JERRY FENT WINS AGAIN

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ JERRY FENT WINS AGAIN
++ SPEAKER BENGE AND REP DANK IN A DUST UP REFEREED BY GOV HENRY


++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon will be held on Wednesday, January 27th at Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this week will be Al Gerhart, with the Sooner Tea Party and also the point man for the newly formed Oklahoma Constitutional Alliance. Mr. Gerhart will talk about the progress of this organization.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

+ SUNDAY - OKC AREA - Next Sunday, January 31, will be the day
before session starts. For the 6th year in a row Dave Mehlhaff and State Representative Mike Reynolds, along with others, have sponsored a time of prayer before the start of session. This year it will begin at 2:00 p.m. and last for 2 hours until 4 p.m. Pastors and Christians are encouraged to come to the State Capitol and sit in the chair of your personal State Senator and/or Representative for the purpose of spending some time in prayer for these decision makers. Outside of a personal or national emergency, I believe this is the most important time for prayer in the year. Please come and pray for these lawmakers.

+ MONDAY - OKC AREA - Please pay close attention. For the past
several months several conservative groups have been spending time together to determine if we could work together on some key issues.
Our individual groups have come together under the banner of the Oklahoma Constitutional Alliance. There are now 32 supporting groups and we have decided to have an indoor tea party on the first day of session. If at all possible, please come to the State Capitol on Monday, February 1st.

Please be at the first floor Rotunda, by 10:00 a.m. for a press conference to support H.B. 1054 by Representative Ritze in the House and Senator Brogdon in the Senate. The legislation is called the Healthcare Freedom of Choice Act.

After the press conference we will begin the indoor Tea Party at 12:00 noon. Leave your big signs at home, we aren’t going to assemble to tell them how mad we are, we are there to ask the lawmakers to consider the changes we want to see made during this year’s session.
You will be greeted as you come in and if you need help in finding the name and office of your State Representative or Senator and their offices, that help will be available. If you don’t personally know your elected officials, this is a good time to meet them. Express yourself in a confident manner, but always be respectful. Flyers will be available to explain the various bills the OCA is supporting. Take a moment to review those proposals and then visit with your elected officials about them.

What is exciting about this new form of tea party is that we are informing the members of 32 groups about this opportunity to appeal to lawmakers on key issues important to conservatives. Following is some brief information about some of the bills we support.

One bill requires that each new law has to pass a test to see if it performs one of the 18 enumerated powers granted to the Federal Government by section 8 article 1 of the Constitution. Another bill prevents the use of RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) devices being implanted in our drivers licenses. That would prevent someone with a $150 scanner from walking by us and downloading our personal information for identity theft purposes. It would also prevent a person from being tracked through a “big brother” Fusion Center as they travel down the highway.

Another piece of legislation would protect Oklahoma’s State’s Rights by authorizing the impoundment of Federal tax payments if the Feds try to withhold Federal highway tax dollars from the state. Another bill prohibits the Federal government from enacting standards that would lead to a de facto national drivers license.

There is legislation to allow for the manufacturing of fire arms or ammunition in Oklahoma for sale in Oklahoma only which would be exempt from regulations by the federal government. Another piece of legislation would allow a person who had gotten into trouble as a youth to have their record wiped clean if they lived many years as a productive citizen without getting into more trouble.

And one more I want to mention, would be legislation to remove the sales tax on gold, silver or other precious metals being purchased as an investment or for monetary use. This is the first step of a process to have an Oklahoma currency ready to go should the Federal Reserve notes crash in value. After all, gold and silver are money if in coins, why should someone pay a tax for trading one form of money for another? Are you taxed if you give a teller a dollar for 2 rolls of pennies?

The Oklahoma Constitutional Alliance consists of the following groups:

Sooner Tea Party
AxXion for Liberty
Moore/Norman 912 Project
Oklahoma Chapters of the John Birch Society OK-SAFE Muskogee Tea Party Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ (the Black Robe Regiment) OKforTea.com Shawnee/Tecumseh 912 Project The Fair Tax groups Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2A) Tulsa Town Hall Tulsa 912 project OKC 912 project REPO We Are Change ROPE (Restore Oklahoma Public Education) Oklahoma Tenth Amendment Center Remember The Bailout Lincoln County 912 Project Kill The Maps III group American Majority (Oklahoma chapter) Americans for Prosperity OSU Tea Party OBAR Norman Tea Party USA Patriots OACH The Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC)

I need to be working out of town on this day, but this is such an important event that I will be re-arranging my work schedule to spend this day at the State Capitol. Please come and support these efforts if your schedule will permit.

