The Oklahoma Republican Party is alerting the public to a number of questionable campaign tactics by Democrats.

Oklahoma City, OK— 11/06/18 — Chairman Pam Pollard stated today, “I am shocked by the number of reported instances of campaign violations immediately before the elections. I have personally received numerous mailers on behalf of Democrat candidates that did not have the proper financial disclosure.”

“Campaigns are regulated by the State Ethics Commission and the rules are clearly posted online. Rule 2.56. Candidate Committee Printed Advertisements Disclosure Requirements specifically addresses the proper way to identify who paid for the campaign material. Unfortunately, the public cannot discern if the statements were made by the candidate, their opponent or by an organization supporting or opposing a candidate without the disclosure,” explained Pollard. (see example #1)

One of the more egregious examples of questionable campaigning submitted to the Republican State Chairman is an apparent communication between a group making independent expenditures and the candidate. (see example #2)

Another seemingly unethical tactic is the OK Education Assn offering chances to win tickets to a Thunder game in exchange for pictures of your I-Voted sticker. (see example #3)

Chairman Pollard concluded, “The current system of enforcement of campaign violations does not protect the public and voters from hidden donors nor misleading advertisements. Elections can be won or lost by these highly questionable tactics. It is most unfortunate that so many Democrat candidates and left-leaning groups have not followed the rules.”

EXAMPLE #1

EXAMPLE #2

EXAMPLE #3

—End—

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — When voters booted a dozen Oklahoma Republican legislators from office in the primary, the common thinking was that educators angry about classroom funding were behind the ousters.

But there were forces at work beyond just agitated teachers.

A top GOP House leader actively participated in a plan to take down several hardline members of his own caucus, a move that went far beyond what former President Ronald Reagan once called the 11th Commandment: never to speak ill of a fellow Republican.

Meanwhile, a dark-money federal super PAC based in Alexandria, Virginia, spent nearly $750,000 launching a parallel attack against several of the same Republicans. The Conservative Alliance PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money without disclosing its individual donors, targeted several House Republicans with mailers, radio ads and other attack ads.

“They’ve gotten rid of us troublemakers who were holding the Republican principle line,” said Rep. George Faught, a 10-year Muskogee Republican targeted with a mailer that featured him with a long Pinocchio nose.

Conservative Alliance PAC also targeted Republican state legislators in primary elections in Ohio, where the PAC is being sued for defamation for some of its attacks.

In Oklahoma, Republicans have been steamrolling Democrats in elections for a decade, racking up super majorities in both legislative chambers and laying claim to the entire congressional delegation and every statewide elected office.

As a result, much of the state’s political wrangling takes place within the GOP, evident earlier this year when hardline conservatives like Faught in the state House thwarted GOP leadership’s plan for tax hikes to help fund teacher pay increases.

With a teacher walkout looming, Republican House leaders were forced to broker a compromise with Democrats to get the necessary votes, further exacerbating the rift within the GOP. Several anti-tax conservatives even joined an effort to roll back the tax hike that ultimately fell short.

But the last straw came when some of the Republican hardliners called publicly for more conservative challengers to run for office, said Rep. Chris Kannady, a House floor leader and chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee who acknowledged helping launch the attack on his own colleagues.

“All I did was have conversations with people and set things in motion to say that, this situation has to be addressed. We cannot let members of our own caucus actively be against the rest of us because we disagree on policy decisions,” said Kannady, R-Oklahoma City.

“Sometimes you have to take leadership whenever it might be uncomfortable to do so, especially once we were provoked, and start having conversations with stakeholders in the community.”

Kannady declined to name individuals with whom he met but said there was a broad coalition interested in taking out the caucus’ more conservative members, a group that referred to itself as the “Platform Caucus.”

“You can name any sector in the community, and I can tell you every one was frustrated,” Kannady said. “That’s indicative of the amount of money that was infused into the process.”

