Former Assistant AG: Walters’ massive staff bonuses warrant further investigation

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A former assistant Oklahoma attorney general says state criminal investigators should look into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded bonus payments former State Superintendent Ryan Walters paid his top staff during his time in office—following News 4's latest report this week exposing even more payouts.

On Tuesday, News 4 reported Walters gave a $15,000 performance bonus to his executive assistant during his last week in office.

That assistant attended McAlester High School when Walters was a history teacher there.

Records also show Walters gave his press secretary—a staffer who’d only been on the job for two months—a $10,000 performance bonus in his final days.

Those payments came on top of other large, unexplained payouts to political staff News 4 has been reporting for months.

So how could Walters legally do all of it?

Former Assistant State Attorney General Tim Gilpin isn’t so sure he could.

“You know, large bonuses, terrifically large bonuses for state employees just really doesn’t pass the smell test,” Gilpin told News 4 on Wednesday. “When you start giving people thousands of dollars in bonuses as they’re on the way out the door, I haven’t heard of that before.”

This week, News 4 also obtained a job offer letter sent by Walters’ staff in January to now-former OSDE Chief Financial Officer Spencer Wood.

That letter promised Wood a yearly bonus structure of up to $10,000.

“Large bonuses in an offer letter and certainly additional large bonuses is very unusual,” Gilpin said.

It’s unclear whether Wood ever received any of those bonuses. He was fired in June—four months after starting the job. News 4 obtained a copy of his termination letter.

Between his chief advisor, chief of staff, multiple communications directors, and more, Walters paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to his top staff as each departed the agency.

“If it turns out these huge bonuses were being given to keep someone quiet, that could raise a legal question,” Gilpin said. “If it turns out the large bonuses were given because he has a personal relationship with these people and not based on performance—well, that raises an issue too.”

Gilpin says it all warrants a potentially criminal investigation.

“I was an assistant attorney general for Oklahoma, and I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” Gilpin said. “And then I was six years on the Oklahoma State Board of Education and never have heard of anything like this. And I’m sure if something like this had come up during my tenure, a lot of questions would have been asked.”

When News 4 spoke with new State Superintendent Lindel Fields earlier this week, he said he was also concerned about the bonuses and pledged he will not continue the practice with members of his staff.