Republicans Split on St. Isidore

by Em Luetkemeyer, Oklahoma Watch
April 24, 2025

A coming Supreme Court case has divided some powerful Republicans into three camps: those who want to reinforce the wall between church and state, those who want to tear it down and those who would rather avoid taking any side at all.

The case, Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, is scheduled for a hearing on April 30. Depending on the ultimate decision, it could establish the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school by allowing the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to contract with the state of Oklahoma. Last year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the school violated the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, as well as Oklahoma law, which requires charter schools to be nonsectarian.

Those supporting the school have argued in briefs submitted to the court that it would not be a state actor and denying it a contract with the state is religious discrimination. Opponents argue the school would open the door to the government endorsing one religion over others or funding indoctrination in the classroom.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who is now also running for governor, is one of those opponents. He sued the charter school board in 2023 over its contract with the school.

“This unconstitutional scheme to create the nation’s first state-sponsored religious charter school will open the floodgates and force taxpayers to fund all manner of religious indoctrination, including radical Islam or even the Church of Satan,” Drummond said of St. Isidore.

Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma said in February that he thinks Drummond is looking at the case purely from a law standpoint and has cast his personal opinion aside.

“He has a responsibility to the state, and I think he sees his role as a state’s attorney general to push back on this,” Hern said.

On the other end is Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and the superintendent of Oklahoma schools, Ryan Walters, who has taken many opportunities to curry favor with the MAGA base as he looks toward his own political future. Walters wrote an amicus brief in support of the school and told NOTUS the state is “leading the fight to tear down the left’s wall between church and state — and we won’t apologize for it.”

“This case is about one thing: the right of families to choose a faith-based education without government interference,” Walters said in a written statement. “We are working closely with allies across the country to build the legal and political strategy to win. Leftist radicals have joined forces with some moderate Republicans to support state backed atheism. Oklahoma is setting the standard, and we’re proud to be out front in this fight.”

Oklahoma pollster Pat McFerron found in data he collected in 2023 that the state’s Republican voters were split on the issue of religious charter schools. Because voters are divided, McFerron said he expects that most successful political figures will try to stay away from weighing in on the case.

“Drummond obviously has a passion for it, and so do Stitt and Ryan Walters on the other side, and so I think others are generally trying to stay out of it,” McFerron said.

State-level lawmakers have largely been absent from the list of amicus briefs.

“Typically, when Oklahoma has a case, or there’s a case that’s impacting Oklahoma, we see a number of state lawmakers run to file amicus on this one way or the other, and I’m not seeing that,” Tyler Powell, an Oklahoma-based political adviser, said.

Powell pointed to the 2018 election cycle as a reason for this, which was on the tail of a nine-day teacher walkout at the state Capitol, and many state-level lawmakers ran on pro-public education platforms. About half of the school districts in the state closed during the strike.

A group of conservative senators have weighed in at the national level. Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Ted Budd of North Carolina and Ted Cruz of Texas also submitted an amicus brief in March supporting the school.

“The Oklahoma Charter Schools Act, by excluding religious organizations from participation, not only violates the First Amendment but also undermines the significant contributions that religious organizations make to public projects more generally,” they wrote. “This exclusion is not only legally indefensible but also practically detrimental to the common good and social fabric of America.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has leaned into school choice and established the White House Faith Office to root out perceived bias against Christians within the federal government.

Asked about the St. Isidore case, White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers pivoted to what Trump has already done. Trump, she said in a statement, has delivered “on his promise to dismantle the Department of Education and redirect power to the states and parents, giving America’s children the education they deserve.”

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Republicans Split on St. Isidore appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

The content presents a balanced view of a legal case regarding the potential establishment of a religious charter school in Oklahoma, noting the division among Republicans on the issue. While it quotes various officials, including Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who opposes the charter school due to concerns about religious discrimination, it also emphasizes the perspectives of supporters, including Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, who advocate for religious education without government interference. The language used, such as "left’s wall between church and state" and the framing of opponents as "leftist radicals," indicates a tendency to critique left-leaning views, aligning more closely with center-right positions that seek to broaden educational options through religious institutions. Overall, the article reflects the complexities within Republican perspectives while leaning towards the pro-religious education stance typical of center-right discourse.

by Jennifer Palmer, Oklahoma Watch
April 23, 2025

Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, who some pollsters predict is eyeing a run for governor in 2026, now has a team on the state’s payroll who have built their resumes managing political campaigns. 

One recent hire is Matt Mohler, a political strategist from Florida. Another is Chad Gallagher, who founded a consulting company and is a longtime advisor to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. 

They join another political operative at the agency, Matt Langston, who is Walters’ chief policy advisor. Langston ran Walters’ 2022 campaign for superintendent and joined the staff in January 2023. He runs a Texas-based firm, Engage Right. 

Mohler was a special projects manager at Florida Power & Light for the past four years, according to his LinkedIn profile, and a senior strategist at Front Line Strategies for 17 years until May 2024. Front Line Strategies is one of Florida’s most prominent political consulting firms. Front Line and its founder, Brett Doster, have worked with Jeb Bush, Pam Bondi and Mitt Romney, according to Florida Politics, a news site covering campaigns and politics in Florida.

