moved to a different office and was no longer allowed to have a legislative aide amid possible sexual-harassment allegations.
I asked a couple of other Ogle Moles for more details, and then, earlier today, House Speaker Kyle Hilbert sent the following email to all House members.
The full email, which we received from an Ogle Mole, confirms that Williams is under investigation for alleged improper conduct toward House staff, has been stripped of his chairmanship and fourth-floor office, and may also be facing questions about the misuse of state resources.
Check this out:
Members,
Earlier this summer I became aware of a complaint against Representative Williams alleging improper conduct towards one of our House employees. Upon receiving this complaint, I directed Jason Sutton, our Chief of Operations and Administration, to speak to a witness of the alleged incident. After this interview was conducted, it became clear that a thorough review of the situation and other allegations that arose during the interview was necessary.
Immediately, Speaker Pro Tem Moore and I requested and then held a meeting in my office with Representative Williams where we informed him of the House hiring an external firm to conduct a thorough investigation, that he was indefinitely suspended from his committee chairmanships, and removed from his physical office space on the fourth floor pending this investigation.
This week, the external investigating firm, Fuller Tubb Bickford Warmington & Panach, PLLC, completed their fact finding review of eight current or former employees of the House and supporting documentation.
Based upon the findings of two separate investigations, one by our internal Human Resources Division and the other by the external firm, effective immediately, I have referred this matter to the House Rules Committee.
Our House HR Division and the external firm focused their fact finding on alleged improper behavior towards House staff. However, during the investigation additional concerns of potential misuse of state resources emerged. The matter of use of state resources is likewise being reviewed to determine if it should also be referred to the House Rules Committee and/or the Ethics Commission upon completion of the investigation.
The House Rules Committee is handling these matters in accordance with House precedent, following the example of January-February 2017.
Please refer any questions related to these matters to House Rules Committee Chairman, Mike Osburn.
Thank you,
-Kyle
Obviously, there are a lot of questions surrounding all this, like when House leadership first learned about the allegations, what the potential misuse of state resources involved and, biggest of all, what exactly did this creeper allegedly do?!
Currently, the only thing I’m hearing from Moles is that the allegations are sexual-harassment related, but we don’t have any specific details. If you have inside information you’d like to share, hit us up on the TLO Tip Line.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
