ELECTION PREDICTIONS

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ STATE TREASURER - KEN MILLER OR THE DEMOCRAT?
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ ELECTION PREDICTIONS


++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, November 3rd will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. This will be the
first day after the election and our Speaker this Wednesday will be
State Representative Kris Steele (R-Shawnee). Representative Steele is
the House Speaker designate and almost certain to be the next Speaker
of the House in Oklahoma. I have asked Representative Steele to give
us some insight regarding the outcome of the elections as well as some
information about the challenges as well as opportunities for the up-
coming session.

In 2008 and 2006 we had both the Speaker of the House and the Senate
President Pro-Tem come to our meeting to give us some perspective as
to what had happened and would they expected would happen. However,
the Senate Republicans are having a little trouble deciding who their
next President Pro-Tem will be.

The decision for Kris Steele as the next House Speaker was made in the
Republican caucus during session in 2009. However, at least 3 or so
Senate Republicans were willing to vote for Harry Coates (RINO-
Seminole) who had made a deal with all the Senate Democrats. That
would give Coates the victory over Brian Bingman (R-Sapulpa), so a
decision was made to wait until after the elections of tomorrow to see
if the numbers would be strong enough to unite enough Republican
senators to win the position without any influence from the
Democrats.

I believe Senator Coates’ personal problems caused him to drop out of
the race, but now Senator Brian Crain (R-Tulsa) is back in the race,
so there is still not a numerical winner at this time. Therefore, we
still don’t know who might be the next Senate President Pro-Tem.
Making it more complicated, 3 Senate Republicans are currently running
for other offices, Todd Lamb (R-OKC) for Lt. Governor, Jonathan
Nichols (R-Norman) for Cleveland County Judge and Jim Reynolds (R-OKC)
for Cleveland County Treasurer. If they win on Tuesday, there will
have to be special elections to fill all those seats. The same would
be the case if Susan Paddack (D-Ada) would beat Janet Barresi, please
Lord don’t let that happen. On top of that, rumor has it, one or more
Republican Senators may resign to take a post in the Fallin
administration, so it could be some time before we know who the next
Senate Pro-Tem may be.

The elections for both the House Speaker and Senate President Pro-Tem
actually occur on the first day of the session, but the Majority party
normally has a unified selection made in their caucus before the
session begins so the election on the first day of the session is just
a formality.

This is really important as communications with the leadership in the
other body and the Governor’s office should have been going on for
some time as well as committee chairmanships and bill assignments
should have already been done. In addition, the minority party also
selects their leadership before the session begins, though neither
body of the legislature votes on minority leadership. This is an
interesting situation, as I don’t know of a similar quandary in the
past.

++ STATE TREASURER, KEN MILLER OR THE DEMOCRAT

In “Charlie’s Picks” which went out last Friday morning, I didn’t make
a recommendation, as I expressed some of my disappointments with
Republican Ken Miller. My indication was that I would either leave my
ballot blank or vote for the Democrat in that race.

A little later that morning, I received a call from Ken with a very
valid question. Charlie, would you be willing to trust the handling of
billions of state tax dollars to a person who has a long history of
financial mismanagement, especially since the office of Treasurer
requires financial competence and a high degree of public trust? I
asked Ken to send me his opposition research and asked him why he
hadn’t made that information public. He said he didn’t have the money
to run, what is often referred to as negative ads. The following is
what he sent me.

Tulsa County records show Mr. Covert had state tax liens filed in
1981, 84, 85, 86 and in 87 he defaulted on his mortgage and the
property was ordered to be sold in a Sheriff’s sale for repayment to
debtors. He had 12 more claims, liens or judgments filed from 1987
through 2008. Also, his CPA certificate was revoked in September of
1989 until August of 1993 and it was again suspended from October 1997
to August 2001.

In addition, Mr. Covert lost a Wisconsin home to foreclosure in 2003.
Also, he delivered a letter to members of the Capitol press office in
which he admitted that he once stole $15,000 from an insurance company
and that he chose not to repay $14,000 in credit card debt, believing
his action to be justified because he felt the company had harassed
him.

This kind of information is why what is sometimes called “negative
campaigning” or “mud slinging” is actually the most positively
important information needed by voters. Therefore, not only could I
not vote for the Democrat, I can’t even leave my ballot blank and
allow Mr. Covert to slither into office. I will be casting my vote for
KEN MILLER for treasurer with my nose firmly pinched. Oklahoma
Republicans chose poorly when they chose Ken Miller over Owen Laughlin
in the primaries, but I will take Ken any day over Mr. Covert.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

* THURSDAY EVINING - OKC AREA - The newly formed central
Oklahoma chapter of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2a)
will hold their monthly meeting this Thursday evening, 7:00 p.m. at
H&H Gun Range. The range is located on the service road on the North
side of I-40 and a couple of blocks East of Meridian (400 South
Vermont, suite 110). Please arrive by 6:30 if you want to order dinner
from the 4U Café located inside H&H.
The meeting will include a discussion of recent 2nd Amendment court
decisions led by constitutional attorney Don Powers and a workshop on
different ways to conceal carry. For more information, call (918)
844-4243 or email director@ok2a.org .

* SATURDAY MORNING - MUSTANG AREA - The fairly new bridge
spanning the South Canadian River South of Mustang on Mustang Road or
Highway 4 will be dedicated to the memory of former State
Representative Tim Pope who worked tirelessly to get the bridge built.
The naming ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. at the bridge. The
dedication ceremony will include comments by his family members and
select friends and constituents. The public is invited.

++ ELECTION PREDICTIONS

I am way behind on reading the Oklahoman, but some months back I
predicted they would endorse 3 Democrats. Kim Holland for Insurance
Commissioner, Steve Burrage for Auditor and Dan Boren for 2nd District
Congress. I have been right on the first 2, I just haven’t seen if
they have taken a position on the Boren vs. Thompson race.

I believe the Republicans will sweep the statewide offices with the
possible exceptions of Janet Barresi for school superintendent and
Gary Jones for auditor. I think they will both win, but I believe they
will be close races.

I have said from before the primaries, if Fallin is our candidate, she
will win with somewhere between 58 to 61 percent of the vote. I
thought if Brogdon was the nominee, he would win with 53 to 57 percent
of the vote.

I believe state question 744 will lose with 63 or more percent of the
vote going against it.

I believe the state senate Republicans will pick up 2 to 5 additional
seats and the state house Republicans may pick up from 4 to 7
additional seats.

If you agreed with my perspective that 3 state questions should be
defeated (744, 754 and 757) there is an easy way to vote on them. The
back side of the ballot will be filled with the state questions in 3
columns from top to bottom. The “NO” votes would be top left, top
right and bottom right. All the rest would get a yes vote.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com