++ JERRY FENT WINS AGAIN

This past Tuesday the State Supreme Court, in a 6 to 2 decision, gave semi-retired attorney Jerry Fent a huge victory when they ruled in his favor on a case he filed regarding tax increases being called fees.
Fent has earned a reputation of being the watchman on the wall on behalf of the citizens of Oklahoma. He frequently files suit before the State Supreme Court when he sees the legislature and governor violate the Oklahoma State Constitution.

I believe it was 1991 that the citizens of Oklahoma passed State Question 640, which said the legislature can NOT pass a tax increase without a 75% super majority in both houses of the legislature or a vote of the people. However, SQ 640 allowed the legislature to continue to raise “fees” by a simple majority. The real problem is that no law on the books has defined the difference between a tax and a fee. Thus, for years now the legislature has raised TAXES on Oklahomans without a vote of the people by calling them fees.

This is such an important issue, that we at OCPAC have had as one of the 10 questions on our candidate survey a request for candidates to define the difference between a fee and a tax. Almost none of them can answer correctly . In the past there have been a couple of court cases before the “Supremes” that could have defined the difference but the court left it in the gray.

However, Mr. Fent took the issue head on and properly defined a fee as revenue collected from a certain activity and the revenues MUST go back into the support of the activity from which they were collected.
The difference in a tax would be revenues collected from a certain activity, but those revenues would be spent on something not related to the activity from which they were collected.

Several years ago Senator Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso) tried to pass legislation defining the difference and last year Representative Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore) also tried similar legislation, but the powers to be shut them down.

Last Thursday the Oklahoman ran a “cry baby” editorial titled: COSTLY VICTORY. The first sentence was: “Jerry Fent has struck again.” In my opinion, the Oklahoman and others who love big government and money from every possible means will be mourning this one for some time.

In his effort, Fent doesn’t make a value judgment about the programs these taxes called fees were supporting, he just insists government fund these programs with tax revenues, and not with misnamed fees.
Hopefully this wonderful piece of justice will spread by properly defining revenue streams, with taxes being taxes and fees being properly used to fund the activities from which they were collected and not diverted to other uses.

++ SPEAKER BENGE AND REP DANK IN A DUST UP REFEREED BY GOV HENRY

Over the past several years various Republican lawmakers have authored legislation to mitigate our rapidly rising property taxes. Legislative leadership has not allowed those pieces of legislation to proceed.
While reducing the pace of growth in property taxes was one of the priorities in the Republican controlled Senate for this year, Speaker Benge (R-Tulsa) has plopped himself down like a massive boulder in a door way to stop any such legislation in the House.

This past week Representative David Dank (R-OKC), frustrated with Benge’s opposition, called on Speaker Benge to either let the legislation proceed or step down from being the Speaker. Speaker Benge shot back with an accusation that Dank was practicing a horrible case of political grandstanding. Benge went on to suggest that now was not the time to reduce property taxes and that he shouldn’t have to step down every time a fellow colleague disagreed with him. Then “big brother” Governor Brad Henry, jumped into the fray by saying Speaker Benge was correct in opposing such legislation.

As a result, I contacted Speaker Benge’s office last week and invited him to come to our meeting this week to explain the House Republican agenda for this year’s session. However, more importantly I wanted him to explain his opposition to slowing down our rising property taxes.
The offer was with or without Representative Dank also being present.
His schedule did not allow him to attend. Therefore I will speculate about Speaker’s Benge’s opposition and he can correct me if needed.

Several years ago we amended our Constitution to not permit a property tax increase of more than 5% per year, this does not include increases due to the passage of school bonds. What has happened is that for the most part it has become an automatic 5% increase. Since that is compounded, it means everyone’s property taxes will DOUBLE every 14 years. Representative Dank wanted to slow that down to no more than 3% per year and freeze property taxes for seniors 65 and over. At this rate it would take 24 years for property taxes to double.

Property taxes are a function of county government. They are not a part of the state budget and if Dank’s bill were to pass the legislature it would only provide for the people to vote next November to see if the people of Oklahoma wanted to make that change. It all sounds very reasonable to me, so why is Speaker Benge opposed to the people of Oklahoma to us being able to vote on this issue?

This answer is going to tough on all you little Kool Aid drinking Republicans, but Speaker Benge, as I have pointed out many times in these e-mails, loves big government and central planning, HE IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE! With state government revenues down, he is under enormous pressure to put as much money into education as possible. He doesn’t want property tax increases slowed down as the majority of property taxes go to education (in my county, 85 percent goes to education). Rising property taxes takes pressure off of Him.