Langston, too, worked for Front Line Strategies. He was a consultant there from 2012-2013, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Gallagher, in addition to advising Huckabee, founded Legacy Consulting, a firm that works on political campaigns, messaging and crisis management. He lobbies for Huck PAC, Huckabee’s political vehicle. Gallagher also managed public relations for the Duggar family, of the reality TV show “19 Kids and Counting,” in the wake of abuse allegations against one of the family members. A jury convicted Josh Duggar of possessing child pornography in 2021.

Legacy Consulting lobbies for ClassWallet in Arkansas, which was awarded $63 million in contracts to manage Arkansas’ private school voucher program. Gallagher, with his wife, founded a private Christian school. 

“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” said Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Colleen McCarty. “It sure looks as though he’s assembling a campaign team on the public payroll. If he is, those can be crimes, and Oklahoma has convicted elected officials for a lot less.”

Agency Won’t Explain Paychecks

Langston is one of the Department of Education’s highest-paid employees, collecting $130,000 in 2024 and more than $69,000 in the first three months of 2025, according to state payroll records. 

Gallagher, a temporary senior advisor hired in February, is paid $46.15 an hour — or nearly $96,000 per year, according to the agency. He collected $3,692 in March for 80 hours of work. 

Mohler is the department’s chief of staff. He started Jan. 20, and collected four payments worth a combined $76,000 from the state in February and March, his first two months on the payroll, records show. All the payments were coded as regular pay.

A spokeswoman for the Education Department, Grace Kim, refused to answer questions about the payments or confirm Mohler or Gallagher’s salary, even though that information is public record. Kim said the department does not comment on personnel matters.

“It’s quite concerning, the amount of money they are getting paid and understanding their background,” said Rep. Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City. “It doesn’t seem like they are there to help the superintendent or the agency figure out how to improve our education outcomes.” 

Munson is the minority leader for the House and is running for governor.

Walters’ new hires coincided with the departures of key staff from the agency. Those include Andrea Fielding, Kourtney Heard, David Martin, Dan Isett, and Tucker Cross. 

Isett resigned as the department’s director of communications after 18 months on the job. Even though Isett earned a salary of $115,000, he collected $76,000 in February, payroll records show. 

In December, Walters awarded more than $600,000 in end-of-year bonuses to staff at the agency. Most received an amount equal to 2.5% of their annual salary, but a select few received significantly more. 

Langston received nearly $45,000 in January, $34,000 more than a typical paycheck. 

The agency has refused to explain whether that amount is a bonus, a raise, or both.

Langston did not respond to a voicemail or an email. 

In June, a group of state lawmakers asked Attorney General Gentner Drummond to investigate Langston’s employment status amid concerns that he is a ghost employee, which former Rep. Mark McBride, who initiated the request, defined as an individual who is listed on the payroll but does not actually perform the duties associated with their position. That, he said, would constitute a misuse of public funds and undermine public trust. 

Drummond declined to pursue the investigation.

Walters is halfway through his 4-year term, but his 2022 campaign remains active. Ethics Commission records show that Walters’ campaign has made just one payment to Langston’s firm, Engage Right, since the 2022 election. It was for $5,000 on March 4, 2024. Those reports go through the end of 2024.

Engage Right nonetheless has continued sending emails for the campaign, including one on Nov. 8, recapping the 2024 election results. Labeled highly confidential and not for distribution, the email claims Oklahoma’s results — in the presidential, state supreme court and legislative races — validate Walters’ platform.

It was signed Matt Langston.

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Walters’ New Hires Steeped in Politics, Not Education appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning

The content presents a critical view of Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and his hiring practices, which involves bringing political operatives into positions within the education department. The focus on potential misuse of public funds, allegations of ghost employment, and the comments from political figures such as the minority leader, Rep. Cyndi Munson, suggest a skepticism towards Walters’ actions and his administration. The involvement of consulting firms with ties to established Republican figures and the negative framing of Walters’ decisions may indicate a partisan perspective aligned with left-leaning viewpoints on governmental accountability and education policy. Additionally, the critical tone surrounding the bonuses and salaries within the administration supports this bias.

by Paul Monies, Oklahoma Watch
April 22, 2025

The chief of staff for Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ used messaging app Signal to communicate and coordinate policy with groups opposed to environmental, social and governance standards, according to an open records lawsuit. 

In a deposition taken in February, Chief of Staff Jordan Harvey said she used the app in late 2022 and early 2023. At the time, the newly elected treasurer was figuring out how to implement the Oklahoma Energy Discrimination Elimination Act. The law directs the treasurer to create a list of prohibited financial firms for state or local vendors who had corporate policies perceived to be hostile to fossil fuels. 

Harvey said she has Signal installed on a personal cell phone. She received briefing documents on Signal from organizations opposed to ESG efforts that she then forwarded to personal and work email addresses. That was before she was issued a state cell phone, Harvey said in the deposition. Selected portions of the deposition were filed as an exhibit in the lawsuit in March. 

