After four days of bomb threats at schools in Tulsa, State Superintendent Ryan Walters issued a statement — but that hasn’t stopped a lawmaker from calling for his impeachment.
On Tuesday, Walters shared a TikTok video making fun of a librarian at Ellen Ochoa Elementary School for being woke. Four consecutive days of bomb threats to the school and other campuses in Union School District followed.
After the fourth bomb threat Friday, the state Department of Education released a statement in which Walters called the threats “reprehensible and absolutely unacceptable.”Walters left the video on his X (formerly Twitter) account, however.
In light of the bomb threats, Democratic state Rep. Mickey Dollens called for impeachment proceedings against Walters on Thursday, and held his position after Walters’ statement the next day.
Due to Ryan Walters' persistent weaponization of his office, three bomb threats have been made against an Elementary school, putting innocent lives at risk. I call upon @SpeakerMcCall and @Sen_GregTreat to immediately start the impeachment process and let us vote to remove…
— Rep. Mickey Dollens (@MickeyDollens) August 24, 2023
“Our kids are endangered,” Dollens said. “Ryan Walters has been attacking public schools metaphorically, and now, his rhetoric has incited some extremists to make extremely scary bomb threats.”
In addition to the rhetoric, Dollens claimed Walters is ripe for impeachment for lying to members of the Legislature and allegedly mishandling COVID relief money.
“The damage, not even a year into Ryan Walters’ tenure, has gone beyond anything that voters have expected … While I obviously support the will of the voters — and they voted for the person to do their job — this person is obviously not doing their job,” he said.
Walters’ spokesperson Matt Langston did not immediately respond Friday when asked for comment on the call for impeachment.
A formal call for impeachment proceedings would have to come from the House of Representatives, and require more than half of its members to vote in favor. The motion would then move to the Senate, where members would hold a trial over the allegations against Walters. Two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote for impeachment.
“Until there are articles of impeachment brought to the Senate, we won’t be able to comment,” said Alex Gerszewski, spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat.
Despite criticism of Walters from some prominent Republicans in the House, Dollens believes it would still be “an uphill climb” to get the votes needed for impeachment proceedings to leave the House. However, he believes enough members would privately support a push for impeachment.
Public Radio Tulsa has reached out to Speaker of the House Charles McCall's office about the call for impeachment.
