Governor considers bill to limit State Supt. PR campaigns amid new spending revelations
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Governor Kevin Stitt has until Friday to sign off on legislation that would stop Oklahoma's state superintendent from spending your tax dollars on his own personal public relations campaign.
As we await the governor's decision, FOX 25 has uncovered even more details about the Oklahoma State Department of Education's controversial relationship with DC-based firm Vought Strategies.
Emails and invoices we got through an Open Records Request raise new questions about the spending of money meant for public education.
FOX 25, in collaboration with Oklahoma Watch, was the first to share details of the $30,000 contract with Vought Strategies to help secure Superintendent Ryan Walters spots on national media programs to promote his political agenda.
The contract was signed and finalized in March.
However, work with Vought, as we found in emails and invoices we obtained, began at least eight months prior, costing you much more.
Superintendent Walters wasn't fully transparent about the relationship when we asked him last November.
"You've also posted a job opening for someone who's supposed to manage your national media appearances, have you hired someone for that position?" we asked Walters at a FOX 25 Town Hall on Nov. 13, 2023.
"No," Walters responded.
Emails show starting in early July of 2023, Vought Strategies owner Mary Vought was in contact with OSDE staff who were trying to get her on the books as an official state vendor.
Shortly after, we found Vought was pitching Walters for various national shows to talk about topics ranging from the southern border, to PETA, to drag queens.
Purchase orders and invoices we got through an Open Records Request show Oklahoma taxpayers forking over $5,000 a month to Vought starting last summer, skirting just below the threshold of requiring an official contract.
However, there was some sort of agreement, at least off the books, evidenced in an August 9, 2023 email between Mary Vought and an OSDE employee who was directing her to submit a proper quote so she could get paid.
"What do you mean by quote?" Vought emailed in August. "Ryan Walters said he'd pay me $5,000 a month. Is that what you're referring to?"
Vought was doing work and billing the state for nearly two months before having a purchase agreement in place at the end of August.
OSDE then put out a solicitation for bids on Oct. 19, 2023.
Going through the various emails about media bookings, talking points, and payments, not a single email to OSDE Chief Advisor Matt Langston went to his state email address.
Instead, they went to his political consulting firm, Engage Right.
Langston is now under investigation by the state attorney general, looking into a claim he's a so-called 'ghost employee' while drawing a 6 -figure salary and benefits from Oklahoma.
Vought was the only bidder for the contract job last November, registering as an LLC in the state of Oklahoma on the day bids closed.
After the contract officially began in March we asked the agency who had been footing the bill for Vought's work before then.
Spokesman Dan Isett told FOX 25 that this contract with Vought was actually an "extension" of a previous contract.
We now know there was never a prior contract, just tens of thousands more dollars flowing out of Oklahoma's education coffers to prop up Walters on a national stage.
These latest revelations bring the total education spending on out-of-state PR firms that FOX 25 has uncovered to over $100,000.
Precision Outreach, a Texas company, has raked in over $70,000 in Oklahoma tax dollars for creating controversial videos and social media content for OSDE.
The current contracts with both Precision and Vought expire at the end of this month.
The governor is considering whether to sign SB 1122, which outlines OSDE's yearly budget, but includes a provision against spending money “for the purpose of securing media interviews, public relations, or other public promotional purposes.”
He could choose to line-item veto that stipulation.
Another option he has floated as a possibility is issuing an executive order for all state agencies to prohibit this type of spending with your tax dollars.
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