Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) has confirmed that he will retire at the end of 2022, confirming scattered reports that such an announcement was imminent. “It is bittersweet, but with a clear heart, that Kay and I announce that at the end of the year, I will retire from the United States Senate,” Inhofe, who will turn 88 in November, said in a statement posted on Twitter. “Going into public service was never in my plan,” Inhofe said. “Then, one day, I needed a dock permit. I had to visit 27 government offices to get a single dock permit, and realized if we wanted the government to work for the people, not against the people, it was up to us to make a change.” Inhofe, who started his career in the mid-1960s in the Oklahoma legislature, and eventually rose to the U.S. Senate in 1994, said, “Throughout our years there has been one constant—making the …