IS U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAN BOREN REALLY A CONSERVATIVE?

– THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM
– ANNOUNCEMENTS
– SARAH PALIN, McCAIN’S VP CHOICE
– THE ETHICS COMMISSION REPREMANDS LANCE CARGILL AND OTHERS
– AMTRACK, AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOONDOGGLE!
– IS U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAN BOREN REALLY A CONSERVATIVE?


– THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM
Invited to appear for our interview process this week will be Republican candidates Brent Colle of Ponca City, Tod J. Barrett of Norman, Charles Ortega from Altus, and Jason Nelson of Northwest Oklahoma City. We will have 2 more weeks of interviews then our members will vote to determine those to receive our support. Also, log on to the OCPAC Blog (http://www.ocpac.info/) for this week’s poll question about Amtrack. If it is on our blog by the time you get this, link on to the web-site for Kyle Coulter and see a new product, a 4 minute video of Kyle talking about the issues he cares passionately about in his run for a state house seat.

– ANNOUNCEMENTS– TULSA AREA:
Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise (OK-SAFE) will hold their monthly meeting tonight, Tuesday the 2nd at 6:45 p.m. at the Hardesty Library 93rd and Memorial in Tulsa. The meeting will feature a panel discussion on the proper role of government in the U.S. and Oklahoma. Panelists will include Senator Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso), State Representative John Wright, Senate candidate Gary Casey, and Ken Sellers, Vice President of OK-SAFE. The reports I have received are that these meetings are outstanding. This is a vital subject and folks in the Tulsa area should make every effort to attend

– JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY’S ANNIVERSARY:
The John Birch Society will celebrate their 50th anniversary at the national headquarters in Appleton Wisconsin on October 2nd through the 4th. There will be around 35 speakers with workshops going on during the days and keynote speakers during the evenings. You can log on to http://www.jbs.org/ to see the line up of speakers. For more information you may also call 1 800- JBS-USA1. Several folks will be going from Oklahoma in one or more vans, while some will fly to Chicago and rent a car from there. If you are interested in going with a group by van, you need to contact me by this Friday, either by e-mail, charliemeadows@peoplepc.com or on my home phone (405) 282-8711. There is no cost to attend the conference other than the banquet meal. The conference hotel and banquet meal have been sold out for a long time, but they have blocked off rooms with 5 other surrounding hotels and will provide a live video feed to a second banquet room. If you want to travel with the group by van, your minimum expense might be around 5 to 6 hundred dollars per person. We will also try to schedule a stop at the air museum in Osh Kosh Wisconsin, home to the worlds largest fly in.

– SARAH PALIN, McCAIN’S VP CHOICE
This past Friday morning, less than 12 hours following Obama’s acceptance speech, John McCain stole the media attention from Obama as news began to leak out that he was choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate. Strategically, McCain’s timing was a brilliant move. First reports indicate Palin is one of the most conservative people to be nominated for President or in her case Vice President since Ronald Reagan. Governor Palin is pro-life, pro second amendment, against the invasion of illegal aliens, pro-energy production (maybe), a mother of 5, married to her high school sweetheart, a sportsman, a strong communicator and seems to be very accomplished at everything she puts her hand to. She is obviously juggles her duties of being a mom, while at the same time managing many other affairs. Convincing conservatives she can do the same juggling act as Vice President will be her biggest challenge with pro-family advocates. As vice president, she could probably arrange her schedule to give as much time and attention to her family as she does as a Governor. However, if something should happen to McCain and she would take over as President, the family would of necessity be relegated to a second priority. I don’t know how social conservatives will handle that if they think that deeply.She is quite capable of thinking and communicating outside of the box which should allow her to make the plagiarist, Joe (never had an original thought) Biden, look like the mental midget he happens to be. That debate between the two of them may actually be worth watching. I listened to a variety of syndicated talk radio shows on Friday and heard a common thread among the listeners who called in. By and large, they were “EXCITED” with McCain’s choice and are now changing from politically “listless” to highly motived. Many conservatives who may not have been planning on voting, have now changed to a position of contributing to the campaign as well as working for the ticket. That will be the most valuable aspect to McCain’s choice.While Governor Palin is the director of an oil and gas compact headquartered in Oklahoma, there is one issue which may call to question her conservative credentials, at least to some degree. When McCain introduced her, he indicated she had stood up to “big oil,” the popular whipping boy and evil enemy of the left. What does that mean? Is she for the increased production of oil or against it? Here may lie the problem. A gallon of gasoline produced from a barrel of oil coming out of Alaska is generally the most expensive gasoline produced in America. Not just because of the high production costs in Alaska, but because of excessive state taxes on that product. Two weeks ago, I heard Neal Bortz read an article about a major oil company shelving plans to expand exploration in Alaska and I believe it was also Conoco-Phillips mentioned in the article that had decided to shelve plans to build or expand a refinery in Alaska because of excessive taxation. The problem is, Alaska doesn’t just tax the petroleum industry to fund its proper government services, they PRACTICE the Obama plan. They tax big oil and give the proceeds to the people of Alaska. I am not sure on the amount but I believe it is $1,200 each year to every Alaskan household. This isn’t conservatism, but just another socialist re-distribution of wealth thievery scheme. To be fair, Governor Palin inherited this policy when elected. I doubt she could have been elected if she did not favor the practice, as canceling welfare programs from people used to sucking on the government teat is most difficult. However, one report I saw his that she pushed to increase taxes on “big oil” four fold. If true, that is not even close to being conservative. Remember, any time you raise taxes on businesses, they must raise their prices to consumers or diminish the production of their products or services. The nation desperately needs to dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil by producing more of our own resources. However, the tax policies and “robin hood” give away scheme of such a key state like Alaska will hinder that effort.

