Monday, June 25, 2012

Charlie’s Picks, primary elections of 2012



Many years ago, friends of mine knowing about my involvement in
politics, would ask me questions about up-coming elections. There got
to be too many to talk with by phone or in person, so I created
Charlie’s Picks. At first I would print and hand them out, but I now
use the internet. I do my best to research as much and as deeply as
possible and my picks represent those candidates I believe should win,
not necessarily the candidates with the best chance to win. Those
reading this may have information of which I am not aware and thus
they may differ with my picks and that is fine. You have permission to
forward these as they are simply my opinions. If you do not receive my
weekly e-mail, I invite you to send me an e-mail to
charliemeadows7@gmail.com and I will add you to our list. I try not to
send out more than 1 e-mail each week and will never loan, sell or
give your e-mail address to anyone else.

Before I get started, let me say we have the largest number of
competitive races against moderate to liberal Republican incumbents in
the history of the state. I don’t normally give much attention toward
Democrat candidates, simply because their platform, values and
performance is so contrary to good government.

CORPORATION COMMISSION  -  YOUR CHOICE  -  I don’t have any particular
angst toward Bob Anthony, but I do believe the number of days he
admits to missing at the office is troubling. I know he is elected to
do a job and much of that work can be done from home but I believe it
is important to be at the office at least enough to observe the
workings of the staff. I will personally vote for Brooks Mitchell
because I voted to establish term limits on statewide offices during
the 2010 elections. Technically, Bob’s 2 terms will not start until
after the 2012 elections. However, he has already served for 24 years
and I don’t see how I would be anything less than a hypocrite if I
believe in two terms for state wide offices and then vote to re-elect
Bob for a 5th term.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DIST. # 1  -  JIM BRIDENSTINE  -  John Sullivan is
currently voting in Washington as the most conservative lawmaker from
Oklahoma. However, his misrepresenting Bridenstine in political ads is
over the top for me. I believe Jim Bridistine will at least be as good
and probably a better Congressman than John Sullivan.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DIST. # 2  -  YOUR CHOICE  -  I believe there will
be a run-off in this race
and as such we will try to interview the 2 candidates in the run-off.
If you put a gun to my head and made me make a choice I would probably
vote for Dustin Rowe but I don’t want that to be considered an
endorsement. I would not vote for Wayne Pettigrew or George Faught. I
personally like Faught but his lifetime score on the Oklahoma
Constitution Newspaper’s Conservative Index of a 73 is too moderate
for what we need in Washington. It really settled it for me when he
switched his vote from Nay to Yea for the budget on Thursday afternoon
the day before the session ended this year. Once the budget passed,
conservatives in the legislature lost all their leverage toward
getting a family friendly tax cut or paying for some of the needed
items like a new Medical Examiners office or repairing the State
Capitol with money on hand rather than incurring more debt or doing
nothing. Faught’s inability to hold out for better government on the
state level tells me he isn’t ready for Washington where the need for
toughness is many times greater than at the state level.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DIST. # 3  -  THE REPUBLICAN OTHER THAN FRANK
LUCAS  -  I wouldn’t say this without finding out what Mr. Stump stood
for if I thought he had any chance of winning. This will simply be a
protest vote on my part. This past Friday, while listening to the
guest host on the Neil Boortz show he called out Frank Lucas as a
perfect example of the type of Republican who under votes his
conservative district. The host pointed out a new rating system from
the Madison Project which compares the average vote difference for a
Republican over a Democrat and then how often the Republican votes
with the Democrats in Washington. I believe Lucas’ average margin of
victory over a Democrat was 24 points but then he votes with the
Democrats 40% of the time. That would also jive with his usual score
of about a 60 on the New American Magazine’s Freedom Index. Log on to
http://www.conservativevotingrecords.com/hall-of-shame/ to see the
Madison Project’s expose on the 50 phony conservatives who call
themselves Republicans.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DIST. # 4  -  AGAIN, ANY REPUBLICAN OTHER THAN TOM
COLE. Please check out the above web site to see that Tom Cole is the
other Republican lawmaker from Oklahoma called out by the Madison
Project for being a phony conservative calling himself a Republican.
Cole is at the epicenter of the power elite establishment in the
Oklahoma Republican party. Nothing would help conservatism in the
state of Oklahoma more than to see him soundly defeated in a
Republican primary. If that were to occur, it would mean that Oklahoma
conservatives had matured and come of age. Unfortunately, he hasn’t
obtained much of an opponent in the Republican primary.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DIST. #5  -  James Lankford won’t be on the ballot
until November as he didn’t draw a primary opponent. Though not
perfect (no one ever will be) Congressman Lankford is our best
Congressman from Oklahoma in my opinion and strongly deserves re-
election.



Our members may have made a mistake on a couple of races out of all
the Senate and House candidates we interviewed, but the candidates
were close enough that I will not mention those races or make a
different pick

OKLAHOMA STATE SENATE

SENATE DIST. # 3  -  CYNDI McARTOR  -  Cyndi was a leader in the Tea
Party in the Grove area, though the organization may have been called
something other than a tea party. Over the past 3 years we have
exchanged several e-mail conversations and or phone calls. This will
be a difficult district to win in November and if we have any chance
to get a conservative in office, it will be Cyndi.

SENATE DIST. # 15  -  ROB STANDRIDGE  -  I am a little soft on this
endorsement which is primarily the Norman area as I don’t know much
about Mr. Haralson. We have had Dr. Beller speak at OCPAC in the past
and I really like Mr. Neidhart. However, when it comes to viability
and electing the most conservative person possible, many conservative
activists I know are in Mr. Standridge’s camp.

SENATE DIST. # 17  -  ED MOORE  -  Ed made some decisions 25 years ago
that probably weren’t the best, but as a Senator many years ago he
also had the most conservative score of any Republican and once was
awarded the outstanding Republican Senator by the Oklahoma
Constitution Newspaper. His survey was the best of the 4 candidates.
He was certainly the strongest conservative during our interview
process and deserves our endorsement. Though he sent in is survey,
Mike Jestes didn’t attend our interview process so he couldn’t be
considered for our endorsement. I know all 4 of the candidates and
know Mike the best, we have even had him speak at OCPAC on several
occasions. I believe this will likely require a run-off, but
regardless of who wins, this will be a pickup seat for the Republicans
and any of these men are going to be in the upper 10 top Republicans
at the Senate in my opinion. The district runs from Shawnee to Eastern
Oklahoma county.

SENATE DIST. # 25  -  RHONDA VULLEMONT-SMITH  -  Rhonda is a leader in
the 912 group out of Tulsa and is challenging the moderate Republican
Senator Mike Mazzei who has a lifetime conservative Index score of a
67. This will be a difficult race for Rhonda as big money and the
establishment is solidly behind Senator Mazzei. Rhonda has been very
active with a number of grassroots activists groups and will be a very
conservative Senator if elected.

SENATE DIST. # 33  -  NATHAN DAHM  -  This is a newly created seat in
the Broken Arrow area that was formerly held by the very liberal Tom
Adelson. It will be another pickup seat as the Democrats failed to
field a candidate. Mr. Dahm is supremely prepared to be one of the
best senators in the state of Oklahoma. He was just excellent at our
interview process and he certainly deserved our endorsement. My
greatest concern for Nathan is that he started a little late and may
not have the resources to keep up with the establishment candidate Tim
Wright or the deep pockets of Don P. Little.

