Swadley's Redemption: The V1SUT Vantage Called This Back in 2022
The Election Year Execution of an Oklahoma Success Story and the Slow March Toward Justice
In July of 2022, this publication was the only local outlet telling the accurate story of how a successful, family-owned business, steeped in Christian principals, an admirable work ethic and a reputation for treating its employees as valued partners was cast into the political grinder for doing the state a service no one else was willing to take on. Against all odds and during a plandemic, the Swadley’s organization developed and built a new chain of restaurants positioned to revive Oklahoma’s failing and unprofitable state park system and succeeded at what no other group dared to touch for understandable reasons.
For their hard work and trouble, a bi-partisan group of corrupt political actors bludgeoned Swadley’s for political points during an election year by playing the temporary and comical part of the diligent overseers of public funds. The local legacy media jumped on Swadley’s in unison during 2022, never questioning the political narrative positioning Swadley’s as a thief.
And now, years later, as Swadley’s latest legal action seems poised to recover both millions of dollars and the reputation of the company, the media seems to have amnesia about their own previous reporting.
What was the Swadley’s Foggy Bottom Scandal Actually About?
In the wake of the recent passing of senior founder Ronald Swadley, a man who described his chain as ministry disguised as restaurants, The V1SUT Vantage is again sharing a portion of a previous article (July of 2022), which was part of our How to Steal a State series. The article outlines how a PAC called The Oklahoma Project and its major funder, a group called Oklahoma Forward, strategically used the distorted narrative of Swadley’s Foggy Bottom restaurants as an obvious political weapon. Incumbent Governor Stitt and Attorney General John O’Connor were their targets…Swadley’s was merely collateral damage.
Oklahoma Forward was almost entirely funded by the cannabis industry (see full article), yet state legislators piled on Swadley’s anyway, or perhaps as instructed. New Attorney General Gentner Drummond vowed to investigate Swadley’s, never mentioning his own financial ties to the cannabis industry through Blue Sky Bank.
What really happened to Swadley’s - Excerpts from July 2022 article:
(Remainder of post from July 2022) The Oklahoma Project, Foggy Bottom Hysteria and Investigation Politics
In addition to its bevy of websites, The Oklahoma Project has already spent over $1.1 million on television ad buys during 2022. The organization’s Youtube channel features six, 30-second spots regurgitating the already familiar narratives against Stitt, but also includes a commercial about a current, media-enhanced “scandal” involving a state contract with Swadley’s Foggy Bottom Kitchens restaurants. This may be the most broadly exaggerative narrative of all, as the distortions, with the help of the media, have drawn in every state politician looking to score some public points during an election year. Worst of all, the narrative has vilified a hardworking, Oklahoma business owner, cost hundreds of Oklahomans their jobs and lessened the chances of saving the state’s failing state park system.
Foggy Bottom Kitchens is the offshoot of a popular local restaurant chain developed to revive traffic to Oklahoma’s declining and dated state parks. The Oklahoma Project would have you believe that Governor Stitt illegally and personally arranged a subversive deal with a close friend and restauranteur by personally granting a sweetheart state contract to operate restaurants at the wildly popular and busy year-round Oklahoma state parks. Once again, context and facts need not be applied or provided for the viewer by the local media, so let’s back up and walk through this.
Upon taking office in 2018, Governor Stitt immediately sought to revamp the state’s image and grow its tourism industry. For those of you from out of state, the change was needed, as Oklahoma’s branding was straight out of the Brady Bunch era. Evidence of the administration’s efforts in this area are everywhere, beginning with the new state logo and signs as motorists enter the state from all directions.
As part of Oklahoma’s image upgrade and effort to attract visitors, the state’s Department of Tourism and Recreation began efforts to perform badly needed updates and deferred maintenance to the state’s park facilities. Camping and lake activities have historically been among the most popular recreation activities and tourist draws for the state, and with many park facilities being dated and in a state of disrepair, traffic had dropped, putting the future of the park system at risk. By 2017, 16 state parks with low traffic were in danger of closing.
In January of 2020, the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department, under the direction of new executive director Jerry Winchester, actively sought bids from ten identified restaurant operators for a single contract to handle all food services at state parks, upgrade food options and serve as a true draw to the parks. Winchester, a successful, private sector executive, was bringing new and big thinking to Oklahoma Tourism, but finding a vendor to embrace this challenge would not be easy.
Here’s how Mike Woolf, CEO of the City Bites restaurant chain, who was approached as a potential bidder, described the situation in his comments to The Oklahoman after he declined to submit a bid:
"I chose not to turn in a bid for this as there was no way this could have been a positive or profitable situation," Woolf responded. "Any restaurant operator could/should have been scared to death about managing state park food-service scattered all over the state. The logistics and seasonality of the parks make turning a profit nearly impossible."