– THE ETHICS COMMISSION REPRIMANDS LANCE CARGILL AND OTHERS
There is still more to be learned about what happened, but it appears State Representative Mike Reynolds (R-OKC) may have been correct about his criticism regarding former House Speaker Lance Cargill (R-Harrah) and others. Following a very long investigation, the ethics commission issued a reprimand to Cargill and folks affiliated with the Oklahoma COUNTY Republican party. Supposedly the evidence has been turned over to authorities for possible prosecution. When channel 9 News was featuring the controversy, they pictured at least 3 lawmakers who may be implicated, Lance Cargill, Greg Piatt (R-Ardmore) and Trebor Worthen (R-OKC). As a point of interest, all 3 chose not to run for re-election, though none of them were term limited.At the heart of the matter is a law which prohibits a lawmaker from contributing campaign funds they received for their campaign to another candidate. Lawmakers like to amass large war chests before elections to scare off challengers. When an influential and powerful lawmaker raises a half million dollars for a re-election effort and only needs $15,000 or so to fend off a weak challenger, then what does that lawmaker do with the rest of the money, especially when there are other candidates who desperately need money? The temptation to find a way to circumvent the law and get money to where it is needed is huge. I believe prominent lawmakers may have worked hard to find a way to re-distribute funds to candidates needing money. The money funneled to candidates, may then add increased pressure on candidates, if elected, to be loyal to the desires of those prominent lawmakers on certain measures rather than voting for the good of their constituents or the people of Oklahoma. That loyalty may give certain prominent lawmakers the power to become a “deal maker” when dealing behind closed doors with the Governor’s office or the opposition party. Theoretically, that loyalty might also allow prominent and powerful lawmakers to promise huge benefits to the wealthy power brokers in the state, in exchange for large contributions to political PACs and or certain candidates suggested by prominent lawmakers. If that were the case, then only the Governor and a handful of powerful lawmakers run the state with a majority of the rest of the lawmakers being little more than puppets on a string.