SENATE DIST. # 37  -  MARK CROUCHER  -  Mr. Croucher is a serious
challenger to the establishment’s bought and paid for Senator Dan
Newberry in a district that covers parts of Jenks and Tulsa. Newberry
has a lifetime conservative score of 70 so he isn’t the worst
Republican lawmaker. However, the same Chamber Crowd and super pack
that are opposing Paul Blair are supporting Newberry. On Thursday
evening, June 21st Mr. Oklahoma Democrat George Kaiser hosted a fund
raiser for Senator Newberry along with the Tulsa Chamber pac and
others of the usual suspects. Why would Oklahoma’s wealthiest person
and close friend of President Obama’s support the Republican Senator
Newberry? The answer is rather simple in my opinion, can you say
“CORPORATE WELFARE”?

SENATE DIST. # 39  -  KEVIN McDUGLE  -  Senator Crain won our RINO
(Republican In Name Only) award last year with a session score of a 40
and a lifetime score of a 60 on the Conservative Index. He is a big
government liberal with the word Republican by his name. Mr. McDugle
is a true conservative who is facing an onslaught of negative ads
similar to that of Paul Blair. This seat is one of the best hopes of
tossing out a liberal Republican, but only time will tell if the big
names at the State Capitol and the big money of the establishment can
save one of their bought and paid for lackeys.

SENATE DIST. # 41  -  PAUL BLAIR  -  I have written extensively on
this race as it is the most important and hotly contest Republican
primary race in the state. The race is between a powerful incumbent
verses someone with true leadership skills, someone who is willing to
take on the establishment. It is surreal that nearly $800,000 dollars
will be spent in a Republican primary on behalf of Clark Jolley to
close to $100,000 for Paul Blair. Jolley is probably the second most
powerful Senator in the state and the corporate welfare crowd can’t
afford to lose someone who has proven himself to be sold out to their
interests. Governor Fallin is also greatly influenced by the corporate
welfare crowd and as such really involved herself in this race.

SENATE DIST. # 43  -  YOUR CHOICE  -  I just haven’t had the time to
do much investigation on these candidates. If you put a gun to my head
and made me chose I would probably vote for Corey Brooks on the
limited information I have about this race. The one candidate that
really concerns me is Clark Southard as he fits in well with the
economic development (corporate welfare) crowd. This race, which
covers areas from Purcell to Duncan may well go to a run-off.


I will comment only on the House races of which I know 2 or more of
the candidates.

OKLAHOMA STATE HOUSE

HOUSE DIST. # 20  -  YOUR CHOICE  -  The area is primarily McClain and
Cleveland counties. Bobby Cleveland, Gil Hensley and Paul Maus have
all attended or spoken at an OCPAC meeting one or more times over the
years. I know Bobby the best, but would probably vote for Paul Maus if
forced to make a choice. However, I am not so well informed on how
these fellows stand on the issues as to make that a hard and fast
decision. If I lived in the district I would know.

HOUSE DIST. # 23  -  JASON CARINI  -  Jason is a graduate of Patrick
Henry College, which was started  specifically for home schooled
students. Jason is very conservative and ready to go to make a
difference in Oklahoma in a district which encompasses Catoosa and
East Tulsa. Terry O’Donnell is the establishment candidate. A last
minute contribution by the Chesapeake Energy pac confirms this. Again,
can you say corporate welfare and control by the Oklahoma mafia!

HOUSE DIST. # 25  -  DONALD COLE GALLUP  -  This race covers the Ada
area. Mr. Gallup came before our members and was a little weak on the
abortion issue. However, he had raised only $400 dollars and our
members didn’t believe he was a viable candidate and thus didn‘t
endorse him. Representative Todd Thomsen scored a 63 on last year’s
Conservative Index and has a 61 lifetime average. He ranked 68th most
liberal out of the 70 Republicans. Also, the super pac and the
corporate crowd have flooded Todd with money and support! Seams like a
little overkill for a candidate who has little money. However, the
number of Republicans expected to vote in this primary is very low, so
Mr. Gallup has had a chance to be on the door step several times. I
would vote for Mr. Gallup in a heart beat.

HOUSE DIST. # 26  -  MICHAEL SHAW  -  This was a very close race
between Mr. Shaw and his challenger Justin Freeland Wood. Either of
these two men should be more conservative than Kris Steele of whom
they are going to replace in the Shawnee area.

HOUSE DIST. # 39  -  BOB DANI  -  This district is the North Western
area of Edmond and another race in which the corporate welfare crowd
has rushed in to keep a tried and true establishment lawmaker in
power. Our members easily endorsed Mr. Dani. Surprisingly, Governor
Fallin hasn’t come out in support of Marian Cooksey, her former
staffer. Therefore Lt. Governor Todd Lamb rode in to rescue
Representative Cooksey from a conservative challenger. Folks, if you
only had an idea of what a circular relationship the establishment
has, with someone in the establishment always watching each others
backs to keep those real conservatives from gaining power.

HOUSE DIST. # 49  -  YOUR CHOICE  -  The freshman incumbent,
Representative Tommy Hardin of Madill scored a 50 on the Conservative
Index, so we had high hopes for his challenger Mr. Dishmon. However,
our members didn’t believe he was viable as he hadn’t raised much
money. Also, he was just too loose on the abortion issue and he didn’t
seem to be very teachable.

HOUSE DIST. # 53  -  BRIAN GRAHAM  -  This is an open seat to replace
Representative Randy Terrill in primarily the Moore area. Both Mr.
Graham and Mr. McBride had good surveys and did well at our meeting.
In a runoff vote our members picked Mr. Graham who will make a very
good lawmaker if elected as I do not believe he will succumb to the
corporate crowd.

HOUSE DIST. # 60  -  DAN FISHER  -  This is a newly created seat which
runs from Western Yukon through El Reno on out to Hinton and down to
Carnegie. Dan’s opponent, Matt White, has the establishment’s favorite
consulting firm running his campaign. White is currently the Mayor of
El Reno. However, while on the city council in 1997 he was removed for
carrying a firearm into a liquor store. That is far enough back for me
to not care if he has turned his life around, but perhaps that is not
the case. In a rare show of tough love, Mr. White’s mother contacted
Dan about a week before the Republican state convention to tell Dan
that even though she loved her son very much, she was going to
campaign for Dan as she believed her son was running with the wrong
crowd and was just too far out there. She indicated that Oklahoma
didn’t need someone like her son in the state legislature. Dan is
supremely prepared to serve and if elected will be one of the most
positive forces in the State House. He is a very good communicator,
reasonable and his conservative credentials are solid. He is a gifted
leader.

HOUSE DIST. # 68  -  DARREN GANTZ  -  Representative Mulready scored a
70 on the Conservative Index last year so that was high enough for
OCPAC not to get involved in this race. However, I am always willing
to endorse a candidate I believe might be more conservative than
another. Over the years I have had many conversations, mainly through
e-mail with Mr. Gantz and believe he will be more conservative than
Representative Mulready. However, this former lobbyist and pick of the
establishment will be difficult to beat as big money and big names
have rushed in to make sure Glen is not defeated. Again, can you say
corporate welfare. The area includes Jenks and parts of adjoining
Tulsa.

