# OKCpedia > Businesses & Employers >  Epic Charter Schools

## Pete

This is looking very, very bad for the two principal owners.

I know the FBI has been investigating them for over 2 years.

https://oklahoman.com/article/567291...hools-released

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## TheTravellers

About time!  For those interested in more, check out Oklahoma Watch and NonDoc, they've done quite a few in-depth articles on Epic over the years.

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## TheTravellers

Board sets termination hearing on Epic authorization

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## FighttheGoodFight

There has been great reporting on them for years. You could just tell they were shady the whole time and I hope Oklahoma gets some of that money back.

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## Pete

Based on the extravagent spending of one of their co-founders, I would not expect a lot of the money to be recovered.

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## jn1780

Its a shame how many parents had to turn toward epic during this pandemic. The public schools were slow to adapt to virtual learning.

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## emtefury

The state virtual school is starting the process at terminating its contract with Epic.

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## Jersey Boss

> Its a shame how many parents had to turn toward epic during this pandemic. The public schools were slow to adapt to virtual learning.


It was also a shame the amount of money that was poured into these for profit organizations at the expense of common education.
Think how much Epic has spent since just Jan. of 2020 on advertising for students to enroll. Was that spending in the interest of educating childten?
Add to this the expense involved in the investigation

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## TheTravellers

> The state virtual school is starting the process at terminating its contract with Epic.


Um, yeah, that's what I posted in #3.

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## king183

You had to know something was shady with Epic simply based on the MILLIONS they spent advertising on Oklahoma tv and radio. How could a public school possibly afford that amount of advertising?

Edit: Just saw Jersey Boss touched on a similar point. The tons of ads I heard weren't even trying to get enrollment; they were pure PR after several investigations were launched. 

Also, note that Sen Ron Sharp, one of the foremost advocates of investigating Epic, was defeated in his primary this year. I'm sure Epic associated people and orgs funded much of the campaign to defeat him.

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## Jeepnokc

I have gone through audits and have dealt with many cases where things don't always shake out the ways they are presented initially.  There is a saying in the legal system is that your case is always strongest when you file it.  EPIC is entitled to an opportunity to defend itself as well as time to look at the audit and allegations. It is what it is but lets hear both sides of the story.  I will be more interested in this story once they actually have a hearing and allow both sides to present and challenge allegations.

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## dankrutka

For profit education has consistently been fraught with corruption, lack of ethics, and poor understanding of education. This really isn’t surprising.

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## Rover

> I have gone through audits and have dealt with many cases where things don't always shake out the ways they are presented initially.  There is a saying in the legal system is that your case is always strongest when you file it.  EPIC is entitled to an opportunity to defend itself as well as time to look at the audit and allegations. It is what it is but lets hear both sides of the story.  I will be more interested in this story once they actually have a hearing and allow both sides to present and challenge allegations.


Plus,  hope all news and media such as this one have a chance to do a thorough, balanced and fair investigation in the publics interest.

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## GoGators

Their entire business model is just based around taking taxpayer money away from public education for personal enrichment at the detriment of Oklahoma children.  I hope this is a wake up call for the people in this state who advocated for the law changes that allowed this to happen.

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## dankrutka

> For profit education has consistently been fraught with corruption, lack of ethics, and poor understanding of education. This really isn’t surprising.





> I have gone through audits and have dealt with many cases where things don't always shake out the ways they are presented initially.  There is a saying in the legal system is that your case is always strongest when you file it.  EPIC is entitled to an opportunity to defend itself as well as time to look at the audit and allegations. It is what it is but lets hear both sides of the story.  I will be more interested in this story once they actually have a hearing and allow both sides to present and challenge allegations.


This is fair. I've read the same reports everyone else has. I really don't know enough about the EPIC situation personally to pass judgment as I implied in my last post. My problem is with the for profit model that sucks money from public schools. I think it's a bad model that's bad for our communities. I thought I should clarify my comments are more generally aimed at for profit charters than Epic specifically.

