CHARLIE’S PICKS - PRIMARY ELECTION

CHARLIE’S PICKS - PRIMARY ELECTION, JULY 27TH OF 2010

Many years ago, friends began to ask me questions about elections,
knowing I was more involved than they. At first we would talk in
person or on the phone, but the numbers simply became too many. So I
put together my infamous “Charlie’s Picks” of which I would hand out,
then came the internet. Let me say, I have personally heard as many of
these candidates as possible and in some cases had a lot of time with
them. I am looking for constitutional conservatives with Judeo/
Christian values. This information is simply my opinion and is
designed to be helpful if you have not done your own research. You may
also know information which I do not have and thus have a different
opinion which is fine. I am often asked if this information can be
forwarded to others, the answer is, by all means. One more item, if
your would like to receive the weekly OCPAC e-mail, simply request it
at:
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com. I try to limit them to once a week and your
name will never be given, loaned or sold to anyone.

FOR GOVERNOR - RANDY BROGDON - Intimately involved with State
Government over the past 8 years, that allows for a greater depth on
state issues. He has more passion, conviction and courage to make
significant changes in state government. The powerful central planners
who have held significant sway over the Democrats and Republicans
these past several decades are afraid of Randy should he become
Governor. They have funded Mary and thus will expect her to “tow the
line” on their important corporate welfare issues. With the federal
government continuing to encroach on the states and the people on an
almost daily basis it is Randy Brogdon, not Mary Fallin, who already
has had and will have the courage to stand up to the feds. This is not
a race between good and bad, it is a race between “OK” and “BETTER”
perhaps much better. I have had several Mary Fallin supporters tell me
Randy would be the better governor, but they believe Mary will have an
easier time winning in November. Polling has shown Fallin or Brogdon
can and are likely to win in November. Now is the opportunity for
Republicans to cast their vote for the person who will be the best
governor, not the establishment pick. It is time to take a reasonable
risk, not play it safe. If Randy doesn’t win on July 27th, I will
support Mary in November. However, next Tuesday, I will gladly cast my
vote for the person who should be the next Governor of Oklahoma, Randy
Brogdon.

FOR LT. GOVERNOR - JOHN WRIGHT - Representative Wright is
reliable, methodical, thorough and more conservative that Todd Lamb.
Unlike Todd Lamb, John is not charismatic and does not have the
establishment behind him. Many of the grass roots activists have had a
hard time seeing John being able to defeat Lamb so John has had a very
difficult time raising funds or obtaining volunteer workers. Lamb got
a lot of votes from OCPAC members as it was very close. However, John
won our endorsement and I will vote for John Wright.

FOR AUDITOR & INSPECTOR - YOUR CHOICE - OCPAC didn’t interview the
candidates for this race as neither candidate was on the radar screen
until the last minute of filing. Gary Jones will win the primary
easily, though I would like to know more about the retired CPA running
against him. This is the second or third most important statewide race
and Jones certainly has the best chance of winning this for the
Republicans as he has run for this office the past 2 election cycles
against the winner who he helped to put into prison. Jones has big
name ID.

FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL - SCOTT PRUITT - I thought the OCPAC
endorsement vote would be closer, but Scott did an outstanding job
during our interview process. He is very articulate. His plan to
establish a division in the AG’s office of lawyers specializing in
Constitutional law for the purpose of contending with the federal
government when it tries to force unconstitutional mandates upon the
State of Oklahoma and its people was exciting. In addition, his 8
years in the legislature gives Scott an advantage over Ryan in knowing
how to provide important information to lawmakers regarding proposed
legislation. There has been some concern about Scott and the illegal
alien issue. He has on several occasions indicated publicly that he
would support an Arizona type law.