HOUSE DIST. # 70  -  KEN WALKER  -   This is an open seat in the Tulsa
area to replace the term limited Ron Peters. Ken did well at our
interview process and will do well if elected. However he does face a
well funded establishment candidate so it will be difficult to win in
this race. He has worked hard and has the backing of the conservative
Tulsa Beacon newspaper.

HOUSE DIST. # 79  -  YOUR CHOICE  -  Dr. Lois Jacobs had a good survey
but our members didn’t endorse her out of concern regarding her lack
of work and little money raised. She also had a very difficult time in
expressing herself and made me doubt that she would make a good
lawmaker. I think she is a fine person, but I will have to remain
neutral on her race, even though I really wanted to see Representative
Weldon Watson replaced as he won last year’s RINO award for the House.

HOUSE DIST. # 82  -  MIKE TURNER  -  Mike has a good shot at replacing
the proto-typical good old boy politician known as Guy Liebmann. Our
members overwhelmingly endorsed Mike and really hope he prevails
against Liebmann who scored a 63 last session and has a lifetime score
of a 61 on the Conservative Index. I believe Mike would have won this
easily, but Governor Fallin and the big super pacs rushed in to try
and save one of their bought and paid for lawmakers. Turner has a
great full page ad in the Sunday Oklahoman with his conservative
positions and endorsements from 3 constituents, one a bank President
and then Ray Ackerman, a mover and shaker in the OKC area who examined
Liebmann’s voting record and didn’t like what he saw. He has switched
from Liebmann to Mike Turner.

HOUSE DIST. # 84  -  SALLY KERN  -  One of the best lawmakers in the
state who rarely gets a fair shake in the media. Sally is actually
very well rounded. She is an unashamed Christian conservative,
probably knows more about what kind of reforms are needed to actually
improve the quality of education in the state than almost any other
lawmaker, perhaps even more that Education Superintendent Janet
Barresi. She almost always sponsors legislation to create a better
free market pro business environment. Her opponent is a city
councilman who should have never been elected to that position. His
campaign has been a confused mixture of calling for limited government
out of the right side of his mouth and calling for the state to do
much more for Bethany out of the left side of his mouth. Bethany has
the power to tax and do for itself. This past Saturday, the Occupy OKC
movement turned out to help with literature drops on the doorsteps,
partly claiming that Sally is funded by gambling and alcohol
interests. Sometimes real life is crazier than fiction. I suspect the
Occupy movement was brought into this campaign by Brittany Novatney,
Sally’s trans-sexual opponent from last year as Brittany has
represented some of the Occupy participants when they ran into trouble
in their protests. There is an old adage that you can tell a lot about
a person by who their friends happen to be. Based on his friends, I
don’t have a high regard for Mr. Moore. Hopefully, Sally Kern will
exceed 70 percent of the vote this time

HOUSE DIST. # 100  -  JEFF RENNER  -  Jeff is opposing Elise Hall, who
in the first session of her freshman term scored a 63 on the
Conservative Index. I personally like Elise, but she was a little weak
on our survey 2 years ago and was a little weak during her interview.
Jeff had a very strong survey and was very strong during our interview
process. It was disappointing to see Elise switch her vote on the next
to the last day of the session to vote for the budget after first
voting against the budget. As I said before, when that occurred,
conservatives in the House lost all their leverage to have a family
friendly tax cut and pay for needed repairs to the Capitol and build a
new Medical Examiners office. Jeff has the intestinal fortitude to
stand up to the establishment and I would have given him a good chance
at winning this race until Governor Fallin and the super pacs rushed
in to rescue yet another lawmaker they want to keep. I believe this
will now be difficult for Jeff to win as just too many citizens are
little more than political groupies, when a big name like Governor
Fallin gets involved they get stars in their eyes and it sways their
opinions.

HOUSE DIST. # 101  -  A.J. BAILEY  -  He was a little weak on the
abortion issue and hadn’t raised much money when he came before the
members of OCPAC and thus we were concerned about his viability.
Therefore, he did not receive our endorsement as we have a
responsibility toward our members to be good stewards with the money
we raise. However, Gary Banz was on the RINO nomination list for last
year with a Conservative Index score of a 56. If I lived in the
district I would vote for Mr. Bailey without hesitation.



OKLAHOMA COUNTY GOVERNMENT

OKLAHOMA COUNTY COURT CLERK  -  CHARLES KEY  -   I believe Oklahoma
County government is a rats nest with the chief rat being county
commissioner Ray Vaughn and assistant chief rat being Leonard
Sullivan. I believe the next person they want to elevate to rat nest
status is Tim Rhodes. That way the circle of protection will be
unbroken as everyone’s backside will be covered. Both Charles Key and
Salome Vaughn have said that any of the candidates are capable of
running the office, but I believe only these 2 could be independent
and stay out of the rats nest. My pick for Charles is based on many
years of association and knowledge of his character, talents and
ideology. However, I also believe Salome would make a good county
official. If conservatives don’t rally around one of these candidates
(Charles) they could split the conservative vote and if a run-off is
required it could be between Rhodes and a fourth candidate. Please
consider that point.

OKLAHOMA CO. COMMISSION DIST. # 2  -  GORDON JENEY  -  I don’t have to
point out a single short fall for current commissioner Brian Maughn.
Gordon Jeney is a very disciplined and hard working self made man. He
is a high achiever and has been successful at almost everything he has
done. In almost every way he would be a stronger person to have as a
county commissioner than Maughn. I also believe he would  resist being
sucked into the rats nest.


LOGAN COUNTY GOVERNMENT

LOGAN COUNTY SHERIFF  -  JIM BAUHMAN  -  I personally believe Jim is
one of the best county sheriffs in the state if you believe in
balancing constitutional liberties with the duties to fight crime and
serve as the chief law enforcement agent in the county. Since being
elected 4 years ago he has increased response time and increased the
number of officers patrolling the roads of Logan County. A little over
a year ago I was the target of a death threat and extortion attempt. I
called Jim, sent him the information and within 2 hours he had worked
with contacts in the FBI and Secret Service to determine it was
fraudulent.

LOGAN CO. COMMISSIONER DIST. # 2  -  MICHAEL PEARSON  -  The 4 years
under the former Democrat commissioner now turned Republican
challenger was like darkness compared to the job done since Mr.
Pearson won 4 years ago. Mike joined with dist 1 commissioner Mark
Sharpton to provide excellent governance for the county. They have
worked to reduce the county sales tax, and have greatly improved
county roads and bridges, though much more needs to be done. Mike is
hard working and has a vision to really improve our roads over the
next 4 years.

