Charlie’s Picks - OKC Council Races - TUESDAY March 1st 2011

As always, the Charlie’s Picks which come out prior to many of the
elections are simply my opinions on the races, based on my research or
knowledge of the candidates or issues. They are simply for those
seeking information. I know some may have an opinion which differs and
that is fine. In the following, I will make known the 3 candidates I
believe should be elected to office, give a lengthy explanation for my
reasoning and then name the two candidates out of 6 that I believe
should not be elected in ward 2. By all means, please forward this and
anyone wishing to receive my weekly e-mail, just send an e-mail to
charliemeadows7@gmail.com with the word add on the subject line.

Ward # 5 - BRIAN WALTERS This OKC Ward is basically West of Santa
Fe, South of S.W. 59th, East of Meridian and North of S.W. 164th.

Ward # 6 - ADRIAN VAN MANEN This OKC Ward is basically West of
Santa Fe, South of N.W. 23rd, East of Portland and North of S.W.
44th.

Ward # 8 - CLIFF HEARRON This OKC Ward is basically West of Santa
Fe, North of Wilshire and goes to the West and North boundaries of the
OKC limits. The parts running West of Santa Fe and South of 122nd over
to Portland, then South 1 mile to Hefner Rd, then West to Sara Rd,
then South to Wilshire are cut out of the above boundary description.

I intend to speak frankly so you may know what the real issue IS in
these races. There are a group of very powerful people and entities in
OKC that I have referred to in the past as the “establishment”,
“central planners”, “good old boys”, “elitists”, or those who believe
in a mixture of free enterprise, socialism and fascism. Just for the
fun of it, in my opinion, we could also call them the OKC Mafia.

They basically see the Mayor and Council as their elected puppets that
they can control or influence to make the decisions they want for the
purpose of shaping the city the way they want it shaped. Oh yes, also
to make sure they have great advantages and opportunities for
themselves and their friends to make a great deal of wealth off the
backs of the taxpayers and other business transactions.

Let me be crystal clear, not all of their plans are bad. In fact, many
of the projects they have done have also been a benefit for OKC and
its citizens. My general beef with the OKC Mafia is the people they
run over in their various quests. I also want to see them achieve
their successes through competitive free markets with their own money
and not on the backs of the taxpayers or through fascist central
planning.

Brian Walters, Adrian Van Manen and Cliff Hearron are all 3 a threat
to the members of the OKC Mafia, because they fear they can’t control
them. Walters is an incumbent and has proven over the past 4 years
that he will not bow down to them. They are terrified that their
puppets, or to be charitable, their fellow travelers, Meg Salyer and
Patrick Ryan might be replaced by independent thinking men like Van
Manen and Cliff Hearron.

To explain myself, there are many examples of entities getting the
favored location, direct subsidies, kick backs or sweet heart deals
from the city. I won’t go into detail again about the Bass Pro Store
other than to say this. When the sweetheart deal was made for Bass
Pro, an entity of the family who are the principle owners of the
Oklahoman, had an admitted 19% ownership stake in the Bass Pro Shops
corporation. The city owns the store and made such a sweetheart lease
deal that the rent will not be sufficient to pay back the loans the
city made to finance the store. As such, to make the deal work, all
the sales taxes collected by the store and a great deal of the
ancillary sales taxes collected from other brick town businesses will
be needed to pay the loans back over 20 years. As such, those sales
tax dollars can’t be used for the vital functions of city government
such as streets, water, sewer, parks, police, fire protection and
etc.

Talk about kick-backs, though deemed legal, the owners of the new
outlet mall being constructed at I-40 and Council Rd. will receive a
kick-back of up to half a million in sales tax dollars each year for
the next 10 years. Again, sales tax dollars which won’t be used for
the city’s vital functions. However, the real deal I want to focus on
is the super sweet-heart deal the Mayor and Council AGREED to before
submitting it to a vote of the people. That is the deal for the
Seattle Sonics which was owned by 5 of the more wealthy men in OKC. Of
course the team is now re-named the OKC Thunder and is very popular
with OKC residents.

Let me say, Clay Bennett, one of the owners of the team is married
into the family which are the principle owners of the Oklahoman. I
believe he served as the point man for the owners and as such, he
probably had an enormous influence on how they wanted the deal with
the city to be crafted.

Here are the basic components of the deal. The taxpayers were to spend
another $100 million in sales tax dollars to up-grade the then 8 year
old sports arena known as the Ford Center. In addition, the taxpayers
were to build a $20 million practice center, which the city will own
and lease to the team. The practice facility is nearing completion and
it looks like it will probably cost around $17 million rather than the
$20 million. However, the lease that Clay and his partners will pay
will only be $100,000 per year. At that paltry sum, it will take the
City 170 years without earning interest to re-coup their investment.
Can you say, super duper sweetheart deal! The arena is city owned and
functions as an entertainment, conference and sporting events VENUE
business. The team also was given the rights to the revenue for naming
the sports arena when the contract with Ford ended.

I don’t know the particulars of the cost to the Thunder team for the
use of the Arena, but I suspect it is quite a deal for them. Very
unusual to me, is that the team’s corporate headquarters is to be
inside this city owned arena which will probably be used 50 days out
of the year for games and the rest of the time for other events. While
waiting for those corporate facilities to be built, the team found
Class A office space in downtown OKC, paid for by the taxpayers and
not the team. In addition, the team was also given the rights to the
revenue for re-naming the sports arena when the contract with Ford
ended about a year ago.

