House Speaker Pro Tempore Representative Terry O’Donnell is stepping down from his leadership position as he prepares to fight grand jury charges concerning a family tag agency business.
O’Donnell and his wife voluntarily were processed in Midwest City for the charges on Thursday.
“Political operatives in Oklahoma City have a personal vendetta against me and are working to discredit our family’s character and destroy our reputation. This is the same Washington D.C.-style partisan politics that has attacked our freedoms, values, national history, law enforcement, churches, economy and more,” O’Donnell said in a statement.
O’Donnell was involved in the passage of legislation which changed regulations surrounding the transfer of tag agencies when an owner passes. O’Donnell’s wife’s family have been the owners of a tag agency in Catoosa for decades and recently transferred the agency due to a death in the family. The grand jury indicted O’Donnell and his wife in December.
“This all started when I sought to hold some very influential people accountable for gross abuses of power. This is retribution. Although I can’t get into the details of the case, I can only say we look forward to our day in court and to light being shined on the facts that have been grossly distorted or completely omitted.
“People who know us understand fully that my wife’s mother and grandmother ran the Catoosa tag agency for over 60 years. Service is a family legacy, not a crime.
“But their attacks won’t work.
“My wife and I are INNOCENT, and WE WILL FIGHT BACK and vigorously defend our integrity,” said O’Donnell.
O’Donnell is retaining his House seat. His resignation as House Speaker Pro Tem will be effective on February 2, 2022.
“I will not allow false narratives to be a distraction to the work of the State House. But rest assured, I will keep fighting for my district, stand against Biden’s federal overreach, against prosecutorial misconduct used for political purposes, and I will defend our values.
“I’m a fighter, and I’ll never back down or compromise on what’s best for Oklahoma,” O’Donnell concluded in his statement.
