A man dubbed a “security concern” at the Missouri State Capitol and an alleged stalker of songwriter John Rich was escorted out of the Oklahoma State Capitol by security Feb. 2 after an altercation with a lawmaker who had declined to support a bill placing filters on electronic devices to block websites deemed to contain child pornography.
After returning to the building this week, Chris Sevier was the subject of an email sent by Rep. Logan Phillips (R-Okmulgee) to all 100 of his fellow House members around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Saying he’d had a “physical altercation” with the man Feb. 2, Phillips sent his email shortly after Sevier and another individual had met with a group of lobbyists in Rep. Randy Randleman’s office regarding HB 2931.
Randleman (R-Eufaula) had filed HB 2931 at Sevier’s request, but he withdrew it from consideration after hearing concerns from internet service providers and law enforcement representatives. The bill would mandate that any internet-enabled device sold in Oklahoma feature a “filter” blocking access to sites that show child pornography or facilitate human trafficking. An individual wanting to access such web pages would have to prove they are at least 18 years of age and pay a $20 fee quarterly to the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
“The sheriffs didn’t support it. And the sheriffs said that if we put this in at a state level, they would have to go get permits or a search warrant or whatever — one after the other to get things done,” Randleman told NonDoc on Wednesday. “So I just brought them all in and brought all sides in and everything, and when [the sheriffs] said that and AT&T wasn’t quite good with it — so I said, ‘You know what, this came to me, and this is not my area. I don’t know enough.’ So for me to push something and I don’t know it’s good, I couldn’t do it.”
Randleman confirmed that Sevier had brought the proposed legislation to him and called Sevier, a former Tennessee lawyer, “very smart.”
“He goes to a lot of different states,” Randleman said. “The thing about him — gosh, I’ve worked well with him. He’s very knowledgeable. Very smart. He was really good, and everybody was good in our meeting.”
Feb. 2 altercation detailed by lawmaker
Phillips, the chairman of the House Technology Committee, does not describe his Feb. 2 interaction with Sevier as “good.”
Phillips said the multi-state advocate had emailed him before session with a request that he consider filing about a half dozen pieces of legislation. Phillips said he researched Sevier, his proposals and his colleague named John Gunter, ultimately telling Sevier that he did not want to file the bills.
Randleman, however, filed HB 2931, and Phillips emailed his fellow lawmaker with information about Sevier’s past controversial advocacy efforts to let him know “it might not be the best idea” to work with Sevier now.
Around 2 p.m. Feb. 2, the second day of session, Sevier and a woman came to Phillips’ office.
“He refused to give his name to my office manager,” Phillips said. “He came in, sat down, presented himself and still didn’t tell me his name.”
Phillips said Sevier began advocating for HB 2931.
“I politely told him that I was not interested. That I appreciated it, but I would not be in support,” Phillips said. “He then jumped up, started telling me how I was a pedophile and how awful I am in no uncertain terms and that there’s nothing he needed to be in my office for anymore. I said, ‘I understand, you are free to go.'”
Phillips said they walked to his office door.
“I motioned for him to feel free to step out, and he turned and jumped into my face and started screaming and pointing his finger at me,” Phillips said. “Then I told him to get out of my office at that point in time.
“When we stepped out in the hallway, he started yelling stuff through the hallway about suing me in federal court. (…) So we had to call the highway patrolmen and have him escorted out of the building.”
Reached by phone Wednesday, Sevier confirmed his Oklahoma advocacy on measures like HB 2931, the pornography filter proposal, and SB 383, which deals with social media censorship. But he declined to go into detail.
“You should talk to the sponsors — the authors of the bills. That’s what we recommend. Rep. Randleman and Sen. (Rob) Standridge,” Sevier said. “That’s all we have to say. We respectfully request that you look at the four corners of the language and talk to those authors. We support many bills. Those are two of many bills we support.”
Asked about his interaction with Phillips, Sevier ended the conversation.
“We’re not going to respond to anything else,” he said. “Thank you. Have a good day.”
Phillips said he has tried to be respectful to all involved, but he felt obliged to email his colleagues Tuesday about his “physical confrontation” with Sevier.
“After the (Feb. 2) interaction, I let it go. I thought the bill had died,” Phillips said. “Then I was told yesterday that he was back in the Capitol, and after my interaction I decided I wanted the other representatives to be aware so that they could take cautionary measures if they were going to interact with him. I would never mistakenly tell a representative what bills they should or should not run, but I just wanted my colleagues to know the quality of the person they would be interacting with and to be safe.”
Asked about Phillips’ email, Randleman said he did not know who was at fault in the interaction described by his eastern Oklahoma colleague.
“I don’t know anything about that down there,” Randleman said. “I have no idea because I wasn’t there, but I can tell you up here he was fantastic and great.”
Phillips emailed House staff about the incident at 2:28 p.m. Feb. 2. NonDoc reviewed the email, and the statement is factually consistent with his account provided in this article. The email concludes by saying the “entire incident took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.”
A representative of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety confirmed that Capitol security asked Sevier to leave the building at least once Feb. 2.
Laptop marriage attempts, harassment charges
A Christian EDM producer, Sevier is also supporting a similar anti-pornography bill this year in Utah, which stalled the evening of Feb. 3 during a committee hearing.
Sevier’s legislative efforts have previously been rebuffed in Missouri, as described in a 2019 Kansas City Star article:
“While the individual has not threatened anyone in the building, staff have described these interactions as jittery and/or suspicious,” the email (from the Missouri Senate administrator) read. “Please remember at any time if find you yourself in a situation which you feel uncomfortable or threatened, in the least, please take immediate steps to notify Capitol Police.”
