Monday, February 12th 2024, 6:42 pm
The Oklahoma Attorney General dismissed a lawsuit that was filed at the direction of the Governor's office.
The AG calls the lawsuit a 'waste of money,’ but the governor says it's about holding people accountable for tax dollars.
The lawsuit was over pandemic education funding lost through improper spending.
The state auditor determined that $1.7 million meant for education during the pandemic was wasted on televisions to video games and Christmas trees.
The Governor and Attorney General disagree on who is to blame, and the Governor's office recently hired an outside attorney to sue.
That's the lawsuit that was dropped on Monday.
The Governor's office blames a contractor called "ClassWallet" for the lost money, but the AG says the company was told to approve everything.
AG Gentner Drummond says he won't allow the state to sue because the state is at fault for mismanagement.
Drummond says he's again dismissing it because he thinks it's the state's fault for the mismanagement, not ClassWallet's.
The governor's office responded that Drummond was acting politically and personally instead of representing the state's interests.
The AG says the state will be on the hook for legal fees and criticized the Governor for pursuing a claim the AG said was for political cover.
The now state school superintendent, Ryan Walters, had oversight of the contract involving Class Wallet.
Rad the governor's office full statement here:
“The Attorney General has chosen to continue operating a political office in pursuit of personal aspirations as opposed to representing the state’s interests. The Governor has now twice tried to hold this vendor accountable for mishandling taxpayer dollars. Both times, Drummond has sided with ClassWallet.
This isn’t the first time the Attorney General has looked past the state’s interests in courthouses across the state and nation and doubtful it’ll be the last.
Oklahomans deserve better.”
Read ClassWallet's statement here:
ClassWallet is grateful that Oklahoma Attorney General Drummond has confirmed that the allegations against our company are wholly without merit. We have always maintained that ClassWallet, as a software vendor, had neither responsibility for, nor authority to, exercise any decision-making with respect to the Oklahoma programs.
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