FOR STATE TREASURER - OWEN LAUGHLIN - Owen has won most of the
straw polls where people have an opportunity to hear him and his
plans. However, Ken Miller has raised much more money because the
wealthy and powerful are behind him and thus Ken will have much more
TV and mail presence than Owen. It seems Ken’s campaign theme is no
more taxes and no more spending. However, over the past 3 years he has
authored and voted for numerous new spending bills such at borrowing
$25 million to force Oklahoma citizens to build a river entertainment
district in Tulsa after the voters of Tulsa voted no to tax themselves
for the project. He also voted for the corporate welfare legislation
which will put approximately $80 million taxpayer dollars into the
pockets of the 5 multi-millionaires who own the OKC Thunder. In
addition, Miller also authored the legislation to exempt Aubry
McClendon from having to pay sales taxes on the building materials at
his development on lake Texoma. Ken was the author of a tax increase
this year which raised the cost of requesting a driving record from
$10 per request to $25, a 150% increase in cost. Ken has also made the
R.I.N.O. (Republican In Name Only) list for the past 2 years. I
personally like Ken, I just don’t believe his campaign rhetoric
matches reality. Owen would make a good Treasurer and he wouldn’t be
beholden to the powerful central planners.

FOR SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION - JANET BARRESI -
Probably the best candidate the Republicans have ever fielded for this
position. The founder of 2 charter schools, Janet had the courage to
tell the teacher’s union and the education industry special interest
associations that she would not support more funds going into
education without accountability and improved performance. She is a
strong supporter of all the competition we can muster when it comes to
education.

FOR COMMISSIONER OF LABOR - MARK COSTELLO - OCPAC endorsed
Costello over Jason Reese by a huge margin. Not only is Reese still
against HB 1804, legislation to deal with the invasion of illegal
aliens, he is a liberal Republican as evidenced by his support of John
McCain, not in the general election, but in the primaries. As further
proof, he is so acceptable to organized labor that the state employees
union contributed $5,000 to his campaign. He is quite harsh in his
campaign rhetoric, if he insists on such, maybe a day will come where
he turns his fire breathing verbiage toward liberals rather than
conservative Republicans.

FOR INSURANCE COMMISSIONER - JOHN DOAK - John got into the race a
little late but has come on like a man with a mission. A real
professional in the insurance industry, John simply could no longer
sit on the side lines with people like President Obama in power and
Oklahoma’s current insurance commissioner, Kim Holland, having been an
Obama delegate at the Democrat National Convention 2 years ago. During
the OCPAC interview, John presented himself as a true conservative. He
is the best insurance commission candidate I have seen in my 26 plus
years of activism.

FOR CORPORATION COMMISSIONER - DANA MURPHY - I believe Dana’s
opponent filed because he likes to see his name in a newspaper or on a
ballot. Dana will win this race with great ease.


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FOR U.S. SENATOR - TOM COBURN - While Senator Coburn isn’t
perfect, his opposition has shown no evidence that they would be
better, especially the perennial candidate Evelyn Rogers. This will be
a cake walk for the Senator.

FOR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE

DIST. # 1 - NATHAN DAHM - OCPAC members endorsed John Sullivan for
his special election victory over Cathy Keating in 2001. Since then
many conservative Republicans in the Tulsa area have abandoned
Sullivan and are looking for a consistent conservative. Sullivan’s
vote for the “bail out” and perhaps his trouble with alcohol has
earned him several opponents. Nathan Dahm is a dedicated
constitutionalist.

DIST. # 2 - HOWARD HOUCHEN - During the OCPAC interview process,
Howard showed a real “fire in the belly” desire to go to Washington
and take on liberals. Howard’s core values are conservative and
regardless of how good your message happens to be, if you can’t raise
enough campaign contributions to get your message out, it is hard to
consider a candidate as viable. Howard had raised about 3 and a half
times the money as the other Republicans in the race. All four
candidates did well at the interview, but Dr. Charles Thompson was the
other candidate that stood out besides Howard. Once the eventual
candidate is chosen, conservative Oklahoman’s all over the state need
to send some money to our nominee. Dan Boren can be defeated, but only
if our candidate has the resources.