So here are some questions. If one man in the House of Representatives can act like a Dictator and determine what will pass and what will not pass, then why do we go through the motions of having elected representatives? The Speaker is chosen for that position by his fellow Republicans by secret ballot in a caucus meeting. With that kind of power would it not be proper for the citizens to ask their elected officials who they voted for to be Speaker? Should that not become a campaign issue for candidates to go on record as to what kind of person they will vote for in the future? Will they vote for someone who loves government and wants to see it expand or someone who wants it to be efficient and reduced to its proper functions and remove itself from its improper functions? By the time a Representative is considered for Speaker, that person has a legislative record which can be determined by looking at the Conservative Index in the Oklahoma Constitution Newspaper. Speaker Benge is nothing more than the product of the votes of our personal state representatives.

Do we care about this most important issue? Right now the Senate Republicans are divided over who is going to be the next President Pro Tem. The final two candidates vying for that job are Senator Harry Coates (Democrat, oh excuse me, Republican from Seminole) and Brain Bingman (R-Sapulpa). Coates is the most liberal Republican in the Senate and Bingman ranks 21st out of 26 Republican Senators. Coates has even threatened to make a deal with the Democrats to get elected to this position. In a past e-mail, I asked why a conservative such as Jim Reynolds or Cliff Aldridge shouldn’t be elected?

Bottom line, these are powerful positions and the citizens should have great concern as to who fills them. We can’t stop the ultra wealthy from putting hundreds of thousands into the House and Senate PACs and the campaigns of those they think they can control. But, we the people can take the time to determine which lawmakers are conservative and which are not and support only the conservatives. That is largely what OCPAC is trying to do. If you are not going to take the time yourself to do this work, then learn to trust OCPAC and the work we do. I would also suggest becoming a dues paying member to help us fund the true conservatives. We have an impressive record in determining the difference. To join see below.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

CLOUDS OVER AMERICA CONFERENCE

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

++ CLOUDS OVER AMERICA CONFERENCE

++ ADA TEA PARTY

++ NOT EVIL, JUST WRONG

++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, January 20th will be held at Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. The program this week will feature State Representatives Sally Kern and Lewis Moore.

They will be talking and taking questions about legislation they are introducing for this year’s session. They each have a 10th Amendment piece of legislation and Representative Kern has legislation to modify our current divorce laws. The latter is already drawing support and criticism from many corners. Depending on his recovery from a cold, Senator Steve Russell will also be with us. He has a 10th Amendment piece of legislation and a couple of interesting Second Amendment bills to tell us about.

++ CLOUDS OVER AMERICA CONFERENCE

The organizers of this conference have been planning this event for several months and the line-up of speakers is outstanding. Conference sponsors are the local chapters of the John Birch Society and Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ. That I know of so far, pastors and others are coming in from Wyoming, Utah, Ohio and Wisconsin as well as from all over the state of Oklahoma.

Please pay close attention. The Conference begins at 1:30 p.m. on Friday the 22nd and lasts until 6:00 p.m.. There is a 30 minute break then a dinner banquet begins at 6:30 p.m. and lasts until 9:00 p.m..

The conference begins again at 8:45 a.m., Saturday morning and concludes at 12 noon. The location is the Character First Center, 520 West Main in downtown Oklahoma City. The Friday afternoon AND/OR Saturday morning sessions cost $25 for a single person to attend or $40 for a couple. The cost for students is only $10. The banquet has a separate cost of $25 per person to attend. Deadline for reservations to attend the banquet are 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday the 20th. For reservations for the banquet AND/OR the conference call (405) 348-9991 weekdays from 9:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m..

I believe all speeches are 29 minutes long. Following is the list of speakers.

CHARLIE MEADOWS - I start the conference off with the subject of understanding the conditions in America, educating for change - applying scriptural principles and organizing for solutions.

JOHN McManus - Mr. McManus is the President of the John Birch Society. His subject will be about the History of our Opposition. Mr.

McManus is one of the most informative speakers I have ever heard. I have probably heard him speak in excess of 20 time and I have never been disappointed.

STATE REP MIKE RITZE - Representative Ritze is also a medical doctor and will thus talk about the health care issues facing America from a conservative perspective.

PASTOR PAUL BLAIR - Pastor Blair will speak on the possible threats to liberty from so called “hate crimes” legislation. He has become quite an authority on this subject and is fearless in taking it on.

STATE REP CHARLES KEY - Representative Key has become an expert on State Sovereignty issues. He will talk about this movement, both on a local level as well as a national level.

