Republican nominee for attorney general says his legislative experience has prepared him to pursue illegal marijuana operations, strengthen government oversight and enforce the law without political favoritism.

NORMAN, Okla. — Jon Echols says the Oklahoma attorney general’s office should be more than a prosecutorial agency. It should be “the lawyer for the taxpayers of the state of Oklahoma,” a check on government and a force against corruption, organized crime and federal overreach.

“We are gonna root out corruption,” Echols said. “We are gonna make state government follow the law, and we are gonna root out these illegal Chinese grows, and we’re gonna deliver on those promises.”

Echols, the Republican nominee for attorney general, will face Democratic nominee Nick Coffey in the Nov. 3 general election. A former state representative and House majority floor leader, Echols is seeking to succeed Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who is not seeking another term.

Echols has made his legislative experience central to his case for office. He argues that the attorney general’s role extends beyond prosecuting criminal cases and requires a working knowledge of state agencies, statutes and the Legislature.

“The attorney general is not the chief DA for the state of Oklahoma,” Echols said. “That’s not the job. The chief DA for Oklahoma County is the DA. If you’re talking about Cleveland County, it’s their local DA.”

“The attorney general is the lawyer for the taxpayers of the state of Oklahoma,” he said. “It is the person that is uniquely situated to protect you, the taxpayers, and to hold state government accountable. The prosecution side is about one-fifth of what that job is.”

Echols has organized his campaign around a promise of a “safer, freer, stronger Oklahoma.” He said the plan begins with addressing illegal marijuana operations and the criminal networks that finance them.

“We are going to continue on the work of getting rid of these illegal grows,” Echols said of his proposed first 100 days. “I’m gonna do that by organizing law enforcement.”

He said he would divide the state into six regions, coordinate agencies and monitor enforcement work within each region. His focus, he said, would extend beyond individual marijuana grows to the people financing the operations.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t do you any good if what you’re doing is Whac-A-Mole and a new illegal grow comes in right after that,” Echols said. “We are going after the heads.”

Echols characterized the operations as part of wider criminal networks tied to money laundering, human trafficking and fentanyl.

“You have to be somebody who is willing to not just go on the base level, but go after the financiers and run them out of this state,” Echols said.

Echols said he helped create the authority for the attorney general’s organized-crime task force while he was in the Legislature and credited Drummond with developing the office’s work in that area.

“It is a global operation,” Echols said. “That’s why it’s important you have someone that has run large operations and knows what they’re doing.”

His second major priority would be a government accountability office inside the attorney general’s office. Echols cited his work creating the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, known as LOFT, as evidence of his emphasis on oversight of public spending.

“I was that person in the Legislature that was a bulldog for your taxpayer dollars,” Echols said. “That’s what I’m gonna do as your next attorney general.”

He said he would investigate misconduct regardless of party or political influence. Echols pointed to his vote to expel former Rep. Dan Kirby, a Republican, from the House in 2018 after an investigation into allegations involving a legislative assistant.

“My first vote as floor leader was to expel a member of my own caucus,” Echols said. “At the end of the day, I have zero tolerance for corruption, whether it’s a Republican or whether it’s a Democrat.”

Asked whether a case involving a powerful Republican donor, officeholder or friend would receive the same treatment as one involving a Democrat, Echols said, “Beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“I will go after whoever breaks the law, period, without regard to social status,” he said. “Whether you’re like my mom and dad, who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, or whether you’re the richest and powerful person from Tulsa or Oklahoma City, everyone is equal under the law.”

Echols said that belief is rooted in his family’s experience. His parents met at Oklahoma City University School of Law, where his mother attended night school while working as a special education teacher and raising a child as a single mother, he said.

“The law changed the trajectory of my life,” Echols said. “The law is the great equalizer of all of us, and it has to treat us all the same.”

Echols also pledged to use the attorney general’s office to defend constitutional rights and what he called Oklahoma’s conservative way of life.

“As the attorney general, I will be that person who has stood in the gap in the Legislature for our conservative Oklahoma way of life,” he said. “That’s what I’m gonna do when I defend the Constitution.”

He said he would issue attorney general opinions through what he described as a conservative interpretation faithful to the law’s original intent.

“If you want someone that views it from a conservative lens and will always follow the law and the original intent of the law, I’m uniquely situated to represent Oklahomans and their conservative views,” Echols said.

For Echols, the election tests whether voters want an attorney general who will apply the law without political or social exceptions.

“If you break the law, there will be no protected class,” Echols said. “None, zero.”

About the author: Rarchar Tortorello is Executive Editor of CityNewsOKC and CityNewsAmerica and the publication’s Senior White House correspondent. He hosts The Patriot Sentinel podcast, covering Oklahoma politics and national affairs. A retired combat veteran and former Norman City Councilmember, Tortorello brings more than two decades of public service to his journalism. Follow him on X @Rarchar or contact him at rarchar@grellnermedia.com. An earlier version of this story published on City News OKC here.