– AMTRACK, AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOONDOGGLE!
I have been opposed to the expansion of Amtrack into Oklahoma from day one and the evidence of that poor decision keeps mounting. My first problem with Amtrack is that it is a business totally owned by the federal government. In a free market society, as envisioned by our founding fathers, government would never own a business. My second problem with Amtrack is that there is no “market” for passenger rail service, at least outside of congested cities, primarily in the Northeast. If there was a market, BNSF or some other rail company would offer that service. Unfortunately, when no market exists, government often steps in to try and make a market. In this case at an enormous expense to the taxpayers.Now for the particulars about Amtrack. If a person wants to ride from OKC to Fort Worth and back they will pay about $48 for a ticket as well as a travel agent fee for arranging the ticket. However, the actual cost per rider to operate the train for the round trip and back, depending on the number of riders, ranges from about $400 to $450 per rider. At the low end, that means the taxpayers pay $350 for every person who rides the train round trip. Most riders on Amtrack are doing so for the entertainment, not as a part of vital transportation. Therefore the taxpayers are forced to pay a huge subsidy for the entertainment of a few. About 3 or 4 years ago, Amtrack was threatening to discontinue the Heartland (crawler) flyer if the state didn’t come up with an annual subsidy of several million dollars. So in the name of “economic development” the business geniuses in the marble pork pen at 23rd and North Lincoln decided to add a state subsidy to Amtrack, above the already huge federal subsidy. The reason I INSIST it is an economic boondoggle is that more people board the train in Oklahoma to go spend their money in Texas than board the train in Texas to come to Oklahoma. Thus, to those who have ears to hear and understand, there is a giant sucking sound of money leaving Oklahoma to end up in Texas to circulate around in their economy rather than staying here to circulate around in Oklahoma. Here is more evidence of my allegation. Recently the Edmond City Counsel PASSED a resolution supporting the extension of Amtrack to Edmond and points North. The Oklahoman’s Edmond reporter asked for e-mail responses to the idea of Amtrack coming to Edmond. They were all positive, but one deserves being re-printed here for all to see and understand how ignorant the financial wizards at the Capitol were when they decided to throw state dollars down the black hole known as Amtrack rather than to use that money for roads and bridges. Please read closely and think about what I have written above: “ANGIE DEAN of Edmond said she’s ‘fallen in love’ with riding the train. ‘As of last year, when I coordinated a Girl Scout train trip for almost 100 kids and adults to Gainsville, Texas, to do some back-to-school shopping, I have decided to make it an annual event. So, in August, my mom, sister-in-law, niece, her friend, my daughter and I will be heading back down to Gainsville for the tax-free weekend to do some more shopping and have some fun girl time.”Just think, 100 riders at a subsidy of $350 each only cost the taxpayers $35,000. All that so a few people could have some fun spending their money in Texas rather than Oklahoma. Without Amtrack, how many of these kids and parents from the Edmond area do you think would have gone to Texas to do their shopping? Probably not many, but if they did, it would be because they wanted to take a little trip, not to save money by buying their clothes in Texas. At today’s high prices for fuel, there would be no savings on a trip to shop in Texas, unless you lived really close to Gainsville or maybe Denison. Going to Texas to spend their money is their business as long as they take the trip on their own dime and not on the backs of the taxpayers. Also notice how our sales tax holiday in Oklahoma did nothing to keep these Oklahomans at home. I have always said, people don’t go to Texas to save money, especially at today’s high price for fuel, but rather for the fun of the trip. To use the force of government to subsidize their entertainment is to practice legalized plunder. In my opinion their actions make them become little more than petty thieves, as they dip their hands into our pockets to have some fun riding a train.

– IS U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAN BOREN REALLY A CONSERVATIVE?
Boren is a member of the representatives in Washington calling themselves blue-dog Democrats, meaning he is supposed to be more conservative than the rest of the Democrats. Being from Oklahoma, Boren claims to support the oil and gas industry. However, as of about 3 weeks ago, he still had not signed the “discharge petition” which would force Nancy Pelosi to allow a vote on drilling in prime areas laden with oil to help make us more energy dependent and lower the price of gasoline and diesel fuel.In addition, I was just informed that Congressman Boren has also not signed the discharge petition to force Speaker Pelosi to allow a vote on the “Broadcaster Freedom Act.” This act, if passed, would legislatively prohibit the “fairness doctrine” from being re-instated and keep the government from controlling or shutting down religious broadcasting and conservative talk radio. I want to urge the folks who live in his district to contact one or more of Boren’s offices and tell them you want him to support these discharge petitions. Since he may be a candidate for Governor in 2010, he might even be responsive to Oklahomans no matter where they live. I will give his contact numbers with office his office numbers first and fax number second. Washington: (202) 225-2701 & (202) 225-3038, Muskogee:(918) 687-2533 & (918) 686-0128, Claremore: (918) 341-9336 & (918) 342-4806, and McAlester: (918) 423-5951 & (918) 423-1940.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

charliemeadows@peoplepc.com