Approximately 6 years ago, most likely at the request of the OKC
Mafia, the state legislature exempted sales taxes from being applied
to ticket sales for professional sporting events. Not because you or I
would not buy a $25 ticket if it had sales taxes attached to it, but
because some of the corporations run by the central planners in OKC
who bought huge blocks of tickets to pass out to employees and others
to make sure the New Orleans Hornets games were well attended during
the 2 years they played in OKC.

These corporations didn’t want to pay sales taxes on hundreds of
thousands of dollars in tickets, but they were willing to purchase
tickets as it was important to show the NBA there was sufficient fan
support in OKC for a permanent NBA team. The fan support is here, but
that means that the people who attend and enjoy the games, don’t pay
sales taxes on the tickets. Thus, people who never or rarely go to a
game are paying for the for the team’s support anytime they shop in
OKC but the fans who attend the games aren‘t contributing, at least
not in ticket sales.

The final part of the sweetheart deal came from state government.
Three years ago, Senate President Pro-Tem Glen Coffee and House
Speaker Chris Benge authored legislation to add professional sports to
Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs program. The special deal for the team is that
for the next 15 years, 5.5% of the salaries of the players, coaches
and corporate staff will be kicked-back to the owners of the team from
the state‘s general fund. Right now, that is probably around four to
four and a half million dollars each year, kicked back to Clay Bennett
and his ownership partners.

Hear is what I believe it means to Clay Bennett, remember a member of
the family who are the primary owners of the Oklahoman. Once you see
this, if you can put the dots together, you may now understand why
Cliff Hearron and Adrian Van Manen are a threat to the status quo, and
the power of what I am lovingly referring to as the OKC Mafia.

In the February 8th issue of the Edmond Life and Leisure there is a
column by J. Leland Gourley, editor of the Oklahoma City Friday
publication and a contributing columnist to the EL&L. Gourley is
practically slobbering all over himself in his column titled: Thunder
good for business. He reports on Fortune magazine’s research on the
business side of big league basketball. He says, “The highly competent
small investment group, put together by persistent business-savvy Clay
Bennett, have put the brightest star yet in the crown of Oklahoma City
as a good place to operate a business successfully.” Mr. Gourley, tell
me what business couldn’t be successful with the sweetheart deal this
bunch obtained. Aided by favorable press from the Oklahoman, an entity
in which Bennett has a marriage connection with its principle owners.

Gourley went on to say: “Fortune Magazine’s latest issue listing the
value of each NBA team reported Clay et al paid $45 million to Seattle
to move the team to OKC in 2008. The magazine further reports that the
Thunder made $22.6 million profit last year and that its current value
is $239 million.”

Please understand, I am not against the Thunder or their success.
Their presence is very good for the direct benefit of the city of OKC.
While I believe there is some indirect benefit to the state of
Oklahoma, I don’t see any direct benefit to the state. My objection is
that probably 6 or 7 million of that profit is a result of the state
government’s kick-back and other sweetheart deals from city taxpayers.
Goobers like Mr. Gourley will gush and swoon over these successes, in
my opinion, because he doesn’t believe in free markets and or because
his value system is one that may best be described as that of the end
justifying the means to an end.

In the past I have stated that the main function of a newspaper is to
honor what is good and expose corruption or good ole boy deals. When a
newspaper’s ownership or its management move away from its core
function and becomes entangled in businesses that they should actually
be keeping an eye on, I believe they run the risk of becoming
compromised by conflicts of interest.

I believe the Oklahoman is horribly compromised and therefore their
news page or editorial board can not be relied upon to honestly
execute their core purpose or keep from slanting stories to benefit
their other business interests.

I want to thank the Oklahoman for putting my picture on the front page
of Sunday’s news section (Feb 27th). They had run a much smaller
version of the picture last December when several of us boarded a
church bus and went to Bartlesville for a demonstration in front of
the location of the Republican House meeting.

I am in the picture with Tom Vineyard, pastor of Windsor Hills Baptist
Church. Let me state clearly, I believe Tom is one of the most Godly I
know. A man of high moral character and courage. I am honored to be in
the picture with him. The article, by staff writers Michael Baker and
John Estus, was one of the worst examples of yellow journalism I have
ever seen published by the Oklahoman. For an excellent and fair
perspective on the treatment of Tom and the members of his church,
read the column in the Friday, February 25th edition of THE CITY
SENTINEL www.city-sentinel.com by Patrick McGuigan. Pat is the former
editor of the editorial page of the Oklahoman and his column is a
stinging indictment of the unfair treatment toward Cliff, Adrian, Tom
and the church.

The Oklahoman’s supposedly news article was a horrible attack on
Windsor Hill Baptist Church, its pastor, members, and OKC Council
candidates Adrian Van Manen and Cliff Hearron. I have known these men
for a couple of years now and believe they are of the highest moral
character and integrity. While the Oklahoman printed a couple of
statements about the quality of the church and its activities, the
overwhelming body of the article was intended to raise a cloud of
suspicion in the minds of the readers as to whether or not this church
is a gun crazed cult associated with and promoting the recently
demonized word, “militias”. It was designed to plant a seed of doubt
about these two candidates, two days before the election. Though I was
in the picture, I wasn’t mentioned in the article as it was clearly
directed toward Pastor Tom, the church and especially the two
candidates.

