OkieBrent's Soapbox

Oklahoma State Senator Andrew Rice (D-OKC, and LEADER of the State Senate Democrats) endorsed the Green Party candidate over a long-time Democrat candidate in the Oklahoma City Ward 2 election. Andrew’s sole reason – he says – was because of a group called OKC Momentum. He called them a bunch of right-wing, Sally Kern supporters. In reality, OKC Momentum opposed three right-wing, Tea Party candidates in the council races in Wards 5, 6 and 8. And they are opposing the Green Party candidate in Ward 2.

Just like OKC Momentum is supporting Democrat Charlie Swinton in the Ward 2 race, they also supported Meg Salyer in Ward 6.

Guess who Andrew Rice supported in Ward 6.

Andrew Rice is a hypocrite – period.

I’ve not written about all the municipal elections happening right now in Oklahoma.  And I have lots of friends running – in Oklahoma City, in Piedmont, in Duncan, in Elk City and in my own community of Minco.  There are some really hot races happening, especially in OKC and Minco.

This posting is about the race for Ward 2 in Oklahoma City.

Most municipal elections in Oklahoma are non-partisan races.  But when there is a good Democrat running – Democrats should support them, especially leaders and staff of the Oklahoma Democratic Party.  But that is not the case in the runoff in OKC Ward 2.

The race is between Charlie Swinton (a good, long-time Democrat) and Ed Shadid (an independent).  There were originally six candidates in the race for the election on March 1^st.  Swinton received 1,803 votes (42.78%) and Shadid received 1,461 votes (34.66%) with the other four candidates taking the remaining 22.56% of the vote.  Since no candidate received 50%, the top two now face off on April 5^th.

Charlie Swinton at Democratic Fundraiser, August 2010

Shadid’s campaign manager also happens to be the “field director and community organizer” for the Oklahoma Democratic Party.  The Central Committee of the State Democratic Party should end his employment at the state party immediately. [UPDATE:  The Chairman of the ODP called and left me a message to tell me that their field director quit in January and they have now removed his name from their website]

Ed Shadid in front of his Green Party banner 2010

And today, via Twitter and Facebook, Senator Andrew Rice, the leader of the Democratic Caucus in the State Senate, endorsed Shadid.  Did he do it because he doesn’t like Swinton or because Shadid is such a great guy?  No, he did not.  His sole reason, as he suggested, was because of an outside group attacking Shadid.  Senator Rice’s tweets said the funders of this outside group were a bunch of rightwingers who have supported people like Sally Kern.

Andrew's tweets

First off, according to NewsOK.com and the Oklahoma Gazette, the funders of this outside group are unknown because of the status of the group and the way the money was raised.  The Oklahoma Ethics rules that apply to candidates do not apply to 527s or 501(c)(3)s.  And because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission, these types of groups can raise and spend as much money as possible to play in politics.

But if the funders of this outside group are some of those who I think they may be (because of their past support of the MAPS campaigns in Oklahoma City) then they also donate a hell of a lot of money to Oklahoma Democrats.  I looked at just six of those individuals and groups and pulled how much money they had donated to Oklahoma Democrats since 2004.  The total I came up with is $373,650 to Democratic candidates or the Democratic PACs for the State Senate and State House ($12,200 of that amount went to Andrew Rice’s two campaigns for State Senate).

What even makes less sense about Andrew Rice’s reason for his endorsement (because of this big, bad, outside group) is the FACT that this exact same group campaigned against THREE TEA PARTY candidates in Wards 5, 6 and 8 in the March 1 election.

I strongly encourage all good Democrats to join me, Sheriff John Whetsel, District Attorney David Prater, Representative Al McAffrey, and former Commissioner Jim Roth in supporting Charlie Swinton for Ward 2 in Oklahoma City.

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This is the independent group mentioned above.  Click on image to go to their website.

