OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Ethics Commission and State Superintendent Ryan Walters reached an agreement in an investigation into allegations of ethics rules violations.
Oklahoma State Ethics Rules prohibit the use of a social media account maintained in the name of a state officer as a state officer to advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for elective office.
The investigation found that Walters did make certain posts on x (formerly, Twitter) that violated rules.
"According to the Commission, the tweets involved tended to advocate for the election of President Donald Trump and/or the defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris," the agreement reads.
The agreement did note that there is no evidence that Ryan Walters knowingly intended to violate any ethics rule.
Both parties agreed to the following in the settlement:
- Walters must remove and will not again use "Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction" in the title of his personal X account and must remove "Supt" from his X username.
- Walters must remove the current profile picture associated with his X account, which is his official State Superintendent picture. Walters must use a non-state-issued picture for any personal accounts.
- As State Superintendent, Walters is responsible for all social media content of the State Department of Education and agrees he and any individuals involved in the publication of Social Media content participate in training from the Ethics Commission on ethics rules concerning posts on the Department of Education's official social media pages within 90 days of execution of this Settlement Agreement.
- Walters must pay $5,000, $4,000 of which will be paid as a civil penalty to the State of Oklahoma general revenue fund and $1,000 for attorney's fees to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.
At the time of posting this article, Walters seems to have complied with the first two requirements on his X page.
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