As Republican groups around the state begin mobilization for a heated primary race, many have been expressing shock and deep regret regarding the choices they made, too years ago.
   Their expressions are consistent and repetitive; "He told me he was a fiscal conservative."
"She said she was focused on ending waste and protecting taxpayers."
  Of the 70 Republicans in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, a majority voted to not only raise taxes, but also to dismantle constitutional rights of the people against a legislature who oppresses the people by escalating taxation.
   The map on the left shows the districts (shaded purple) where a Republican voted more liberal than the House Democrats.
  75% of the Democrat Caucus rejected the plea of House leadership when asked to join the effort to raise taxes, yesterday.

  Some say Oklahoma's political struggles aren't so much left vs right; but little guy vs big.  That axiom was never so poignant than in Thursday's massive ideological battle to  resist a recall of the constitutional protections that taxpayers rely on.

  House republican Leadership sought out a freshman rural member to push forward the recall. Scott Fetgatter filed the bill and even sought to amend it on the floor. The House Speaker Pro Tem desperately wanted this battle, but when floor debate was organized, all the House Republican leadership headed for the doors, leaving Fetgatter alne as the only one arguing for the bill.

​Conservatives and Democrats found themselves serving as the 'amen corner' for each other, But all Fetgatter could muster up was a claim that they were all hypocrites. The debate so frustrated Fetgatter that his voice was trembling. He realized the cowardice of the leaders who put him up to the dirty work. Not one of them would even so much as come & stand by him as he struggled through his allotted 10 minutes.

    With no warning and under the cover of overwhelming bills and no posted floor agenda, The Leadership pushed a measure to recall the constitutional amendment that the voters worked so hard to put in place when we last had a runaway legislature passing massive new taxes.

  The vast majority of House Democrats voted with a conservative Republican minority who held faithful to the OKGOP Platform principles regarding taxation.

  Grassroots Republican Groups are already organizing to prepare their response to this development within the GOP. 
  The Tulsa Area Republican Assembly is calling a meeting on March 20th, in Tulsa. The topic will be candidates and challengers filing in targeted seats, as needed, Preparing an election message of taxpayer protections and due respect, and support for incumbents who demonstrate adherence to the OKGOP principles of conservatism.

  Below, we have posted the 44 Republican House members who voted to begin a recall of constitutional rights of the voters to chose tax increase proposals.

House leadership pulled a surprise maneuver after lunch, today. Without any printed agenda to guide the orderly preparations for legislation, they presented Rep. Scott Fetgatter's bill to seek a repeal of SQ640 (the taxpayers' Bill of Rights).
  Shortly into the process, Fetgatter was recognized to present his resolution to ask voters to disavow what their fathers fought hard to secure. A right to reign in legislative confiscation of family assets.
  Fetgatter further assaulted the house with a floor amendment to his own bill, to even reduce the requirement further, but fiscal conservatives were able to table that measure.
   When the floor debate began, leaders of the Fiscal right and the House Democrats rallied together. Only fetgatter, himself, would dare to be seen or heard on the floor, in defense of his scheme.
  But when the votes began to tally, the tax-grabbers stalled at 48 of the 51 they needed. Then they pressured a few weak-willed members of the Republican Caucus to flip their votes to "Yea" from "Nay". Rep. Terry O'donnell from Claremore avoided voting altogether, but was finally caught and compelled to the Speaker's wishes. Rep. Ryan Martinez of Edmond completely flipped in the last few seconds. then Rep. Michael Rogers completely broke his promises to his constituents and voted as the Speaker directed him to.

Rep. Scott Fetgatter and Harold Wright are seeking to let the Legislature pass taxes with only 60% of the chamber and without any taxpayer approval at all.
​Developing...

​  The Oklahoma House voted in overwhelming numbers, to restore some key provisions of the 2nd Amendment, today. HB2918 will end the requirement of a handgun permit for bearing arms in specific criteria.

  Rep. Jeff Coody & Sen. Nathan Dahm were the primary authors.
  The bill still disallows the lawfulness to possess, if a felony is committed in concert with the possession.

  The bill enumerates many specific, yet narrow conditions for the lawful bearing of arms; but the final clause is the most broad.

  It says;
"..​For any legitimate purpose not in violation of the Oklahoma Firearms Act of 1971 or any legislative enactment regarding the use, ownership and control of firearms. "

  Tomorrow is the deadline for bills to emerge from the originating chamber of the legislature.

 Oklahoma's State Treasurer, Ken Miller, is reporting big increases in the oil field taxes paid to the state.
 He says in his recent press release;
"Oil and gas gross production tax collections brought in $564.9 million during the 12 months, up by $206.9 million, or 57.8 percent, from the previous period."

Here's more of Miller's report – "Monthly Gross Receipts to the Treasury entered a second year of growth in January with collections topping the same month of the prior year by more than 15 percent, State Treasurer Ken Miller announced today.

January gross receipts of $1.1 billion show an increase in the monthly reports for the 12th time in 13 months. Prior to January of last year, monthly receipts had shown contraction for 20 consecutive months. Combined gross receipts for the past 12 months have grown by 7.5 percent."