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## DoctorTaco

The thing that bothers me the most is that every parent i know has good things to say about EPIC. They have a decent model and execute it well. But just imagine the good they could do if the owners weren't gaming the system to pump up their profits and metrics (such as kicking out poorly-performing students before their poor performance was reported out via standardized tests and also if they weren't siphoning money off for themselves, for ads, for political campaigns etc.? Oh and also imagine if they weren't gamein

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## Jersey Boss

> The thing that bothers me the most is that every parent i know has good things to say about EPIC. They have a decent model and execute it well. But just imagine the good they could do if the owners weren't gaming the system to pump up their profits and metrics (such as kicking out poorly-performing students before their poor performance was reported out via standardized tests and also if they weren't siphoning money off for themselves, for ads, for political campaigns etc.? Oh and also imagine if they weren't gamein


I'd be more interested in what public schools have to say about the academic standing of students going to public schools in Norman, Edmond, Broken Arrow, etc. after a few years of EPIC education.

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## Rover

> Their entire business model is just based around taking taxpayer money away from public education for personal enrichment at the detriment of Oklahoma children.  I hope this is a wake up call for the people in this state who advocated for the law changes that allowed this to happen.


Like trying to privatize Medicaid in OK?  Or other public services?  
For all those who think privatization is a panacea for government services, they ignore motives and history of private companies and their leadership.  Assuming they are more righteous or capable than public servants is just naivet.

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## TheTravellers

> I'd be more interested in what public schools have to say about the academic standing of students going to public schools in Norman, Edmond, Broken Arrow, etc. after a few years of EPIC education.


Here's something that's along those lines:

https://oklahomawatch.org/2020/02/27...ll-in-college/

"In a five-month investigation into Epic’s college-going rates, Oklahoma Watch found that fewer than one in five 2019 graduates enrolled in a public Oklahoma college or university last fall. Its rate was lower than rates for all of the state’s 10 largest school districts, according to an Oklahoma Watch analysis of education data. The data was collected from every college and university in the state.

Epic reported far more high school graduates than the 10 districts, but far fewer enrolled in a state college."

"One measure of students’ preparedness for college is their score on the ACT college readiness exam.

Most regional universities want to see at least a 20 composite score out of a possible 35. Oklahoma State University admits students with minimum of 22 to 24, and the average score of University of Oklahoma freshman is 26. The state average is 18.9.

Epic’s graduating class of 2019 scored an average 16.5. That’s a significant drop from a 20.2 the previous year, when far fewer students took the exam.

Just 4% of Epic students met all four of the college readiness benchmarks established by the ACT, compared to 15% statewide."

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## 5alive

Wow...eye opening!

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## Pete

Those ACT scores are atrocious.

Epic will have their opportunity to refute the findings, but from what I know from law enforcement that have been investigating this for years, I do not think it is going to end well for them.

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## jn1780

> Here's something that's along those lines:
> 
> https://oklahomawatch.org/2020/02/27...ll-in-college/
> 
> "In a five-month investigation into Epics college-going rates, Oklahoma Watch found that fewer than one in five 2019 graduates enrolled in a public Oklahoma college or university last fall. Its rate was lower than rates for all of the states 10 largest school districts, according to an Oklahoma Watch analysis of education data. The data was collected from every college and university in the state.
> 
> Epic reported far more high school graduates than the 10 districts, but far fewer enrolled in a state college."
> 
> "One measure of students preparedness for college is their score on the ACT college readiness exam.
> ...


Thats bad, but to be fair Epic attracts a certain type of student/parent.  The parent that blames all of their kids problems on the public school system are more likely to use epic. Never take personal responsibility for their kid. This was pre-pandemic anyway. They will probably get a boast in scores this year because they got a surge of kids coming from public schools.

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## Rover

> The thing that bothers me the most is that every parent i know has good things to say about EPIC. They have a decent model and execute it well. But just imagine the good they could do if the owners weren't gaming the system to pump up their profits and metrics (such as kicking out poorly-performing students before their poor performance was reported out via standardized tests and also if they weren't siphoning money off for themselves, for ads, for political campaigns etc.? Oh and also imagine if they weren't gamein


I know parents and students of Epic too.  It is easy for kids to game their system too.  This is like the affordable insurance claim from insurer's not wanting to pay for pre-existing conditions and long term illnesses .....  they can sell you cheap insurance, but it doesn't really fill the real requirement.  You don't always get what you pay for, but usually do.  Just remember, there is no such thing as a "free" lunch.

