Thread by @DGoforth918

There are three stories going around right now about @GovStitt's Pardon and Parole Board appointment (Dr. Edward Konieczny, and the 2016 letter asking the Oklahoma Legislature to abolish the death penalty that bears his name.

The letter carries the name of 18 Oklahoma faith Leaders and was released by the Oklahoma Conference of Churches in 2016. Konieczny's name is one of the 18.

okcadp.org/wp-content/upl…

Today, PPB Chairman Adam Luck, who has been openly critical of the death penalty, resigned. He was replaced by Konieczny. Luck said he was asked to resign by Stitt because their views on the death penalty differed.

I asked Stitt's office about this discrepancy. Why replace one person because they are anti-DP and then replace them with another person who is anti-DP? Here's where it gets confusing.

The Governor's office said that Konieczny "missed a 48-hour window" to have his name taken off that statement.

Considering the statement has been out since 2016, he has never (to my knowledge) voiced an opinion asking to be off that statement, and the general anti-DP stance of the Episcopalian church, I thought that was somewhat unlikely.

The OCC, who released the statement in 2016, said there was no way the statement would have been released without approval by Konieczny. Shannon Fleck, OCC exec director, said it would have required the approval of all 18 names before being released, or it would have been killed

She told me that it was larger than a general public statement, that it was a "foundational statement" that would have required everyone's approval. She told me she had notes that showed the statement being discussed at multiple meetings in the leadup to its release in Sept. 2016

Fleck also said there have been times when someone's name has been attached to an OCC release, and then they ask to have their name removed. When that happens, they either remove the statement entirely or take down the name

Konieczny would have been aware of this, she said, and at any time in the last 5 1/2 years, if he had asked for it to be altered, they would have done so without question. Everyone there has tremendous respect for "Bishop Ed" she said.

Fleck said "absolutely not" when asked about the Gov's office statement.

Then, to further confuse matters, Konieczny himself told the Oklahoman he was simply "out of town" when the statement was released and his name was on it without his knowledge. oklahoman.com/story/news/202…

I wrote a whole story up about this and then decided against posting it. I asked for Konieczny to respond, he has not done so. I would like to hear from him, not just to clear this up, but because of the importance of his role.