Updated September 9, 2025 at 4:50 PM CDT
Hours following Rose's resignation announcement, State Attorney General and 2026 gubernatorial candidate Gentner Drummond released a letter he had sent to the governor last week, detailing what he called "improper conduct" from Rose.
That conduct: refusing to process a statutorily authorized transaction of $480,906 for Dummond's office, spokesperson Leslie Burger said in an email to KOSU.
"OMES Director Rick Rose has refused to process the lawful purchase of vehicles my agents need to perform their statutorily required law enforcement activities," Drummond wrote in his letter. "His stated reason for doing so is that I have not responded to an unrelated inquiry from his office seeking information to which he already has access."
The vehicles are meant to supply the attorney general's Organized Crime Task Force, which was empowered by lawmakers in 2023 to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies and the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, or OMMA, to crack down on illegal grows and sales operations.
Spokesperson for the governor's office, Abegail Cave, said Rose didn't refuse to allow the vehicle purchases. Instead, he just asked for more information before approving them. Cave called Drummond's allegations a political charade.
"I think we need to take this into context, because the Attorney General… has turned every single action into some sort of campaign platform for him to use his office," she said. "So this is not a serious letter. This is not a serious piece of drama he's trying to stir up. This is a campaign tactic."
She said Rose resigned to go back to work at his private law firm.
Meanwhile, three other top-level executive office officials' resignations became public yesterday, too. Those include Secretary of State Josh Cockroft, Deputy Secretary of State Nitasha Rose and Evan Brown, Executive Director of EDGE.
Cave said those resignations are unrelated to Rose's and the "drama" with the attorney general.
Rose responds to AG allegations
Rose, who will serve as the chief operating officer for OMES until his last day on Sept. 26, responded with a press release of his own Tuesday.
The release said Rose's decision to resign followed lengthy conversations with his family and their future, separate from any interactions with Drummond.
But then it goes on to accuse the attorney general of trying to use Rose's exit from office as a chance to score political points – apparently out of retribution for denying Drummond the $480,000 expenditure.
"It's my job to make sure taxpayer money is spent wisely and on services that benefit Oklahomans," Rose wrote. "When a request of this size comes through my office, it is my job to question it. The Attorney General's Office has nearly doubled in both headcount and salaries since 2023."
Records show OMES sent the Office of the Attorney General a letter asking for clarity on what the agency calls rapid growth on Aug. 18. They show the AG's office expanded staff from 187 full-time employees in 2023 to 342 in 2025. An 82.9% increase.
That includes a $16 million difference in cost. The total payroll for the AG's office in 2025 is $30.3 million. That's out of a $45.9 million appropriation in FY 2025.
As far as the vehicles that spurred this dispute into the public eye, they represent a disproportionate increase in such costs compared to other agencies, per Rose's release.
"The Attorney General's Office already possesses 83 vehicles," the release said. "The additional request for another 10 vehicles represented an increase of more than 10%, something no other agency had requested under COO Rose's tenure."
Drummond used his letter to Stitt to justify the growth of his agency. He says when he took office in 2023, the agency was in complete disarray and was leaving organized crime unchecked.
"At the time, there were more than 12,000 marijuana grow operations, the vast majority of which were illegal," Drummond wrote. "Today, we are down to roughly 3,000 grow operations. While many are legitimate businesses, it's estimated that at least 1,000 are illegal."
Using millions appropriated by the legislature. Drummond said he funded nearly 50 agents and outfitted them with the equipment necessary to take on Mexican and Chinese drug cartels.
"My office has over 150 criminal cases pending against conspirators, unlawful manufacturers, and traffickers engaged in the marijuana black market," he wrote.
But Rose accused Drummond of doubling up on responsibilities already charged to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, or OBN, and the OMMA, even though Stitt signed the law allowing him to do so.
"While the AG claims to be the state's top law enforcement officer, that role has traditionally been the state's top attorney," Rose said. "Law enforcement makes arrests – the AG prosecutes."
Copyright 2025 KOSU
