Mike Pence now joins a dubious group of charlitans who have exploited religion for political gain.  By making obsequous speeches about the lack of honor and integrity in Washington, Pence has promoted himself as a higher form of statesman. The former radio broadcaster honed his skills of mock gravitas and somber thoughtfulness. If you haven't noticed it, imagine yourself suffering from a hemorroid flare up and indigestion. Now speak very slowly and deliberately. If you did it right, you probably would pass for a Pence impersonator.
So, why do devout conservatives of faith, fall for these politicians. Is it that we want to believe we've found our political messiah? Is wishful projection something these phonies bank on?
But Pence does have a god. Everyone does. Pence serves mammon and is driven by ego. He believes he's better than us. Smarter, and wiser. Worse yet, he doesn't respect anyone unless he identifies something he can gain from them.  It's an occupational hazard of politicians. It makes them very accessable in the campaign season, but you'll never get your calls and notes replied to once they get certified as the winner.
At one point, nearly 8 years ago; Pence made sure to notify all of us religious voters, that Mike himself, played the prophet's role, and it was by Mike's own prayer and laying on of hands; that Trump then received God's annointing as our nation's leader.
Pence began filling the administration with his own list of allies. Oklahoma's Jim Bridenstine was one such collegue from the original Freedom Caucus. Pence offered Bridenstine either a top Pentegon post, or a NASA appointment.
Bridenstine served that NASA gig for less than 2 years, then found a gig for an aerospace interest.
Bridenstine is the one who told a religious group that "It would be very difficult to get a better US senator than James Lankford. That's the same James Lankford who was so terrified of a Bridenstine challenge, that he worked overtime to get the senate votes for Bridenstine's confirmation as NASA Administrator.
Pence could find redemption. He could admit his ongoing sin and faithlessness. Will he?
​I have faith in God, but not so much in Pence.

Insiders in the Pence & Christie camp have divulged to SoonerPolitics that the two candidates filed for office specifically to stand in the way of Trump and discredit his leadership. Several funding interests have loading the DeSantis campaign with a huge war chest which was spent trying to win Iowa. That effort fell flat. 
When DeSantis couldn't move the support away from Trump, many more millions were then spent trying to get Nikki Haley a win in New Hampshire.
Every candidate whose base would possibly move to Trump, have now endorsed him. At this point, Haley's concession and endorsement is not likely to add anything. The same small faction that kept John Kasich in the 2016 race, are now utilizing the Haley campaign to try to rally an alternative.
Trump is now poised to win all the delegates pledged in every state contest if the state's primary has a 'winner-take-all' clause for a candidate exceeding 50% of the primary voters. Oklahoma is one such state. And Oklahoma does NOT let non-Republicans choose the Republican primary winner.
Mid March, just 8 weeks from now, could theoretically be the date Trump clinches the GOP nomination.
Should Haley stay in that long, or longer, she'll become as relevant to US politics and John Kasich currently is (and most of us don't even remember who Kasich was?

Mr. Jack, who is also a member of the Tulsa County Election Board, asked for a show of hands of those attending their first GOP(referring to the Republican Party's nickname of Grand Old Party) precinct meetings. At least 30 percent raised their hand.
Some current elective office holders, as well as school board candidates were introduced. TPB board member, Elena Ashley received a very loud cheer and applause for her reform accomplishments in public education.
​A list of upcoming convention and election dates were discussed, as well as an overview of what each event will entail.
then the dozens of neighborhood meetings conducted precinct business and delegates were assigned for the Feb. 24th Tulsa County GOP Convention.
One item missing from the typical quadrennial gatherings, surrogate speeches for presidential candidates. Mr. Jack explained that 8 Republican candidates' names will be on the March 5th Primary ballot, because the filings were held the first week of December. 
But as of caucus time, there were only 2 candidates of note; Donald Trump & Nikki Haley.  There did not appear to be any strong support in the room for Haley, but we cannot say for certain.
the Shusterman (midtown) meeting site was just one of nearly a dozen main caucus sites. At least one precinct opted to hold a meeting in their Broken Arrow neighborhood precinct boundaries.
Checking with others after the meeting, It appears the South Tulsa meeting at Hardesty Regional library  a Broken Arrow central meeting site had similar crowds show up.
Another observation is that ethnic minorities, especially Black & Hispanic voters are getting more active in the Tulsa GOP. 

By 8pm Tuesday night, Hern was being interviewed by cable news channels, and enthusiastically accepting the challenge of organizing the House Republicans. 
McCarthy's detractors have expressed strong support for Hern and will likely extend more good will to  the former fast food chain owner than the other career politicians. 

