State Auditor Cindy Byrd responds to $1M in dark-money attacks

State Auditor Cindy Byrd Targeted by $1 Million of Dark PAC Money in Race

(June 20th) Cindy Byrd‘s re-election bid as State Auditor & Inspector has been targeted by political action committees (PACs) where secret donors have earmarked around $1 million to use against her.

Byrd said that she knows why.

“I shut down the flow of taxpayer funds lining the pockets of corrupt people, so they’re coming after me,” she said.
Byrd noted that her opponent, Steven McQuillen, has not reported any money to or from his actual campaign.

“I believe that my opponent is a strawman in this race,” Byrd said. “I believe that most of the dark money against me is from the founders of Epic Schools in retaliation for my office’s audit that exposed their scheme of taking millions of dollars from our students’ education funds.”

Byrd noted that the PACs are lying to Republican voters.

“Mr. McQuillen used to be a Democrat, and he does not have a pro-life rating from Oklahomans For Life,” Byrd said, referring to false claims made on mailers. “The PACs claim that Mr. McQuillen is a ‘proud supporter’ of President Trump, but he was a no-show at the polls in the 2020 Republican presidential primary election.”

“Additionally, Mr. McQuillen publicly acknowledged that $300,000 worth of equipment was stolen from Tulsa Public Schools under his watch,” Byrd said, referring to another claim on mailers. “His response to the taxpayers was, ‘I couldn’t tell you how it happens.”

“Likewise, every claim that the PACs have made against me also have been lies,” Byrd said.

Byrd said that voters can go to her campaign website, CindyByrd.com, for the truth about the false claims that the PACs are making against her.

Byrd is calling on McQuillen to join her in a public debate.

“Republican voters — all taxpayers — deserve to know what their candidates for state auditor believe and have done,” Byrd said. “I ask Mr. McQuillen to join me in giving them that information and not hide behind false promises that PACs are making on his behalf.”

Byrd noted that the PACs are promising that McQuillen — who declared bankruptcy two years ago and who cannot do government auditing on his own because he is not a CPA — will perform audits that the Auditor’s Office legally cannot do.

According to Byrd, her office also is being targeted by some of the same people who are targeting her re-election.

In March, a lawyer filed a lawsuit against the Auditor’s Office trying to gain access to privileged notes concerning the Epic Public Schools criminal investigation. This same lawyer, Geoffrey Long, is the designated filing agent for one of the PACs spreading the lies about Byrd and her record.

Taxpayers will pay the bill to defend against the lawsuit, which Byrd called frivolous.

Byrd said that Republican voters will not be tricked.

“Oklahoma Republicans are smart, so they will smell this corruption from a mile away,” Byrd said.

“I have real results, not empty promises from PACs,” Byrd said, noting that her office has uncovered millions in fraud at public schools and now is auditing the state Department of Tourism’s Swadley’s contract as well as the state Department of Education.

(All statements made in this release are source documented on the website CindyByrd.com)