IDABEL, Okla. (AP) — A county commissioner in far southeast Oklahoma who was apparently caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office confirmed Wednesday.
Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said the office received a handwritten resignation letter from McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings. In it, Jennings says he is resigning immediately and said he planned to release a formal statement “in the near future regarding the recent events in our county.”
The threatening comments by Jennings and officials with the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office were obtained and reported by McCurtain Gazette-News. They have sparked outrage and protests in the city of Idabel.
In a post on the sheriff’s office Facebook page on Tuesday, officials did not address the recorded discussion but claimed the recording was illegally obtained.
Also on Wednesday, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation confirmed it has launched an investigation into the matter at the request of the governor.
Oklahoma’s governor has asked for the resignation of all four county officials after a newspaper’s audio recording apparently captured some of them complaining about two of the paper’s journalists and knowing hit men and where two holes are dug.
A portion of the recording was released by the paper, and it also appears to capture one of the four making racist comments about Black people.
Gov. Stitt said Sunday he was seeking the resignations of McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy and three other county officials: sheriff’s Capt. Alicia Manning, District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix.
“I am both appalled and disheartened to hear of the horrid comments made by officials in McCurtain County,” Stitt said in a statement. “There is simply no place for such hateful rhetoric in the state of Oklahoma, especially by those that serve to represent the community through their respective office.”
The McCurtain Gazette-News released portions of an audio recording following a March 6 county commission meeting in which Clardy, Manning and Jennings appear to discuss reporters Bruce and Chris Willingham. Jennings tells Clardy and Manning “I know where two deep holes are dug if you ever need them,” and the sheriff responded, “I’ve got an excavator.”
Jennings also said he’s known “two or three hit men” in Louisiana, adding “they’re very quiet guys.”
In the recording, Jennings also appears to complain about not being able to hang Black people, saying: “They got more rights than we got.”
The Associated Press could not immediately verify the authenticity of the recording. None of the four returned telephone calls or emails from The Associated Press on Monday seeking comment.
A spokeswoman for the FBI’s office in Oklahoma City said the agency’s policy is not to confirm or deny any ongoing investigation. Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for Attorney General Gentner Drummond, said the agency had received an audio recording and is investigating the incident, but declined to comment further.
More than 100 people gathered outside the McCurtain County Courthouse in Idabel on Monday, with many of them calling for the sheriff and other county officials to resign.
Bruce Willingham, the longtime publisher of the McCurtain Gazette-News, said the recording was made March 6 when he left a voice-activated recorder inside the room after a county commissioner’s meeting because he suspected the group was continuing to conduct county business after the meeting had ended in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Act. Chris Willingham, a reporter at the paper, is Bruce Willingham’s son.