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## SouthOfTheVillage

Im glad to see the Epic guys are finally getting their comeuppance. Never a good deal when a group so flagrantly takes advantage of the taxpayers.

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## Plutonic Panda

More news regarding Epic:

https://kfor.com/news/local/auditor-...arter-schools/

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## TheTravellers

Epics Board Vice Chair Resigns, Asks for Investigation into Misconduct

State Opens Investigation of Epic Charter Schools Over New Allegations

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## Midtowner

I'm not saying there's fire. But there's a heck of a lot of smoke.

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## jedicurt

> I'm not saying there's fire. But there's a heck of a lot of smoke.


and you can see it glowing from a distance at night, and it sure is putting off a lot of heat.

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## Pete

I'd be very surprised if criminal charges were not brought.

I know there have been ongoing investigations -- both state and FBI -- for several years.

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## April in the Plaza

> and you can see it glowing from a distance at night, and it sure is putting off a lot of heat.


And heat tends to melt things, because not all things are designed to be heat resistant.

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## Midtowner

> I'd be very surprised if criminal charges were not brought.
> 
> I know there have been ongoing investigations -- both state and FBI -- for several years.


People related to these investigations have a funny way of being primaried by someone with an overwhelming war chest, resigning, or being forced to resign.

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## TheTravellers

State Board of Education signs off on withholding $9.1 million from Epic Charter Schools

"The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted Thursday to dock Epic Charter Schools next 12 monthly payments by a total of $9.1 million as a penalty for its former management companys having exceeded legal limits on administrative overhead costs.

This latest penalty, covering a five-year period from fiscal year 2015 through 2019, is in addition to a $10.5 million penalty the state Department of Education withheld from Epic for fiscal year 2020."

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## TheTravellers

State auditor to lawmakers: Epic Charter Schools mismanagement is largest abuse of taxpayer funds 'in the history of this state'

"Amid these new questions about inaction by state law enforcement, federal authorities including the Internal Revenue Service are reportedly now zeroing in on financial irregularities alleged to have occurred at Epic Charter Schools during the decade it was managed by co-founders Ben Harris and David Chaney.

Byrd had been asked to present her office’s forensic audit findings about Epic before the two House education committees."

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## Midtowner

Here's hoping the US Attorney files RICO charges and indict all of the public officials who have been complicit in Epic's corruption from the Governor on down. A kid can dream.

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## David

> State auditor to lawmakers: Epic Charter Schools mismanagement is largest abuse of taxpayer funds 'in the history of this state'
> 
> "Amid these new questions about inaction by state law enforcement, federal authorities including the Internal Revenue Service are reportedly now zeroing in on financial irregularities alleged to have occurred at Epic Charter Schools during the decade it was managed by co-founders Ben Harris and David Chaney.
> 
> Byrd had been asked to present her offices forensic audit findings about Epic before the two House education committees."





> Wow. It gets worse and worse, said Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, at the conclusion of Byrds presentation.


No kidding.

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## onthestrip

And nothing but silence from our Attorney General.

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## HangryHippo

> And nothing but silence from our Attorney General.


Hes busy waffling over price gouging and losing to the tribes.

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## Rover

> And nothing but silence from our Attorney General.


Our governor Stitt has been a supporter of Epic and I believe has removed officials who called for audits didn't he?

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## Jersey Boss

> And nothing but silence from our Attorney General.


That's to be expected when you have a shrub for an AG. The US Atty. will be taking the lead on this.

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## Rover

> No kidding.


Largest misappropriation in the state's history is saying something with all the county commissioner corruption here.  