DIST. # 4 - R.J. HARRIS - Mr. Harris is not the most skilled
politician, but he is a passionate American patriot and
Constitutionalist. He is as honest as the day is long and he really
wants to see the liberal Tom Cole retired. Cole was in leadership in
Washington when the Republicans lost their way. He was always the big
spending “lap dog” for President Bush’s failed domestic policies.
Besides his vote for the Wall Street investment banker bail-out, here
is another example of Cole’s liberalism: while the federal government
was running large deficits, Cole voted to send $50 BILLION dollars to
Africa to fight AIDS. While the purpose may be honorable, there is no
provision in the Constitution for such expenditures. Those efforts
should be left to the private sector. R.J. Harris has been deployed to
Iraq twice and he is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan sometime
in the future. No Democrat or Independent filed in this race, so the
good voters of the 4th district have an opportunity to send the
liberal Cole home and build a conservative base of Republicans in the
House. Conservatives who have a passion for the Constitution. R.J.
will work to bust up the “good old boy” system in Washington, not
become a part of it.

DIST. # 5 - KEVIN CALVEY - OCPAC members gave the endorsement to
Calvey with a strong majority. Kevin frequently showed leadership
skills while in the legislature, not afraid to step out front and lead
on issues. He is a step ahead of the others in political skills,
intellectual development and aggressiveness. In Washington he will be
ready to hit the ground running. Kevin will get the largest number of
votes, but not likely a majority. If you just can’t get on board with
Kevin, I recommend supporting James Lankford. While he is a little
behind Kevin in most areas, he is conservative and capable of getting
up to speed. I do NOT recommend voting for Mike Thompson. I personally
like Mike and he leaves the legislature with a fairly conservative
score on the Conservative Index (78 lifetime average). However, most
of his career has been to carry legislation for agencies or special
interests, which is why he has raised so much money for this race. In
a past e-mail, I suggested the Senate bill to opt out of Obamacare
that Mike serves as the House author, was rigged by leadership so he
could get credit and use it for his congressional effort. The real
credit for the Obamacare opt out should go to Representatives Mike
Ritze (R-Broken Arrow) and Mike Reynolds (R-OKC). However, these two
lawmakers were often times a thorn in the flesh to the more liberal
Speaker Benge, so Thompson was the chosen vessel for the important
legislation. Many of the powerful central planners are behind
Thompson, if elected he will most likely do their bidding rather than
uphold the Constitution.

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STATE SENATE SEATS - I will only address those races of which I have
some knowledge.

DIST. # 4 - (Poteau area) - YOUR CHOICE - Tom Lannigan is a
bonafied conservative, but he has run on 2 other occasions and not
done well. I just don’t know anything about his opponent. The
political climate is slowly changing in that area of the state.
Perhaps the stronger of these 2 candidates may have a chance of
winning in the general election this year.

DIST. # 10 - (Pawhuska, Cleveland, Tulsa) - DAVID McLAIN - An
exceptionally strong Conservative with excellent communication skills.
David is an ordained minister with a passion for Constitutional
principles. He easily won OCPAC’s endorsement in his effort to send
RINO (Republican In Name Only) nominee Eddie Fields home after only 1
term in the House. In 2006 Fields appeared before the members of OCPAC
and didn’t receive our endorsement. He just wasn’t conservative. He
ran again in 2008 and won. His 2 year average on the Conservative
Index was a paltry 57. He decided to jump to the Senate, where we
already have too many liberal Republicans. We really need more people
like David Mclain in the Senate.

DIST. # 22 - (Kingfisher, Piedmont, Yukon) - BOB BARNETT - An
educator who is also a bonafied conservative. His opponents are the
Mayor of Yukon, a moderate Republican and Rob Johnson, son of the term
limited Senator Mike Johnson. Rob left the legislature 2 years ago to
run against Dana Murphey. During his 4 years in the legislature his
lifetime average on the Conservative Index was a 59.

DIST. # 24 - (Moore to Duncan) - ANTHONY SYKES - Senator Sykes
and Senator Brogdon are the 2 most conservative and thus the best
Senators in Oklahoma. After listening to his opponent, Linda Molsbee
speak, she is not anywhere near as conservative as Senator Sykes. She
is so full of compassion for needy people that she should consider a
career as a director of a private charity, but definitely not a
lawmaker

DIST. # 28 - (Seminole, Wewoka, Stroud, Chandler, Jones etc.) -
TIM CLEM - An outstanding conservative and Christian. Tim has a lot
of dept on issues, high moral character and he is full of wisdom. His
opponent, Senator Harry (the turncoat) Coates has WON the RINO award 3
different times and has been runner-up on 2 other occasions. Of the 26
Republican Senators, Harry Coates is the most liberal with a lifetime
average of an embarrassing 46. There have been some years that 20 or
more Democrats in the House and Senate have had more conservative
scores than Harry. Coates needs to go back to Seminole and Tim Clem is
the right man to send him home.