Signal allows any party in a conversation to set the messages to self-delete after a certain time period. The messaging app has been central to revelations in the past month that high-level members of the Trump administration used the app to plan and coordinate war efforts, with a reporter included in the chat. 

“I set my communication not to delete,” Harvey said in the deposition about her personal use of Signal. “The other person or people on the thread have the same ability to set the deletion time period. And then all parties on that thread are subject to that.” 

Harvey said the treasurer’s officer turned over the documents she received on Signal under an open records request. She said the office could not provide the related messages from Signal because they disappeared by the time the records request was made in July 2023. 

Records already provided by the treasurer’s office show that Harvey sent an email to the governor’s office in May 2023 with documents attached referencing Net-Zero Asset Managers Alliance emissions goals and questions. 

“These are from our friends in DC that came about 2 months ago to meet with Treasurer Russ and the Governor,” the email said. “They are a little more targeted questions.” 

In the deposition, Harvey said that email referenced three groups active in the anti-ESG efforts across the country: State Financial Officers Foundation, Heritage Action for America and Consumers’ Research Inc. 

That trio of anti-ESG groups are now opposing efforts by the plaintiff, Alabama-based FOIA Professional Services LLC, to have them produce their sides of the Signal messages to Harvey. 

Attorneys for the State Financial Officers Foundation, Heritage Action for America and Consumers’ Research Inc. asked Oklahoma’s attorney general for help in quashing subpoenas for records. They argued the groups were engaging in protected political speech when they communicated with officials from the treasurer’s office and they were being dragged into a dispute where they are not covered by the Oklahoma Open Records Act. 

“Plaintiff’s attempt to gain access to withheld documents from nongovernmental sources through these subpoenas is the definition of a backdoor attempt to evade the ORA prior to any court decision on applicable exemptions and privileges,” the attorney general’s office wrote in an April 8 court filing. 

The treasurer’s office, through a spokeswoman, said it does not comment on active litigation. 

It is unknown for whom FOIA Professional Services was working when it requested the records from the treasurer’s office in July 2023. The organization filed the open records lawsuit in Oklahoma County district court in October. 

“Our clients range from small businesses and government contractors to law firms and Fortune 500 companies,” the company said on its website. “However, we are a fully confidential service. Our clients’ names are not available and their requests are made 100% anonymously.” 

Approved Messaging Apps? 

The Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services said there’s no statewide list of approved apps for state devices. Those decisions are left to individual agencies, spokeswoman Christa Helfrey said last week. 

“Policies and procedures are in place for all applicable agencies, including but not limited to CIO (chief information officer) standards and the Open Records Act,” Helfrey said. “Agencies can also create additional policies and procedures specific to that agency.” 

The attorney general’s office said it reminds public agencies and employees that apart from a few exceptions, records regarding government business on personal devices are subject to the law. In response to media questions in late 2023, it advised against using third-party messaging apps.

“The Office of the Attorney General strongly discourages public officials from using third-party messaging applications when communicating about public business,” the statement said. “Electronic communications such as emails and text messages that concern public business are records under the Open Records Act. It does not matter whether an electronic communication is on a personal or public device. If the communication concerns public business and is not exempt from production or able to be kept confidential, then it must be produced on request.” 

When an Oklahoma Watch reporter asked Gov. Kevin Stitt about using Signal last month, he claimed not to know much about the app and joked that he wasn’t tech-savvy. But Stitt said he sometimes used another messaging app, WhatsApp, to communicate with contacts in other countries. 

“I do have WhatsApp, so if I’m traveling overseas, that seems to be the method over there,” Stitt said at a March 26 news conference at the Capitol. “I still get phone calls from some of the Asian folks we met when I was over there. That seems to be how they contact me. But that’s the only messaging app that I have on my personal phone. I’ve never Signaled; I don’t know what Signal is.” 

Enforcement of the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act is on hold after a retiree, Don Keenan, challenged its constitutionality and what he called political interference in the state’s pension plans. Keenan is a retiree getting a pension from the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System. Trustees for the system took an exemption to the anti-ESG law in August 2023 so it wouldn’t have to divest up to $6 billion in investments with BlackRock Inc., one of the companies on Oklahoma’s restricted financial companies list.  
Oklahoma County District Judge Sheila Stinson issued a permanent injunction in September, prohibiting enforcement of the law. The attorney general is appealing that order to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Oklahoma Treasurer’s Office Faces Scrutiny Over Use of Signal in Anti-ESG Coordination appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Assessment: Center-Left

The content primarily discusses a case involving the Oklahoma Treasurer’s office’s use of the messaging app Signal to coordinate against environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives. This focus on scrutinizing the actions of government officials, especially regarding their ties to anti-ESG groups, indicates a stance that is critical of conservative policies that favor fossil fuel interests. The mention of groups like the State Financial Officers Foundation and Heritage Action for America, known for their opposition to ESG principles, suggests an alignment with more progressive or left-leaning viewpoints, particularly concerning environmental accountability and transparency in government actions. The overall tone and content suggest a preference for transparency in governance, especially when policies impact social and environmental standards, which aligns with center-left ideology.