{"id":2228877,"date":"2024-04-24T07:53:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T11:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gentner-calls-for-zumwalts-resignation-after-audit-findings\/"},"modified":"2024-04-24T07:55:46","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T11:55:46","slug":"gentner-calls-for-zumwalts-resignation-after-audit-findings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gentner-calls-for-zumwalts-resignation-after-audit-findings\/","title":{"rendered":"Gentner demands Zumwalt&#8217;s resignation following audit results"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgentner-calls-for-zumwalts-resignation-after-audit-findings%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2228877&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Oklahoma Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, has called\u200c for the resignation of Secretary Shelley Zumwalt from the Tourism, \u200dWildlife, and Heritage Department \u200cdue to an audit revealing her approval of a multi-million contract\u200d involving her husband&#8217;s company. The \u200cState Auditor&#8217;s report disclosed \u2064a \u200csubstantial payment \u200dhistory between the Oklahoma Employment Securities Commission and Phase 2 Development where Zumwalt&#8217;s husband held a high position.\u2063 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/people-on-turbine-powered-grid-get-a-shocking-notice-when-the-wind-stops-blowing\/\" title=\"Turbine-powered grid users shocked by wind outage notice.\">situation raises concerns<\/a> regarding conflict of interest and lack of competitive bidding \u2064for the\u200b contract.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond called for the resignation of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage Secretary Shelley Zumwalt\u00a0after an audit showed she approved a multi-million contract for a company where her husband worked while working for another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/we-caught-them-lin-wood-outed-mysterious-georgia-operative-gabe-sterling-now-video-shows-him-admitting-he-helped-set-up-drop-boxes-and-promoted-far-left-activists-as-absentee-ballot-counters\/\" title=\"WE CAUGHT THEM: Lin Wood Outed Mysterious Georgia Operative Gabe Sterling - Now Video Shows Him Admitting He Helped Set Up Drop Boxes and Promoted Far Left Activists as Absentee Ballot Counters\">state agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sai.ok.gov\/Search%20Reports\/database\/2022OKStateSingleAudit.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a><\/strong> released by State Auditor Cindy Byrd Tuesday afternoon shows that a contract\u00a0was made\u00a0between Phase 2 Development and the Oklahoma Employment Securities Commission for improvements to the computer system.\u00a0Zumwalt\u2019s\u00a0husband,\u00a0John,\u00a0was vice-president of the company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetween April 2020 and August 2022, OMES, through a contract and multiple change orders, paid P2 a total of $7 Million to stabilize and update the OESC mainframe,\u201d\u00a0according to a news release from\u00a0Byrd\u2019s\u00a0office.\u00a0\u201cSubsequent contracting and payments were transacted by OESC and signed by Shelley Zumwalt, who was appointed as the Executive Director of OESC in May 2020. By\u00a0April 2022, Zumwalt had approved additional contracts and change orders to P2 totaling $8.5 Million.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The contract was never bid, Byrd said\u00a0in an interview with The Center Square. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0important to note that her husband was vice-president and we have no evidence that he is owner of the company or anything else, he is just vice-president,\u201d\u00a0Byrd said.\u00a0\u201cHowever, federal guidelines prohibit anyone who is in a position to contract or administer federal funds, you are not allowed to handle those funds if you have a conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zumwalt had three opportunities to disclose the relationship and did not, Byrd said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do think that is an issue for the federal government to look into but there was never an RFP process, we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0even have any evidence of another company being considered for this,\u201d\u00a0Byrd said. <\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the findings on Zumwalt are \u201cone of the most egregious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis level of self-dealing represents an unforgivable breach of trust that disqualifies Ms. Zumwalt from overseeing the expenditure of our tax dollars,\u201d\u00a0Drummond said.\u00a0\u201cShe should resign immediately and cooperate fully with my office as I seek to determine whether any Oklahoma statutes were violated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zumwalt said in\u00a0a statement published on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newson6.com\/story\/66281dfae5600539b7682eaa\/oklahoma-attorney-general-calls-for-immediate-resignation-of-oklahoma-secretary-of-tourism-following-audit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tulsa\u2019s<\/a><\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newson6.com\/story\/66281dfae5600539b7682eaa\/oklahoma-attorney-general-calls-for-immediate-resignation-of-oklahoma-secretary-of-tourism-following-audit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> KOTV<\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Auditor\u2019s\u00a0report is misleading.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0never\u00a0had a conversation\u00a0with Auditor Byrd or her team regarding this matter. A\u00a0thorough review of this situation would have easily cleared up any confusion on the many sign-offs and disclosures that happened well before I was named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/just-in-floyd-county-georgia-terminates-election-director-after-statewide-audit-discovers-uncounted-votes\/\" title=\"JUST IN: Floyd County, Georgia Terminates Election Director After Statewide Audit Discovers Uncounted Votes\">executive director<\/a> of OESC. Transparency\u00a0has always been a top priority of mine, and I will not be resigning.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond urges Tourism, Wildlife, and Heritage Secretary Shelley Zumwalt to step down following an audit revealing her approval of a multi-million contract involving her husband&#8217;s workplace while employed at another state agency. State Auditor Cindy Byrd&#8217;s recent report highlights this conflict of interest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2228878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24101706383846-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2228877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24101706383846-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2228877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2228878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2228877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2228877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2228877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}