On a personal note, I've had multiple private conversations with Hern and those close to him. He's a very approachable man from a poor family and difficult upbringing. He's living proof that even flipping burgers (his start in fast food), can result in national leadership in business, then govt. service.
SoonerPolitics is enthusiastic to see this development.
The last time an Oklahoman sought House leadership was in 1999, when Stave Largent(also from Tulsa) came close to becoming Majority Leader. 
Before that, only Carl Albert of Little Dixie served as Speaker in the 1970s.
Other names being mentions in the current Speaker race include Steve Scalise of Louisiana (battling cancer and other disabilities) Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Congressman Tom Emmer, of Minnesota.

The Big 12 must do two things, in order to secure this new stature. 
First, assimulate the new schools into  a new Big 12 identity. With Colorado, that won't be so hard. Colorado has decades more legacy in the Old Big 8, and it's Big 12 expansion of the 1990s.  Coach Deion 'Prime' Sanders, has a Texas identity and already focuses on Texas & Florida recruiting.  Playing in thse states, will only help him succeed. But Utah and the Arizona schools will need more patience and more focus. Later in this article, we'll discuss a key formatting solution to accomodate the western teams.
Second, Building new Big 12 rivalries and traditions is essential. We must accommodate the rivalries already in place. But we must make practical accommodations to get fans in the stands.  This means easing travel difficulties for teams and fans. this also means having some annual events that folks can count on. Like the old OU - Texas 'Red River Shootout', the Bedlam, and The old OU - Nebraska thanksgiving weekend rivalry of the 70s & 80s. None of those rivalries will be in the future Big 12, but it is essential that the conference celebrates all the current rivalries and fosters even more of them.

The entire article brings us to this important advice.
Organize football in 4 divisions, but retain the current championship single game.  We've posted a map of the new 16 schools and set them in 4 divisions; North, South, East, West.  Four teams in each. They will play their division rivals every year, on a 'home & home' rotation. The top division team now has a new bragging right; "Division Champion". This will make those regional games mean even more. 
Of the 13 or so available weekends in the regular season, each team will have 3 division games. In addition, they will play 6 conference games against the other 3 divisions. They will play two teams from each of the other divisions. Those are also 'home & home' games on a 2-year cycle. This means Utah will only travel to the easter time zone once per year. It will take 8 years for the full rotation of conference opponents to once againt repeat itself. But a team will play every conference opponent at least 4 out of 8 years. Meanwhile they still have their 3 annual division rivals on their schedule every single year.
This format leaves each school 4 open date they can use to schedule games outside the conference, or have a bye week.
The Conference championship game will still feature the top two teams by overall conference record, in the same tradition of the past, without any division having any guarantee of inclusion. 
At least 2 conferences will not send a team to the conference championship. That's life. But at least that team can fight to the end, to secure their 'Divisional Champion' distinction. Tiebreaker rules could be the same as the current formula for selection to the Conference Championship game.

To make sense of the cluster of 16 teams, and arrange them in a structure which fosters sustained rivalries, ease of travel, and peak fan interest, The most sensible mapping option is to place two boundary stakes on the US map. Gallup New Mexico, and Fort Smith Arkansas. If your university campus is

• East of Fort Smith, you are in the Big 12 East Division
• West of Gallup, you are in the Big 12 West Division
• North of & between Fort Smith & Gallup, you are in the Big 12 North Division.
• South of & between Fort Smith & Gallup, you are in the Big 12 South Division.

The current Big 12 football schedule will demonstrate the reason to have nearby annual games. Kansas State is being denied a game against OU, this year. In recent years, K-State has successfully derailed OU, and vaulted themselvves to national prominence in the win.  Imagine if K-State was denied an annual matchup with the Kansas Jay Hawks? That's an inevitability if a team only has 9 conference dates available, yet required to play each conference team on an equal formula of scheduling? You don't effectively foster likely rivalries when you have to skip a year or two to resume the tradition.

This 2-tier structure of the new 'mega conference' helps every team find goals for their inevitable rebuilding years. It may be a 'tall order for a new coach to convincee his rebuilding team that they can win the entire mega conference title in the current season, But by just winning the 3 divisional games, they can hang a new banner in the stadium, signaling some measure of success, as they continue to build competitiveness to bigger titles.
Sure, some divisions will be stronger that others. We can't predict the future, so we don't know which team will get the easiest divisional schedule. But we do know that only 3 of the 13 weeks will be devoted to divisional games. It's still weighted in favor of the 6 inter-divisional games. It's an 8-year rotation to equitably run this format. In 8 years, it may be replaced with something else. If it's really unpopular, it could be scrapped at any off-season meeting. But it's very helpful toward securing the new teams and protecting the old rivalries we've all valued.
It also brings fans to the games, when a mid-November reality says that a game no longer means anything in the conference championship hunt.
The conference needs to officially foster these annual events. Putting obstructions in the way, will only bring grumbling and discontent.  Many of these rivalries already exist. Often the two teams fight over a jug, a frying pan, or wager between 2 governors.  
The biggest reason to do it, is because it attracts media coverage. And that's a huge bargaining chip to bring to the next negotiating table when you want to get ESPN or Fox Sports to treat you with respect.