In the end, all ten firms identified as good candidates for the work declined to bid, indicating this was hardly a sweatheart deal for any restauranteur. The only bid received came from Swadley’s, who was not on the list. And not only did Swadley’s bid, proposing a deal that recognized the heavy, front-end financial lift of the effort to transform food services at the parks into a tourist draw, owner Brent Swadley and his team were prepared to jump in immediately to handle the remodels, in what was then the beginning of the Covid shutdown era. Brent Swadley appears to be a scrapy, Oklahoma success story and unabashedly describes his business as “Christian-based, and we wear that on our sleeves”.
What the media and political hit mobs led by The Oklahoma Project won’t mention, is that Swadley’s plan actually worked.
After years of governmental talk and small thinking about the declining state parks, The Swadley’s group built and/or renovated facilities at half a dozen parks, including some lodges which were not part of their initial responsibilities, and were up and running in a very short period of time, despite supply chain issues plaguing the construction industry during Covid restrictions.
The Beaver’s Bend location opened in August of 2020, less than seven months after the close of the bidding process, and by all accounts looked great. Here’s what a customer had to say on tripadvisor.com just four days after the opening:
Reviewed August 25, 2020
Outstanding Family-Friendly Atmosphere, Food & Service
The rustic atmosphere on a riverside location in Beavers Bend State Park provides a relaxing place for any meal. Being deep in the woods, casual dress is the norm.
Their adult and children’s menus included many great sandwiches, burgers, salads and entrees. Our group tried their club sandwich, Monte Cristo sandwich and their shrimp. I - being a big eater - was unable to finish the towering club sandwich.
When we’re holidaying, we enjoy trying new places. Rarely do we eat lunch and dinner at the same restaurant. After such a great lunch however, our group unanimously decided to return for dinner. To begin dinner, they served the most wonderful apple fritters. Our dinner choices included one of the varied salads (I believe it was a Southwestern), a 16-ounce ribeye, and the nicest-prepared, thick and juicy, beer-marinated pork chop any of us had ever eaten. (Yes, we all sampled it!!). We were too full to try any of their highly-varied deserts.
For a newly-opened (4 days prior) restaurant, the staff appeared very well-trained, anxious to please and professional in every way. They made us feel like family. The management team was very visible and checked every table to meet the customers and assure their utmost satisfaction. At lunch, we had the pleasure of meeting a delightful manager named Tanya who, by the time we returned for dinner, had been promoted to be the General Manager.
This restaurant was, by itself, truly worth a trip to Broken Bow. They do have several other restaurants in Oklahoma. After what we saw here, we look forward to sampling some of the others and, although it’s two or three hours from our Dallas-area home, returning to this one sometime soon.
Not only had Foggy Bottom Kitchens succeeded in attracting and increasing seasonal business for the park, the following customer reviews from December 2020 and November 2021 showed they were filling the parking lot during the off-season, a truly astounding reversal for the fate of Oklahoma’s recently failing state parks.
Reviewed November 5, 2021 via mobile
Ate lunch there Wednesday November 3. Our cabin was close enough to walk; we had eaten there several times when it was the old place. Usually then there were a few people there. Not now! It was very busy. The lot was full but still plenty of room inside. The upgraded decor was nice and they had put up Christmas trees and other decor. And unlike many places, they had plenty of help on duty.
The food was really good with big portions so come hungry. My wife and I both got the club and both had a half leftover to take back to the cabin-We could have split one order and had plenty.
Our son had the grilled chicken sandwich and loved it. We saw a couple of CFS dinners go by and they were huge. We each got a complimentary fried apple fritter.
The store had some souvenirs and some basic supplies like charcoal.
A very good addition to the park.
Reviewed December 1, 2020
A delicious and delightful dining experience! Our family which included my husband, son, daughter in law, and grand daughter decided to have a late lunch after hiking all morning. The staff was very friendly. Our seating was a full view of the river, and our food was not only delicious, but the portions were HUGE! We needed to go boxes all around. While there my granddaughter lost her first tooth. She was treated so special by the staff. After making a to do by the staff, she was beaming. She was then brought a little container for her tooth. After her meal, the staff treated her to her choice of ice cream flavor. I have never experienced such an awesome visit at ANY restaurant! Thank you for making our day during special especially during these stressful times!
XOXO The Davis Family.
The Foggy Bottom location at Lake Murray, as a remodel, opened even more quickly in May of 2020, receiving the same praise and excitement from visitors.
Reviewed May 31, 2020 via mobile
This is located next to the lodge, within the old Blue Heron, same great lakeside view.
It’s been remodeled beautifully to fit their theme. Plenty of seating inside and outside overlook the beautiful lake. Prices are what to be expected since your dining in the lake, it’s the same at other restaurants on other lakes.
Wife and I was seated promptly and greeted by our server. Wife had the Winchester burger, big thick juicy patty on fresh hot bun served with sweet potato fries; could’ve been more of those. I went with the Campfire Hobo dinner, man O’man that was something. I could’ve had two of those, so
Delicious and I had to fight my wife off with my my fork like we were both gladiators sparing over a last meal, lol. Highly highly recommend trying the Campfire Hobo dinner.
