State Representative Sues Governor to Get Public Records

Lawsuits over open records in Oklahoma aren’t unique, but a member of the Oklahoma House belonging to the same party as the public official being sued is something we don’t often see.

In a Tuesday news release, Rep. Logan Phillips (R-Mounds) announced that he has “filed a lawsuit for records surrounding the use and management of Oklahoma's Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds.”

Phillips says he has made formal requests for the records since early May to find out how the money from the federal Cares Act was spent.

"On May 5 and again on May 6, I followed up with the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) on those requests after being informed they did not have access to the documents requested,” Phillips said in the news release.

“In addition to my direct requests through OMES, I also submitted open records requests to the offices of Governor Kevin Stitt and Secretary of Education Ryan Walters. No response was ever received from any of these requests,” he said.

Suing Stitt

State Rep. Logan Phillips (R-Mounds) wants the governor to turn over public records showing how federal COVID-19 relief funds were spent.

Phillips said he decided to seek “declarative and injunctive relief” in court because of the lack of transparency and accountability in how the money was used. He believes the failure to produce the records violates Oklahoma law.

“The records need to be made publicly available immediately," Phillips said.

The news release also mentioned a federal audit earlier this summer which had the U.S. Department of Education seeking a return of $650,000 in misspent funds while taking a closer look at another $5 million in spending.

(CLICK to read the cooperative reporting on the audit story from Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier.)

“Due to ongoing investigations and audits by the Inspector General, we are looking at the possibility of 5 out of every 6 dollars of GEER funding having been misspent,” Phillips said. “This is unacceptable and the citizens of Oklahoma deserve answers.”