Folks, thanks again for your time and attention. If this has been
forwarded to you and you would like to receive the weekly e-mail on a
regular basis, please send an e-mail to charliemeadows7@gmail.com with
the word “add” in the subject line. The content of the e-mail are
usually conservative commentary and insider information about Oklahoma
politics, government and the culture war.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

Monday, June 18, 2012

THE OKLAHOMA MAFIA - BREATHING FIRE & DESTRUCTION

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++  ANNOUNCEMENTS
++  THE OKLAHOMA MAFIA - BREATHING FIRE & DESTRUCTION
++  GUY LIEBMANN, ANOTHER BIG GOV BORROW & SPEND REPUBLICAN
++  RAY HIBBARD’S RESPONSE TO LAST WEEK’S E-MAIL

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 20th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. This will be our
final meeting before the elections and as such we have invited several
candidates to speak before our group. Corporation Commissioner Bob
Anthony is invited, Oklahoma County Commissioner candidate Gordon
Jenney will be with us (Brian Maugn, the incumbent, indicated he
wasn’t interested in coming) Charles Key and Salome Vaughn will be
with us regarding the Oklahoma County Court Clerk race. I just haven’t
had the time to locate the contact information for the other 2
candidates. If someone can help me out and invite them it will be most
appreciated, I will not have time on Monday or Tuesday. Thanks to
those who attended this past Saturday, we will release the
Conservative Index scores for everyone as soon as possible.

One more item, the Wednesday after the June 26th primary elections we
will devote some time to discussion about the elections and in
addition we will have an election to replace Richard Engle, our former
Vice President. I will be proposing we elect 3 different individuals
to serve as Vice Presidents. I would like to spread out those duties
to allow for more individuals to develop leadership talents. If you
are interested in serving, please let me know at
charliemeadows7@gmail.com. I have talked with 3 individuals so far and
2 of them have agreed to put their names up for consideration. We will
certainly take names from the floor, but I would really like to let
folks interested in serving know about some of my ideas, going
forward. So again, if you are interested in being one of the OCPAC
Vice Presidents, please contact me.

++  ANNOUNCEMENTS

*  TUESDAY EVENING  -  KONAWA AREA  -  The Konawa Tea Party will hold
their monthly meeting this Tuesday evening, 7:00 p.m. at the Walter
Wise Hut, 101 West 3rd St. in Konawa. Guest speakers will be Jennie
White with Restore Oklahoma Public Education (R.O.P.E.), State
Representative Todd Thomsen (R-Ada) and his challenger Cole Gallup for
the House District 25 seat and then Mike Sawyer with the John Birch
Society.

*  THURSDAY EVENING  -  NORMAN AREA  -  The Norman Tea Party will hold
their monthly meeting this Thursday evening, 7:00 p.m. at the First
Assembly of God Church, 2500 East Lindsey, in Norman. They have
invited me to speak, I will be hitting hard, regarding the mess in
Washington and how our state government can help to get Washington
back on track. I will also be exposing what I believe to be the
Oklahoma mafia as well as how and why they are controlling our state.

*  SATURDAY AFTERNOON  -  OKC AREA  -  Some time ago a group of very
conservative Catholics lay people began working to put together the
“Rally for Religious Liberty” which will be held at the Cox Convention
Center Arena from 1 until 4:00 p.m. this coming Saturday, June 23rd.
They have been working with the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to
organize the ecumenical event to defend the religious liberties of all
expressions of Christianity in Oklahoma. Speakers will include
Archbishop Paul Coakley, our good friend Bill Federer, State Attorney
General Scott Pruitt, Frank Cargill, Superintendent of the Assemblies
of God, black robed regiment patriot pastor James Taylor of Norman and
a late confirm will be the producers of the famous video “Test of
Fire”. They will be present to unveil the premiere showing of the
Evangelical version of “Test of Fire.” Music will be provided by
Mountain Smoke. The event is free; however, a $10.00 donation is
suggested at the door. For more information log on to
http://www.fortnightforfreedomokc.com/index.html. For additional
information contact Thomas G. Morris at tom@morris-ent.com.

In the same vein, I want to recommend a movie we saw a week ago
Saturday called “For Greater Glory”. The movie is based on the
historical events of 1926 when the secular government of Mexico, led
by the atheist President Plutarco Elias Calles, launched a nationwide
crackdown on the Catholic Church. To preserve religious liberty the
Catholics had to eventually mount an armed resistance toward the
Mexican government. The R rating on the movie is because of the
violence which goes along with any war, there was no cursing or
gratuitous sex scenes in the movie.

There are many parallels to today as our society is becoming more
hostile toward Christianity. As such it is a valuable movie to
hopefully wake up the Church in America so we can preserve our
religious liberties through the political processes so that we won’t
have to fight to keep from being roll over and be stepped on by a
government hostile to Christianity. Attitudes and policies  of
President Obama‘s administration are a harbinger of the direction in
which we are sliding.

The idea of conservative Protestants and Catholics working together to
preserve religious liberties and address issues in the culture war is
not an attempt to see everyone come to a common understanding of God’s
word or a common understanding of tradition. I encourage pastors of
every Biblical expression of Christianity to preach God’s Word with
all the energy and passion within them according to their own
understanding in their own churches. But as one of our founding
fathers said right after they signed the Declaration of Independence,
“if we don’t hang together, we will all hang separately”.

*  Glen Howard’s Senior World Radio program had Mr. Michael Shaw on
his program this Sunday morning. Of course Mr. Shaw is the expert
speaker from California on Agenda 21. I heard a little of his
presentation on the way to church and it was excellent. I urge folks
to listen to the full interview at:  http://seniorworldradio.com/radio-show/michael-shaw-and-agenda-21.

++  THE OKLAHOMA MAFIA - BREATHING FIRE & DESTRUCTION

Over time I have lovingly referred to powerful people in OKC as the
Oklahoma City Mafia and in addition I have also suggested we have a
group of very powerful people across the state that I have also
referred to as the Oklahoma Mafia. This is just an opinion on my part
and I am not necessarily suggesting that they are a crime syndicate
usually associated with the word mafia. However, I believe they are a
group of very wealthy and powerful people or entities who use their
wealth to control what goes on in Oklahoma.

In last week’s e-mail, I suggested some of these very powerful people
see lawmakers as little more than people to control so that public
policy will be crafted to meet their needs or desires. I also said
that the stakes are high as many of these very powerful and wealthy
people are the recipients of millions of taxpayer dollars which they
use for their benefit.

I believe it was Thursday of last week that the Oklahoma mafia flexed
their muscle and started breathing fire through a group named, The
Coalition For Oklahoma’s Future. Six entities each contributed $50,000
to raise a total of $300,000 to be used by the CFOF to influence the
outcomes of at least 6 legislative races.

The six entities contributing to CFOF are Chesapeake Energy, the
Chickasaw Nation, the Rooney Holdings, Clay Bennett, Continental
Resources, The Williams Companies and Flintco Construction. I believe
Saturday’s Oklahoman reported they had spent over $90,000 on the Clark
Jolley - Paul Blair race. Other races they are spending money on are
for Senator Brian Crain of Tulsa (last year’s winner of OCPAC’s RINO
Award) and Representatives Todd Thomsen of Ada, Glen Mulready of
Tulsa, Elise Hall of OKC and Marian Cooksey of Edmond.

Now this group hired former Republican party chairman Chad Alexander
to craft the hatchet pieces to be used to try and destroy Paul Blair.
If you listen to radio or watch TV you have probably seen the ad
featuring a rather dark and shadowy Paul Blair with the explanation
that he violated state tax laws and had his corporations suspended. Um
um um that mean old negative Paul Blair sure must be a bad fellow, a
tax dodger, a cheat, that is, unless you are intellectually honest and
want to know the real truth?