Bottom line, in my opinion these council races are about the OKC Mafia
keeping their chosen ones in a strong majority. The OKC Mafia and
their friends are spending tens of thousands to keep their minions in
office. The Oklahoman must be going through tank cars of ink and truck
loads of paper to help out. On the other hand, the people of OKC have
a chance to elect independent thinking candidates who will make wise
decisions to prioritize the spending of taxpayer monies and create an
environment for any person to be able to fairly compete in OKC to be
successful in business.

These men are not “naysayer‘s”, they are not running as “partisans”
they will do right by police and firemen, but not be controlled by the
every whim of their unions. They will not stop the progress of OKC and
they will not turn this city upside down. What they will do is provide
good leadership for the citizens of the city, but not be the puppets
for the OKC Mafia. This is your choice, I have tried to explain what
is really at stake in these races! I hope you will vote for Brian
Walters, Cliff Hearron or Adrian Van Manen if you live in their
districts.

Ward # 2, I would suggest voting for ANYONE except CHARLIE SWINTON or
DR. ED SHADID. I am going to be a partisan right now, because a
person’s world view effects how that person will govern. Swinton is
being supported by liberal Democrats as well as being the pick of OKC
Mafia. The combination of those 2 groups will probably be sufficient
to get him elected. The fire fighters union is supporting Shadid,
probably because they think he is the only one of the 6 candidates in
the race with a chance to defeat Swinton. However, Shadid is a radical
environmentalist and very liberal, so I could never endorse him. I
don’t know the others so it will be your choice. Ward 2 is West of
Santa Fe, South of 122nd, East of Meridian and North of S.W. 44th

Again, these are just my opinions and some people will disagree. If
you would like to receive the weekly e-mail from OCPAC, filled with
conservative commentary and insider information about Oklahoma
politics, government and the culture war, then please send an e-mail
to charliemeadows7@gmail.com with the word add in the subject line.

The weekly e-mails are intended to inform and make people think. I
never give, loan or sell your e-mail address to others.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

CONGRESSIONAL FRESHMEN FLEX THEIR MUSCLES

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ REPUBLICAN CONTROL, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY
++ CONGRESSIONAL FRESHMEN FLEX THEIR MUSCLES


++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, February 16th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this
week will be David Tackett from the Tulsa area and founder of a new
organization called Oklahoman’s For Liberty. I believe this
organization’s efforts will be pointed at exposing corporate welfare
and what might be considered as those parts of the agenda of the State
Chamber of Commerce that could be considered as abusive and anti- free
enterprise.

As a point of interest, I believe with Governor Fallin’s appointment
of Glen Coffee as Secretary of State and Glen’s close relationship
with Fred Morgan (When Glen was Senate President Pro-Tem, Fred was his
legislative liaison) then throw in Dave Lopez as Commerce Secretary,
we may now be in the place where the State Chamber is behind the wheel
and running the State of Oklahoma. Mary may be little more than the
front person for the Chamber. I probably shouldn’t say this, BUT Mary
may be little more than a hood ornament for a powerful vehicle to run
around, through, or over anything that stands in the way of the agenda
of the BIG STATE CHAMBER.

When we were in Bartlesville last year, just before Christmas, to
demonstrate outside of the convention center during the Republican
House Caucus meeting, a reporter from the Tulsa World asked me in an
interview if we considered the State Chamber as the enemy. My answer
was that the word “enemy” was too strong. BECAUSE, there are many
points of their agenda that are very good and we can join hands with
them in those efforts. As an example, the State Chamber’s opposition
to S.Q. 744 was very important. In the past they were a driving force
to pass right to work and their agenda to reform tort laws, workers
compensation, tax code and improve education are all good objectives,
though many conservatives and constitutionalists may disagree with
parts of their objectives or what might actually be a true fix.

My biggest problem with the State Chamber and many of their local
affiliates is their opposition to a free market based economy. Most
chamber members hearing me make such a statement would look at me much
like a calf looking at a new gate. Most Chamber members have little
understanding that they actually promote a mixed blend of capitalism.
Their idea of capitalism is a blend of fascist, socialist and free
market capitalism. The blending slowly suffocates free market
capitalism and puts the government in an ever greater control of the
economy rather than the market.

During Governor Fallin’s State of the State address she showed that
her moral underpinnings are that of situational ethics. She fails to
understand that taking one person or entity’s private property away
from them and against their will, to then give that property to
another person or entity for their social or business benefit is
theft. She shows her moral shallowness and willingness to participate
in legalized theft or plunder. As an example, she said they would
examine tax credits to determine which ones create jobs and which ones
do not.

I don’t know how she will make those determinations, but she said in
the SITUATIONS when they create jobs, they will stay and in the
SITUATIONS they do not, they will go. That makes perfect sense in a
centrally planned and controlled economy, but please understand, this
is NOT free market economics. She showed further why her rhetoric
about creating an environment for economic growth is hollow and that
she actually believes in economic development (the term used by people
who think government is supposed to be responsible for jobs and a good
economy).

She asked the legislature for a further level of corporate welfare by
asking them to set up a “closing fund” to better compete with Texas
when a business is on the bubble in deciding if they will come to
Oklahoma or go somewhere else. I am sure this is a high priority for
the State Chamber and though the legislature may find it difficult to
find the money for such a fund, the way those things get started is to
create the fund and the first time some extra money is found, to fill
it at that time.

