By Ron McWhirter

On August 13, sixteen Oklahoma House Republicans signed on to a letter asking for an investigation of state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSDE). The letter called for an inquiry into whether the “failures” justify impeachment. Additional members of the GOP later joined the effort, bringing the total number of signers to 25 at last count.

Rep. Mark McBride (R-Moore) initiated the letter to House Speaker Charles McCall. Rep. McBride has been the foremost Republican critic of Superintendent Walters. This is likely McBride’s last hurrah since he has reached the 12-years Term-Limit for Oklahoma Legislators and could not run for reelection this year.

McBride has been the chairman the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Education. For most of his tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, he has been the tool of the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), the state affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA). In 2020, the OEA – the leading teacher’s union in the state – gave McBride its Outstanding Legislator Award. No other member of the Oklahoma legislature has received more campaign funding from the OEA than Mark McBride.

The Republican signers of the letter joined the 20 Democrats in the House in the call for an investigation of Walters. In fact, their latest call came just the week before McBride submitted his letter. Oklahoma House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson (D-Oklahoma City) issued the following statement after Rep. McBride submitted the letter. “I’m glad members of the Republican Supermajority are joining our calls for action against State Superintendent Ryan Walters,” Munson said. “House Democrats have made five public attempts to investigate the State Superintendent. After a long history of allegations of misuse of federal tax dollars, inciting bomb threats and deadly violence in Oklahoma schools, and routinely ignoring the Oklahoma Constitution, it is time for Republicans to take action. Republicans hold the power in both legislative chambers and the Governor’s mansion – it is time for them to use their power to hold the State Superintendent accountable to the people of Oklahoma. We have all waited long enough.”

While Speaker McCall rejected the call for creation of a Special Investigative Committee of Walters, on August 16 he announced that the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) would take a closer look at how spending is being conducted by the OSDE. “LOFT is designed to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly by state agencies, making them the ideal entity to examine any concerns related to spending at OSDE,” McCall said. “This investigation by LOFT allows us to address these concerns efficiently without the need for a costly special legislative session.” McCall added, “This investigation is about ensuring taxpayer dollars are properly allocated, not targeting individuals.”

Walters dismissed the demands for a special investigation. “The left and union lackeys call for an investigation and impeachment,” Walters said in a social media post. “I will never stop standing for parents!” He called the legislators who signed the letter “liberal Republicans.”

We believe the most important product of this publication is our annual Oklahoma Conservative Index which rates members of the Oklahoma Legislature. When I saw the list of Republican lawmakers, I wondered how the members of this group scored in our ratings. We published our first scorecard in the summer of 1979, and in our Summer 2024 edition we presented the 46th edition of the ratings. Did Ryan Walters correctly label the signers as “liberal Republicans?”

Examining the Oklahoma Conservative Index and the Cumulative Average scores – the average score of each legislator for the entire time they have been office – this group of legislators averaged just 58 percent. Their scores ranged from a low of 46 to a high of 77. Twenty of the 25 Republican signers scored below 60 percent, which is our designation of a Republican In Name Only (RINO). Rep. McBride’s cumulative average is 51 percent.

As I have previously expressed in this space, the battle in the Oklahoma Legislature is between liberals and conservatives within the Republican Party. The big problem in the Legislature are the RINO members of the majority party. They make up a significant segment of the Republicans in the Legislature. In the past, these liberal-leaning Republicans would probably have been registered Democrats. Today, they masquerade as Republicans because they could not get elected otherwise. Of the 121 Republicans in the Legislature, only 37 made the Top Conservatives list this year. Meanwhile, there were 28 Republicans scoring below 60 percent – RINO territory. These are the “liberal Republicans” that have joined the Democrats attacking Ryan Walters.

Ron McWhirter is one of the founders of the Oklahoma Constitution newspaper and serves as the General Manager. He may be contacted at the newspaper email: okconsti@aol.com