This saga shows exactly why a certain political persuasion has been warned time after time that there is a reason to be wary of privatization of schools and other large public functions while at the same time relaxing oversight and regulations.  It is either nave or corrupt to believe this wouldn't happen.  The temptation to skim huge amounts of money that these services provide is just too great for the greedy.  Meanwhile, the poor citizens of the state will pay, and pay, and pay.  Children will be uneducated and money will be spent anyway.  Trusting everyone to be fair and honest needs to be backed by verifiable oversite and real consequences for stepping over the line ..... for EVERYONE involved.  The law and order group should be the first to prosecute, but of course they aren't.  That wrath is saved for others.

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## TheTravellers

IRS Investigating Epic Charter Schools Finances

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## TheTravellers

Enrollment Irregularities, Unapproved Bonuses: the Latest Epic Charter Investigation

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## Midtowner

Epic is coming after any public official who asks questions. Look at the BS being slung at the current State Auditor for daring to ask questions. And the sad thing is, the voters are dumb enough to fall for their shenannigans and they tend to win. We already have a governor with no integrity. Add into that a potential future State Auditor, and the looting of the State Treasury can begin.

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## onthestrip

> Epic is coming after any public official who asks questions. Look at the BS being slung at the current State Auditor for daring to ask questions. And the sad thing is, the voters are dumb enough to fall for their shenannigans and they tend to win. We already have a governor with no integrity. Add into that a potential future State Auditor, and the looting of the State Treasury can begin.


The auditor candidate going against Byrd, and alleged to have major PAC money coming from Epic founders, has raised only $1,300. But half a million in PAC money has been spent on his behalf. That tells you how big of a joke of a candidate he is, only raising a tiny amount, not enough to seriously fund a campaign. But if you have half a million of dark money on your behalf, who knows what will happen. At least Stitt has endorsed Byrd as of yesterday I think.

Back to Epic allegations. For 5,000 students who were consistently absent, they would mark them present every 15th day so they would technically be considered enrolled by the state and Epic would continue to get full state funding for each of those 5,000 students.

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## Swake

> Epic is coming after any public official who asks questions. Look at the BS being slung at the current State Auditor for daring to ask questions. And the sad thing is, the voters are dumb enough to fall for their shenannigans and they tend to win. We already have a governor with no integrity. Add into that a potential future State Auditor, and the looting of the State Treasury can begin.


Don't forget the current AG, who is the Governor's creature and has failed to investigate Epic or Swadleys.

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## Midtowner

> Don't forget the current AG, who is the Governor's creature and has failed to investigate Epic or Swadleys.


My dealings with that office have always been cordial, but I mainly deal with the consumer fraud department, so I don't think they rate too highly in terms of political gravitas at the AG's office. But yeah, O'Connor is just another Stitt yes man. Mike Hunter shouldn't have resigned over a stupid affair. Get a divorce, sure. He had to know what would happen when he stepped aside.

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## Swake

The founders of Epic Schools have been arrested.

https://www.newson6.com/story/62b4b8...hools-arrested

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## Pete

> The co-founders of Epic Charter Schools have been arrested on charges of financial crimes, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced.
> 
> Ben Harris, David Chaney and the chief financial officer for their company, Josh Brock, were taken into custody at 10 a.m. Thursday, the OSBI said.
> 
> Harris, Chaney and Brock were arrested on charges of embezzlement of state funds, racketeering, obtaining money by false pretense, conspiracy to commit a felony, violations of the state computer crimes act, submitting false documents to the state and unlawful proceeds.


https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...ey/7714825001/

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## Laramie

This is the very reason why you have regulations put in place when it concerns schools, to track accountability especially when funds are involved.

Charter Schools must be linked to a school district, where daily, monthly and fiscal monitoring of general fund accounts are reported; funds should require two signatures and all accounts go thru the Office of the Board Clerk.  It's a longer accounting process...

Understand that people don't like red tape--Epic is an example of what can happen when there doesn't seem to be anything in place.

