A couple of weeks ago, we were first on the scene and on the story to tell you about the extramarital affair rumors swirling around the State Capitol involving State Reps. Emily Gise and Chris Kannady.
In case you missed it, multiple Ogle Moles told us the House colleagues had been carrying on a romantic relationship for months, and recently made things a little more official during a conference in San Diego.
You can read all about it here:
As part of that initial report, we also revealed that Gise had recently filed for divorce from her husband, Josh, in Pittsburg County – far away from her political home base of south OKC and, coincidentally enough, right in Chris Kannady’s childhood backyard.
Since then, the case has only gotten more curious.
For starters, we learned Gise is represented in the divorce by James Bland. He just happens to be – wait for it – Chris Kannady’s law partner. I’m sure that’s just a massive coincidence. Maybe that’s what the lovebirds were discussing when they were on that bus?
Although Kannady’s law partner handling Gise’s divorce is fun fodder, the far more interesting development came when I hopped onto OSCN last week to see if there had been any movement in the case.
That’s when I learned that on August 5 – just hours after our original report went live – Pittsburg County District Judge Michael Hogan sealed the divorce case from public view.
Yep. Nothing to see here! Just a politically awkward divorce disappearing from public view hours after the media wrote about it. Totally normal courthouse stuff.
That timing alone is enough to raise an eyebrow. But once you start looking at where the case was filed, who’s involved and how the sealing was handled, the whole thing starts smelling even weirder.
In fact, here are three questions we have about the case:
1. Why was the divorce filed in Pittsburg County?
This was the thing that caught our attention before the case was even sealed.
Under Oklahoma law, a divorce may be filed in only two places – the county where the petitioner has resided for the preceding 30 days or the county where the respondent resides. But according to Gise’s original divorce petition – we saved a copy before it was sealed – she claims to reside in Cleveland County:
Yep, despite living in Cleveland County, she filed for divorce in Pittsburg County. We don’t know the exact reason why Gise and her lawyer chose Pittsburg County – I guess it’s possible her husband moved there – but it’s hard not to wonder if it has something to do with it being the county where Chris Kannady was born and raised, has deep political connections, and presumably knows his way around the local courthouse.
2. Why was the entire case sealed?
Generally speaking, Oklahoma civil court records are public unless a judge determines there’s a sufficiently compelling privacy interest to justify sealing them.
And even then, Oklahoma's Open Records Act says courts are supposed to use the least restrictive means possible and narrowly tailor the sealing so records that don’t need protection remain public. A 2023 Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals decision described those procedures as mandatory and said courts must strictly comply with them before records can be withheld from public view.
That’s what makes the Gise case interesting.
The public docket indicates the petition, jurisdictional affidavit, motion to seal and other records have all disappeared behind the curtain.
Did Judge Hogan have a legitimate reason to do that? Normally, the sealing order answers that question, but…
3. Why is the order explaining the sealing also sealed?
This is the part that really shocked us.
Not only can the public no longer see the Gise divorce records, but we also apparently can’t see Judge Hogan’s order explaining why we’re not allowed to see them.
That’s particularly strange, because Oklahoma law is pretty damn clear on this point.
When a court seals a record, it is required to enter an order explaining the factual and legal basis for the decision – and that order must remain public.
Instead, Judge Hogan’s order is sealed right alongside everything else.
In other words, the public can’t see the records, and the public also can’t see the explanation for why it can’t see the records. How’s that for an Oklahoma Standard?
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To try to find answers to the questions posed above, I sicced Beth, our open-records bulldog, on the case.
After a string of emails and phone calls with the Pittsburg County Clerk, the court clerk and Judge Hogan’s assistant, she eventually got Judge Hogan himself on the phone.
In the course of their discussion, Hogan told Beth the case was sealed “by agreement of the parties” – and, strangely, deflected questions about the order he signed to Gise’s lawyer and Kannady’s law partner, James Bland.
What makes Hogan’s explanation especially puzzling is that “by agreement of the parties” is explicitly not, by itself, enough to seal a public court record under Oklahoma law.
In a concurring opinion in that infamous Ed Shadid divorce case – which, fittingly enough, also involved a public official trying to keep his divorce records private – Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Steven Taylor specifically noted that the Open Records Act contains no provision allowing parties to simply agree to seal a public record.
Hogan did not appreciate the point, and the call ended with the judge saying, “If you want it, file something.”
Naturally, we’re looking into exactly that.
Who knows. Maybe there’s a legit reason to seal the case, but until we see the order Hogan signed and know what it says, it’s difficult not to look at the rushed and unusual way this case was handled – along with all the political, legal and geographic connections surrounding it – and wonder whether we’re watching the Oklahoma political establishment trying to protect its own.
Hopefully, we’ll find out soon enough.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