As locations continued to open across the state throughout 2021, no one had anything negative to report and business was building rapidly. This was a game-changer for Oklahoma’s state parks. The restaurants looked great, the food was getting good reviews, the service was impressive, and hundreds of new jobs had been created across the state. It looked like Swadley’s was on its way to making state park food service, which was previously losing around $1.6 million per year, both consistently enjoyable for visitors and profitable, all while increasing overall and out-of-stater visits to the parks.
That all changed with the emergence of an election year and a governor the Steal Team needed to extract. Once dark money through The Oklahoma Project labeled the contract as corrupt, over two years after it was issued, the politicrats and the media jumped onboard, including Steal Team champion and Oklahoma County DA David Prater, who requested a forensic audit of Swadley’s as a state contractor. In using the narrative to attack Stitt, as if he had been the director of Oklahoma Tourism, the Swadley’s group has been unjustly tarnished. Without question, there are some significant issues related to some of the reimbursed costs for the renovations that should be answered, but those expenses were reviewed and paid during 2020 and 2021 by the state agency overseeing the project and The Oklahoma Office of Management Services (OMES), the oversight for large projects and expenditures within all state agencies.
The state is notoriously bad at overseeing such matters and agreeing to overages, yet no one heard any contractor-bashing by the media or politicians when Manhattan Construction collected $155 million, or more than twice the bid amount, for their portion of the state capitol renovation. Perhaps if Brent Swadley had been a $1.3 million, dark money backer for one of the Steal Team’s candidates, like Manhattan Construction did for T.W. Shannon back in 2014, there would’ve been no Foggy Bottom investigation (See Season 2 of How to Steal a State).
As the true story behind the Swadley’s Smoked Scapegoat narrative unfolds, the state may be turning out to be the one not living up to its portion of this contract. The contract outlines specific management fees be paid to Swadley’s, and now that the hard work of renovating, staffing and getting six locations off the ground has been completed by Swadley’s, the state appears to be pulling the rug and the restaurants out from under Swadley’s prior to completing a proper investigation and due to political pressure.
Tourism records show the state paid Swadley's management fees of $152,615 in 2020, $822,432 in 2021 and $353,000 so far in 2022, for a total of $1,328,047. If you exclude the renovation costs to get the park lodges and restaurants in working order, which the state needed to do with or without Swadley’s at these state-owned properties, it seems having great places to eat at state parks under Swadley’s management is now costing the state management fees of less than half what it was previously losing each year under previous, individual contracts, and is significantly increasing park traffic. The contract is complicated, but the state park’s chain of Swadley’s looked to be on its way to future profitability for both the company and the state.
Unfortunately, instead of wisely renegotiating any questioned contract specifics with Swadley’s, working through the details of the renovation expenses that Oklahoma Tourism and OMES may have unwisely approved over a year ago, and making any needed amendments to the contract as suggested by Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell, the state launched a predictable, election year investigation into the matter, cancelled the contract, closed the Foggy Bottom’s locations at the peak of visitor season, threw hundreds of Oklahomans out of their jobs without notice, and filed a lawsuit against Swadley’s.
The state’s suit confusingly fails to accuse Swadley’s (Foggy Bottom Kitchens) of any financial wrongdoing but seeks to review financial records in accordance with the contract. In fact, and in keeping with typical rhetoric of the local media, big numbers are flying about for shock value, but no one can confirm that they were not in line with the contract. It appears the true details will now come out in court.
In response to the political pressure created by The Oklahoma Project’s misrepresentation of the situation, Stitt personally announced both the lawsuit against Swadley’s (Foggy Bottom Kitchens) and the resignation of Jerry Winchester from the Department of Tourism and Recreation, which was surprising to many, as Winchester’s leadership resulted in a significant increase in the number of visitors to state parks and great improvements to their infrastructure. Swadley’s has since filed a far more lengthy suit against the state describing how politics played a central role in the undeserved “smear campaign against Swadley’s Foggy Bottom Kitchen”. The suit is detailed in describing the entire series of events beginning with their initial hesitance to bid the project due to the poor conditions of the facilities, with photos included.
We can find no evidence to support The Oklahoma Project’s insinuations that Brent Swadley and Governor Stitt are personal friends and that Stitt was somehow directly involved in the initial deal. The highly dishonest local media refers to one picture of Governor Stitt and Brent Swadley at one of the Foggy Bottom locations long after the contract had been issued and locations had already been opened. Depicted in a t-shirt and ball cap, the so-called incriminating photo appears to show the governor stopping during a family outing at Roman Nose State Park to appreciate the hard work and undeniable improvements made by Swadley and his team at Oklahoma’s state park facilities.
The Oklahoma Project has intentionally stirred up a false hornet’s nest full of ladybugs and lies with no concern for who else they might harm or leave unemployed, beyond Governor Stitt. The V1SUT Vantage will be following closely, as Swadley’s pursues its current lawsuit against the state.
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