PASTOR DAN FISHER - Pastor Fisher will talk about the modern day revival of the Black Robe Regiment. Named by the British during our war of Independence, those pastors were public enemy number one for stirring the hearts of the colonists toward LIBERTY.

ART CRINO - Mr. Crino is a retired industrialist who has wrestled with the liberal environmentalists in Oregon from the governor on down. Foolish folks who have wanted to implement “Cap & Trade” on a state level, regardless of what the feds want to do.

Dr. STERLING LACY - Author of the book VALLEY OF DECISION, Dr. Lacy will expose the plague affecting the church - RELIGIOUS NEUTRALISM.

REP JASON MURPHEY - Rep Murphey will talk about the concept of reducing the size of government to its proper functions, making government efficient and lowering the tax burden upon the citizens.

ART THOMPSON - Mr. Thompson is the CEO of the John Birch Society and will close out the conference by issuing a challenge to grow the Constitutionalist movement

We will have two additional speakers for the Friday evening banquet.

PASTOR STEPHEN BRODEN - Pastor Broden is from Dallas and will discuss the “progressive agenda” and “how to restore America.” He will also be one of the conference speakers.

DR. EVERETT PIPER - Dr. Piper is the President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Ok. He is a dynamic speaker who will challenge us to be engaged in the culture war.

As you can see, we have a tremendous line-up of speakers focused on the pertinent issues facing the people of America today. As I said previously, we will be having several people coming from out of state to learn and benefit from the tremendous information to be gained from the conference. For those of us locally, please don’t let this opportunity to learn and equip yourselves escape you.

If you are already familiar with some of this information, bring some friends and get them started as allies in the struggle ahead of us.

Call (405) 348-9991 for you reservations. If you are a pastor, call the Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ number for your arrangements (405) 348-1745.

++ ADA TEA PARTY

The folks in Ada and Seminole county will conduct another tea party gathering this Thursday evening, January the 21st. The location will be in the Industrial Arts Training Classroom on the campus of Ada’s Pontotoc County Technology Center. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m.

and feature a candidate forum. Forum speakers will be Dr. Janet Barresi, Republican candidate for State Superintendent of Schools, Senator Jonathan Nichols (R-Norman) and Ryan Leonard, both are Republican candidates for attorney general. Also on the panel will be State Representative John Wright (R-Broken Arrow) a candidate for Lt.

Governor and the Ada incumbent, State Representative Todd Thomsen. The final panelist will be Mr. Bill Hodges, a Republican candidate for House District 60.

The folks in Ada do a good job in organizing these events. These forums provide a valuable service for citizens to learn and get to hear from as well as ask questions of candidates. If you live anywhere in the area, don’t miss this meeting.

++ NOT EVIL JUST WRONG

Our friends from Americans For Prosperity are hosting two screenings of the documentary, NOT EVIL, JUST WRONG. By all accounts this is an excellent production about the truth behind the radical environmental movement. Therefore, this Thursday evening January 21st, one of the screenings will be held in room 128 of the Liberal Arts Building on the campus of UCO in Edmond. The other screening will be held in room

236 of the Learner Resource Center on the campus of ORU in Tulsa. Both screenings will be from 7 until 9:00 p.m.. There is no admission to attend.

++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

As of this past Saturday, January 16th, we now have 92 dues paying members in OCPAC for this year. I know we are experiencing some difficult times in the economy for the State of Oklahoma, which makes it all the more impressive that we have such support. Another local club announced they set a record for membership last year at 40 dues paying members. Their dues are $25, which means they raised $1,000.

Though our minimum membership is $50, we have many members who join at one of the two higher levels by sending us a check or have us draft their checking accounts on a monthly basis. That is what allowed us to raise close to $20,000 last year and we are on schedule to do even better this year. Regardless of which level anyone joins, the support for OCPAC and its goals is so very much appreciated. If you have not joined as yet, please consider doing so by following the instructions below. Thanks again.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

++ SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Tonight, Friday the 15th the Council on American Islamic Relations

(CAIR) will be hosting a town hall meeting to discuss and object to profiling in the name of preventing terrorism. The location will be the Melody Hall, 2280 North Broadway in Moore. The town hall meeting is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.

This is important on two parts. First, many believe CAIR is linked with the radical terrorist group Hamas http://www.adl.org/israel/cair/default.asp

and their effort to improve relations with American is simply a front for another agenda. Second, we need to get serious and start profiling. Not only at airports but any fundamentalist Muslim that publicly expresses hatred for our state and subsequently nation should be deported. If they indicate their loyalty is to Allah and they want to destroy America, they should be deported and if they are a citizen that should be revoked.

