House Speaker Pro Tempore Representative Terry O’Donnell is stepping down from his leadership position while he fights grand jury charges about a family tag agency business.
O’Donnell and his wife voluntarily were processed in Midwest City for the charges earlier this month.
“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 laws which changed regulations surrounding the transfer of tag agencies when an owner dies. 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,” O’Donnell said. “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.”
O’Donnell is keeping his House seat. His resignation as House Speaker Pro Tem will be effective on February 2, 2022.