As a point of interest, approximately 15 years ago, Oklahoma created a
program known as Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs Act. It was basically created
to be an incentive to increase the number of manufacturing jobs in
Oklahoma. It was set up to work like this. If a company would locate
in Oklahoma or an already existing company expand their workforce, the
state of Oklahoma would kick back to the owners of that business, from
the state’s general fund, 5% of the wages of their employees.

Fifteen years ago the top income tax rate was 7% (people would reach
the top tax rate making less than $10,000 dollars per year), so the
employees would pay taxes at 7%, with the state kicking back 5% to the
owners, thus leaving the state 2% and the state gaining jobs. However,
we have been lowering the top income tax rate for the past few years
and we are now going to have a top rate at 5.25%. When the 5
millionaires and billionaires who owned the Seattle Sonics, now turned
OKC Thunder, were negotiating with city leaders to get as much
corporate welfare as possible, they also asked the legislature for a
huge windfall. I believe they would have brought the team here without
state dollars.

The owners wanted legislation to make professional sports to also be
included into Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs Act. However, 10 years for kick
backs would not be enough for these owners, so the legislation made it
15 years for professional sports teams and oh yes one other item. A 5%
kick back wouldn’t be enough, they wanted 5.5%. As you can see, since
we are lowering the tax rate to 5.25%, ALL the income tax dollars paid
to the state of Oklahoma for its vital government functions from the
players, coaches and office staff, will go to the state and then be
kicked directly back into the pockets of the owners. But an
additional .25% of all the Thunder’s payroll will come from the rest
of us and will go right into the pockets of the owners.

Some people don’t care, as long as they have a good job, nice car and
home, a chicken in the pot and some money to have fun, they just cruse
through life not caring one wit about right or wrong. It is called
situational ethics.

However, I just wasn’t built that way. One of the team owners is the
principle owner of Mid-First Bank. We closed out our account at Mid-
First and went to another bank. Another owner owns the Iconic Route 66
restaurant in Arcadia named Pops. I used to eat there with some
frequency and enjoyed taking others there to see the unique place. No
longer, you see, my thought is that if I am forced to support their
basket ball team, outside of going to a game by purchasing a ticket,
then I am damn sure not going to support their other businesses, at
least the ones in which I have an easy choice.

But wait, there is more. I don’t know if this exception has been a
part of the Quality Jobs Act from the beginning or if it is a recent
modification. Now there is a provision that if the jobs created pay 3
times or more than the average salary of the people of Oklahoma, then
the rebate will be 10%, not 5%. I would say that virtually all of the
employees associated with the Thunder fall into that category, though
it may not apply to professional sports. However, the 500 new jobs
with Boeing coming to OKC fall into that category. Therefore, those
employees will pay 5.25% to the state and then the state will kick
back 10% to Boeing. That is what I call “double” corporate welfare. If
Mary would have had a closing fund, we would have given Boeing even
more as these businesses know how to play the game.

If the legislature gives the state chamber, excuse me I mean, Governor
Fallin a closing fund, you can bet companies will hold out until they
get their hands on those funds as well. I am all for reducing the
state income tax and corporate taxes more and more until they are
eliminated. However, that can only be done by reducing the size of
state government and its expenditures. They have probably cut taxes
about as much as possible without further reducing the size of
government. It is hard to reduce the size of government when you keep
spending millions of dollars each year in the form of corporate
welfare. Much more could be said about this but that will be for
another day.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

* NOW - I have written an article for the on-line version of the
New American magazine which is a national publication of the John
Birch Society. The article is about the $350,000 wasted federal tax
dollars funneled through the Oklahoma state health department in
regard to the 5320 project. If you would like to read it, log on to
www.newamerican.com and click the link to state issues. It was posted
last Friday, February 11th.

* TUESDAY EVENING - TULSA AREA - The Tulsa Area Republican
Assembly will have their monthly meeting with those arriving to eat at
6 and the speaker will begin at 7:00 p.m. The location will be the
Golden Corral, 71st and Mingo street. The speaker will be Bruce Delay
with the subject about the Mexican and U.S. Border. Bruce has been on
location many times and is in close communications with border patrol
organizations. Please attend this meeting to better understand one of
the greatest threats to the security of our nation.

* TUESDAY EVENING - ADA AREA - The Ada Tea Party will hold their
meeting this Tuesday evening starting at 7:00 p.m., the location will
be the Pontotoc County Career Tec Center in Ada. I believe the
speakers will be Labor Commissioner Mark Costello, Jo Joyce and
myself. If you live in the area, these meetings are always very
educational and they have a great group in the Ada area, which also
includes parts of Seminole county.

* THURSDAY MORNING - OKC AREA - The business and professional
chapter of the John Birch Society will have their monthly meeting
which will start with breakfast being served at 7:15 and the meeting
will begin about 7:45 a.m. The speaker this month will be newly
elected State Senator Ralph Shortey. Senator Shortey was recently put
on a joint Senate and House committee to study Oklahoma’s immigration
laws to see what additional legislation needs to be crafted to deal
with the invasion of illegal aliens flooding into Oklahoma. Ralph is
passionate about this subject and we look forward to having an up-date
about what is happening with this issue.

++ REPUBLICAN CONTROL, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY

The session began last week with some fireworks regarding rule
changes. State Representative Jason Nelson (R-OKC) issued a press
release extolling the virtues of rule changes which were suggested by
a working group of which Nelson was a member. In his press release he
said: “The rule reforms adopted this week will dramatically increase
public scrutiny of the legislative process and deter the last-minute
shenanigans that have often embarrassed our state,”.