Our mystery speaker at several venues on Wednesday was a former devout Muslim that found true peace and love in a relationship with the Lord Jesus. Because he is “apostate” according to Islam, his life and family are at risk. He shared a lot in the 3 meetings I attended, perhaps most important was the 4 point strategy by Muslims to take over America for Islam. Our speaker made it clear that many Muslims live in the U.S. to escape the oppressive hand of the radical members of the Islamic religion. He indicated we have little threat from them.

However, there are large numbers of radicals (which should be seen as fundamentalists or “true believers”) and these are a great risk toward all Americans.

As a result, former State Representative Kevin Calvey, also one of the six candidates for the 5th Congressional District, sent me an e-mail about a peaceful picket he has organized to expose what is believed to be the deceitfulness of groups like CAIR. If you have any time to stand for Truth, Justice and the American Way, your presence would be most appreciated at the above location, starting a little after 6:00 p.m., this evening.

Charlie Meadows

Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

P.S. We had a little problem this past Wednesday. I guess the

“mystery speaker” title really stirred everyone’s interest as we had a record crowd at OCPAC. With extra tables brought in we had every chair filled (120) and several people standing around the walls. A capacity crowd is a good problem to have. It was a great meeting as our speaker was sobering and very committed to awakening America to deal with this rising problem of the Islamic agenda.

CONTRIBUTE TO SCOTT BROWN FOR SENATE?

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

++ CONTRIBUTE TO SCOTT BROWN FOR SENATE?

++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, January 13th, will be held at Italiano’s Restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. We will have a mystery speaker this Wednesday. For security reasons, I can’t mention his name or give details in this e-mail about his message. Over the years we have had a few mystery speakers and they have all turned out to be outstanding programs. Therefore, be sure and attend if you have the opportunity.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

+ MONDAY - CLAREMORE - U.S. Senator Tom Coburn will be holding a

town hall meeting in the Centennial Center Ballroom on the campus of Rogers State University, 1701 West Will Rogers Blvd, from 6:00 until 7:00 p.m.. I always encourage conservatives to attend these meetings to ask questions which set the tone to further a limited government, conservative agenda. If conservatives fail to do this, then the ones who show up to beg and pressure our elected officials are the whiney butt dependents, always wanting government to offer them more teats to suckle dry.

+ MONDAY - OKC AREA - The Oklahoma Constitutional Alliance is

announcing a new meet up to conduct an activist training session, called Operation Defuse. The time will be 6:45 p.m. on Monday, January 11th and it will be held at the Belle Isle Library, 5501 North Villa in OKC. The Liberty Restoration Project and Texans for Accountable Government are teamed up with thousands of volunteers across the country to demand accountability and combat the intrusive nature of fusion centers. Operation Defuse is an awareness and action campaign aimed to stem the growth of a totalitarian-style police state.

After the inadvertent release of the MIAC report by a Missouri Fusion Center and the deeply disturbing “Homegrown Terrorism” document from Virginia’s Fusion Center, concerned citizens are demanding to know what is happening in the 79 fusion centers across the country.

Oklahomans “are vested with the inherent right to know and be fully informed about their government.” The purpose of the Oklahoma Open Records Act is “to ensure and facilitate the public’s right of access to and review of government records so they may efficiently and intelligently exercise their inherent political power.”

Speaking Monday night will be Mr. Jim Marshall, MA (Econ), MPA, is the former Chief of Staff at the Oklahoma Department of Labor. He presently teaches higher education Economics while earning his PHD.

Mr. Marshall has a great deal of experience with Open Records requests and has generously agreed to give those in attendance a lesson in how to avoid the worst pitfalls when doing these requests. I have known Jim for over 25 years and believe it will be most beneficial for all in attendance.

+ WEDNESDAY - OKC AREA - The Business and Professional chapter of

the John Birch Society will hold their monthly meeting this Wednesday, January 13th with breakfast served at 7:15 and the program starting at about 7:40 a.m.. The speaker will be the same person from Plano Texas that will be at the OCPAC meeting later at noon. Again, because of security reasons I can’t mention his name or the topic of discussion.

Most of those attending the breakfasts are different from those attending the OCPAC meetings. I do not know if his subject matter will be the same in the morning as at noon. I want to urge as many people as possible to attend and come a little early as the fellowship is always enjoyable very edifying. One more Item, the same speaker will be at Fairview Baptist Church, 6:30 p.m.. The Location is on the corner of Danforth and Sooner Road in Edmond. If you are not able to hear this important message at breakfast or at lunch, try to hear him at Fairview on Wednesday evening.

