Oklahoma’s attorney general calls for immediate resignation of Oklahoma’s tourism secretary after audit

Attorney General Gentner Drummond has called for the resignation of Oklahoma Secretary of Tourism Shelly Zumwalt.

Zumwalt was appointed secretary by Governor Stitt in January 2024. Zumwalt also held multiple positions in the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) and served as Executive Director of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC).

Drummond’s press release states that this is in response to an audit conducted by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Bird. Drummond claims Zumwalt used her position to approve state funds for a company where her husband was vice president. According to Byrd, Zumwalt checked “no” on the forms, indicating there was no relationship or conflict of interest in contracting the funds.

Byrd says the audit shows there is a systemic problem with mismanagement, saying “questionable behavior has led to the misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

You can read the Attorney General’s full statement below:

“The audit findings released today reveal disturbing and all too familiar patterns of mismanagement, costing taxpayers millions. Today’s report confirms my previous order for a much-needed and long-overdue investigative audit of OMES.

“Among the most egregious findings are the completely inappropriate and potentially illegal actions of Secretary Shelley Zumwalt, who used her position as executive director of the OESC to approve millions of dollars in contracts for a software company of which her husband was vice president. This level of self-dealing represents an inexcusable breach of trust that disqualifies Ms. Zumwalt from overseeing the spending of our tax dollars. She must resign immediately and cooperate fully with my office as I attempt to determine whether any Oklahoma statutes have been violated.”

Cindy Bird’s office released this as part of its summary of the audit:

“Subsequent contracts and payments were handled by OESC and signed by Shelley Zumwalt, who was appointed OESC Executive Director in May 2020. By April 2022, Zumwalt had approved additional contracts and modified orders to P2 totaling $8.5 million.

“During this period, Zumwalt failed to disclose the fact that her husband, John Zumwalt, was serving as vice president of P2. As director of the OESC, Zumwalt had to complete annual forms proving that no related party transactions had occurred during the period. performance of its duties with regard to the expenditure of funds. In three separate cases, Zumwalt checked “No” on these forms.

“Federal law requires any entity receiving federal grants to disclose any conflict of interest in writing,” accountant Byrd said. “Any person who could potentially benefit from a federal grant cannot be part of the selection, awarding, administration or contracting of that money.”

“​In the fall of 2022, legislation took effect requiring appointees of agency heads to disclose any conflicts of interest to the Ethics Commission. Zumwalt ultimately disclosed her husband’s employment with P2 after she was named executive director of Tourism.”

Secretary Shelley Zumwalt released a statement in response:

“The accountant’s report is misleading. I have never had a conversation with accountant Byrd or her team about this issue. A thorough assessment of this situation would easily have cleared up any confusion about the many signings and revelations that took place long before I was appointed Executive Director of the OESC. Transparency has always been a top priority for me and I will not resign.

-Shelley Zumwalt, Minister of Tourism, Nature and Heritage”