[3] Following the serious injury of people blocking a road at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, McDugle authored a bill that would grant immunity to drivers engaging in vehicle-ramming attacks.

[4] McDugle has advocated for an incarcerated Oklahoma man on death row, Richard Glossip, who has eaten his last meal three times, saying "They can show me nothing that ties him, and the one thing they have is a witness that says that he was the one that told him to commit the murder.

The Council has also "actively sought to undermine Prater's successor, Vicki Behenna, the county's first female elected DA."

[11] Continuing with the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board's high turnover, in July 2023 Cathy Stoker resigned from the board saying that her role was not a "good fit" and Kevin Buchanan, a former district attorney for Washington County and Nowata County from Bartlesville, was appointed by Governor Stitt to replace her.

[14] Smothermon gave no direct reason for why he resigned, but the Pardon and Parole Board is "currently the target of a lawsuit brought by death-row inmate Richard Glossip after he was denied a clemency recommendation.