Lawmakers who saw Sevier told The Star he introduced himself as someone from the “defacto attorney general’s office” and wore a suit tucked into combat boots.
Sevier has made national headlines for his bizarre opposition to pornography and LGBTQ marriage. Since being deemed mentally unfit to practice law in 2011, he has tried to marry his laptop in multiple states and sued Apple Inc. for a porn addiction that he said ruined his marriage.
But most recently, Sevier has been pushing his anti-porn, anti-gay legislation in states from Virginia to Hawaii. Last week, Sevier was found to be behind six bills in the Kansas House.
Two years later, Phillips wrote his colleagues around 5 p.m. Tuesday with a link to that article and a dozen other stories or court filings involving Sevier, who has advocated against marriage equality by trying to marry his laptop.
Sevier also made headlines after he was charged with stalking country musician John Rich and a 17-year-old girl. Sevier reportedly pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge. His dispute with Rich goes back years and involves song rights.
Sevier also supports social media censorship bill
It’s not immediately clear whether other bills filed in the Oklahoma Legislature this year stem from Sevier’s advocacy, but he has been advocating for SB 383 by Sen. Rob Standridge (R-Norman).
The measure, which advanced 5-3 out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, would allow Oklahomans to sue any owner or operator of a social media website that purposely censors a user’s political or religious speech.
Standridge said Wednesday he filed SB 383 on his own to seek a state-level solution to the controversial federal communications statute known as “Section 230” that shields tech companies from legal liability.
But Standridge said Sevier had approached him about the measure around the start of session and implored the senator to let him testify in favor of the measure during Tuesday’s committee hearing.
“I didn’t feel comfortable with that,” Standridge said, citing typical Oklahoma Senate precedent. “Maybe he’s overly passionate is how I sort of categorized that.”
According to an article in The Missouri Times, Sevier testified in a Missouri House committee Monday evening about a similar bill.
Overall, however, Standridge said Sevier “was very cordial and nice” when he went to lunch Tuesday with Standridge and a couple of other senators.
“This time I asked him, ‘Who is funding you to go around the country?’ And he kind of answered a little and said he was independently wealthy — that type of response,” Standridge said. “He’s a sharp guy.”
Phillips said that was not his experience with the multi-state advocate. In his email to colleagues, Phillips asked them to read the articles and court cases about Sevier and Gunter.
“Please be careful if you plan on being alone with them, and do not leave them unsupervised in your offices,” Phillips said. “If you have questions about the impacts of these bills that they are wanting to pass and the absolute destructive nature of them, I am happy to speak with you individually.”
Chris Sevier calls back, sends statement from woman
Overnight after this article published, Sevier used social media and the comment section below to share a two-page PDF he described as the “sworn statement of Laura Beth Perry.”
The statement claims Perry met Sevier for the first time on Feb. 2 when the interaction with Phillips occurred, and it challenges Phillips’ version of events:
I found Mr. Phillips’ actions to be intimidating and unprofessional in his conduct. In the hallway, Mr. Phillips was demonstrating hostile intent to ensure no one would hear Mr. Sevier’s proposed legislation. It was contrived. I observed Mr. Phillips knocking repeatedly on (House Majority Floor) Leader (Jon) Echols door. Mr. Phillips was shouting that Mr. Sevier had threatened him and Mr. Sevier did say to Mr. Phillips that his assertion was false and defamatory. Very obviously Mr. Phillips was trying to cause a scene for self-serving reasons in a manner that was objectively unethical and an abuse of his office.
Sevier called NonDoc at 8:22 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, to bring attention to the PDF, which is embedded below.
“In that article you wrote, Mr. Phillips stated there was someone else in the room. That woman was Laura Beth Perry from First Stone Ministries who executed a sworn statement last night saying everything he said is fabricated and false. Sent you a copy of that to your Facebook,” Sevier said. “There is a video I have as well of — Capitol police did ask me to leave after he did that charade. He said that it was on behalf of the speaker and the majority leader. And it was just bizarre to me. Cause I was like, he just talked a lot. She was right there and no one did that. She was right there.”
Sevier demanded a “retraction, correction and apology” for this article, which he said was “clearly a hit piece.”
“As someone who has filed libel lawsuits in the past in federal district court, I would advise you to retract that story because otherwise I’m telling you we will take action, buddy,” Sevier said. “I mean, we do it all the time.”
Asked multiple times to provide Perry’s contact information, Sevier declined.
“Nope. I have no obligation to provide that — you can find her if you want to. You’ve been warned. We’ll give you 10 days to retract it. If you don’t retract it, we’ll name your employer in federal district court,” Sevier said. “Quote me on this: If you think you’ve got the horses to go against us in federal court, good luck and God bless. You’ve got the sworn statement. You have that evidence. If you want to investigate further and do your job, you can. This is a notice of demand for retraction, correction and apology. We will be glad to make you famous. Thank you.”
Shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday, Perry responded to a Facebook message and confirmed the authenticity of Sevier’s provided document.
“Yes this is my statement of what happened,” Perry said. “I am not available for any further communication on this matter, without my lawyer present.”
Asked about Perry’s document, Phillips declined to comment.
(Update: This article was updated at 9:50 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, to include a new subsection regarding the document distributed and comments made by Chris Sevier. It was updated again at 11:07 a.m. to include Perry’s comment.)