What Paul did 20 years ago with a couple of businesses he tried
shortly after he returned from the NFL was simply close them down. He
ended them and as such he quit paying the franchise tax for the next
year’s operation which resulted in the corporations being de-listed.
The franchise tax was a tax going forward to remain in business, it
was not a tax owed on past activities. Not paying that tax is a very
normal method to close down a corporation. Funny thing, that tax
doesn’t exist today on small corporations and guess who is trying to
take credit for eliminating those old franchise taxes? None other than
Clark Jolley, Paul’s opponent.

Those twisted lies about Paul Blair, paid for by the Coalition For
Oklahoma’s Future, caused Paul to have to waste a day working with his
CPA to try and determine if there was any merit to the outlandish
lies? Following his a letter from his CPA issued during the afternoon
of last Thursday, June 14th:

“ Paul,

To the best of my knowledge, belief and recollection, the following
statements are true and accurate.

As your CPA since the mid 1980s, I have prepared all the required
income tax returns, franchise tax returns, and anything else required
to do business in the State of Oklahoma for you and the companies
which you have owned, operated, or been associated with.

I checked the websites of the Oklahoma Tax Commission and the Oklahoma
Secretary of State’s office. I searched for any delinquency filings,
missing reports/returns, suspended licenses to do business or any
other filings for any company associated with or owned by you. I did
not find a single instance of any delinquency filing, failure to file,
any wrong doing or anything inappropriate.

My search did reveal certain companies have ceased to exist but that
was simply because the purpose for which the company was started no
longer existed. It is not unusual for companies to start or stop. It
happens every day. Furthermore, in no case was any business owned or
operated by you ever forced out of business by failing to comply with
all the rules and regulations of the State of Oklahoma or any other
regulatory agency.

All the businesses you have been associated with, owned and/or
operated have always paid their taxes.

And you have always filed and paid your personal taxes.

David F. Johnson”

Though few do so, perhaps a person should contact the Secretary of
State and tell them you are closing down a business? However, the
twisted story about Paul paid for by the what I believe are members of
the Oklahoma mafia are out there doing their harm, working to destroy
the good name and reputation of one of Oklahoma‘s most outstanding
individuals. At some time, possibly after a lawsuit has cleared his
name and long after the election is over, Paul Blair will have to ask,
now where do I now go to get my reputation back?

The entities and people behind these lies are Senator Clark Jolley’s
friends, though state law forbids any coordination between Clark and
his campaign staff with the people behind these ads. As of last Friday
morning, Senator Jolley knows these ads are lies and though he can’t
directly communicate with those behind them, he certainly can publicly
denounce them and urge for them to be discontinued. If he fails to do
such, I wouldn’t want to be Clark Jolley when he gets up in the
morning to wash his face. He might see his reflection in the mirror
and would it ever be something shameful to look upon.

If you remember nothing else about this race than this, it is about
the difference between Clark Jolley, a little puppet who has proven
his loyalty to the powerful as they know he will do their bidding
verses Paul Blair, a man they know they can’t control or make into a
puppet. Paul Blair has taken a pledge not to take anything from a
lobbyist. Clark Jolley is the product of the lobbyists and the
Oklahoma mafia.

++  GUY LIEBMAN, ANOTHER BIG GOV. BORROW & SPEND REPUBLICAN

A week ago Friday, State Representatives Guy Liebman, Marian Cooksey
and her opponent Bob Dani met for a candidate forum in Edmond. When
asked how they would pay for a new Medical Examiners facility Guy
Liebmann didn’t hesitate as he favores a bond issue to pay for the
facility.

As an explanation he gave an analogy similar to the foolishness
presented on the editorial page of the Oklahoman a few days earlier.
He suggested it wasn’t wrong or unusual to borrow money as he guessed
most of the people present had a mortgage on their homes so borrowing
money to build a new medical examiners office would make perfect
sense.

A shallow thinker like Rep Liebmann fails to consider the situation
state government is in with over $250 million in the Rainy Day Fund,
with another $350 expected to be deposited in the next few weeks, not
to mention the $150 million in the now defunct EDGE fund which could
have been used to build and equip a new Medical Examiners office.

Truth is Representative Liebmann, if a family has 17.8 times the cost
of a new home in savings, they don’t take out a loan to buy the new
home, they pay for it out of their savings. To do otherwise would be
foolish! Even with interest rates to buy a new home possibly as low as
3%, it is not likely they are earning more than 1% on their savings,
so again, they would lack good judgment if they took out a loan when
they had plenty of money in savings to take care of the need.

Bond underwriters are paid large fees not counting the interest costs
associated with the bonds. Many of these bond underwriters contribute
to lawmakers which may be the real reason we have so much state debt
even though we are supposed to have a balanced budget every year. We
currently spend about $220 million in interest payments to service our
state debt. If we had no state debt, that $220 million could build a
new ME’s office and fix the State Capitol as well as other buildings.
Other possible uses might go to roads and bridges or that would amount
to one fourth of the spending cut Governor Fallin sought to balance an
eight hundred million tax cut.

As I said before, Representative Liebmann is a big government borrow
and spend Republican. He lacks good sense and needs to be replaced
with the very sharp young businessman, Michael Turner.

++  RAY HIBBARD’S RESPONSE TO LAST WEEK’S E-MAIL

In last week’s e-mail, in an attempt to point out the accuracy of Paul
Blair’s statement that the Governor and the establishment were going
all out to defeat him, I related a story about a statement made by
Edmond Life and Leisure publisher Ray Hibbard.

I had indicated he had stood up in a meeting of about 30 of Edmond’s
leading businessmen and said that he had been contacted by a person
from Governor Fallin’s office expressing his need to get on board with
Senator Clark Jolley or the Tourism department would no longer
advertise in his paper.

He sent me an e-mail with a different story and asked me to correct
what I had written. I spent Thursday checking with my sources and only
1 thought he had said the Tourism department. However, all clearly
remembered him saying something very similar to what I had written
about. One of them even jotted down a few notes which goes something
like this: Mr. Hibbard stood up and once he had made his first
statement he went on to say: I don’t give a rip if they advertise in
my paper or not, they aren’t going to intimidate this old fat boy.

I talked with Mr. Hibbard on Friday and will back off my statement
about the Tourism Department, but not on the rest of what I wrote as
my sources stand firm on what they heard. You will notice that even
Mr. Hibbard, in his e-mail to me, isn’t for sure what he said.
Following is his message to me:

“Mr. Meadows,

The information you included in this email regarding my statement at a
business meeting is incorrect. My recollection is that I had asked
Paul about how he was tracking. I am not sure if I said something
incorrectly or not that would have caused the confusion but let me say
this for you now:

I have never had any communication about the District 41 race with the
Governor of Oklahoma or anyone in her office. Period. On a side note,
I have been in the newspaper business 33 years and we always confirm
information we put out with a contact of the original source. I also
don’t believe I have ever received at any newspaper I was working for
paid advertising from the Oklahoma Tourism Department. If that is the
case, I sure need to have a talk with Brad Henry, Frank Keating, David
Walters and George Nigh. I knew those guys were holding out on me.

