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House Democrats on Tuesday made a formal request to Speaker Charles McCall to initiate impeachment proceedings against State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters.
Their ask comes as Walters continues to attract scrutiny for his culture wars fixation. In the last week, an elementary school in the Union district whose librarian’s altered Tik Tok video was posted by the far-right agitator account Libs of Tik Tok and re-posted by Walters has received bomb threats for six consecutive days.
House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, asked McCall to form a bipartisan special committee to investigate Walters.
According to a KGOU article, Democrats want the Legislature to investigate Walters for:
- Allegedly lying to the legislative education committee about filing federal grants.
- Sending pornographic material to legislative staff.
- Mishandling federal funds.
- Using state funds to create political videos about teachers’ unions and Tulsa Public Schools.
- Using his official Twitter — now X — to share an altered video from a far-right account that’s now at the center of over a week of bomb threats to schools.
- Alleged inaction on Kingfisher abuse case, as well as cases in several other schools.
- Wrongful termination of whistleblowers, now the subject of three federal lawsuits.
- The Board of Education passing administrative rules against the advice of Attorney General Gentner Drummond regarding library media and counseling services.
Under the state constitution, elected state officials can be impeached for willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, habitual drunkenness, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude committed while in office.
If the House votes for impeachment, the Senate holds a trial, presided over by the Chief Justice. Ultimately, impeachment requires a two-thirds vote by the Senate.
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— Jennifer Palmer
Recommended Reading
- Packed state Board of Education meetings raise public access concerns, calls to move to a larger venue. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Many parents have no idea how their kids are doing in school, and report card grades mask academic gaps. [TIME]
- The Christian homeschooler whose push for parental rights in politics is really trying to “take down the education system as we know it today.” [The Washington Post]
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