Oklahoma House Republicans opt for investigation, not impeachment of Supt. Ryan Walters

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — The House of Representatives will be investigating funding concerns at the Department of Education through the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT).

FOX25 sat down with the member who carried the bill creating the committee, Rep. Jon Echols, (R)-OKC.

"This is not a personality issue against Ryan Walters," he said. I am on LOFT, I'm going in from the position of the evidence will be what it will be."

We've reported on maternity leave, school security and inhaler funding, which are all sources of revenue districts are still missing, and all the subject matter of the LOFT investigation.

With the Speaker of the House's support, Rep. Echols and the rest of the LOFT committee are taking action, but not In the way the State Superintendent is calling for.

"We do not need to wait on a LOFT committee. We do not need to wait on an investigation," Supt. Ryan Walters said. "I am calling on Speaker McCall and Mark McBride to begin their impeachment proceedings Monday."

Walters then accused the Speaker of working to impeach him for political gain in the next election. Representative Mark McBride has been circling a petition to members to investigate Supt. Walters, but he is not on the LOFT committee.

In FOX25's entire interview with Rep. Echols before the impeachment announcement from Supt. Walters, Echols did not mention impeachment at all, other than to say he didn't support it.

"I did not support an impeachment and I do not support an impeachment. I do support an investigation into taxpayer dollars," Rep. Echols said.

While the LOFT committee does the research, termed the "sword of the legislature" and the "fact finding fiscal arm" by Echols, the committee does not impeach.

"I can't stress this enough, this is not an impeachment inquiry. This is an inquiry about tax dollars," Rep. Echols said.

House Democrats will also be included in the process. Representative Melissa Provenzano will have a seat at the table during the investigation.

"I'm pleased to see a concrete move forward because my caucus has been calling for this for close to two years now, pretty much right out of the gate," Rep. Provenzano, (D)-Tulsa said.

The Senate is in charge of having a fair trial if there ever is an impeachment process. In the case that something does arise from the findings, they're taking a back seat.

"The Senate has decided with their prerogative not to engage, which if there are bad findings, that's probably a smart decision," Rep. Echols said.