Kannady said he acted separately from House leaders and did not discuss his plans with his fellow colleagues. He also said he did not know who was behind the Conservative Alliance PAC or who its donors were.

Campaign finance records show Kannady gave $500 to Tulsa Republican Jeff Boatman, who was running against state Rep. Scott McEachin, and $2,000 to Stan May, a Broken Arrow Republican running against Rep. Mike Ritze.

Both Ritze and McEachin were defeated, along with six other GOP incumbents who had voted against leadership’s plan to raise taxes on cigarettes, motor fuel and oil and gas production to help pay for a pay raise for teachers.

Ritze, a five-term incumbent best known for his anti-immigration rhetoric and personally financing a Ten Commandments monument at the Capitol, was among those targeted by Conservative Alliance PAC.

In one of the mailers, state Rep. Josh West, an Army combat veteran, accused Ritze, a fellow GOP colleague, of wearing military medals he did not earn.

West, a Grove Republican, said he was approached by someone working with the PAC and agreed to let them use his picture in the mailer.

“It was no secret that I was unhappy with Ritze and the way he carried himself,” West said. “I had no issue allowing them to use my picture.”

West also said he doesn’t know who is behind the Conservative Alliance PAC or how it is funded.

West and Kannady both use the same Oklahoma-based consultant, Campaign Advocacy Management Professionals, LLC, that was used by the super PAC to produce mailers and other campaign attacks on GOP incumbents.

Fount Holland, a longtime GOP political consultant in Oklahoma, acknowledged he did some work on mailers for the super PAC, but downplayed the suggestion that House leadership was behind the effort.

“The only thing I can say is that I worked against two incumbents for an organization,” Holland said, “and I was happy to do it.”

Holland’s former partner, Republican consultant Trebor Worthen whose clients include House Speaker Charles McCall, also acknowledged doing some campaign work for the super PAC against GOP incumbents. But Worthen said he didn’t know who was behind the attacks.

“Look, the way the campaign finance rules are, we may never know that,” Worthen said bluntly.

Worthen said the hardliners who were targeted in GOP primaries made a lot of enemies by opposing efforts by business and political leaders to pass the tax hike to help fund teacher raises.

“There’s widespread dissatisfaction with that element of the Legislature,” Worthen said. “My guess is it was a whole bunch of people from the more mainstream, pro-business type of element that said: ‘We need to get together and get rid of some of these people.’”

SoonerPoll: Republican Runoff Poll for News9/News on 6 by TheOkie.com on Scribd

SoonerPoll: (All Parties )Runoff Poll for News9/News on 6 by TheOkie.com on Scribd

Mick Cornett and Kevin Stitt advanced to a runoff on Tuesday for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, while Democrat Drew Edmondson easily secured his party’s nod for the general election.

Cornett, the former mayor of Oklahoma City, got 29 percent of the vote, and it was a photo finish for the second spot in the runoff, with Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt edging out Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb.

Lamb conceded at his Oklahoma City headquarters at about 10:15 p.m. trailing Stitt by only about 2,000 votes.

“I hoped to serve Oklahoma as governor,” Lamb said. “My family will still serve, but in a different capacity.”

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

NEWCASTLE, Okla. (AP) — Sherrie Conley is like most people in small-town Oklahoma: solidly conservative. When she goes to the polls, she faithfully votes Republican.

But in Tuesday’s primary election here, the elementary school principal won’t be voting for the two-term GOP state House member from her district. That’s because she’s trying to get him out of office.

Conley is part of a wave of about 100 educators, including dozens of Republicans, who are running for office in the aftermath of a teacher walkout that shut down public schools for two weeks this spring and opened an unusually bitter chasm in the state’s ruling party.

Read the complete story from the AP. 

Source: http://acuratings.conservative.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/07/Oklahoma_2017_web.pdf

State Rep. Charles McCall will remain speaker of the Oklahoma House.

