Cindy Byrd

Cindy Byrd received 49.5% of the vote on the primary held on June 26, 2018. Byrd advanced to the runoff with Charlie Prater.[2] On the runoff held on August 28, 2018 Byrd defeated Prater with 50.2% of the vote.[3] She moved on to the general election where she faced Libertarian candidate, John Yeutter. Byrd received the most votes for a state official in Oklahoma in history, with 818,851 votes.[4] The election also made her the first woman to hold this office in Oklahoma's history.[5]

• On March 6, 2019 Governor Kevin Stitt sent a letter requesting Byrd audit the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA). The OHCA is already audited annually by the State Auditor's office.[6]
• On September 20, the Oklahoma State Board of Education requested Byrd's office audit Seeworth Academy, an Oklahoma City alternative school for at-risk youth.[7] Oklahoma District Attorney David Prater requested access to the audit for potential criminal charges.[8] The Audit was released in November 2021 and found more than $250,000 in “misappropriated” spending and Prater convened a grand jury to examine public corruption at the school.[9]
• In January 2020, Byrd's office opened an audit of Wetumka, Oklahoma after City Manager Donnie Jett and Mayor James Jackson were forced to resign for being under FBI investigation.[10]
• In April, Byrd's office released an audit of Circuit Engineering District 7 and County Energy District Authority finding they were not statutorily authorized to open an asphalt emulsion plant, they did not abide financial agreements regarding a $2.3 million loan, and that the venture was not properly reviewed by the board.[11]
• In December, Byrd's office announced an audit of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma after 317 valid signatures requesting the audit were submitted.[12]
• In July 2021, Byrd's office launched an audit of Western Heights Public Schools in Oklahoma City at the request of the State Board of Education and a 998 signature citizens petition.[13] When the State Board of Education took over the district, 15 bags of shredded documents were found in the administrative buildings dumpster.[14]
• In September, Governor Kevin Stitt requested an audit of the Oklahoma State Department of Education.[8]

In July 2019, Governor Kevin Stitt and State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister ordered an audit of Epic Charter Schools. In February 2020, Byrd's office subpoenaed Epic Youth Services and in March she sought court orders to comply with the subpoenas. [15] In October, Byrd's office released an audit of Epic Charter School finding the school owed the state $8.9 million and summarized the audit with the remarks “We cannot determine if [Epic Charter Schools] is entitled to the $80 million they received."[16] In December, a second investigation found Epic Charter Schools incorrectly classified as much as $9.73 million.[17] Mike Cantrell resigned from Epic Charter Schools board and was replaced by J.P. Franklin in January 2021 during the investigation.[18] Later in May, Epic Charter Schools cancelled their contract with Epic Youth Services, owned by the schools co-founders Ben Harris and David Chaney. Board member Betsy Brown, J.P. Franklin and Doug Scott were also forced to resign. This was done so Epic Charter Schools could keep their state virtual charter certification after Epic Youth Services refused to cooperate with the audit.[19]

In February 2022, Attorney General John M. O'Connor announced that Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater would investigate and prosecute any criminal case regarding the Epic Charter Schools investigation.[20] On June 23, 2022, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation arrested Epic co-founders Ben Harris and David Chaney and former CFO Josh Brock. They were charged with racketeering, embezzlement, obtaining money by false pretense, conspiracy to commit a felony, violation of the Computer Crimes Act, submitting false documents to the state, and unlawful proceeds.[21]

Documents released after the charges showed that Chaney, Harris, and Brock had donated large amounts of money to political organizations and candidates in Oklahoma. The three men donated $460,119 to candidates in Oklahoma between 2014 and 2020, including Governor Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, and State Senator Paul Rosino. Stitt and Hofmeister later donated the contributions with the former donating to a christian private school and the later donating to Oklahoma public schools. Rosino received $5,600, the maximum legal donation, two days after Byrd released the audit of the schools and put forth legislation to "which sought to limit the authority of the State Auditor, control how they reported investigative audit findings, and significantly cut their funding.” Chaney, Harris, and Brock also donated heavily to political action committees in the state by giving $774,500 to Prosperity Alliance Inc., $520,000 to Capitol Gains, $450,000 to Conservatives for a Great Broken Arrow, $85,120 to INIT 2 LLC, and $25,800 to Vote Safe.[22] Chaney and Harris also used their “financial and political resources” in order to unseat state senator Ron Sharp, the former vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee and a critic of Epic. In addition to political donations in the race, Epic had sued Sharp for libel. Oklahoma County district court judge Cindy Truong dismissed the lawsuit in February 2020 and Epic dropped their appeal in March 2020. Preston Stinson also served on the board of Epic California, before running for office and receiving $5,600 from Josh Brock for his campaign in 2020.[23]

In April 2020, Byrd's office opened an audit into the Oklahoma State Department of Health on the request of Attorney General Mike Hunter.[24] The audit was completed and turned into the Attorney General's office on May 21, 2021, however, five days later Attorney General Mike Hunter resigned. Hunter's replacement, John M. O'Connor decided not to release the audit. On February 9, 2022, Byrd's office released the audit without notifying the Attorney General's office. Byrd stated "I believe all public records should be open and easily accessible to the taxpayers, this audit is an inspection of existing public records. Consequently, my final audit report is neither confidential nor exempt from the Open Records Act. I feel compelled, both legally and ethically, to release the full audit report to the public. Oklahoma taxpayers paid for it — they should get to see it.” The audit found during the COVID-19 pandemic prepayments were made in violation of the Oklahoma Constitution and $5.4 million in goods have still not been received.[25]

In the 2022 Oklahoma elections, Byrd ran for reelection against a Republican primary challenge by Steven McQuillen. Political action committees spent thousands of dollars in Pro-McQuillen or Anti-Byrd ads.[26] Some of the ads attacking Byrd were linked to the Epic Charter Schools co-founders David Chaney and Ben Harris.[22] Byrd defeated McQuillen in the primary election on June 28 and since no other party's candidate filed for the race she was reelected by the Republican primary.[27]