– PROGRAM FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
– TUESDAY’S ELECTIONS, SENATE DISTRICTS 45 AND 35
– DIST. 2 COUNTY COMMISSION RACES IN OKLAHOMA & CANADIAN COUNTY
– THE RACE FOR CLEVELAND COUNTY SHERIFF
– DOES TRUTH MATTER TO BILL NATIONS OR NORMAN & MOORE PAPERS?
– PROGRAM FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
We will continue this week interviewing Republican candidates for the Oklahoma State House of Representatives. Invited to appear this week will be Rusty Farley from Haworth Oklahoma, Lawrence Mann of Muldrow, Debbie Lienhart of Haskell and Joe Lott from Spencer. So far two of these candidates have confirmed they will appear. If you have an opportunity, please log on to the OCPAC Blog (www.ocpac.info) and participate in our weekly opinion poll.
– TUESDAY’S ELECTIONS, SENATE DISTRICTS 45 AND 35
The primary run-off elections will be held this Tuesday with the polls open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. There is no state wide ballot race or issue so the run-offs will be for specific areas and turn out will probably be VERY low. Therefore your vote is really important.The Senate District 45 race between Kyle Loveless and Steve Russell includes much of Southwest Oklahoma City on out West to Mustang. Following the primary race I raised some questions about Mr. Russells ability to govern independently when so much money (7, $5000 contributions) came into his campaign just weeks before the primary, from people and PACs of which I opined to be corporate welfare junkies. I also raised the question as to whether or not Mr. Russell had developed a conservative ideology to the degree that would allow him to discern the subtleties of the armies of lobbyists employed by some of his donors as they often want taxpayer monies to serve their personal causes. Steve responded to my e-mail quickly and I followed up with what I believe to have been a productive phone conversation. He assured me his moral character and discipline would cause him to make quality decisions. I will accept his statements in the same vein of Ronald Reagan, which was to “trust but verify”, should Mr. Russell win in the run-off. In the mean time he has received an endorsement from Kirk Humphreys, who I believe to be a tax and spend Republican who loves to be a big time central planner. Thank the Lord the citizens of Oklahoma had the wisdom to elect Tom Coburn 4 years ago rather than Kirk Humphreys. In addition he was endorsed by U.S. Representative Tom Cole, definitely the biggest pork spending Republican in the Oklahoma delegation. Congressman Cole is a man that I sometimes wonder if he cares more about protecting the special privileges of tribal governments rather than representing all of the citizens of Oklahoma and the United States in a fair and just manner. Cole is consistently the most liberal Republican in Washington from the Oklahoma delegation.Supporters of Mr. Russell have informed me of Kyle Loveless’s shortcomings, most of which I was already aware. However, OCPAC endorsed Kyle as a bonafide conservative with a well developed ideology. Should Kyle Loveless win I believe the more liberal wing of the Republican party will find it hard to sway Mr. Loveless toward their whims, especially since they have tried to defeat him. Though Mr. Russell is an impressive man and may make a good Senator if elected, if I lived in the district I would vote for Kyle Loveless. No Democrat filed for the office, so Tuesday decides the race.The Senate District 35 race in Tulsa to replace the term limited Jim Williamson will also be decided Tuesday as again no Democrat filed for the office. Gary Stanislawski appeared before OCPAC but was out performed by another candidate. The OCPAC endorsed candidate lost in the primary and the race is now between Mr. Stanislawski and Cason Carter. I believe and hope that Stanislawski has the conservative core values, that if he will educate himself toward a conservative ideology, he may become a very good Senator. I have communicated with several trusted conservatives in the Tulsa area, and though they aren’t in perfect unity, most assure me Gary is the better pick. It seems Mr. Carter has some powerful Democrats in his camp along with most of the “blue blood” Republicans from the downtown area of Tulsa. One of the things which bothers me most about Mr. Carter is his membership in the very liberal American Bar Association. Many, if not most conservative attorneys, refuse to join such a liberal organization, preferring instead to just be a member of the state bar association. If I lived in the district I would vote for Gary Stanislawski.
– DIST. 2 COUNTY COMMISSION RACES IN OKLAHOMA & CANADIAN COUNTY
As I explained with examples a couple of weeks ago, based on his performance as the mayor of Bethany, the liberal J.D. Johnston should never hold office again. Sometime following that e-mail J.D. must have fallen off the deep end. He fired off 2 press releases claiming an “extremist” Republican sounding group had endorsed his opponent, yada, yada, yada. Bottom line, I would vote for Brian Maughn in a heartbeat over J.D. Johnston for the Oklahoma County position.The Canadian County primary race was just separated by a few votes between David Anderson and OCPAC Vice Chairman Richard Engle. From all I know about Mr. Anderson he is a nice fellow but for the most part has refused to take positions on many of the serious issues facing the district. On the other hand Richard has presented a plan in some detail to address every issue before the district. Richard is energetic, competent as well as a PROVEN guardian of taxpayer dollars and private property rights. I could go on and on describing Richards accomplishments, but the question to ask is this. Why SETTLE and take a chance on voting for a nice fellow, when you could elect Richard Engle, a person with a servants heart and capable of providing conservative leadership for the citizens of Canadian County, the fastest growing county in Oklahoma?