Please correct this at your earliest convenience. I like Paul and our
paper is in the process of trying to decide who to endorse in this
race. It is a tough decision for many reasons for us. A smarter
newspaper guy would probably not endorse either candidate. I am just
not that smart and will be endorsing someone in each of the races this
month. Should you have any questions please feel free to call me at my
office 340-3311. I don’t believe we know each other but I am sure you
do not want to have incorrect information in  your communications with
your membership.

Ray Hibbard

Publisher

Edmond Life & Leisure”

I am not a betting man, but if I were I would put my money on Mr.
Hibbard endorsing Clark Jolley, Marian Cooksey (a former aide to Lt.
Governor Fallin) and Guy Liebmann. I believe those are the only
legislative candidates running for office within the Edmond city
limits.


I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

WHY SEN JOLLEY WENT NEGATIVE & THE FALLIN CONNECTION

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++  WHY SEN JOLLEY WENT NEGATIVE & THE FALLIN CONNECTION
++  ANNOUNCEMENTS

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 13th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Shortly after
session ends each year the members of OCPAC help in creating the
Conservative Index which is published each year in the Oklahoma
Constitution Newspaper.

Here is the process. On Wednesday, May 23rd I hand delivered to every
Republican lawmaker or their office an invitation to participate in
creating this year’s Conservative Index. The invitation letter
instructed them to submit legislation they believed would be a good
Index vote to Ron McWhirter and Steve Byas at the Oklahoma
Constitution Newspaper no later than Wednesday, May 30th. In addition
they were all invited to attend our meeting on the 13th of June to
debate on the legislation submitted as to whether or not such
legislation actually reflects a liberal or conservative vote.

Following our meeting this Wednesday, we will have a special meeting
this coming SATURDAY, June 16th at Italiano’s restaurant so our dues
paying members can vote to determine the 10 most important bills from
this year’s session to be used to make up this year’s Index.

Again, we will have a special meeting this coming Saturday, 12 noon at
Italiano’s to debate about the final bills to make up this year’s
Conservative Index. Folks will need to order off the menu as the
buffet will not be available this Saturday. The reason for the special
meeting is that Ron and Steve want to get this year’s scores posted on
their web-site before the election, as the regular Summer issue won’t
be out for several weeks from now. Moving the candidate filing date
and the primary elections up is causing several things to be done
differently this year from years past. I sure hope as many of our dues
paying members as possible can make it to both of this week’s
meetings.

We normally have several lawmakers come to our debate meeting, one
year as many as 15. No lawmaker failing to attend this Wednesday’s
meeting has a valid reason to complain about the bills used on this
year’s Index if they do not show up at our Wednesday meeting. As
always, I ask Ron and Steve not to let our members know which
lawmakers voted for or against the bills considered as we want this
effort to be as objective as possible. We don’t wont our members to
consider personal preferences about lawmakers into the equation.

++  WHY SEN. JOLLEY WENT NEGATIVE & THE FALLIN CONNECTION

Several weeks ago Senator Clark Jolley, with what will surely be a
half million dollar war chest, went up on several radio stations,
proclaiming shame on Paul Blair for resorting to negative campaigning.
Of course Senator Jolley, the little snowflake pure as the wind driven
snow, wouldn’t dream of going negative himself, or would he?

First, lets determine what it means to “negative campaign”? Over the
years I have written several articles on the subject of negative
campaigning. I had noticed the liberals, mostly Democrats at that
time, hated to be exposed regarding their recent character flaws,
their performance as a lawmaker, or their ideas as a candidate. Often
times such exposure would cause them to lose their elections, so they
went on a tirade proclaiming that character didn’t matter, especially
since they were always doing such a great job while in office.

With the help of the mainstream media they have been successful, at
least with some voters, to build a reaction to repulse any candidate
who dares to draw any distinctions between themselves  and their
opponents. In other words some voters only want to hear positive
information and they have been indoctrinated to vote against any
candidate who has been labeled as “negative”.

If that attitude ever becomes the norm for the majority of voters,
then all future elections will boil down to pink, puff and piffle
beauty contests. If it ever comes to that we might as well put pink
tutus and lipstick on every candidate and see who is the best at
twirling around on the point of their little tipsy toe.

The real purpose of a political campaign is to draw distinctions
between the candidates. Character differences are important, if they
exist, as the last thing we need in office are liars, cheats, thieves
or pawns of the powerful. Also just as important are the differences
in ideology, communication skills, effectiveness and the competency to
govern.

Pointing those difference out are all valid parts of a political
campaign and should not be construed as negative campaigning. True
negative campaigning occurs when one candidate lies about an opponent
or exaggerates a subject way out of proportion to reality. Also taking
something an opponent says out of context and then twisting and
spinning it to say something completely different than what was meant
is the height of negative campaigning.

The latter is exactly what Senator Clark Jolley has repeatedly done to
Paul Blair in their hotly contested race. Most likely Jolley went up
with negative campaigning early on because Blair has exhibited a great
deal of strength as an opponent.

As an example, Jolley’s campaign plays 7 words “are aerospace jobs
more important they yours” from a Blair robo call and then twists and
spins those seven words to mean that the “negative” and mean old bad
boy Paul Blair is promoting class warfare, class envy. Then of course
the next thing the ads do is to try and bring Governor Fallin into the
race to make it look like Paul Blair is running against Mary Fallin
rather than Senator Jolley.

I can assure anyone that Paul Blair has never promoted class envy at
anytime, its not in him. What he does promote is free enterprise where
people find a way to educate themselves, get good jobs and start up
and succeed in the business world based on their own efforts, rather
than having the government to decide which professions or businesses
will get the favored treatment, the subsidies, the favored
opportunities and so on. To twist Paul’s words and say he promotes
class warfare is a lie and does not represent reality. To suggest Paul
is against the aerospace industry is also a lie and does not represent
reality.

Another example of Clark Jolley taking something Paul has said and
then trying to turn it into something bad is a radio ad with Paul
talking about the corruption at the Capitol. The Jolley ad suggests
that it is a terrible and negative thing to say something like that
about the lawmakers at the Capitol.

Yet, it was just a few weeks ago that we had State Senator Bill Brown
(R-Broken Arrow) come to an OCPAC meeting and allow us to see the
letter he had sent to all his Republican colleagues. In the letter he
expressed his sincere disappointment at the way the Republicans were
governing, much like the Democrats did when they were in power.
Senator Brown’s words to me and the folks at the meeting was that the
Republicans are lying to the voters. He said, we tell them we want to
cut taxes, and reduce the size of government when we want their votes,
but when we get into office it is business as usual and government
continues to grow.

Another example used by Senator Jolley is a statement Paul made to his
supporters at his campaign kick off when he said Governor Fallin and
many in the establishment are pulling out all the stops to keep him
from getting elected. If that is a true statement, and it is, then why
is that negative? Clark had a spy at the kick off meeting to record
what Paul said in hopes of getting something he could twist and use to
try and destroy Paul.

