It s absurd that a State Senator can blatantly put out misinformation by utilizing the time of Senate staff, as well as his own tax-payer s time. Kevin Easley is unequivocally wrong in his politically motivated allegations. The most basic level of public policy knowledge is to know the difference between state funds and federal funds and purposes of funds. He is completely ignorant or knowingly malicious by making these unfounded allegations. Grants to this vendor have been awarded according to procurement and bidding guidelines.
Reports are on file for everyone to see.
All the monies that are referenced were for approved projects of the Marriage Initiative and the Safe Schools Summit. Much of the money is pass-through for speakers, facilities, and expenses and do not go to the vendor. All expenses are documented, are public record, and have been requested by the legislature and provided to the legislature over the past three weeks. All the monies for both projects are from federal grants to the State of Oklahoma for these purposes. A small amount of non-federal Health Department funds were committed and utilized long before Secretary Regier went to the Health Department, and the decision for the use of those funds was made by the previous Health Department leadership to support the Governor s initiatives of reducing divorce and strengthening marriage.