The House Republican caucus voted Wednesday to keep McCall, R-Atoka, as speaker for another two years. The vote happened behind closed doors, and McCall would not speak to reporters about the election.

Four of his fellow Republicans initially filed to challenge him, but state Reps. Charles Ortega, Todd Russ and Tommy Hardin withdrew before the vote. Only Enid state Rep. Chad Caldwell stood in opposition Wednesday.

Caldwell previously told The Oklahoman that he was asked by his colleagues to run.

“People are obviously frustrated with the lack of progress, both inside and outside this building. And I’m sure Speaker McCall is concerned,” Caldwell said last week. “Any time that you’re in a difficult time like this, I think it’s natural and good to take a step back and reevaluate things.”

Read the complete story on oklahoman.com

Last Friday, the Muskogee County Republican Party’s County Committee passed the following resolution in response to calls to reduce taxpayer protections put in the Oklahoma Constitution by SQ640:

We, the members of the Muskogee County Republican Party’s County Committee, strongly oppose any proposed weakening of the Oklahoma Constitution’s taxpayer protections found in Article V, Section 33. Revenue increases through raising taxes, removing exemptions, or increasing fees, ought to be approved by the majority of voters in a general election, or by a 75% vote of each of the two chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature. Our state constitution works best when the legislature partners with the voters in this manner.

Rather than seeking to loosen the taxpayer protections implemented by SQ640, we demand that the legislature trust the voters to make wise revenue decisions in the event that the legislature or governor believe they have compelling reasons to increase taxes and are unable to achieve the required 75% threshold in legislative voting.

We will only support candidates who respect the voters’ proper place in deciding revenue increase proposals and who will seek to uphold or strengthen the taxpayer protections found in Article V, Section 33 of the Oklahoma Constitution, not weaken them by lowering the standards entailed therein. We believe that the constitutional language intended for the voters to generally be a part of that process.

We direct the County chairman to distribute copies of this resolution on the MCRP’s social media, email list, and also to the Republican legislators representing portions of Muskogee County, the Oklahoma Republican Party chairman, the Oklahoma House Speaker, the Oklahoma Senate President, and the Governor of Oklahoma.

11/15/2017 — On Saturday, November 11th, the State Committee of the Oklahoma Republican Party passed a Resolution commending the fortitude of the 22 Republican House of Representatives members who stood first for the people of Oklahoma and in accordance with our Party Platform in voting against excessive taxation.

As detailed in the Rules of the Oklahoma Republican Party, “The State Committee is the supreme Republican Party authority of the State Republican Party…It is charged with the duty of promoting the welfare and direction, controlling the affairs of the Oklahoma Republican Party…”

Increasing concerns have been voiced that tax increases were sought as a first resort to fill budget gaps, without following the Republican Party’s clear platform guidelines to audit agencies’ performance and financial conditions.. With several news headlines detailing mismanagement and monies unaccounted for in state agencies, and agencies requesting more and more monies without fully accounting their expenses, it is apparent that government practices need immediate scrutiny.

The vast majority of media coverage highlighted the narrative of those who prefer to tax and spend versus representing the people by safeguarding their tax dollars for use only in legitimate government functions with maximum efficiencies. This Resolution thanked those that stood committed to transparency and to the principles that they were elected to follow. The governing body of the State Committee supported their efforts to  be the voice of the citizens of Oklahoma.

Quorum was achieved, and remained compliant throughout the meeting by Rule 19(b) Rules of the Republican Party. Upon the vote, the Resolution passed handily.

While the 22 Republican House members who voted were specifically highlighted in the Resolution, it should be noted that State Rep. John Bennett was also a firm advocate of defending Oklahoma taxpayers, but missed the vote due to a family emergency.

Five State Senators also voted previously in their Chamber against the tax increase. Those State Senators are: Josh Brecheen, Nathan Dahm, Julie Daniels, Dan Newberry, and Anthony Sykes. They should also be commended as having done the right thing in spite of extensive pressure to raise taxes.

