Revolt at OCPAC? An abrupt change of tune, apology, and invitation for State Auditor to speak

I posted previously about Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Commitee (OCPAC) President Bob Linn's odd obsession with attacking State Auditor Cindy Byrd. Today, there seems to have been an abrupt change of tune. But first, a little bit of background.

IgniteLiberty has done some great work on the topic, exposing some rather interesting details about Linn and how his attacks on Byrd over the Health Department audit actually started when Byrd released her audit into the Epic Charter Schools scandal.

You really ought to swing over to IgniteLiberty and check out the following articles from last week:

• SPECIAL REPORT: Bob Linn - Friend of Liberty, or Enemy of Truth?
• SPECIAL REPORT: Bob Linn - Friend of Liberty, or Enemy of Truth? Part 2: The Epic Connection

You can also read these two, which came in late March/early April:

• Letters to the Editor: Cathy Costello Letter to OCPAC Following Romero Attack
• Ignite Liberty Exclusive: State Auditor Issues Response to OCPAC Allegations

There was an abrupt change of tune this morning when Linn sent the following letter out to the OCPAC email list. Compared to his weekly screeds against Byrd, this reads like a hostage letter that the Board forced Linn to sign.

Cathy Costello and her late husband Mark were (and are) immensely popular among the OCPAC crowd, as well as in-state conservative activists in general. Linn appears to have taken something like four weeks to respond in a public manner to Cathy's letter following an explosive conversation with one of Linn's highly touted speakers brought in to attack State Auditor Byrd.

Byrd has previously been denied the opportunity to present facts to OCPAC members, and according to her October letter to the OCPAC Board, Linn refused to meet with her. 

Byrd went a step further, and asked Paul Blair, a Baptist pastor with past connections and much respect in OCPAC's membership, to arbitrate the matter in accordance with Matthew 18, a tremendous and laudable step that is rare even within the Church (where it ought to be practiced more), much less by a prominent political figure. Linn refused to agree to such mediation. OKGOP Chair John Bennett likewise made a similar offer, which Linn also refused.

State Auditor Byrd spoke at a recent OK2A meeting, which you can watch here (starting at 23:23). Pastor Paul Blair speaks before Byrd, and is well worth the listen.

Something is up with Linn, and it seems that the membership and board at OCPAC are waking up to the same conclusion. As I said earlier, this reads like a hostage letter that the Board forced Linn to sign. The entire tone is radically different from anything else I've seen him pen. There seems to be a revolt in the ranks against Linn's crusade.

Linn writes that "OCPAC has given significant latitude for the detractors of the Oklahoma Auditor & Inspector to allow them to make their case" - failing to mention that the primary detractor is himself, and that none of these additional attack-dog speakers that OCPAC has listened to would have been given the platform to speak were it not for his invitation and solicitation.

"Zhere are nameless detractors of zeh State Auditor. I know nothing of how zhey came to OCPAC." - Sgt. Schultz-Linn
(pardon the low-quality meme generator)

This will be interesting to watch. Kudos to the folks at IgniteLiberty for covering this ongoing saga very thoroughly.