I do agree with Representative Nelson that by requiring those joint
House and Senate conference committees to actually hold public
meetings and have recorded votes is a great improvement. He also
indicated that a bill must be granted a hearing if a majority of
committee members sign a petition requesting that a bill receive a
vote and along the same lines a bill theoretically could by-pass the
committee process if 2/3s of the House will sign a petition requesting
that action. I would suggest not holding your breath to ever see if
that happens. I believe the simple majority to require a bill in
committee to be heard was already in effect before the rule changes
were made.

Here are a couple of problems which occurred with the rules.
Leadership had called a meeting week before last to share potential
rule changes with lawmakers and possibly take suggestions for rule
changes. I believe there was more than one of those meetings that was
called off or delayed.

On Sunday afternoon of a week ago, lawmakers received e-mails with
dozens of pages with proposed rule changes. Hum, I wonder what was
going on a week ago Sunday? Could it have been the Super Bowl with
lawmakers busy with family and friends like most other human beings?
Might lawmakers, living long distances from the Capitol, have need of
going to bed to get up early to drive to OKC for meetings?

To try to make a long story short, State Representative Charles Key (R-
Bethany & OKC) introduced an amendment to the rules legislation that
would REQUIRE every bill to be heard. The normal practice is to have a
large percentage of legislation locked away in the desk of a committee
chairman, never to be heard. Some of the legislation that committee
chairmen bottle up is good and never has an opportunity to be heard.
In other cases, some of the legislation is very bad and thus a
committee chairman will also have the opportunity to make sure it will
never see the light of day. So it is a double edged sword.

Now please pay close attention to Representative Key’s reasoning for
this kind of legislation. Every lawmaker elected is a representative
of the people of that district and as such, when that lawmaker has
legislation, it is representative the people of that district. If a
committee chairman, floor leader or the Speaker simply has the POWER
to decide not to allow the legislation to be heard, then the people
aren’t represented. What you then have is a dictatorial tyranny, not a
republican form of representation.

In the most important vote, Representative Key’s amendment was
defeated with 53 no votes and 42 yes votes. Every Democrat voted in
favor of Key’s amendment, not because they have any egalitarian
motive, this rule change would simply give the minority a guaranteed
voice. If the Republicans were in the minority, they would all have
voted for this measure, every one of them.

I am only going to list the Republicans and not the Democrats who
voted for the measure as well as the Republicans who voted against the
measure: For, freshman John Bennett, Gus Blackwell, Mike Christian,
David Derby, freshman Randy Grau, Sally Kern, Charles Key, Louis
Moore, Jason Murphey, freshman Tom Newell, Mike Reynolds, Mike Ritze,
Randy Terrill and Paul Wesselhoft. These should all be commended for
their courage and commitment to open and representative government.

Many of the Republican freshmen lawmakers who voted against this
measure will one day see legislation they care deeply about not get a
hearing because some dictator in a place of power will decide not to
hear such. Their opposition to Representative Key’s amendment and this
vote will someday come back to bite them in their behinds. Remember,
just because legislation is heard, that does not mean it won’t be
voted down as much of it should be.

There was actually a preceding vote to table Key’s amendment which
failed, thus showing enough strength to pass the amendment. That is
when leadership sent their whips into action pressuring, especially
the new lawmakers to change their vote to a no. Following are the
Republican no votes: Against, Don Armes, Gary Banz, Lisa Billy,
David Brumbaugh, Ann Coody, Josh Cockroft, Marian Cooksey, Doug Cox,
David Dank, Lee Denney, Dale DeWitt, John Enns, Rusty Farley, George
Faught, Lisa Hall, Hardin, Jeff Hickman, Corey Holland, Mike Jackson,
Fred Jordan, Charlie Joyner, Dan Kirby, Guy Liebmann, Scott Martin,
Steve Martin, Mark McCullough, Randy McDaniel, Skye McNiel, Glen
Mulready, Jason Nelson, Nollan, Charles Ortega, Pat Ownbey, Ron Peters
(this guy is leadership’s little puppet they use to make motions to
cut off debate), Pam Peterson, Quinn, Phill Richardson, D. Roberts,
Sean Roberts, Todd Russ, Mike Sanders, Colby Schwartz, Earl Sears,
T.W. Shannon, Arron Stiles, the little dictator Dan Sullivan, Todd
Thomsen, John Trebilcock, Steve Vaughn, Weldon Watson, Harold Wright
and the Speaker Kris Steele.

Debating against the measure was Dan Sullivan (R-Tulsa) who, several
times exaggerated the intent of the rule change with such statements
as, “To suggest that just because someone in my district thought a
bill was a good idea and, therefore, it should become law is not the
way this process works.” May I suggest Representative Sullivan, when a
constituent comes to you with a bad idea, be a man and tell them why
you won’t run a bad bill. When I ran for office in 1990, I had a nut
case from Meeker come up to me and ask me if I would sponsor
legislation to make it illegal for an employer to fire an employee. I
explained every way possible why that would not be a good idea. I
probably lost that vote, but you simply have to man-up and do what is
right. Being a representative for what is right is from the idea of a
republic. Being a puppet on a string to represent constitutes who want
what is bad comes from the idea of a democracy.