Resolution:

Resolution Commending the Republican Minority Vote on HB 1054X

WHEREAS, Filling the Budget shortfalls without first auditing agencies’ performance and financial conditions covers up mismanagement and/or corruption, and avoids making the hard decisions on cutting inefficiencies that lead to cost savings;

WHEREAS, The prime example is the recently uncovered mismanagement and/or fraud at the Department of Health which would likely not have become known if this tax plan had already passed the House earlier in session;

WHEREAS, The Oklahoma Legislature should not increase tax burdens on Oklahomans while this lack of transparency in spending continues to exist in an undetermined number of the over 120 state agencies; and

WHEREAS, The Republican Party Platform is very clear that, “Revenues collected at all levels of government should be used only for well-defined, legitimate government functions, and should be carried out efficiently so that tax rates may be kept as low as possible”; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, The Oklahoma Republican Party State Committee hereby commends the fortitude of the 22 Republican Representatives: Kevin Calvey, Bobby Cleveland, Jeff Coody, Dale Derby, Tim Downing, Travis Dunlap, John Enns, George Faught, Tom Gann, Tommy Hardin, Mark McBride, Scott McEachin, Lewis Moore, Jason Murphey, Terry O’Donnell, Mike Ritze, Sean Roberts, Michael Rogers, Chuck Strohm, Tess Teague, Kevin West, and Rick West, who have put principle over politics, and held the line to not increase taxes again without a complete audit of all agencies; and

RESOLVED, The Oklahoma Republican Party State Committee encourages all legislators to proceed now with the leadership and courage to be accountable first to the people of Oklahoma, knowing that it is our tax dollars they are spending

The latest fundraising report which was filed at the end of October, show that Pinnell raised $127,262; Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy reported raising $85,162 in the same period.

Other declared candidates include Senator Eddie Fields who raised $63,086 during the 3rd quarter.

You can read more details on MuskogeePolitico.com

TULSA, Okla. – Appearing more-or-less relaxed in slacks and a button-down shirt and clutching a cup of coffee, the boyish Matt Pinnell, only 37, smiles as he greets the Red Dirt Report team at an eatery on Tulsa’s south side.

Pinnell starts off by noting the dark-red “46 Star Flag” T-shirt one of us is wearing and proudly noting that his campaign colors for his signs and such reflect the distinct look of Oklahoma’s first flag, which can now be seen on specialty license plates across the state.

Although very brand conscious, Pinnell said that the blue-and-white, standard-issue plates that say “Explore Oklahoma” and “TravelOK.com,” were not rolled out in the best way possible, alluding to criticism after the design was released to the public.

“I don’t think our brand is the ‘Twitter bird,’” cracks Pinnell, referencing The Hunger Games-esque, half-baked scissortail flycatcher design featured on the newly-issued plates, replacing the Sacred Rain Arrow plates, that featured the long-embraced “Native America” slogan.

But Pinnell has big ideas. You have to start somewhere and Pinnell has been plenty of places, bringing his conservative message to all parts of the U.S. in a national capacity and, before that, to all parts of Oklahoma during the Republican rise to power in the past decade.

That said, Pinnell is hoping to be Oklahoma’s next lieutenant governor.

Read the complete story on reddirtreport.com

Harvard Political Review: How can the GOP appeal to African Americans?

T.W. Shannon: I’ve been a conservative and a Republican my entire life. I got my values not from watching commentators on Fox News or CNN. I got my conservative values from my predominantly African American church in Lawton, Oklahoma—Bethlehem Baptist Church. I just believe that the greater the freedom, the greater the prosperity.

As we talk about the historic ills of the African American community, whether it be racism or poverty, the values of the GOP are an important instrument to restoring hope and liberty to people that have been disenfranchised for generations. We have got to do a better job with our messaging, talking about the things where we agree, making sure we are recruiting candidates that reflect those values and candidates that can communicate empathy.