DIST. # 30 - (Bethany, Warr Acres, NW OKC) - MATT JACKSON - I
have heard Matt Speak a couple of times and believe he has the
potential to be a very good Senator. I have appreciated his honesty
and hard work ethic. His opponent, David Holt, I believe to be a nice
fellow, but he is the textbook example of a political groupie that has
been groomed to someday run for office. All he has done since high
school is work for politicians. No private sector experience and he is
loaded with campaign money from the central planners. He is very
likely to be the delivery man for most any pet project the local
central planners want from state government.

DIST. # 34 - (Owasso) - Tim Coager - With time, Tim will fully
develop his conservative ideology. He appears to be very willing to
consider conservative positions he had not fully thought through. This
is Senator Brogdon’s seat and it would be very sad to see it go to Mr.
Brinkley, a moderate Republican. While working in the Television
industry, Mr. Brinkley produced a program which featured a marriage
between a lesbian and a transvestite. Something one of our members in
the Tulsa area indicated he has told her that he was very proud of.

DIST. # 42 - (Midwest City) - CLIFF ALDRIDGE - Senator Aldridge
is the 4th most conservative Republican in the Senate. He will have a
concerted attack from the Democrats and I don’t believe James Lane
could hold on to the seat. I know James and believe he might make a
good lawmaker in the future, but not at the defeat of Senator
Aldridge.

DIST. # 44 - (South Central OKC) - JAMES DAVENPORT - This was a
difficult decision. I narrowed it down to Davenport and Ralph Shortey.
There has been a lot of concern regarding James and his position on
the illegal alien invasion, especially important for that Senate
District. I have talked with James on two occasions as well as his
campaign manager. Here is the difference. Dealing with illegal aliens
is AN important issue to James Davenport, but to Ralph Shortey it is
THE most important issue. If you are a single issue voter, you may
want to support Ralph. But, I believe James has more experience and is
better equipped on a broader range of conservative issues.

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STATE HOUSE SEATS - I will only address those races of which I have
some knowledge.

DIST. # 27 - (Tecumseh, McCloud) - YOUR CHOICE - This was very
difficult as I know 3 of these candidates fairly well. Norm Seaborg is
a successful businessman, founder of 4 of the 9-12 groups in Pott
County and is an officer in the Oklahoma Constitutional Alliance
(OCA). Josh Cockcroft is a very bright young man who attended his
first Teen Pact week the year I was the Guest Director. He has been in
the employment of Teen Pact and has traveled all over the nation
teaching young people how to pray for our nation and to get involved
in government. Donald Rominger came before us 2 years ago in his
effort to win Brad Henry’s seat. He has been a history professor and
an university administrator. He is a real conservative. I would not
consider the 4th candidate, though retired, still a member of the
UAW.

DIST. # 28 - (Seminole County) - TOM NEWELL - A church of God
minister and college professor, I met Tom some time back at a patriot
pastor luncheon. He is a strong conservative, but needs to win the
primary before he takes on the difficult task in the general
election.

DIST. # 31 - (Logan County, far North Edmond) - JASON MURPHEY -
Murphey is the only lawmaker in the state with a perfect 100 lifetime
average on the Conservative Index. He has won the freshman of the year
award his first 2 years and lawmaker of the year award for 09 and 10.
His opponent, A.J. Jones a divorce attorney, has indicated on door
steps a certain hostility towards home schooling. She has also been
critical of Representative Murphey’s efforts to restore some of our
lost 2nd Amendment rights. She is no where near the conservative Jason
Murphey happens to be.

DIST. # 61 - (Northwest Oklahoma & panhandle) - YOUR CHOICE -
Representative Gus Blackwell had a average score of 56 over the past
two years so he made the RINO nominee list. However, his opponent Seth
Adams didn’t come to our interview process. Therefore I know nothing
about this young man.