+ WEDNESDAY - TULSA AREA - The Tulsa County Republican Mens Club

will hold their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, January 13th, 12 noon at the Hong Kong Restaurant, 7315 South Memorial Drive. Tim Gillespie, OCPAC’s speaker a couple of weeks ago, will be talking about the newly formed Second Amendment organization, OK2A. Tim really knew his information at OCPAC and I am glad he is getting to speak at this conservative club in Tulsa. Also speaking will be David McClain, an announced Republican candidate running to replace the liberal Joe Sweeden of Pawhuska. Senator Sweeden will be term limited out of office this year. For more information call Bob McDowell at (918) 481-1051.

+ THURSDAY - MOORE - The Sooner Republican Assembly (SRA) will meet

Thursday evening, January 14th, 6:00 p.m. at Earls Rib in Moore. The guest speaker will be Tony Lauringer, State Director for Oklahoman’s for Life, as well as a member of the board for the national organization. Mr. Lauringer will talk about this year’s up-coming pro- life agenda in the legislature, Rose Day and answer any questions about what might be done to protect the lives of the unborn. In addition, they will have some time set aside for the “BULLY PULPIT”.

During this time, anyone is allowed 2 minutes to say anything they want about any subject.

++ CONTRIBUTE TO SCOTT BROWN FOR SENATE?

A week or more before Christmas I heard a caller on one of the nationally syndicated talk shows call in and talk about a supposedly conservative Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in the State of Massachusetts. He is running against a liberal SEIU backed Democrat trying to become the permanent replacement for the “recently departed”

Ted Kennedy. I chuckled at the thought that a conservative could become a Republican candidate in Massachusetts, much less the idea that such a candidate would have as much of a chance at winning as a snowball lasting more than an hour in the deepest and hottest parts of hell.

Since, that time I have heard Mr. Brown interviewed several times and he sounds fairly conservative. Recent polls suggest the race is a dead heat as of this weekend. It seems, Republicans are very motivated, Democrats are not motivated and the large mass of Independents are very motivated and breaking two to one on behalf of Republican Scott Brown. Therefore, I decided to send a small contribution to Mr.

Brown’s campaign. Anyone wanting to do so may go to the following web- site to contribute: http://www.brownforussenate.com.

The election is Tuesday, January 19th, just one week from Tuesday. If Brown should win, the evil Democrats will probably stall seating him as long as possible to have as much time as possible to pass their socialized health care bill as Mr. Brown has stated clearly he is opposed to such. Should he win, the next battle will be to get him seated quickly. Recently, a Democrat U.S. Representative was seated only two days after winning a special election in Massachusetts. If Mr. Brown can get to the Senate soon, he can be the deciding number to stop the socialist Democrat’s plans. If you intend to contribute, do so as quickly as possible so the Brown campaign can determine how to best use the money in the last few days of the election.

++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

This past week at our meeting I received a handful of memberships and when I went by the post office our box was full of new memberships. I just haven’t had the time to log them all in and record them as yet, but the numbers are tremendous. Thanks to everyone for such a quick response. To join, please follow the instructions after my sign off.

As a point of interest, our speaker this past week, Mr. Tim Cox shared something with me before the meeting which didn’t surprise me too much, but I want to share it with everyone else. While I was telling him a little about OCPAC, he indicated in all of his travels, in at least 5 other states, perhaps as many as 7, people have asked him if he had ever heard of the group in Oklahoma called OCPAC? It surprised him and I believe made him all the more interested in coming to Oklahoma to attend one of our meetings.

I have never particularly been interested in OCPAC being known outside of Oklahoma. However, over recent years I have been asked to speak out of state on several occasions and with some frequency do nationally syndicated radio interviews or am interviewed for articles in national publications. I also receive e-mails with some frequency from people outside of Oklahoma. Therefore, I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that we are becoming known by some outside of Oklahoma. It truly speaks to the consistency and support of the many people who invest time and finances into OCPAC and the consistency we have tried to maintain in our mission.

By the way, Mr. Cox is very bright, really knows the plan he has developed and at least in the short term has committed his life and finances to seeing it come about. I am still contemplating his ideas.

I am sure there will probably be many people in Oklahoma wanting to participate in the efforts of Goooh. We had a large crowd that turned out to hear him and he was well received, all of his books and materials were taken by those attending.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday morning at the Birch breakfast and at noon for OCPAC.

