After Walters endorses union alternative, lawmaker files ethics complaint

Despite State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ recent settlement agreement for an ethics violation case involving how he uses social media, his subsequent endorsement of an alternate organization to “woke teachers’ unions” on official state letterhead has spurred Rep. Ellen Pogemiller to request a legal opinion from Attorney General Gentner Drummond and to file another complaint with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.

On March 18, using a designated House of Representatives Democratic Caucus press release, Pogemiller (D-OKC) announced she had submitted a letter requesting an AG opinion on the ethics of Walters’ use of state resources to promote the Teacher Freedom Alliance — a program the Freedom Foundation launched March 7 that “provides liability coverage for teachers, promotes historically accurate curriculum and offers professional development opportunities,” according to Walters.

“I write to formally request an attorney general opinion regarding whether Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ use of state letterhead and other state resources to endorse a labor organization/professional organization known as Teachers Freedom Alliance, explicitly advocating for it as a superior alternative to other unions and professional organizations in Oklahoma, constitutes a violation of state law,” Pogemiller said in the letter.

In conjunction with his constant criticism of “woke” ideology, journalists and teachers unions, Walters said in his March 10 press release that the Teacher Freedom Alliance provides a free market solution aimed at rewarding teachers for their “proficiency” instead of their “longevity and allegiance” to teachers unions. (In May 2023, Walters told a legislative committee that he consider teachers unions a “terrorist organization.”) “Teachers deserve the ability to be rewarded for being great,” Walters said. “They will no longer be harassed into joining an organization that is laser focused on breaking up the moral fiber of America. We’ve been clear that we’re not going to tolerate distractions to education like [critical race theory], [diversity, equity and inclusion], gender ideology and antisemitism in our classrooms.”

Pogemiller’s concerns emanate from the press release, titled “Walters Touts Alternative to Woke Teachers’ Unions,” in which he promotes the launch of the Teacher Freedom Alliance while “explicitly suggesting that other labor organizations and professional associations were inferior or not in the best interests of educators in Oklahoma,” according to Pogemiller.

Pogemiller said Walters’ use of his official state seal and letterhead falsely gives the impression that the state and the Oklahoma State Department of Education support one particular organization over other teachers organizations.

“There are at least three active teacher unions or professional organizations in our state that all meet the exact same standards on how we interact with teachers, how we can work with them on joining an association, how we work with them on leaving an association, and it’s an equal playing field,” Pogemiller told NonDoc on April 4. “And Superintendent Walters utilizing his platform as state superintendent to not only identify a new organization in this state, but to talk about it as a superior organization to all other professional organizations in our state, is beyond the scope of what I think he is allowed to do.”

The letter requesting an AG opinion lists concerns regarding potential violations of the following provisions:

• Prohibition on using state resources for private purposes (Title 74, Rule 4.4);

• State officers’ obligation to avoid conflicts of interest and preferential treatment (Title 74, Rule 4.4);

• Misuse of office and governmental neutrality in labor relations (Title 70, Section 509.9); and

• Oklahoma’s right-to-work law (Article 23, Section 1(A) and Title 21, Section 360).

A freshman lawmaker who won election to House District 88 in November, Pogemiller previously worked as a registered lobbyist for the Oklahoma Education Association, the state’s largest teachers organization. As an elected official, however, Pogemiller said she would never promote OEA over the American Federation of Teachers or the Professional Educators of Oklahoma.

“I can be invited to any of the professional associations to go and speak and talk about education at the Capitol and listen to their concerns, but by no scope would I ever endorse one of those organizations above the other,” she said.

Grace Kim, Walters’ press secretary at OSDE, did not respond to a request for comment on Pogemiller’s complaint prior to the initial publication of this article. Wednesday afternoon, she sent a statement attributed to Walters.

“Democrats and union bosses are grasping at straws because teachers finally have a real choice,” Walters said. “My office will always communicate with educators about their options, no matter how much it upsets the political establishment.”

Ethics Commission director ‘cannot confirm or deny’ formal complaint Although Pogemiller’s announcement was exclusively about her AG request, she told NonDoc that she sent a similar letter to the Ethics Commission, which writes and enforces rules for political campaigns, candidates and elected officials.