I believe it was Thursday morning the 17th of May that Paul was
invited to speak to about 30 prominent Edmond businessmen. During the
meeting, Edmond Life and Leisure publisher Ray Hibbard spoke up and
told the group that he had received a call from a person in Governor
Mary Fallin’s office to the effect that if he didn’t endorse Senator
Jolley, that the Oklahoma Tourism Department would no longer advertise
in his paper!

Sure sounds like Paul had it right when he said the Governor and the
establishment was in an all out effort to keep him out of office and
to return Senator Jolley. As I said last week, Jolley is the best
little Senator that a half million in special interest money can buy.
After all, the establishment knows the Paul Blair can’t be bought off
or controlled. He has taken a NO LOBBYIST pledge. He wont’ take their
money, he won’t even let one of them buy him a pack of gum.

Lets explore the possible reason’s for Governor Fallin’s support for
Senator Jolley? It could be that Mary is paying Senator Jolley back
for his support during the Republican primary for Governor in 2010 as
Paul supported Senator Brogdon during that time, though he surely
supported Governor Fallin in the general election.

I actually believe there is another theory which holds more weight.
During the race for Governor, Mary raised over $4 million dollars.
While she holds a modicum of independence, anyone believing she isn’t
under serious pressure from the powerful and wealthy special interest
groups that significantly funded her campaign is rather naïve. Many of
those powerful and wealthy contributors are members of the State
Chamber of Commerce.

Many of these wealthy and powerful people view politicians as little
more than people to control so that they can shape government policy
to suit their needs or desires. Quite often, these powerful people are
the beneficiaries of millions of taxpayer dollars, so the stakes are
high.

No doubt that the State Chamber is in Clark Jolley’s camp as at least
2 oversized post card mailers have already gone out on behalf of
Senator Jolley directly from the State Chamber. These mailers are an
independent effort by the Chamber and at their own expense. That
expense is not even included in what will be my estimate of at least a
half million that Senator Jolley will raise and spend to keep his
position of power.

Now lets look at the players and see if we can connect the dots. In
2006 State Representative Fred Morgan was term limited out of office.
He ran for Congress and came in a distant way back in his effort. He
then went to work as the right hand man for Glen Coffee who became the
Co-President Pro Tem of the Senate and later the full Senate President
Pro Tem. I am sure Fred was very valuable to Glen, especially since he
came from the House and had many important connections and a great
understanding regarding the House side of the legislature.

Serving as Glen’s right hand man for some time, Fred was offered a job
as Executive Director of the State Chamber. I could be wrong, but I
don’t ever remember them tapping someone from the legislature for that
important job in years past. I do believe the leadership at the
Chamber had enough foresight to understand it would not be long before
the Republicans would be in full control of state government, so it
made a lot of sense to hire Fred for the Director’s position.

When Mary was elected as Governor, she appointed Senator Glen Coffee,
who had just been term limited out of office, as co-transition
coordinator. After the transition from the Henry administration,
Governor Fallin appointed Glen Coffee as her Secretary of State. Many
people speculate that Glen Coffee is a very influential person when it
comes to the Governor, in fact on several occasions lawmakers have
jokingly spoken to me in reference to Glen as Governor Coffee.

I have often written of what I believe is the State Chamber’s
inordinate amount of power and influence upon state government. Some
would suggest they are controlling the State at this time and I would
believe that is close to correct. So you have Fred Morgan as the
Chamber President who used to work for Glen Coffee who may just be the
most powerful political influence upon Governor Fallin and the Chamber
wants Jolley elected and Blair defeated! If I am correct, then Mary
will do all she can to see Jolley re-elected including endorsements,
fund raising events and allegedly strong arm tactics, to defeat Paul
Blair. Her office may have even broken the law (the call to Mr.
Hibbard would be illegal if it came from a state phone or say if one
of the Governor’s aids made the call while at the Capitol).

So should anything Blair has said be considered as negative?
Absolutely not, but almost everything Jolley has said about Paul Blair
is twisted, off base and should be considered as negative.

Clark Jolley is a borrow and spend, big government Republican. As such
he has resorted to negative smears upon Paul Blair in hopes of fooling
the Republicans in Edmond so he can slither back into office. Jolley
is truly wise as a serpent, but not innocent as a dove.


++  ANNOUNCEMENTS

*  TUESDAY EVENING  -  ADA AREA  -  The Ada/Seminole Tea Party will
hold their monthly meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. tonight June 12th.
The meeting will be located in the conference center at the Ada
Chamber of Commerce, 209 West Main Street. The first speaker will be
B.L. Cozad Jr., talking about the UN’s Agenda 21. The keynote speaker
will be Glen Howard talking about Israel, politics and prophecy.

*  THURSDAY EVENING  -  OKC AREA  -  Mr. Michael Shaw will be flying
in from California to speak at the Character Inn, 520 West Main in
downtown OKC, from 7 until 9:00 p.m.. Mr. Shaw is perhaps the foremost
authority in America on Agenda 21 and the whole sustainability
movement. This is quite an opportunity to hear such an expert so I
urge folks to attend if at all possible (This meeting was scheduled
before we knew the Thunder would be playing in the NBA finals,
fortunately that is what your DVR is for). Advanced admission is $12
or $15 dollars at the door. To purchase your advance admission log on
to: www.concernedcitizensunited.webs.com.

One more thing, the Agenda 21 crowd will be meeting again in a few
days in Rio to celebrate 20 years since the Earth Summit occurred
which birthed Agenda 21. This bunch of globalist progressives aren’t
without their internal squabbles. One faction at this next meeting
advocates abandoning the global warming agenda saying it has lost any
possibility of implementation. The other faction says hell no, we have
spent untold millions to create this issue and it can’t be abandoned.
Wish I could be a spectator with a bag of popcorn and a lemonade to
watch that argument play out.

*  SATURDAY AT NOON  -  OKC AREA  -  Just one more reminder, as I
mentioned under the agenda for this week’s meeting, we will be having
a special Saturday meeting for OCPAC. We will meet, 12 noon, at
Italiano’s restaurant to debate the final 10 bills to be used for this
year’s Conservative Index. I especially hope as many dues paying
members as possible will attend for this special meeting. The owners
of the Oklahoma Constitution are trying to get this done as soon as
possible so they can at least post the lawmaker scores on their web-
site before the June 26th primary elections.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

SEN JOLLEY’S RESPONSE TO ETHICS TROUBLE WORSE THAN THE CRIME?

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++  SEN JOLLEY’S RESPONSE TO ETHICS TROUBLE WORSE THAN THE CRIME?
++  WILL SENATOR COBURN BE A MAN OF HIS WORD?
++  NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF GOV. WALKER’S RECALL ELECTION


++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 6th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Mr. Brooks Mitchell,
candidate for Corporation Commission will be a speaker this Wednesday
along with a final candidate running for a legislative seat. That
candidate will remain un-named at this time. Congratulations to Ken
Walker for winning our endorsement last week in his effort to win the
HD 70 seat in Tulsa.

++  JOLLEY’S RESPONSE TO ETHICS TROUBLE IS WORSE THAN THE CRIME?

This past Friday, Bob Donohoo filed an ethics complaint against State
Senator Clark Jolley, alleging that Jolley had failed to file his SO-1
report with the State Ethics Commission within 10 days of either
raising or spending $500 in his effort to be re-elected to Senate
District 41.