HPR: You graduated with a degree in communications. Why did you start working in politics?

TWS: My undergraduate degree is in communications, and then I got my Juris Doctorate right after. While going to law school, I worked for two members of Congress. I just happened to be walking into the office of Congressman J. C. Watts Jr., who was the fourth ranking member of Congress at the time, one of the most conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, and he also happened to be African American.

After working for J. C. during the time when most people, like I was, were thinking about their own value systems and reevaluating their philosophies, I really identified with his message. His ideas about freedom and liberty resonated with me.

HPR: What caused you to make the jump from working for politicians to running for office?

TWS: It was probably something I had wanted to do for a long time. I had a grandmother, who I knew briefly before she passed away, but certainly her legacy lived on. Although she was not a politician, she worked for a lot of politicians. She did amazing campaign work in the African American communities of Muskogee, Oklahoma, and she also had a certain level of influence to help her neighbors.

Those stories I heard always fascinated me. I thought that could be fascinating. I was involved in school politics, all of the student council stuff, and it was kind of a natural progression. But, again, having a mentor like J. C. Watts was what really got me interested in the process and made me think I could probably do this.

HPR: You eventually rose to Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. What did you find to be the best strategies to effect political change?

Read the complete story on harvardpolitics.com

OKLAHOMA CITY — Within hours of being sworn into office, newly elected Republican state Rep. Zack Taylor faced a tough choice — whether to approve a series of tax hikes that would generate an estimated $500 million to help close a hole in Oklahoma’s budget.

Fresh off the doorsteps of the eastern Oklahoma County voters who sent him there, Taylor had gotten an earful from residents.

“I didn’t feel comfortable casting that vote for my district,” said Taylor, R-Seminole, who ended up voting against the measure.
“They just don’t feel like they should have to pay too much more in taxes at this time,” said Taylor, who started his job last week following a special election to fill an empty House seat.

Read the complete story from the AP. 

(Update: This story was updated at 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, May 24, to include photos of state-agency allocation documents. The photos are at the bottom of the article.)

In a turnaround of strategy, GOP leadership ran a handful of new measures Tuesday that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new state money without needing a 76-vote supermajority on the House floor.

By the end of the night, lawmakers had used that money to frame two appropriations bills supposedly holding a dozen state agency budgets flat. HB 2400 includes a $1,000 teacher pay raise and cuts around 8 percent for other agencies, and SB 860 includes no teacher raise and cuts between 4 and 5 percent, according to House Appropriations and Budget Chairwoman Leslie Osborn (R-Tuttle).

Both bills were voted out of House JCAB, and Senate JCAB passed SB 860 just after 1 a.m. Wednesday. But the upper chamber’s committee adjourned without taking up HB 2400, which means it is likely stalled.

SB 860 will head to the Senate floor (later) Wednesday and then to the House on Friday, according to rules read by Osborn.

“These are not appropriate funding levels. These are horrible funding levels,” Osborn said.

Read the complete story on nondoc.com

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt joined Brian Kilmeade to address the accusations by democrats that he is violating ethics rules by attending a GOP fundraiser. Pruitt also discussed pulling out of the Paris Climate accords, lifting the federal coal ban and America taking a leadership role in new technology.

(Kilmeade) “So real quick I know you’re in the news about possibly attending a GOP fundraiser which would be an ethics violation that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse brought up of Rhode Island, what could you tell us about that director?”

(PRUITT) “Well we were invited to attend and actually the ethics office at the EPA actually approved of my attendance. What happened was the folks that invited me sent out an invitation, post that approval, that didn’t comply with federal law and federal ethics law so we’re not going to be able to attend because of the invitation. It was sent out, but it was actually approved in advance by our EPA ethics office, but it was just what happened afterwards that prevented my attendance.”

Listen to the complete interview on foxnews.com