  State Treasurer, Ken Miller, is reporting a record increase continues for state taxes collected. More than 15% increase for February, compared to last year.

  Following our report on the success of Online Charter Public Schools, KOTV News contacted me for a discussion of the education issues that Oklahoma is faced with.  Journalist Emory Bryan has nearly 30 years experience in Oklahoma TV news. He and I visited this afternoon and rolled the tape. We spoke nearly a half hour and I trust he'll do his best to condense the content down to fit within the producer's mandate. That's a lot to ask of anyone. We'll post the video when the station releases it.
  I expressed great hope for the successful models being demonstrated by some.
  The Epic School District is one model which pays teachers richly ($63,000 per year) while charging the taxpayers less than half what Tulsa Public Schools does. David Chaney's Epic One on One operates in all 77 counties and scores better results than 400 other public schools.
  Oklahoma must step up and make these fundamental changes in the delivery of education. The old models are no longer workable and teachers are trapped in a system that will always limit their full potential and their financial rewards.
  I'm posting my own video of the newscast, until KOTV posts theirs' online

  On Wednesday there will be about 2000 unique students, teachers, and families at the capitol. They are just a portion of the largest school field trip in Oklahoma. Epic Day is when Epic One on One Charter School Takes a trip to the capitol to tell the legislature that they love their school and are happy with their teacher pay. They are not going on strike. Their kids' education is too important. 
​   In an age of technology and communication advances, our public education system is stuck in 18th century thinking and bureaucratic bloat.  In the midst of this we found a tiny concept charter school which started as a concept along the western shore of Lake Eufaula. About 10 years ago, the Graham Public School District took a chance on a new online format of delivering 21st century education.
  Within a few years the little charter outgrew the host district and the legislature stepped in to become the new host of the EPIC One on One statewide charter school district. This year there were over 14,000 students enrolled and the number grows 47% per year, over the past 7 years. It's the 11th largest district in Oklahoma.

  Rhonda Baker joined the legislature a little over a year ago. Today she chairs one of the most powerful and critical committees in the legislative struggle to get common education back under some semblance of order.
  Baker comes from a vast & sprawling district which starts a few miles  miles west of Lake Hefner, in the Oklahoma City metro, and ends just a few miles north of the Wichita Mountains, near Lawton, OK. She filed for the office when Dan Fisher surprised the political world by giving up on his legislative legacy, after 2 terms.
  Unlike Fisher, Baker became one of the most liberal members of the Republican caucus. She scored a '0' on the Rino Index, a 20 on the Conservative Index, a -26 on the Conservative Performance Index, and most recently a 20 on the Platform Index.
  Baker was a public school teacher and a celebrated success for the Teacher Caucus. Former chair, Michael Rogers immediately gave her the title of vice chair, after her election. 
  Baker created a bit of a scandal this winter when she lied to local reporters after failing to follow ethics laws. Baker skipped part of the 2nd special session when she accepted an out-of-state lobby group's free trip to New York City. The lobby group is a liberal advocate for national popular vote.

  In US Labor law, a work stoppage by employees in the term of the existing contract is called a "Wildcat Strike". It carries criminal and civil punishments.  Here's what a trusted legal source says about the actions.

  According to our most reliable available statistics, there are nearly 100,000 students in Oklahoma who are opting out of the typical public school system. Nearly 33,000 are enrolled in private schools which their families pay tuition for. Homeschooled students account for about 40,000. That number matched the research that the Tulsa World published nearly 10 years ago, when they concluded that homeschooling exceeds private school enrollment by about 20%.
  An even faster growing segment of child education is the charter school system. About 25,000 oklahoma students are lucky enough to get accepted into the limited number of charter schools. The largest charter school is Epic One On One. They have over 10,000 enrolled in their online system with tutors who come to the home of the student, as needed.
  This means that one out of every seven kids is no longer attending the local public school campus. Sadly, there are also thousands who drop out altogether. They find the typical public school to be intolerable for them (mostly for social reasons).
  So why aren't the students who aren't in public schools getting equal education support from our state legislature? Some of them are expressing a desire to go on strike with their tax support.
  It is time to bust up every school district of over 10,000 enrollment. They are the big urban failures which are no longer the pride of their communities.

  Many lawmakers will lose the support of voting parents if they throw more wasteful spending into the failed big school districts, without the essential reforms to restore a healthy environment for kids' academic success.

  As Libertarians mark the 2 year anniversary of State sanctioning of Oklahoma's Libertarian Franchise, the new party is preparing their 2nd State Convention. There have been significant growing pains for the group, and some continual shifting of message and method.
  On March 31st, the 2018 Libertarian Party State Convention will convene in Shawnee, OK. They will elect party leadership and get to know their slate of announced candidates.  There currently is no official state party platform. But in order to be a delegate, an Oklahoma voter must be registered in the Libertarian Party (a simple voter registration card from any county election board or voter registrar location).  In addition, a Libertarian voter must file a pledge of fidelity to the party's 'golden rule', the Non Aggression Principle...