Stitt talks state Senate endorsement, Walters and DHS in BA stop

By John Dobberstein, Editor

Gov. Kevin Stitt stopped at a Rose District business Monday to make an appearance with supporters of Broken Arrow Vice Mayor Christi Gillespie, who is running for a state Senate seat and faces a runoff election Tuesday. 

Stitt toured Let’s Play BA, a business Gillespie co-owns with her daughter — and talked about his endorsement of Gillespie for the Senate District 33 seat, which covers much of Broken Arrow and parts of Tulsa. Shelley Gwartney is her opponent and supporters of the two campaigns have fought a pitched battle for the last several weeks.

“I don’t normally get involved in a lot of races around the state, but I really felt like she was the right candidate, and we just have to have good people at the Capitol supporting us on our policies,” Stitt told the Sentinel. “She’s in a tight runoff and it’s important to get good people elected.”

Stitt briefly answered questions about a couple of other contentious topics in recent weeks.

Opponents of State Supt. of Public Instruction Ryan Walters have increased the pitch of their objections to his agenda, as they held a rally over the weekend to push for his impeachment, as we as calling for various investigations of educational spending. 

A spokesperson for Walters, Dan Isset, in part responded to the rally by saying, “rabble at the Capitol provided another example that the left has become the party of Gender, Queer, Flamer, and hatred.”

Walters doubled down Monday on his demand for the Bible to be used in classroom instruction, declaring there will be a Bible in every classroom.

The Oklahoman reported that top Republican leaders and Stitt met with Walters in an effort to “tone his rhetoric down and get to the bottom of recent school funding issues.” Soon after, Walters held an emotional and angry press conference during which he challenged the House to impeach him.

Stitt said he organized the “Disagree Better”conference earlier this year in hopes of turning the political rhetoric at the Capitol down a notch. He seemed to hope the spirit of that effort will reach the acrimonious debate in Oklahoma over education.

“I think we need to stop with the rhetoric and the name calling and really just have a debate on policy,” Stitt said. “When it comes to policy, we all want the best education for our kids. And so we should be able to talk and have some debate about how to get there. I’ve put more money in public education than any other governor before me. And at the same time, I believe in school choice, putting parents back in charge. So all those policy items, everybody’s clear where I stand on it. 

“When there’s a separate elected person people get confused. I can’t appoint or remove the superintendent of education as everybody knows. The first superintendent of education was Joy Hoffmeister, who ran against me for governor. So it’s a totally separate deal,” he said.

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services is another thorny subject at the current time. Dr. Deborah Shropshire submitted her resignation last week in a surprise move, just days after a press conference in Tulsa drew attention to alleged problems in DHS programs designed to protect children from abuse. 

The custody case surrounding Clayton Woolley in Broken Arrow — which was the focal point of the recent press conference — has drawn an extended period of negative attention for the state agency.

Shropshire has been the director of the department since January 2023 and is set to leave Sept. 13.

Stitt said he didn’t have specific information about why Shropshire resigned. Stitt said interviews are being conducted for the next appointed head of DHS.

Stitt’s father, John, has been vocal in the fight the Woolley family is fighting to regain custody of Clayton after homicide and abuse charges were dropped against his grandparents.

The governor didn’t address that situation directly but has been aware of it. 

“There’s nothing bigger than than removing a family member from a parent’s home. And the state better get it right when we do it. And so it’s something that keeps me up at night, and we want to do that very thoughtfully,” Stitt said. 

“The hardworking people at DHS do the best they can. Deb has done a good job and I wish her well on her next endeavor. And we’ll find a great replacement.”

Stitt seemed open to a sweeping review of DHS to see how the agency can be revamped where needed. 

“Anytime I put somebody new in state government, I say, ‘Hey, put a fresh set of eyes on it —  all of our state employees, our processes, how we do everything,” he said. 

“Child welfare is one thing that DHS oversees, as well as SNAP benefits — making sure there’s no fraud. DHS manages a $2 billion budget on just the food part. So DHS is huge.”