Senator Dahm came into prominence in 2012, by leading the Ron Paul campaign effort in Northeast Oklahoma. When that presidential campaign moved on to other states, Dahm's attention moved to an open senate seat in his Broken Arrow home. As Dahm built bridges within the Republican base, he captured the GOP nomination in the August runoff. 
As the religious right came to appreciate Dahm's legislative efforts, he was repeatedly reelected, and is now completing his final term in office. Now married and starting a family, Dahm is looking to new horizons in public life.

Attorney AJ Farate has served in the OKGOP as legal counsel for several administrations. Nearly a year ago, Farate offered his candidacy to the OKGOP State Committee, when the elected chairman resigned.  Farate was the choice of the 'tall building' Republicans, elected officials, and many traditional and moderate conservatives.
But the state conventions have been heavily populated by passionate advocates of causes like abolishing all abortions, ending all firearms restrictions, advancing spiritual influences in our culture, and restoring healthcare freedoms in the covid era. More importantly, the Trump MAGA Republicans completely control the party.
Farate delivered on

• restoring the fiscal house, with his fundraising;
  
• assisting the GOP nominees to strong wins in statewide races; and
  
• reconnecting with county GOP organizations.

What Farate largely failed to do is gain the trust of the MAGA base. In One of Farate's first meetings after assuming the OKGOP chair, he told Tulsa County Committee members to quit using the word 'RINO'. He reasoned that it's hurting the party's effort to win races in 'purple' communities. That hit the activists as an insult. And they didn't forget it.

Farate's fate was already sealed in February. Former State Rep. Sean Roberts announced his candidacy. Roberts was co-chair of the House Platform Caucus. He championed many causes on gun rights, healthcare choices, and prolife reforms. Several early endorsements led to polling where Farate never reached 30%. The anti-Farate base was hard-fast and it was too late for him to win a 2-way race.

A series of anonymous emails started going out to GOP delegates. They were caustic and salacious. Many folks assumed it was another effort of Sooner Tea Party leader, Al Gerhart. Gerhart helped lead efforts to select the two previous state chairmen. But the Maiden letters and Sooner Tea Party flatly refuted any Gerhart involvement. Gerhart said he was sitting this election out and focusing on policy reforms instead.
About 3 weeks ago, The Maiden letters turned pointedly negative at Roberts, while promoting a rumor that Senator Nathan Dahm will eventually enter the race. Dahm did not respond to our early inquiries when SoonerPolitics reached out to his office.
Former Mayor, Brian Hobbs, took the role of campaign volunteer for the Roberts campaign. His investigators uncovered the original email address of the Maiden letters. Through a password reset attempt, Hobbs says he was asked to enter the mobile phone number associated with the yahoo email account When Farate's listed cell number was entered, Hobbs says "it confirmed a positive match". 
We have not seen a public statement from Farate where he refutes the Hobbs investigation.
More 'Maiden' letters were sent, repeating the claim that Dahm will enter the race very late. The Maiden letters quit focusing on the Farate option, and instead focused on salacious court records of both Hobbs & Roberts. It was obvious that the strategy was to promote a Dahm option and trash the Roberts option.

My first opportunity to visit Dahm was at the Friday session of the OKGOP convention. Dahm explained that he feared a Washington County chairman's effort to pack the convention with fake delegates. He says that's why he waited and avoided all forum opportunities. But Washington County only has a preset number of votes for their 'open delegation'. And the county's allotment is under 10% of the convention votes. Even doubling the faces in the Bartlesville area section of the convention floor, will only impact perhaps 2% of the possible swing. And that's assuming that the new chair hates/fears Dahm as much as Dahm wants me to believe. I believe there's more reasons than I was told. And I'm almost always a big supporter of Dahm.