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## Pete

You can read the entire 59-page charging document here:

https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...ging-documents

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## Pete

Oklahoma Watch has a detailed summary of the charges:




> State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd, whose office helped with the criminal investigation after several audits, said *more than $55 million in public funds could have gone to the founders*. The exact amount won’t be known until the Internal Revenue Service completes its own investigation.


https://oklahomawatch.org/2022/06/23...rges%ef%bf%bc/

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## FighttheGoodFight

I donated to Frontier, NonDoc and Oklahoma Watch this year. We need these teams to keep an eye on our government.

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## Pete

BTW, the current charges are at the state level.

I know the FBI has been investigating (I spoke to an agent about this back in 2018) as there are issues with the school they operated in California; when money crosses state lines, that is the purview of the Feds.  And as reported, the IRS is also conducting an investigation.

There seems to be a very high probability of federal charges being filed as well.


To put this in perspective, the movie Bad Education with Hugh Jackman was based on what was then the largest embezzlement scheme in the history of public schools; $10 million was taken from a New York district.  One of the main culprits was sentenced to 4 to 12 years; the other (who fully cooperated) 3 to 9 years.

The number here is at least $22 million.

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## Libbymin

I know that this story has been developing for years and years. Does anyone remember what initiated an investigation into Epic or how any of this story first broke? It's been so long that I honestly can't even remember.

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## Pete

They were founded in 2011 and by 2013, then-governor Fallin asked the OSBI to investigate their enrollment practices.

Epic has been under scrutiny for almost a decade.

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## Midtowner

And in the past, any time they were getting close to being in trouble, they'd dump a million bucks on a political campaign, or uncover dirt on the politicians investigating them and the problem would go away. There has recently been two PACs spending collectively around $1MM to defeat Cyndi Bird in her primary. 

There was a special prosecutor appointed to investigate. Both she and the then Attorney General Mike Hunter resigned once it came out that they were having an affiar.

Former State Senator Ron Sharp was critical of Epic and then someone dumped big money into PACs and Shane Jett, a worthless Epic yes man won the primary.

They've had multiple State School Board members replaced with folks who wouldn't ask too many questions. The Governor's office has done a pretty decent job thwarting any sort of dissent. 

It is shameful that this is being prosecuted by the Oklahoma County DA and not by the AG's office. I have a sneaking suspicion that Kevin Calvey will win the DA's office and make this thing go away.

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## soonerguru

^^ This really concerns me. Calvey is vindictive, which is not good to have in a DA. Of the two opponents on the Dem side, who has the best chance to defeat Calvey, Behenna or Myles?

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## Jeepnokc

Calvey has said that he will recuse himself from the case if elected  This is more political hack work from the DA's office filing these charges the week of the election and then trying to tie Calvey to it so his Assistant DA Geiger would look better.  Similar to Hofmeister several years ago and the charges were dismissed 9 months later

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## Midtowner

> Calvey has said that he will recuse himself from the case if elected  This is more political hack work from the DA's office filing these charges the week of the election and then trying to tie Calvey to it so his Assistant DA Geiger would look better.  Similar to Hofmeister several years ago and the charges were dismissed 9 months later


If you think those charges were dismissed because they weren't true, I highly doubt it. The Epic founders, according to the Tulsa World had such sway over state government that before the legislature would even consider any charter school legislation, it had to be personally approved by Ben Harris, co-founder of Epic.

Was there maybe some political bonus points to be made? I don't dispute it. Since Calvey has been so supportive of Epic, he should be tarnished. 

And he hasn't said he'd recuse. He said he'd transfer the case to the Attorney General. You know.. the same Attorney General who dropped it just as soon as he was appointed after it was [suspiciously] conveniently discovered that the previous AG, Mike Hunter and the special prosecutor in charge of prosecuting Epic were having an affair. He'd just dismiss it again because he appears to be bought and paid for by Chaney and Harris, so him saying he'd transfer it is the same as saying he'd shut it down. He'd just have his cohort at the AG's office do it for him (again).

Please give your vote to literally anyone other than Calvey. The guy has been a grandstanding clown his entire time in office. He has never tried a criminal case in Oklahoma. He needs to go back to private practice so he can develop those skills before running for the big job.  

I would support literally anyone in that race, Republican or Democrat other than Calvey. 