Charlie Meadows

Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

Oklahoma's Budget Crisis

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

++ OKLAHOMA’S BUDGET CRISIS, VULTURES COMING HOME TO ROOST

++ JOIN OCPAC NOW

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, January 6th will be held at Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker, flying in from out of state for this weeks meeting will be Tim Cox, founder and director of a new political party/movement called GOOOH (pronounced go) which stands for, Get Out Of Our House. Part of their agenda is to turn over the entire U.S. House of Representatives. Mr.

Cox will thoroughly explain his organization, its methods and goals.

After spending some time on the goooh site, I agree with Mr. Cox that we have serious problems in America. The challenge always gets down to how to fix those problems. So far it has been nearly impossible to get everyone on the same page for a strategy to make positive changes (its even hard to agree on the meaning of positive in such cases). Mr. Cox is attempting to create a national movement which is a monumental task. It should be most interesting to see if his ideas have merit or do they simply represent the latest design of a windmill flailing in a storm? Please come with discerning ears, attentive minds and thoughtful questions.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

+ THURSDAY - TULSA AREA - OKlahomans For Sovereignty And Free

Enterprise (OK-SAFE) will hold their monthly meeting in the Tulsa area this Thursday, January 7th. The location will be the Hardesty Library, 93rd and South Memorial. The meeting will be from 6:30 until 8:00 p.m.. I don’t have an agenda for this meeting, but they are always educational and interesting.

+ SATURDAY - OKC AREA - The Oklahoma City Tea Party is hosting an

indoor tea party meeting and fund raising concert. The location is the Coca-Cola Bricktown Events Center, 425 East California. Since it is a fund raiser there is a cost of $10 to attend if you want to stand or $20 if you want a seat. For tickets log on to www.ticketstorm.com. The doors will open at 6:00. There will be an open microphone for people to make a brief speech starting at 6:15 and the program will begin at 7:00 p.m.. The tea party movement has been an important part of an awakening this year and it has also served an important part in putting pressure on primarily the federal government in its attempts to change the future of America. Besides some great speakers, there will be a concert for those in attendance to enjoy.

+ JANUARY 22ND & 23RD - OKC AREA - Just another reminder about this

year’s Clouds Over America Conference to be held on Friday afternoon through Saturday morning on the above mentioned dates. This will possibly be the most important and substantive conference held in the State of Oklahoma this year. I want to urge everyone to make an effort to make it a priority to attend. For more information and reservations, please call (405) 348-9991 weekdays from 9:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.

++ OKLAHOMA’S BUDGET CRISIS - VULTURES COMING HOME TO ROOST

The recession as reflected in revenues to state government, has finally arrived in Oklahoma, thought our unemployment numbers are still far below the national average. State leaders have been forcing state agencies to pare back on spending by 5% each month for some time until recently when they upped that number to 10%. I can hear the “sky if falling” squeals all the way to where I live which is about 25 miles North of the Capitol.

I don’t want to suggest a recession wouldn’t have an adverse effect on government revenues, regardless of policies enacted in past legislative sessions. However, there are some policies that represent vultures coming home to extract a price in a down economy. I want to mention a few of these vultures.

First, past legislative sessions have given control of spending to citizens with programs like tax rebates for purchasing “street legal”

electric automobiles. The legislation which will pay for 50% of the cost of an electric car to anyone wanting to purchase such a vehicle was passed several years ago. The program limped along without much participation for several years until this year when President Obama and the Democrats held out a fist full of unconstitutional federal dollars to enhance the program. Since citizens could obtain one of these mostly glorified golf carts at almost no cost to themselves, the participation shot through the roof. Estimated cost to the state of Oklahoma, $40 million dollars. Lawmakers passed a bad piece of legislation which gave self serving citizens control over spending tax dollars. That vulture is now coming home to roost.

Second, over many years now, even in good times, when we had hundreds of millions in new growth monies (budget surpluses) our lawmakers weren’t satisfied with all the new monies, so they obligated us for bonded indebtedness. Therefore much of the limited revenues coming into state coiffures today are already obligated to make payments on past debts.

As an example, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) will have to use a shrinking amount of federal highway dollars to pay back bonds floated for past road projects. The road funding for Oklahoma from Obama’s Stimulus Project is nearing completion. These newly printed federal reserve notes (these aren’t tax dollars we have sent to Washington, they are newly printed dollars which will never be paid back, but the interest on them will become a burden on all of us and especially our children and grandchildren for many years to come) are a short term funding boost for our roads.

