After intense hearing and controversial emails, Senate committee recommends confirming OSBE nominee
The emails compared Chris Van Denhende to the former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev — a description Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, and other top Republicans called deeply unfair.
Paxton said the messages were written 'by people who feel empowered by a keyboard' who 'send emails at 2 or 3 in the morning' and called their content 'unfair, hateful opposition.'
'If you shared those things … then you are part of the problem,' he said during the committee meeting on Thursday, May 15.
The committee ultimately voted 9-2 to advance Van Denhende's confirmation to the full Senate. Two far-right senators, Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, and Sen. Kendal Sacchieri, R-Blanchard, opposed the nomination. Paxton and Senate Majority Floor Leader Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville — who both sit on the committee by nature of their leadership positions but rarely attend — both voted to advance Van Denhende's nomination.
Van Denhende was one of three members appointed to the board in February by Stitt in a shakeup that replaced three previous members. Republican state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, the chair of the board and the head of the Oklahoma State Department of Education by nature of his elected position, criticized Stitt's action and has clashed with the new board members during two meetings since their appointment.
Van Denhende and his fellow new board members have faced a wave of backlash, particularly online, from people who say they support Walters.
Sen. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, who sponsored Van Denhende's appointment, opened the hearing by praising him: 'If Governor Stitt and Regina Goodwin can agree, there must be something darn, darn good about this man.'
Van Denhende is the chief financial officer for Mint Turbines and Southwest Fuel Systems in Stroud. He previously served for about four years as a regent for the Regional University System of Oklahoma before joining the state Board of Education.
'I am returning to the state what the state gave me in education,' he said about his service on state education boards.
A few minutes later, Deevers — one of only four known members of the Legislature's far-right Freedom Caucus — began peppering Van Denhende with questions about whether he disagreed with Walters' approach to education, what role he thought the state Board of Education played — and if it had the right under law to hold Walters accountable, if he supported Walters' initiatives, and about controversial social studies academic standards Walters successfully pushed through the board in February.
In response to Deevers' questioning, Van Denhende said the board has the constitutional responsibility to vote on issues that come before it. He also said he had 'little issue' with specific content in the standards, although he added he thought 2020 election-denial language quietly inserted by Walters at the last minute 'doesn't need to be in the standards.' Van Denhende said the process used to pass the standards bothered him.
Van Denhende previously has said he believes the new board members were deceived during their first meeting when Walters told them they had to vote that day on the standards — when they really had up to two more months to do so — and that he failed to tell them about last-minute changes made to the standards. The members were not provided with a copy of the completed standards until 4 p.m. on the day before the 9:30 a.m. board meeting.
Deevers said he'd vote against Van Denhende's nomination because 'there's been a disservice done to our board.'
After Deevers finished his line of questioning, three Republicans, including Paxton, spoke out against what they said were personal attacks against Van Denhende and his family, both in emails sent to legislators and in a conservative blog post opposing the nomination.
Pugh said he'd received emails comparing Van Denhende to Gorbachev. With his voice rising as he spoke, Senate Education Committee Chair Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, expressed anger similar to that of Paxton.
'It is absolutely the duty of a state board member to ensure that the agency fulfills it mission,' Pugh said. 'Now, how we go about holding elected officials accountable, I fear we've moved ourselves from a republic to a direct democracy, where it is 'do exactly as I say, or else.' That's actually everything that the founding fathers were against.'
Turning to Van Denhende, Pugh said, 'You do not work for me, nor do you work for any member of this committee. You do not work for the governor of Oklahoma, though he certainly has the power to fire you. … You also, much to the surprise of people who filled my inbox with nonsense, don't work for the state superintendent of education. You work for 4 million Oklahomans.'
Asked afterward about the email attacks mentioned by the senators, Van Denhende said, "Apparently there was something that went out that bombarded the Senate Education Committee on my nomination today. I overnight became a green woke Marxist. I'm not really sure how that came about."
The drama continued outside the meeting room at the Capitol after the 45-minute confirmation hearing. Daniels and Sacchieri appeared to have a heated conversation, while down the hallway, a lobbyist for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Lindsey McSparrin, was speaking with Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, who was upset about the campaign being used against Van Denhende, whom Rader said he's known for 50 years. State Education Secretary Nellie Tayloe Sanders hugged Van Denhende.
At least two, and perhaps three, more of Stitt's nominees await confirmation hearings before the Senate committee. The Legislature must finish its work, including those hearings, by May 30.
The committee also approved, by a 9-0 vote, the nomination of Rainey Williams to the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents. Williams is a businessman and investor with ties to OU Health Inc. He's also the president of Oklahoma City-based Marco Capital Group, an investment partnership. University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz attended the hearing in support of Williams.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OK Senate committee recommends Chris Van Denhende's OSBE appointment
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