Dahm's formal campaign was essentially a 5 minute nominating/acceptance speech. The balloting started with a selection for Vice Chair. Osage County Chair, Wayne Hill; won easily on the first ballot, with nearly 60% support. Both Farate & Roberts endorsed him. Michael Stopp & Paula Price held about 20%, each.
Farate never really showed any campaign form at the convention. He succeeded in putting on an efficient convention, and seemed to focus on that.
Roberts chose former Chair, John Bennett, to nominate him. That may have been a mistake. Bennett is seen by many of his former supporters as a failure and bad administrator.
In the first round of Balloting, Farate only carried 16% of the vote. That's the worst defeat of an incumbent in decades.
Dahm & Roberts essentially tied with about 42% each. There was a dispute, but the convention chair (Rep. Jon Echols, chose to move to the 2nd round because the dispute was over about half of 1% of the returns.

Immediately after the first ballot tallies were reported at the podium, Farate was at the floor microphone directly in front of the podium. Once recognized, Farate called on his supporters to support Dahm. Convention Chair Jon Echols slightly scolded Farate for the misuse of the convention order. But the words were spoken and could not be retracted. 
A Roberts campaign organizer was then recognized. The campaign said something to the effect that a Farate endorsement was unwanted and worthless. Chairman Echols equally scolded that statement and called for a resumption of order in the room.

Richard Engle once told me; "If you can't become a king, become a kingmaker." Farate effectively did this. He's not dumb. He seems to have planned this orchestrated process weeks ago; as soon as he deemed his race unwinnable.
The 2nd round runoff commenced and Dahm won on a nearly 60-40 split. All of Farate's base moved to Dahm.

What Dahm is left with is an evenly split base on the MAGA-right of his party. Roberts and Dahm are historic allies. They both are highly respected by the same base of activists. Dahm needs to mend this in order to have any chance of keeping an effective chairmanship which reflects Dahm's passionate advocacy of conservatism & liberty.
Roberts has lost races in the past and faced sabotage within his own party. It hurts. Even when he narrowly was reelected in 2018, he was ready to burn down his own Republican house leadership because several of them orchestrated the defeat of most of his Platform Caucus allies.
Roberts will not 'roll over' quickly or quietly. Nor will Roberts' supporters. Perhaps the 'tall building' Republicans feel satisfied over splitting the MAGA right base? 

The newly-elected vice chair, Wayne Hill, will have a huge opportunity to be the hero, in this hour. Hill campaigned heavily for Roberts. Farate endorsed Hill. Dahm must now work with Hill. If Hill can get the Roberts faction engaged and invested in the Dahm administration, Dahm has a chance to succeed. And even then, Dahm will face funding hurdles and other buried mines in this political minefield.

Senator Dahm had gained the trust of the delegates, largely through his effectiveness in chairing the past two state conventions. His advocasy of Liberty and civil rights over the past 15 years, also won the support of the grassroots of the OKGOP.
Dispite outgoing chair Farate's failure to connect with the convention delegates, he is credited with restoring fiscal integrity through his fundraising success. Farate' has been the legal counsel for the OKGOP over the past decade.

Several of the listed schools are already full for the fall semester. If the reforms become enacted law this session, we expect a rush to ensue. Every school is likely to have waiting lists that may become longer than their school's current enrollment.
 Parents would be wise to begin dialogues with private schools now.

In the included two maps, we show about 200 private schools. Our data came from the OPSAC website and PrivateSchoolReview.com . We discovered errors and outdate info on both websites and sometimes we called the  schools to get updated info.
You can also view the maps in Google Earth.

This 2nd map shows schools not (yet) on a list of OPSAC accredited schools. Many of them are well-established and respected by the communities they serve.  This map is also viewable on Google Earth.

OPSAC is a commission whose mandate is to review the accrediting associations and determine if they are properly reviewing member schools. The accrediting associations set criteria for standards of educating process. While there are similarities, there are also diverse priorities in these accrediting associations.

Journalist's note:

In the 1980s, I taught at a private school in another state. That school was accredited by Accelerated Christian Education(ACE). In my certification training from ACE, I and the other educators were strongly urged by the ACE founder (Dr. Howard), to NOT submit to state accreditation. We were told to conduct our education ministry without handing over control to the state. Dr. Howard believed this was a fundamental 1st Amendment freedom of Religion from govt. suppression.
Howard told us; "Harvard University has never submitted to accreditation from any govt agency, and never will. Why would they allow their lessers to tell them how to educate?"

 House Bill 1935, as passed, was authored by Speaker Charles McCall. It provides for:

• the Oklahoma Tax Commission to swiftly reimburse $5000 annually, to residents when they contractually enroll their dependent child in a primary or secondary school. The school would have to be accredited by one of the six recognized associations of privates schools, or by the Dept. of Education.
• Homeschool students will be reimbursed up to $2500 for actual annual expenses in core curriculum and tutoring services.
• The reimbursements are made in two parts, for each semester of instruction.
• Private schools which have not yet been accredited will not qualify for any state reimbursement.