However, I asked a question in a previous e-mail, would it be more responsible for the feds to print these new dollars and send them to the states for up to 2 years and then the program would end, or should we raise the federal gas tax by 5 to 7 cents? If the latter, the new revenues would be ongoing far past the 2 years? This would also be a “pay as you go” method of funding better roads and not increase our debt. Of course I don’t favor this approach at this time because an estimated 30% of the road funds already collected are diverted to other uses such at public transit, Amtrack, jogging and bike trails as well as beatification projects.

Speaking of beautification projects, have you seen the art work on newly built bridges and underpasses in Oklahoma? Some of the art work is attractive and some of it is coyote ugly. Regardless of your opinion to its esthetic value, it is expensive. Just a few years ago, the legislature passed a law requiring, I believe it was 5% of the cost of all new capitol projects (buildings, roads & etc.) built in Oklahoma to be devoted to art work incorporated into the projects. In a day of declining state revenues and especially highway dollars, these vultures are really coming home to roost.

One of the first things our legislature should do this year would be to repeal that foolish law. I really support property owners along our highways keeping their fields in order along with improvements and buildings looking nice, but I want my road dollars used effectively. I want roads and bridges to be functional, not artistic, especially at great expense and misuse of limited road dollars.

During the 2009 legislative session our lawmakers floated a 25 million dollar bond to build low water dams on the Arkansas river to create an entertainment district. By the time it is paid back with interest, it will probably cost the taxpayers close to 50 million for 25 million worth of work. The year before we borrowed another 25 million to go toward building a new Indian Culture Center in OKC, that just after incurring millions of dollars in debt to build a new historical center about 3 miles away which prominently features, as it should, the Indian heritage of Oklahoma. Just more vultures looking for a place to roost. These kind of examples could go on an on.

Representative Jason Murphy (R-Guthrie) is a staunch opponent of all this debt spending. As he said in a speech recently, lawmakers do these bills in many cases to satisfy a special interest or constituent. In other cases they are done because of the instant gratification society by which we have been conditioned to live in as well as the credit they receive for passing something, perhaps even a legacy piece of legislation. However, buy today, pay for it tomorrow kinds of legislation often times create real problems in tight times when the buzzards and vultures come home to roost.

In tight times there may be even more pressure to pass these kinds of buy today-pay tomorrow pieces of legislation, especially from entities such as higher education. As one example, the city of Edmond and UCO are lusting after the possibility of building a new state medical examiner’s office on the campus of UCO, next to their high tech crime fighting facilities. In the long term, this may be good for the taxpayers of Oklahoma, but it should be done with money on hand, not more bonded indebtedness. The project may be in the $30 million range.

Bottom line, in the spirit of our founders and the letter of the Oklahoma State Constitution, we should pay as we go and not continue to borrow and pay interest to fund state government. Any future debt is squarely upon the shoulders of the Republicans in the legislature, they are now in control. In addition, properly prioritizing state spending and crafting a future budget is also in their hands, with the exception of cooperation with the governor’s office. After all, he does have a veto pen and he is a Democrat.

++ JOIN OCPAC NOW

As a reminder, everyone’s 2009 membership in OCPAC expired as of December 31st. The only exception are those who are having us draft their checking accounts for either $15 or $30 per month. Those memberships continue on, unless we are contacted to stop those monthly drafts. Therefore, folks need to renew their memberships, hopefully as soon as possible. I believe we will be voting on endorsements by mid to late February and you must have your dues paid 2 weeks prior to any vote. As of January 1st we have already have 46 dues paying members join OCPAC. Thanks so much for that kind of confidence and support. To join, please see the instructions following my sign off. One more thing, if anyone wants to communicate with me by way of e-mail, you can’t hit reply to the OCPAC e-mail, you must send me an e-mail directly to me at the following address: charliemeadows7@gmail.com.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

To join OCPAC fill out the following and send your check to:

OCPAC

P.O. Box 2021

Edmond, OK 73083

Yes Charlie, I want to join OCPAC at one of the following levels:

___Basic membership at $50 per year.

Safari Club Membership:

___Elephant Provider at ___$180 annual or ___$15 monthly ___Elephant Provider & RINO Hunter, ___$360 annual or ___$30 monthly For monthly payments please send a voided check so we may draft your Checking account on a monthly basis. If you decide to discontinue monthly support, simply contact me and we will stop the withdrawal.

THE FOLLOWING IS REQUIRED BY STATE LAW !

Print Name____________________________________________

Address___________________City___________State____Zip_____

Occupation____________________Employer_________________

Date___________________Amount $_______________ I have freely given from my own resources & have not been compensated for this contribution. (Corporate contributions not allowed by law!)

Signature_____________________________________