Further debate against Representative Key’s amendment came from Don
Armes (R-Faxon) who expressed concern that his fellow legislators
would no longer be able to hide behind the committee chairperson by
asking the rhetorical question, “What you need sometimes as a state
representative is the protection of that committee chairman to go to
him and say, I got a guy. I promised him I would introduce this bill.
It’s a terrible idea. How do I stop this train before we change the
law in a negative way?” Representative Armes, it is actually quite
simple, man-up and say no to your constituents.

Following the loss of Key’s amendment, they went on to pass the rules,
but here is where openness in government took a big hit. One of the
rule changes will now require 15% of those on the floor to second a
motion to have a RECORDED floor vote rather than the previously
required 2 people to second such a motion. This will empower Democrats
who will be able to force a vote to be recorded anytime they want.
But, the conservative minority within the Republican caucus will have
a difficult time requiring recorded votes. When things move fast, it
will be nearly impossible for conservatives to get recorded votes.
Sorry, Representative Nelson, but you voted to bring this secrecy to
government, not openness. This will make it easier for leadership to
hide their dictatorial intentions.

One other rule change that will give leadership more power to control
the process came with a rule change that I don’t fully understand,
except for the effect. Last year, when Committee Chair Sue Tibbs was
trying to keep second amendment legislation from going to a vote,
there was a mechanism to work around her efforts. That mechanism was
eliminated with these rule changes. Therefore, we gained some and we
lost some. In the end, leadership is more powerful than in the past
and the people’s representation will depend on the dictators being
benevolent.

++ CONGRESSIONAL FRESHMEN FLEX THEIR MUSCLE

Congressional leadership was planning on “REAL” cuts in spending at
somewhere around the $30 billion range. The 80 freshmen said that
wasn’t enough and have about doubled the “REAL” amount of budget cuts
to $61 billion.

Some will say this is not nearly enough, but let me caution people to
understand. Our economy has been propped up for many years by
borrowing and printing money so we could deficit spend to replace all
the lost dollars due to our deficit trade imbalance.

We must be careful not to cut too fast and at the same time we need to
make changes to re-capture our manufacturing base, which will put
Americans back to work. To do otherwise would risk plunging this
nation into a severe depression.

A $61 billion cut in spending is probably about right for the 7 months
left in this fiscal year. Republicans need to keep extending the debt
ceiling a little at a time and only if we keep making cuts in spending
and thus working toward a balanced budget.

If the Democrats in the Senate and the President aren’t willing to go
along with the House on this, then Republicans will need to have the
courage to offer a budget based only on incoming revenues, which will
bring much of government to a halt. They must make the point that such
an abrupt correction is the result of Democrats acting irresponsibly.

In the meantime liberals are already going berserk at the thought of
cutting funds for women, infants and children (WIC), education and
etc. Sorry folks, those expenditures are un-constitutional and should
have never been started or funded by the federal government in the
first place. Business as usual is over, weak and dependent people are
going to suffer the most, mainly because they have allowed themselves
to be made into weak and sniveling dependents. Life as we have known
it in the past is going to change. We will either make painful
corrections and save our country or it will implode and the suffering
and chaos that will follow will be beyond most people’s imagination.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH JOHN DOAK AND JANET BARRESI?

++ MY QUANDRY AND APOLOGY
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ LAST WEDNESDAY’S MEETING & CONSERVATIVE AGENDA
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE
++ WHAT IS GOING ON WITH JOHN DOAK AND JANET BARRESI?



++ MY QUANDRY AND APOLOGY

I face a quandary with the growth of OCPAC and over 4,200 people now
on our e-mail list. I now receive more e-mails and phone calls in a
day than I have time in which to respond. Part of the problem is that
I still operate a small business which requires some of my time to try
and keep the bills paid. I read most of the e-mails that are
personalized and sent to me. Many of the forwarded articles, I simply
have to discard without looking at them. I also find it difficult to
return all the incoming phone calls. I try to do much of my phone time
while on the road as I can practice multi-tasking and thus kill (sorry
for such a mean word) two birds with the same stone. I don’t want to
discourage personalized e-mails from being sent to me, just know that
I may not respond or at least not in a timely manner. Please accept my
apology in this matter. Charlie

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

We WILL meet this Wednesday regardless of weather. Over the past 20
years we have never missed a meeting because of weather. Therefore,
our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, February 2nd will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our first speaker
will be State Representative Charles Key (R-OKC & Bethany). Charles
has been very concerned with the process in which elected officials
try to represent their constituents. Therefore, he has come up with
some reform suggestions to allow all Oklahoman’s to receive
representation from their elected officials. Our main speaker will be
Miss Sarah Hampton. Sarah was home schooled and at age 15 made a trip
to China around the Christmas Holliday. Later that year, while still
at the age of 15, she and a much older woman (age 17) went back to
China by themselves and taught at an English speaking school in a
small (600,000) community somewhere in central China. While a student
at OU, Sarah spent a year in China on a student study program and
since graduation she has been working (and sharing the Gospel) until
her recent return to Oklahoma. With a burden in her heart for the
people of China, she hopes to return when possible. I look forward to
hearing her perspective on events and conditions in China.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

* I WOULD ADVISE CHECKING ALL MEETINGS TO SEE IF CANCELED

* TUESDAY MORNING - OKC AREA - The State Supreme Court is
scheduled to hear Attorney Jerry Fent’s oral arguments regarding the
unconstitutional configuration of the State Judicial Nominating
Commission. The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in the Supreme
Court Chambers at the Capitol. Attending hearings such as this is one
way you can determine the performance of our highest court and apply
that to the retention ballot in election years.

