Shadid Saga Timeline
What started as a minor story on past marijuana use turned into a saga story of cocaine, male prostitutes, spousal abuse, porn, and attempts to cover it up, that went all the way to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Shadid, however, remains a candidate for Oklahoma City Mayor. The election is March 4th. The Okie here provides a timeline of the events:
June 24, 2013 – Oklahoma City Councilman Ed Shadid announces he will run for Mayor, even if longtime incumbent Mayor Mick Cornett runs, too.
August 4 – Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett announces he will run for re-election in 2014.
September 30 – Unreported by any media and unknown to the general public, The Oklahoman makes an open records request for the sealed files of Shadid’s 2007 divorce. A hearing on the matter is set for November 15th.
November 3 – At the exact same time as the Oklahoma City Thunder home opener, Shadid’s campaign hosts a watch party for a documentary about addiction recovery. At the time, it seemed a bizarre bit of counterprogramming. In retrospect, it was one of the first steps in Shadid’s strategy to get ahead of possible disclosures.
November 8 – By this point in the campaign, Shadid had already established himself as an unorthodox candidate, campaigning to atheists, proposing a massive property tax increase, and not running from his Green Party views. But no observer was prepared for the chain of events that would begin with Shadid’s speech this day to the conservative High Noon Club. In his speech, Shadid admits to a longtime marijuana addiction.
November 13 – The Okie breaks the story about Shadid’s admission to the High Noon Club. No traditional media outlet picks up the story.
November 14 – Shadid appears personally in front of an Oklahoma Supreme Court referee to seek an emergency stay against the hearing scheduled the next day in Oklahoma County to potentially unseal his divorce. He wins the stay and the hearing is postponed indefinitely. These events are not reported by any media outlet.
December 3 – The McCarville Report reports that over the previous weekend, Shadid had sent out a mailpiece making reference to an “addiction” and a “difficult and heartbreaking divorce.” Suddenly, Oklahoma City media outlets take notice, at least of the marijuana issue. KWTV Channel 9 is the first to jump on the story, and through the course of the week, Shadid does a series of interviews admitting his previous marijuana addiction, but alludes to nothing else.
December 8 – In a front page story, The Oklahoman finally plays its cards, revealing that it is in a battle with Shadid over his court records. The paper reveals that in his divorce, Shadid asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. That evening, Shadid grants a series of interviews to local media and vows that the assertion of the Fifth Amendment only had to do with marijuana use. There is an implication in his interviews that the divorce files contain no other illegal or scandalous behavior.
December 9 – The Oklahoma Supreme Court rules against Shadid, sending the case back the Oklahoma County divorce court. A hearing is set there for December 20th.
December 11 – The Oklahoman editorializes that if the only thing in the file is marijuana use, as Shadid maintains, and Shadid has already admitted to that, then there is no reason to keep the file sealed. Meanwhile, Shadid continues to grant interviews where he implies that there is nothing in the file except marijuana use.
December 13 – Shadid releases a formal statement that he stands by his assertions that he has already revealed to the media the criminal activity alleged in the sealed divorce file.
December 15 – Shadid’s story begins to crack. He admits to the Red Dirt Report that the file will reveal LSD and Ecstasy use when he was a teenager. Hours later, Shadid admits to The Oklahoma Gazette that the file will reveal cocaine use, domestic violence, porn use, and an investigation by DHS over allegations of sexual abuse.
December 18 – The Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police announces it is ceasing its campaigning for Shadid in light of the recent disclosures, and will consider its next steps at a meeting in January. Shadid sends the membership an e-mail that night and inexplicably asserts again that the criminal activity he was trying to cover up during his divorce was only marijuana use. He also tells the FOP that he did not hurt his wife.
December 19 – Shadid and his ex-wife hold a press conference to announce that they will no longer fight the release of the records, and that he will stay in the race.
December 20 – Oklahoma County Judge Lisa Hammond unseals the entire divorce file. The Oklahoman reports that it will take two full days to inspect the contents. The television outlets go ahead and run stories, and remarkably, there are still even more devastating disclosures. Fox 25 reports that Shadid’s wife alleged that he used cocaine with a male prostitute, that he watched porn in front of his children, and that he told her “Just kill the kids if I ever, if I ever go back, I hope the kids are raped and tortured.” KWTV reports that Shadid’s wife alleged that he choked her.
December 22 – In a front-page story, The Oklahoman dissects the file in full, focusing on the many times Shadid’s recent comments were contradicted by the now-unsealed files. Among other disclosures already reported, the paper writes that Shadid admitted to pushing his wife, and in response to a question about striking her, replied, “Well, define strike her.” The paper also reveals that police went to the Shadid home twice to respond to his domestic violence. The Oklahoman also reveals that Shadid lied to the Oklahoma medical licensing board about his drug addiction. Shadid releases a statement responding to the media coverage, and says he will not speak any more on the matter.
The Okie will continue to monitor the race.
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