And I also really like Behenna and Miles. Miles is married to a lawschool classmate of mine and is just a really decent human being. Behenna's son Michael played on my brother's soccer team. You may recall he was the subject of a UCMJ case where he was convicted of murdering a POW. You may recall the just astounding Brady violation of the Army not informing defense counsel that they had retained and fired a ballistics expert who did the research and backed up the Michael's theory of the case. Trump later pardoned Michael. Behenna was known as a very competent Assistant US Attorney here in the Western District of Oklahoma.

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## catcherinthewry

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/la...987726f52.html

Tulsa World doing some good investigative reporting.

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## soonerguru

> https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/la...987726f52.html
> 
> Tulsa World doing some good investigative reporting.


It's a shame that Tulsa World wins the SPJ award for Oklahoma literally every year. The Oklahoman only mentions the categories that it wins, but never that Tulsa World wins the big prize year after year. Pretty embarrassing.

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## Pete

Great job by the Tulsa World.

Meanwhile at the Oklahoman...  They are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from EPIC for huge ads.  They did the same thing with Chesapeake and it took things getting so bad that finally, national press started covering their craziness and only then did shareholders rise up and save what was left of that mess.


I've said it many times:  OKC is a great place to run a scam.

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## Bunty

> Great job by the Tulsa World.
> 
> Meanwhile at the Oklahoman...  They are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from EPIC for huge ads.  They did the same thing with Chesapeake and it took things getting so bad that finally, national press started covering their craziness and only then did shareholders rise up and save what was left of that mess.
> 
> 
> I've said it many times:  OKC is a great place to run a scam.


Hopefully, voters will vote out all state legislators and other politicians who have voted to give their approval to the Epic scam.  It was good to see that Byrd win overwhelmingly.  But Walters as state superintendent still needs to go.

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## Pete

This whole mess goes to show how a big pot of money can buy influence in politics and the media, at least in Oklahoma.

Worse yet, you can steal money from taxpayers and/or investors and then use those same funds to pay powerful protectors in government and local media.  In other words, the stolen money of victims is directly used to prevent them from knowing and/or intervening in the on-going and often escalating theft.

TEEMCO did this as did Aaron Johnson at Farmer's Bank, Relax Park, Chesapeake as well as many others.


I've been preaching about this for years.  People are finally starting to understand the consequences of unethical, corrupt local media.  These scammers pay local PR firms to manipulate the Oklahoman and others, who serve as useful idiots because they just publish what they are fed without any real fact-checking or research, thereby becoming complicit in the deception.

And it has to be said:  All these revenue-driven "best of" lists are huge conflicts of interest when it comes to objective reporting.  I know this from my time at the Gazette and from watching a constant stream of awards flowing to companies and people that turn out to be doing terrible things. I put a stop to the 40 under 40 award -- we didn't know these people (other than a form they fill out) and shouldn't be endorsing them; for all I knew, they'd use that credibility to sucker others.

And then various organizations turn around and give awards to 'reporters' and publications.  Think about how messed up that is:  "We are going to give you an award for providing positive coverage to us."  You never see investigative reporters being rewarded by the companies and schemes they expose. 

One of the things I never shared in my coverage of TEEMCO:  They invented and then paid for the Oil & Gas Awards and then used those awards as a shield of credibility to continue ridiculous scams.  At the same time, the Journal Record gave them a Beacon Award for community service and never even bothered to do the most basic research, which would have revealed the honored non-profit didn't even exist!  And in fact, their crooked CEO embezzled all the donations.


People like to think that we have all smartened up since the Penn Square Bank debacle but in my direct observation, things haven't changed much at all.

Ask yourself a simple question:  If really bad things were happening in OKC, how would we know?

The only way is through watchdog investigative journalism.  And the existing legacy media companies have never really done it (even back when they were flush with cash with huge newsrooms) and far worse, now attempt to squash anybody who actually does.

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## TheTravellers

> Hopefully, voters will vote out all state legislators and other politicians who have voted to give their approval to the Epic scam. ...


Not likely.  Hofmeister apparently accepted donations totaling $52,000 from Epic between 2014-2020, FYI.