As an aside, I was wrong in my speculation that Governor Henry would
appoint Jari Askins to the Supreme Court just before he left office.
In stead, he appointed Oklahoma County District Judge Norma Gurich.
Judge Gurich has far more experience than Askins and though these are
non-partisan appointments, Gurich is registered as a Republican. Two
insiders told me, they speculated that Henry appointed Gurich to avoid
criticism of being an excessive partisan. This is especially important
since the High Court agreed to hear Jerry Fent’s complaint about the
make-up of the Judicial Nominating Commission and the possible
ramifications regarding recent appointments to the high court.

* TUESDAY EVENING - STATE WIDE - I believe most Republican party
precinct meetings across much of Oklahoma will be canceled because of
the weather. All of the Logan County meetings are being rescheduled.
Please check with your county Chairman for final determinations as
they are the ones on a county by county basis.

* THURSDAY EVENING - PIEDMONT AREA - Restore Oklahoma Public
Education (ROPE) has scheduled a public forum for the district #1 and
#4 school board candidates. The location will be the First United
Methodist Church, 2525 North Piedmont Road. The time is scheduled from
7 until 8:30 p.m. with former Republican Governor candidate Robert
Hubbard as the moderator. To check on the status of the meeting,
contact Thomas Kiene at (405) 373-2974 or Stacy Willis at (405)
659-8717

* SUNDAY AFTERNOON - STATE CAPITOL - The 7th annual legislative
prayer gathering will occur this coming Sunday, February 6th from 2
until 4:00 p.m.. Both the House and Senate chambers will be open and
you are encouraged to sit in the seat of your elected officials to
pray for them on the day before the session begins. I believe this is
one of the most important times of prayer during the year and it has
always been on the Sunday of the Super Bowl. I believe the Super Bowl
begins after this event is over, don’t know for sure and certainly
don’t care, as I will be there for the more important priorities in
life. Please park and enter on the West side of the Capitol.

++ LAST WEDNESDAY’S MEETING & THE CONSERVATIVE AGENDA

We had 14 different speakers last Wednesday, 15 when you add in Jo
Joyce who was explaining the hand out to be given to the liberals
attending the Oklahoma Sponsoring Committee meeting this past Friday
night at Taft middle school. I especially want to thank the several
speakers who drove down from the Tulsa area and the many people who
packed out our meeting place. Numerous people attending expressed what
a great meeting it was. The different speakers explained the different
points on the document which could be called a conservative agenda
with a Christian World View. This document can be viewed by logging on
to: www.libertyforge.us. Please view this document and if you can
agree with it, pleas sign it on line.


++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE

Dues paying membership during 2010 set an all time record at 287 which
exceeded the previous record breaking memberships of 217 set in 2009.
On January 31st of 2010 we had far outpaced previous years with 118
memberships. The good news is, that we have exceeded that number with
135 dues paying memberships as of January 31st 2011.

Of particular note, is the large number of first time members. Thanks
to all of you and of course those many people who have joined year
after year. We have 25 individuals or families who are members by
having their checking accounts drafted at $15 for our Elephant
Provider level of membership, or $30 for our Elephant Provider and
RINO Hunter level of membership. We even have one member at $40 per
month as their level of membership. Regardless of whether people join
at one of the higher levels of membership or at the basic level of $50
per year, every dues paying member is really appreciated.

Without that support and the readers of our e-mails along with those
who respond to activism when asked, OCPAC would be nothing more than
hot air. The support of the many fine citizens have made a huge
difference in Oklahoma and again I say thank you so much. Please
remember, all memberships, but those having their checking accounts
drafted, expired on December 31st Therefore it is time to renew your
memberships, the only other exception are those who were paying dues
in December for the year of 2011. If you have not joined as yet,
instructions for joining will follow my sign off of this news
letter.


++ WHAT IS GOING ON WITH JOHN DOAK AND JANET BARRESI?

This past week fireworks erupted at the first State School Board
meeting since Janet Barresi was sworn in. Janet was elected to the
position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction and as such
sits on the board with the other 6 members.

Janet ran on a clearly defined agenda of reform and she has run into a
group of board members who are clearly protectors of the past,
protectors of a mediocre to failed government school system. All of
the current board members were appointed by Brad Henry who was an
absolute supporter of the education industry (I use the term industry,
because our government schools are more about power and wealth for the
members of the industry than about educating the children to academic
excellence). That is not to say that there are not some very good and
conscientious teachers and others in our government schools.

Looking at the terms of those on the board, it will take until 2014
for Governor Fallin to appoint a majority of reform minded members
unless some of the current members resign their position early. Which
brings to point, why do we even have a state school board, especially
when we have a position held by an ELECTED official to run a
governmental agency or department? Elected officials are accountable
to the people, boards and commission members do not usually fall into
that category. Elected positions such as Attorney General, State
Auditor, Corporation Commission, Insurance Commission, Labor
Commission, and the State Treasurer’s office are all run by the
elected officials and don’t have a board to oversee their operations.