DIST. # 74 - (Owasso) - DAVID DERBY - Two years ago I supported
Derby’s opponent, not because Derby wasn’t conservative enough, but
because his opponent made the issue of corporate welfare for the multi-
millionaire owners of the Thunder his main issue. I am very glad to
see OKC with an NBA team, I just don’t agree that state wide taxpayers
should have to pony up $100 million to the owners over the next 15
years, especially when OKC is the main beneficiary. Derby served his
constituents poorly with his vote at that time. However, he is ranked
#14 out of 62 on the Conservative Index and deserves to be returned to
office.

DIST. # 76 - (Broken Arrow) - YOUR CHOICE - Tony Curtis Griffith
came for the OCPAC interview and received our endorsement. While he
has all the right core values, he needs to grow and develop in his
communication skills. I believe he will accomplish that with time. His
opponent, David Brumbaugh was not able to attend as he had business
out of state on that day. However, I have had contact with Mr.
Brumbaugh on several occasions both before and since our interview
process and I am not sure he is not as conservative but with very good
communication skills. He also has enormous resources and Mr. Griffith
was greatly lacking in financial support. Mr. Brumbaugh will likely
win in that race.

DIST. # 94 - (Del City) - KYLE COULTER - Kyle ran for this seat
2 years ago. His conservative positions showed very strong during our
interview process. I first met his opponent, Zana Williams, several
years ago when I spoke to the political club at Christian Heritage
Academy in Del City. I believe Zana has a lot going for her and may
someday achieve great things, but at this time Kyle is ahead of her in
experience (he has worked as a legislative assistant) finances and
political instincts. Whichever of these 2 young Republicans who ends
up winning this race will be eligible to appear before OCPAC for
support in the general election.

DIST. # 100 - (Northwest OKC) - DAVID LOOBY - There are 3
Republicans in this race but only Looby and Elise Hall came for our
interview process. The endorsement vote was almost split 3 ways
between Looby, Hall and No Endorsement with the latter receiving the
smaller number. That sent us into a run-off vote, which resulted in a
tie between David and Elise. That had never occurred before, so we
decided to co-endorse both candidates and should there be a run-off
between one of these candidates and the third candidate, we will come
in with significant support for either David or Elise. Rarely do I
disagree with the members of OCPAC, but I really disagreed with the
vote. Looby clearly had the better survey and he clearly did better in
the interview process. I don’t want to imply that Elise might not make
a good lawmaker, but at 21 she is at some disadvantage in experience
to the 31 year old Looby. I first met Elise several years ago when I
was the Guest Director at Teen Pact. She is very bright, aggressive
and has run a good campaign. She may win, but I have to believe Looby
is significantly more developed in his conservative ideology at this
time and he did very well in the interview process.

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JUDICIAL OFFICE

There are probably a couple hundred judicial and DA races in the
state. I don’t even start to have the time to research these races,
though I will work on the appellate court races for November’s ballot.
However, I have been reluctantly dragged into the Oklahoma County
District Judge office number 7 race. Kent Eldridge is very liberal and
he is the last one we want on the bench. I was not able to do any
research on Tim Rhodes, but I have taken some time to look into the
others. I have had several conversations with Cindy Truong, the young
lady who has been attending our OCPAC meetings for several weeks now
as well as other events. Sources tell me she works hard and is very
persistent. I have found her to be somewhat shallow on ideology, but
she seems to be very teachable and hungry to learn. The biggest
question about her is whether or not she has the maturity to fill an
important judicial position. More specifically, has she developed what
is called a good judicial temperament? If not now, I am confident she
will develop more over the next 5 to 10 years and be ready to step
into such a position. I am going to endorse PAT CRAWLEY. He and Cindy
are both currently serving as a prosecuting attorneys in the DA’s
office of David Prater. Crawley has a reputation of being a deeply
experienced prosecutor with lots of courtroom experience. One source
told me he understands what judicial activism is and disagrees with
it. I was told, he knows the law and will judge according to the law.
It is also believed he will posses an excellent judicial temperament.


These are just my opinions, for you help if you have not already done
your own research and made your decisions based on information you may
have gathered of which I may not be aware.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com