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## Pete

> Not likely.  Hofmeister apparently accepted donations totaling $52,000 from Epic between 2014-2020, FYI.


Directly from that TW article:




> State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, who switched from Republican to Democrat to run for governor, was a top recipient at $52,138.
> 
> Hofmeister said Friday she set in motion steps with the Ethics Commission to legally refund back to public schools any campaign donations that may have come from public funds via Epic’s founders.

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## Swake

> Directly from that TW article:


She's been after Epic for a long time and She's been no fan of Stitt. Jenks vs Jenks in the governors race.

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## Laramie

Gov. Kevin Stitt was a recipient of *$10,800* in campaign donations. *His campaign manager, Donelle Harder, said Friday he will donate that amount to Crossover Academy, a private Christian school.*

This needs to be refunded back to public schools any campaign donations that may have come from the public:  funds via Epic's founders.

Joy Hofmeister said Friday she set in motion steps with the Ethics Commission to legally refund back to public schools any campaign donations that may have come from public funds via Epics founders.

This is a big mess.  Thank you, Tulsa World...

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## David

> Gov. Kevin Stitt was a recipient of *$10,800* in campaign donations. *His campaign manager, Donelle Harder, said Friday he will donate that amount to Crossover Academy, a private Christian school.*
> 
> This needs to be refunded back to public schools any campaign donations that may have come from the public:  funds via Epic's founders.
> 
> Joy Hofmeister said Friday she set in motion steps with the Ethics Commission to legally refund back to public schools any campaign donations that may have come from public funds via Epic’s founders.
> 
> This is a big mess.  Thank you, Tulsa World...


Pretty blatant corruption, taxpayer money turned into private religious school funds. Stitt can't help but step in it, but that's what you get when you make an unethical businessman governor.

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## catcherinthewry

> Gov. Kevin Stitt was a recipient of *$10,800* in campaign donations. *His campaign manager, Donelle Harder, said Friday he will donate that amount to Crossover Academy, a private Christian school.*
> 
> This needs to be refunded back to public schools any campaign donations that may have come from the public:  funds via Epic's founders.
> 
> Joy Hofmeister said Friday she set in motion steps with the Ethics Commission to legally refund back to public schools any campaign donations that may have come from public funds via Epic’s founders.
> 
> This is a big mess.  Thank you, Tulsa World...


Why would Stitt donate it to public schools? Weakening public schools and promoting religious schools may be his no. 1 priority.

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## TheTravellers

> Pretty blatant corruption, taxpayer money turned into private religious school funds....


Not to get too political, but didn't SCOTUS say that was OK a little while ago (not in their most recent set of horrible rulings, but previously)?

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## unfundedrick

> Not to get too political, but didn't SCOTUS say that was OK a little while ago (not in their most recent set of horrible rulings, but previously)?


Not exactly.  It was more nuanced than that and involved a situation  where a comparable public school wasn't in the area in question.  I'm sure many will try to extrapolate that from it, however.

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## TheTravellers

> Not exactly.  It was more nuanced than that and involved a situation  where a comparable public school wasn't in the area in question.  I'm sure many will try to extrapolate that from it, however.


Actually, I just looked it up and not much nuance there.  Yes, it was about an area lacking in public schools, but it is pretty much 100% about being able to use taxpayer money for religious schools.  Here's just one of a huge number of articles that have the same headline:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN2412FX

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## GoGators

^^  I could be wrong but I believe that SCOTUS ruling doesn't affect Oklahoma because the Oklahoma Constitution specifically prohibits the appropriation of public money or property for use by private/religious schools. That was not the case for Maine.

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## onthestrip

> ^^  I could be wrong but I believe that SCOTUS ruling doesn't affect Oklahoma because the Oklahoma Constitution specifically prohibits the appropriation of public money or property for use by private/religious schools. That was not the case for Maine.


I believe thats correct. And its also why school voucher proponents put a state question on the ballot a few years ago to remove this part of the state constitution, the so called Blaine Amendment. Voters pretty soundly rejected it.

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