Oklahoma GOP Staffer Resigns Amid Uproar Over Domestic Violence Conviction

A top staffer with the Oklahoma Republican Party resigned late Wednesday, more than a month after state GOPers began to call for his ouster over a domestic violence conviction.

Infighting over Thomas Clint “T.C.” Ryan’s involvement with the state party reached a fever pitch back in mid-May, when potential 2016 presidential candidates gathered in Oklahoma City for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. The state party’s newly elected chairman, failed gubernatorial and senatorial candidate Randy Brogdon, originally installed Ryan as his executive director. Brogdon demoted Ryan to political director after prominent Republicans objected to the appointee because of his history of domestic violence.

Records show Ryan pleaded guilty in 2012 to domestic assault and battery in the presence of a minor and interference with an emergency telephone call, according to The Tulsa World newspaper. Ryan’s sentence was later deferred, the case was dismissed and his record was ultimately expunged, according to that report.

The Tulsa World reported that Brogdon finally accepted Ryan’s resignation — the appointee’s third attempt to step down — after Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin added her voice to the chorus of Republicans seeking seeking Ryan’s ouster.

Previous news reports on the party infighting did not go into detail about the 2012 domestic violence incident. But the unidentified victim recently told The Tulsa World that she had been dating Ryan for about 14 months when an argument about politics escalated into violence. She declined to discuss the injuries she sustained, which she said required medical treatment, and described the incident as “painful and embarrassing.”

The newspaper could not reach Ryan for comment, but his attorney, Corbin Brewster, said that there were “serious credibility issues with the accusations against him.”