Senator Jolley fired back with the statement: “We complied with every
one of the ethics laws in this state,”.  Are you serious Senator
Jolley? Jolley is an attorney and he has also been a lawmaker for 8
years. If anyone should know the most simple and basic laws to run for
office it should be Senator Jolley.

Jolley’s responses as reported in the Oklahoman and the Edmond Sun
were, in my opinion, an effort to spin the issue away from the alleged
violation of a simple to understand law, to prior campaigns,
allegations of desperate attacks by supporters of his opponent, and an
attempt to silence anyone from talking about the issue lest they be
guilty of a misdemeanor and a $10,000 fine. The Oklahoman got it right
about a decision in 2009 by the Ethics Commission not to enforce the
silence rule because it didn’t want to violate the free speech of the
press or of citizens in the community. The Ethics Commission really
needs to get their miss-information on this subject off of their web-
site.

I am not privy to all the evidence presented to the Ethics Commission
by Mr. Donohoo, but let me say, I contributed $50 to Clark Jolley 8
years ago when he first ran for this office. Most likely, due to my
past record of contributing, I received an invitation from Governor
Fallin to attend   “a fundraiser benefiting the re-election campaign
of Senator Clark Jolley Senate Appropriations Chairman”   at the home
of Bryan Gonterman. I believe Mr. Gonterman is the CEO for the
Oklahoma division of AT&T.

Contributions were suggested to be $5,000, $2,500, $1,000, or $500.
Now, here is the important information. The date for this fundraiser
was January 31st. The law is so simple Senator Jolley, assuming he
raised more than $500 dollars that evening, and he did, and given the
fact that it was clearly for his Senate campaign, I believe he would
have been required to file his SO-1 with the Ethics Commission no
later than February 10th, however it appears he didn’t file those
reports until April 1st.

I suspect that this wasn’t the first fundraising event for Senator
Jolley. Sources told me some time ago that a fundraiser was held for
Senator Jolley in the cafeteria on the campus of Chesapeake Energy
prior to the January 31st date. I am sure Senator Jolley paid
Chesapeake something for the use of the cafeteria or that would have
been a corporate contribution which would also be a violation of the
law.

Sources also told me Chesapeake was once again holding a fundraiser on
campus for Senator Jolley this past week titled: lunch and learn with
Senator Jolley. Supposedly employees were encouraged to attend and
different contribution levels were suggested. I would suggest it
should have been named: “lunch and twist with Senator Jolley”, meaning
your arm will be twisted to give.

Maybe, if powerful individuals at Chesapeake were paying more
attention to good corporate governance, less debt and more frugality
in their spending practices, rather than trying to control state
government by influencing who gets elected, maybe they wouldn’t be
under such duress by stockholders (see today’s business section of the
Oklahoman), at least that is my opinion.

I also suspect Senator Jolley had spent tens of thousands of dollars
before this January 31st date  in his effort to be re-elected to his
Senate seat. I have prospective candidates talk with me all the time,
asking for help in knowing what to do if they decide to run for
office. I always warn them  to be sure and read the Ethics laws and be
sure to file their SO-1 report with the Ethics Commission once they
RAISE or SPEND more than $500.

Once the ethics complaint was filed by Mr. Donohoo, if Senator Jolley
would have responded by saying it was a stupid oversight, a mistake,
he could have probably paid a fine and gone on with his campaign.
However, I believe his attempts to disregard the law, obfuscate, spin
the issue and intimidate people from using their rights to free speech
just shows how 8 years as a powerful senator can create an arrogant
attitude of being above the law by a person who appears to have a
serious character flaw. Unfortunately the Ethics Commission won’t rule
on this situation until after the election which is why it is
important to discuss this in the open to help voters understand the
character of the people running for office.

Senator Jolley, not only are lawmakers NOT above the law, we the
people hold you to a higher standard and rightly so. Senator Jolley,
of course it was the supporters of Paul Blair who brought  this to
light, it sure wasn’t your supporters. You are doing what almost all
power hungry politicians do when they get caught with their hand in
the cookie jar, they blame it on politics and their opponents. That is
the nature of the political process. If you want to avoid these
embarrassing problems, don’t give your opponents any ammunition to use
against you. Simply said, DON’T VIOLATE THE LAW!!!

++  WILL SENATOR COBURN BE A MAN OF HIS WORD?

In last week’s e-mail I related some insider information about U.S.
Senator Tom Coburn contacting a couple of State Senators with the
message to tell their colleagues that if they voted to borrow $40
million to finish the American Indian Cultural Center in OKC that he
would support their Republican opposition in the primary races.

As it turns out, the measure failed to pass by 1 vote. One of the
Republican Senators who voted for the measure to borrow the money was
Brian Crain (R-Tulsa). Senator Crain won the RINO (Republican In Name
Only) award last year for his paltry score of a 40 for the 2011
session.

May I suggest, if Senator Coburn really cares about the fiscal
discipline of Oklahoma state government, he should without hesitation
and immediately endorse and support Kevin McDugle in his race to
unseat the liberal Brian Crain. Our members overwhelmingly endorsed
McDugle during our interview process as he is clearly head and
shoulders more conservative than Senator Crain. We are waiting and
watching Senator Coburn, please be a man of your word!

++  NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF GOV. WALKER’S RECALL ELECTION

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was the key note speaker a couple
of months ago at this year’s main fundraiser banquet for the Oklahoma
Council of Public Affairs (OCPA). I enjoyed very much getting to give
my opinion on one of the local news stations about organized labor’s
efforts to intimidate people from attending the Walker speech that
night. The part that made the news cast was: “I see the union thugs
are out in force tonight”.

A couple of things that impressed me that night with the Governor’s
speech was his grasp of the need to make Wisconsin friendly toward
business and the jobs growth that has occurred since he was successful
in making some of those changes. Then of course he discussed the very
reasonable changes he was able to push through the legislature to
contain some of the run-away costs heaped upon the backs of the
taxpayers of Wisconsin as a result of the excessive power the
government employees wielded over Wisconsin lawmakers, especially when
the Democrats were in control.

However, the most important comment by Governor Walker that evening
was about what he called: THE COURAGE FACTOR. The attacks by the
organized left upon himself and other Republicans in Wisconsin have
been irrational, un-relenting and vicious. Governor Walker and the
Republican lawmakers didn’t back down in the face of extreme pressure,
even when faced with risks to the personal safety of themselves and
their families. The intimidation factor from the liberal left
progressives was off the charts.

Therefore, should Walker lose this election it will send a message
across the nation to conservative reformers to get back into the cage
of “go along to get along”. It will send a message that if you stand
up, we, the leftist progressives will cut your legs out from under
you. Should Walker lose, a fear of standing up and opposing the
leftists in this country will spread everywhere. However, on the other
hand, should Walker win today, it sends a courage message across the
nation. A message that principled conservatives can take on the
progressive leftists and continue to be re-elected. Wisconsin is
traditionally a very liberal state with enormous union power and
money. If Governor Walker is left standing tall tonight, it will send
a message to the majority of states that conservatism can win almost
anywhere as long as those pushing conservatism are principled as well
as good communicators.

I will send out another e-mail this week with the announcements. I
look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com