“I’m not sure exactly who Superintendent Walters relies on to provide accurate on ethics guidelines at the Capitol, but I feel like that trusted advisor may be misleading him in allowing him to overstep his role and capacity as state superintendent,” Pogemiller said.

Asked about Pogemiller’s complaint Tuesday, Ethics Commission executive director Lee Anne Bruce Boone said she needed to check with her general counsel about whether Pogemiller’s disclosure to Non-Doc meant Bruce Boone could acknowledge the complaint. Ultimately, she provided a statement: “Thanks for checking with me on this. I cannot confirm or deny the receipt of a complaint at this time in accordance with Rule 6.9. The Commission would have to determine, if we have such a complaint, that it was in the matter of public interest to make such complaint public (such as what occurred not too many months ago with the Hiett complaint). Sorry I cannot be of more help in this instance.”

Bruce Boone also provided a link to the Ethics Commission’s annotated rules. Rule 6.9 relates to the confidentiality of an ethics complaint or investigation and says all complaints or formal investigations “shall remain confidential and “shall not be disclosed” unless the commission “determines that a complaint or a formal investigation should be made public.”

However, the rule does note that the director of the commission may confirm or deny the existence of a complaint “upon the written request of that individual” who filed the complaint.

Walters reached a settlement agreement March 13 with the Ethics Commission following two complaints about the use of his official Twitter account — with the username @RyanWaltersSupt, despite Walters calling it his “personal account” — to advocate for the election or defeat of a specific political candidate. The complaints involved his advocacy of President Donald Trump’s reelection and frequent admonishment of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Under the agreement, Walters agreed to take steps to make his Twitter account more clearly a personal account by changing his profile photo and handle — which he has made @RyanWalters. Walters also agreed to pay a $4,000 penalty and $1,000 in attorney’s fees.

Asked March 31 at the State Capitol if there is anything the public needs to know about the situation, Walters downplayed the social media rules settlement.

“No, I mean, look, we’re gonna always work with the Ethics Commission, and we’ll continue to do so,” he said.

The social media rules settlement was not the first instance in which Walters has paid a fine to resolve ethics concerns. In March 2024, Walters reached his first settlement agreement with the Ethics Commission involving 12 late financial reports that were due between June 2022 and November 2022, when he was elected. A total of $6,600 in fines were assessed, and Walters and the Ethics Commission settled the matter by the state superintendent paying $3,000 in fines.

Additionally, during their March 13 meeting, Ethics Commission members voted to pursue litigation against Walters over allegations of more campaign finance law violations, although no lawsuit appears to have been filed at this point. After authorizing the formal investigation of alleged campaign finance rules in October 2024, the commission subpoenaed Walters in January for declining to provide campaign finance records from his 2022 campaign.

It’s possible that Walters and the commission reach a similar settlement. On March 31, Walters said discussions were ongoing.

“We’re in constant communication with them, making sure that we’re the most transparent campaign in the state,” Walters said. “We’re going to continue to do that. So we’ll continue to work with the Ethics Commission to make sure that we’re working together.”

Previously, Fort Worth attorney Tim Davis — who represents Walters and the Walters for State Superintendent 2022 Committee — wrote that Walters objected to the subpoena owing to a lack of any responsive documents to produce. Elected state superintendent in November 2022 with nearly 60% of the vote, Walters served as chairman and treasurer of his own campaign committee.

Regarding the pending litigation over his alleged campaign finance violations, Walters said he is in a “constant cycle” of communication with the Ethics Commission about filings and requirements.

“What does it look like? You know, let us know,” he said. “Need to prove anything? We can switch anything. So, yeah, that’s just a constant cycle thing.”

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission meeting was scheduled to meet Thursday. According to the meeting’s agenda, Case No. 2024-03 — the pending case involving Walters’ campaign finances — was listed to be discussed during executive session.

Asked March 31 if he has formalized his electoral plans in 2026, Walters said he has not decided whether to run for reelection as state superintendent or for another position like governor.

“We’ll look at it this summer,” he said. “You know, I’m very interested in the end of the school year and end of session, and that’s my focus now. But you know, over the summer, we’ll look about making some decisions on what’s next.”

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