After Oklahoman Garth Brooks performed this past Monday at the Points of Light Ceremony honoring former President George H. W. Bush, Brooks gave an interview to CNSnews.  When asked about his opinion of President Obama, Garth said:

I love him to death and I fully support him and I just wish him well because it’s got to be hell in that office.

Garth had a lot more to say about the state of politics today.  You can read the complete article and see a video here.

Wayne Greene at the Tulsa World has a nice update on the battle between conservative Republicans and ultra-right-wing-conservatives in the State House of Representatives.

Some of the most conservative members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives say the GOP caucus is dysfunctional and disintegrating into chaos.

“The speaker and the leadership team have declared war on the conservative side of the House,” said state Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Oklahoma City. “There is blood and body parts of our members on that floor that has been spilt in the last week.”

But the Republican leadership says the caucus is strong – despite the small number of troublemakers in its ranks.

“People are completely fed up with their stalling and obstructionist tactics,” said Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa, the House majority floor leader. “Our caucus, because of their behavior, is actually more united and more cohesive.”

Read more from this Tulsa World article at here.

This week is National Sunshine Week.  I am a huge fan of the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts.  As citizens of the United States, of the State of Oklahoma, of our local counties and our local municipalities, we have a right to know what our governments are doing and how they are spending tax dollars and operating business.

This past Saturday FOI Oklahoma issued their Awards for 2010.  Click on the link to see all the award winners, but two I wish to name here are Rep. Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie) who received the Sunshine Award for his sponsorship and support of bills to increase transparency in government; and, Rep. Randy Terrill (R-Moore) who received the Black Hole Award for working to keep government workers’ birth dates private.

There have been real problems here in my own little town with our current Mayor not releasing public documents.  FOI Oklahoma offers candidates the opportunity to sign an Open Government Pledge.  This week the Minco Millennium newspaper encouraged all candidates running for Mayor and City Council to sign the pledge and she will publish before the April 5th Election who did and/or did not sign the pledge.

I encourage you to learn more about Sunshine Week and Freedom of Information Oklahoma.

And then there is this Saturday story from the Tulsa World: Discontent in Oklahoma House may jeopardize Steele’s agenda

Update:

Here is a brief AP article about what happened in the House today, and here is coverage by KOCO Channel 5.

UPDATE (3/15/2011)

Click on the logo below for a much more detailed story by Michael Cross on the Public Reprimands of Reps. Terrill and Reynolds.  You can also download audio from KOSU.

In May, delegates to the Oklahoma Democratic Party state convention will elect new officers to govern the state party for the next two years.   Oklahoma Democrats are in the worst shape they have been in since statehood. We need new leadership, we need strong leadership, we need smart leadership.  We need someone like Drew Edmondson as the head of the ODP.

The ODP should have a strong and well-known leader as its chairman.  And it should go back to the old model of a State Chair as the voice of the party, with a professional executive director who manages the day-to-day task of running a state office.

Drew Edmondson is a well-known and respected Oklahoma brand.  He is a good Democrat, he knows the ups and downs, the ins and outs, of running campaigns, he has experience at raising funds and he is a dynamic speaker.

Oklahoma Democrats need Drew Edmondson as the leader of our Party.

I was lucky enough to see him this past December 10th in Tulsa.  As he says at the very end of this clip, he’ll be performing at the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall on March 19th.  I highly recommend anyone who likes comedy, and doesn’t like Republicans, to get tickets and attend his show.

you are supporting the infamous, right-wing, anti-workers’ rights, billionaire Koch brothers.  If you use the below brands and you don’t like what the Koch brothers stand for or how they use the power they have because they inherited their fortune from a wealthy father – then switch brands.

I think Chris is totally correct if for no other reason that Huckabee’s own statements in the past about Obama after he won the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton.  Huckabee said he knew the Clinton’s well and that if there was anything about Obama in relation to being born in Kenya or anything else damaging, the Clintons would have found it and used it in the Primary.

and for fun…here is a video on Mike Huckabee from 2007