– THE RACE FOR CLEVELAND COUNTY SHERIFF
Both Joe Lester and Mark Hamm received around 40% of the vote in the primary, so the run-off could go either way depending on who turns out their supporters. If I lived in Cleveland County I would vote for Joe Lester and here is why. Joe retired from the Tulsa police force several years ago and eventually become the head of the campus police force at the University of Oklahoma. After leaving that post he returned to the Tulsa area where he ran for the state senate 2 years ago. Joe received the OCPAC endorsement when he did very well in the interview process as did Bill Brown who eventually won the race. Following our endorsement, Joe had a reception planned at the Norman home of Steve Owens. He invited me to attend and was very unselfish to also invite another OCPAC endorsed candidate, Ron Davis from Purcell, as Ron was also running for the Senate. Steve was impressed with Ron and later on hosted a reception for Ron along with his younger brother Tinker Owens.I could see the respect that Mr. Owens displayed for Mr. Lester when he introduced Joe to the folks in attendance. I gathered it was Joe that had informed Steve of the tragic death of his son and in subsequent days was like a father to a son, trying to help Steve deal through the difficult times.Over the past couple of years Joe has infrequently communicated with me via e-mail. He is truly a people person. Of course folks that know me well understand that a caring and compassionate person is way down the list as far as reasons for me to vote for someone. I want to know about a candidate’s stand on issues and how they would perform as an elected official. Following is some of the rhetoric going on in the race: Joe found out that his opponent, a former deputy sheriff, got a ticket a few years ago and had an outstanding bench warrant for his arrest. Mr. Hamm admitted he forgot to pay the ticket and took care of it. Joe believes law enforcement should be held to a higher standard and perhaps so, but I also understand how a person could forget to pay a ticket. Some of Mr. Hamm’s backers have suggested that Joe would be in the hip pocket of “king” David (Boren) or Bobby Cleveland, one of his supporters who happens to be a lightening rod personality in the Cleveland County Republican party. Others have suggested that he would be beholden and give preference to the big time Democrat Barry Switser, as Barry has contributed to Joe’s campaign.Therefore I had a lengthy phone conversation with Joe and grilled him on several issues. Without stuttering he informed me he was in nobody’s hip pocket and that he has been a personal friend of Barry Switser for over 17 years which is why he had contributed to him. That is understandable just like Mr. Hamm has probably received support from Toby Keith, another high profile Democrat who just endorsed Barack Obama. Mr. Hamm works as a security guard for Mr. Keith.With all that said here are the real reasons to vote for Joe Lester. I asked Joe what he intended to do about using HB 1804 which allows him to cross train his deputies to work with Immigration Control Enforcement (ICE) agents to work on the illegal alien issue. He indicated he had already contacted Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz to obtain information as to how he had implemented that training. I asked him about housing federal or DOC inmates in the county jail? He is in favor of doing so because it is profitable for a department budget, as long as you don’t overcrowd your jail and cause the need to build a larger jail at taxpayer expense. I asked about how he would handle overcrowding and his response was he favored a barbed wire impound and tents like Sheriff Joe Arpio in Arizona. In fact he has already talked with Sheriff Joe to understand the legalities and some ideas for such an action.I then asked him why he didn’t speak up about a question asked at a public forum in one of the smaller Cleveland County towns. He said the question was directed toward one of the Democrat Sheriff candidates. The question was about Cal Hobson, the former powerful Senate President Pro-Tem, who now has a high paying position as one of the 17,000 employees at the University of Oklahoma. It has been known for some time now that Cal has had a drinking problem. Allegedly he has been stopped at least twice in the not too distant past by sheriff’s deputies. Rather than be arrested, he was driven home by the deputies. The question was would this policy continue? So I asked Joe if certain people would receive preferential treatment? His answer was no as he said nobody should be above the law. In fact he informed me, as a Tulsa police officer he arrested the Mayor’s son on some fairly serious charges. Joe Lester and Mr. Hamm are both Christians and perhaps Mr. Hamm would be a good sheriff. However, I am confident Joe Lester, with management experience and strong people skills will do an excellent job. I would be glad to vote for him if I lived in the district. Cleveland county has the 3rd largest population in the state. Some of these questions I have asked should be asked of every sheriff candidate in the state.
– DOES TRUTH MATTER TO BILL NATIONS, OR NORMAN & MOORE PAPERS?
At a recent Democrat fund raiser in Cleveland County, State Representative Bill Nations (D-Norman) said that State Representative Sally Kern (R-Bethany & Warr Acres) was a disgrace to Oklahoma and the Nation for her opposition to homosexuality. He went on the say that she was arrested for trying to carry a concealed weapon into the Capitol. Both the Norman Transcript and the Moore American reported that she was arrested. It is true that Representative Kern was recently stopped by Capitol security when she FORGOT to remove her concealed weapon before entering the Capitol. This “non story” made a below the fold front page story in the Oklahoman, another newspaper who doesn’t seem to have much affection for Representative Kern. However, the Oklahoman got it right. She was NOT arrested. Security personel simply asked her to return to her vehicle and store the weapon. I am not surprised with the Democrat Bill Nations getting the story wrong. However, the Norman and Moore papers have paid reporters who have the time to verify the facts of a story before they are succored and used by the likes of Bill Nations. Representative Kern is tied for the 5th most conservative lawmaker in the House out of 101. I believe this Godly woman is one of the finest lawmakers in the House and brings great honor to the State of Oklahoma as well as our Nation. I look forward to her vanquishing her homosexual backed opponent come this November. An opponent who by the way doesn’t seem to make any distinction as to right from wrong in human behavior. I would suggest he may be incapable of performing one of the highest responsibilities for government officials. Determining what society should celebrate and what it should condemn.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
charliemeadows@peoplepc.com
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