  HB1935, as amended by the Senate, is awaiting the action of the House. The next vote will be whether or not to approve the new language and send it to the governor's desk. The governor has stated his support for the general provisions of HB1935, but he opposes the idea that some families would be disqualified because of income. 
 If the House rejects the senate amendments, the two houses will appoint delegates to a conference committee, to work out a compromise.
 If the conference can agree to language, a re-written HB1935 will be produced and sent to each house for a simple vote. No further amendments will be allowed.
If both parts of the legislature approve the conference language, it goes to the governor's desk for executive enactment or veto. 
 If vetoed, the legislature could hold a vote to override the veto by a supermajority of the rollcall vote.
An emergency clause has been attached to all forms of the bill, making it law, once it is signed by the governor or a veto is successfully overridden by the legislature. ​Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act would be a part of the 2023-24 school year.

If the new tax credit is available this August, the accredited private schools in Oklahoma will be swamped with families seeking enrollment. Consumer demand will result in several new private schools being put together and applying for accreditation by a qualifying association.

•   The current associations may not be motivated to quickly grant accreditation. This will effectively kill the fiscal viability of the startup private school. The legislature's current language (in both the senate & house versions) could create a structure where new & unassociated private schools would cost families several thousands more per year than the establish & accredited schools.
• We went to the legislature on Tuesday and asked dozens of lawmakers why students enrolled at unaccredited schools are not eligible for the tax credit, while homeschooled kids are given a tax credit. we could not find a single lawmaker who would support this decision. Even The Senate Education Chair, Adam Pugh; expressed an openness to give the matter more thought. We are confident that a conference committee will find a solution to fix 'coverage craters' like this.
• The Senate version of the proposal seems much more biased toward these private associations than the House version.
• The senate language largely guts any tax credit for homeschooling families. Neither version provides teacher funding for a parent who daily tutors a child, But the Senate language limits even textbook expenses. A family with 4 homeschooled kids would only receive $250 per kid to cover all expenses. 
•  Unaccredited schools are currently left out, yet unaccredited homeschoolers are granted some tax credits. Several faith-based organizations provide common education as a part of their ministry. Some of the most established faith-based schools philosophically oppose submitting to the state for approval of their ministry. Accelerated Christian Education(ACE) is one such national education system. This journalist served as principal of an ACE school, in the early 1980s. ACE's founder, Dr. Donald R. Howard; also points out that Harvard University has never submitted to accreditation and never will. Harvard's reasoning is, "Why would we ask our lessers to stand in judgment of the education we provide?"
• It seems clear to this journalist that current private school associations played a key role to help the legislature bring this school reform. That's a good thing. But legislative vigilance requires that we don't create a private-sector obstacle.
• A Clear system needs to include statutory language for new accrediting associations to have equal standing with the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

  State law says it is a crime not to have a child engaged in a common education structure. The Oklahoma Constitution says the state will insure a common education for all children in the state.
​  In 2018, Oklahoma led the nation in funding increases for public common education. State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Joy Hofmeister; sat by silently while 1/3 of the state's school districts conducted an illegal 'wildcat strike'  School boards in leftest-led districts covered for those strikes by closing the schools to support the walkouts. the state's leading teachers' union defied the law and the state. the legislators capitulated and passed several rounds of new funding bills.
  Several legislators now express deep frustration with the poor results what this funding increase failed to deliver. It's five years later and test scores not only didn't improve; they dropped further, at an even stepper descent into student failure such as we're not seen since before WW2.
  In 2018, politicians groveled for the endorsement of political groups associated with public school advocates. Little apples were used as an official seal of support. Now those apples have disappeared from political graphics. Moderate Republican lawmakers are now openly condemning the public school systems of the Joy Hofmeister's era.
 Many public schools began buying pornographic books for school libraries. Teachers stepped up new teachings in 'Critical Race' propaganda. Gender changing became a new teaching in grade schools. School lavatories for girls and boys became interchangeable. Teachers started demanding all students to memorize the declared pronouns for each student, on any given day, then update their pronouns any time a classmate felt differently about their personal masculinity or femininity.
  Last October, major corporate media outlets published opinion polls that showed Republican Ryan Walters trailing the leftist candidate by a wide margin in the race for our next statewide Superintendent. But the official election results were actually the opposite. Walters swept into office with a mandate to clean up the state's largest agency. 
  Walters believes that healthy competition is needed. While HB1935 gives most of the oversight to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the Department of Education will be able to accredit private schools, so they qualify for the HB1935 tax credit.