New state watchdog criticizes Oklahoma CARES Act spending

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A new legislative watchdog agency has delivered a scathing report on how Gov. Kevin Stitt’s administration spent millions of dollars of federal coronavirus relief funds.

The report is particularly critical of spending on things only loosely connected to the pandemic. Those things include upgrades to the state’s welcome centers, technology improvements for state agencies, and a tourism ad campaign featuring Stitt.

The draft report was released late Wednesday by the newly created Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency. The report criticizes the Stitt administration’s CARES Forward, the entity created to manage the funds, for inconsistent data management, lack of transparency, and incomplete documentation.