OKLAHOMA CITY — The wife of a state representative filed for and received an emergency protective order Monday against four officials from the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, court records show.
Rachel Moore, the wife of Republican state Rep.Anthony Moore, filed the petition in Custer County District Court. The protective orders were filed against Johnathon Small, OPCA’s president; Dave Bond, OCPA’s vice president for advocacy; Ray Carter, director of OCPA’s Center for Independent Journalism;and, Hallie Milner, OCAP’s development and outreach coordinator.
OCPA is a right-leaning think tank that bills itself as “a trusted source for fact-based public policy analysis” in Oklahoma.
A fifth protective order was issued against another individual, Mattison Miles. Court records did not show Miles’ relationship to either OCPA or Moore.
Moore said his wife took the action because she received a series of text messages last week from an anonymous Google Voice number that “made all sorts of false accusations.”
“They came from two different (Google) numbers,” hesaid. “They didn’t threaten physical harm, but they were threatening to my family and its ability to move forward.”
Moore said he contacted the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. In a Facebook post Rachel Moore wrote OSBI confirmed the four OCPA officials were responsible for the threatening text messages she received to her personal cellphone.
“It was clear that the messages were meant to intimidate and harass me and my family,” she wrote.
Trent England, the David and Ann Brown fellow for OPCA, said Monday the allegations were false.
“No OCPA staff member, as far as we know, has ever communicated with or attempted to communicate with Anthony Moore’s spouse,” he said.
Representative Moore said OCPA was trying to intimidate him and get him to back out of his campaign for reelection because the organization didn’t like his stance on voucher issues. He said OCPA had targeted three other state lawmakers: Sen. Brenda Stanley (R-Midwest City) and Reps. Mark McBride (R-Moore)and Rhonda Baker (R-Yukon).
“They are trying to go after the four of us to bully us and get what they want,” Rep. Moore said. “I’ve never heard or seen anything like this.”
Moore said OSBI officials turned their material over to Custer County District Attorney Angela Marsee.
A hearing on the case has been set for July 5 in front of District Judge Stephanie Jones.