I suspect the reason for the existence for a state school board is to
have yet another influential body to organize local school boards and
others to pressure the legislature into doing the bidding of the
education industry. Many Republicans have campaigned on a platform of
eliminating waste, duplication, fraud and unnecessary boards,
commissions and agencies in state government. May I suggest that the
legislature would do well to eliminate this board. Can anyone tell me
why that wouldn’t be a good idea?

Let me suggest the dust up about Jennifer Carter not fulfilling the
artificial requirement of a masters degree in education to be able to
serve as Barresi’s deputy commissioner is not the real issue. Carter
served several years as legal council for what was then known as the
Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators (APOE). I believe they
now call themselves the Association of Oklahoma Educators. This is a
conservative association (not a union) of teachers who are a real
threat to the unions such as the OEA/NEA & AFT. These liberal board
members see the difficult times ahead for the failed education
establishment and are simply trying to protect their turf and
reputations. Conservatives need to stand behind Janet Barresi and her
efforts until it might be determined that her ideas or performance
were off base.

In the same way may I suggest why conservatives should stand by John
Doak, at least until time and performance might suggest otherwise. I
don’t intend to be blindly loyal to John Doak, but I am very close to
this situation and have a good grasp of what is going on. It is very
unusual that all the employees at the State Insurance Commission were
considered as “at will” and as such could be replaced.

Mr. Doak ran on a platform of opposition to Obama Care, improving the
efficiency of the Department, working to reform the workers comp
system and increasing the competition among insurance companies for
the citizens of Oklahoma.

To carry out his task, he needed to surround himself with people he
could trust and people who had management skills to get the job done.
He chose former State Representative Mike Thompson to be his
legislative liaison. Mike was not a lightening rod in the legislature,
was well liked by most lawmakers and as such is a good fit for the
position. Former Senators Brogdon and Laughlin impressed Doak as
conservative men with management skills and a like minded ideology.
Doak knows the insurance industry and whatever insurance experience
these men lack, Mr. Doak believes they can make up for with their
knowledge of government and management skills. Therefore, he appointed
these men and they have set out to accomplish Mr. Doak’s reform of the
agency.

Of course it created a firestorm when these former lawmakers such as
Brogdon and Thompson went to work for government without waiting for
the necessary 2 years after leaving office. They must have been hired
under that infamous “loop-hole” in the law that has allowed for the
“good ole boys” to get government jobs once they finished their time
in office.

I have been a critic of this loop-hole and even wrote recently under
the notion that the loop-hole caused by a flawed attorney general
opinion had nullified the state constitution. However, since that time
I have actually looked at the law, what a novel idea. I wish to
report, I was wrong as there is NO, let me repeat NO prohibition in
the law to prevent a lawmaker from taking a job in government right
after leaving office. As such, there is also no loop-hole. I believe
it was a flawed opinion by Drew Edmondson to allow a former Democrat
lawmaker to take a newly created job while in office, which is a
violation of the law.

Let me publish the law and then I will break it down into 3 categories
to make it very clear. Section V-23 of the Oklahoma Constitution is as
follows: “No member of the legislature shall, during the term for
which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any office or
commission in the State, which have been created, or the emoluments of
which shall have been increased, during his term of office, nor shall
any member, receive any appointment from the Governor, the Governor
and the Senate, or from the legislature, during the term for which he
shall have been elected, nor shall any member, during the term for
which he shall have been elected, or within two years thereafter, be
interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with the State, or
any county or other subdivision thereof, authorized by law passed
during the term for which he shall have been elected.”

Following will be an attempt to break it down into simple to
understand points. 1) No member of the legislature can be appointed to
an office or commission that was created during his term of office
(the insurance commission was an existing entity and thus this point
doesn’t apply). 2) no member (of the legislature) can receive an
appointment from the Governor, the Senate or the legislature during
his term in office ( point 2 only applies to a gubernatorial, Senate
or legislative appointments, not Insurance Commission appointments and
since Glen Coffee was out of office when Governor Fallin appointed him
to Secretary of State, this does not apply). 3) The 2 year moratorium
restricts a legislator from ‘contracting’ with the state either during
his term in office or within 2 years after leaving the legislature
(since none of these men are in business or are doing business with
the state under a contract, then this provision does not apply).

As you can see, almost any lawmaker can go to work for the state after
leaving the legislature. I was asked if I thought it would be ok for
former Governor Henry to become the next President of UCO and the
answer is yes as far as the law is concerned.

Since taking office, Doak has reduced the size of the agency by over
20 employees and there is probably more to come. The insurance agency
operates on a 200 million dollar budget with the vast majority of that
money coming from fees from insurance companies and an even larger
part coming from fines. Only 1% (2 million) comes from the state’s
general fund, or in other words taxpayer dollars. Mr. Doak is
dedicated to take no appropriated funds to run this agency.

The former insurance commissioner labeled leadership positions
something other than deputy commissioners. Bottom line, Doak has one
less leadership position that the previous commissioner. I have heard
(I don’t listen to his silliness) that the “Eggman” has been very
critical of Doak and former Senator Brogdon. If he had any substance
to his program or intellectual honesty he should have asked Doak or
Brogdon to come on his program to answer his allegations.

I predict, that some months down the line, it will be the Eggman that
has egg on his face. I suggest that conservatives should wait some
time to evaluate the performance of the insurance commission. Time
will bear out whether or not Doak will be seen as great insurance
commissioner or someone who will need to be replaced. Early criticism
may cause conservatives to have egg on their faces if they are not
careful.

I look forward to seeing the hearty souls that attend our meeting this
Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com