This weekend, several dozens of new candidates and campaign leaders attended the Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite Candidate Bootcamp. 
  The day-long training and conference was held in Oklahoma City on April 29th. Many guest speakers and organizations from numerous think-tanks, policy advocates, campaign veterans, and former elected officials were a big part of the training success.
  Candidates from across the state learned the basics of effective communication, political process, public policy, election regulations, and other important topics.
  Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite sponsored the training and drew from many veterans in Oklahoma politics.
  This event further demonstrated the commitment of OTU to effectively spread the message that conservative political policy is the best solution for a well run state government.
  Former US Senator Tom Coburn and multiple incumbents are providing guidance to the objectives of OTU and the many candidates who have pledged to serve Oklahoma in a manner consistent with the 7 points of the OTU platform of fiscal conservatism.
  For more information, see www.OklahomaTaxpayersUnite.com

The OEA Union President Alicia Priest, for "nonfeasance in the teacher walkout". The 2nd in command is also targeted for impeachment. News9 has a report:
  Amber Spradlin, an Oklahoma public school teacher and union member, said; “People haven’t quit fighting yet. Those emotions are still there, and are still very raw, but it’s very important how we want to attack that.”.

​Article Number 585:  04.28.2018

  585 weeks ago, as the 2007 legislative session commenced, I wrote the first in this series of articles. This week, the 2018 legislative session ends. It's my last regular session as your state representative, and this will be the last in this series of articles.

  Please do know that I have not taken for granted the many kindnesses that you have provided to me over the past twelve years.

  You have continued to take the time to read my weekly emails or their newspaper article counterparts even though they are all-too-often a bit nuanced. Your kind words of response—both positive feedback and constructive suggestion—provided the encouragement and inspiration to keep writing each week.

  Time and again, you said that you were praying for me. I absolutely believe in the value and the impact of those prayers and I cannot thank you enough for them.

  State Auditor Gary Jones released a statement this morning on the serious concerns of at least 8 county governments and one district attorney.
Jones said; "We have received the request and have already begun looking into the matter.".

  Sooner Politics recently reported on a serious claim of $230 million missing from the Oklahoma Department Of Transportation (ODOT) fund allocations for counties. the County Improvements to Roads & Bridges (CIRB) holds & protects funds for each county for long term capital improvements for transportation infrastructure. 

  One District Attorney from the Ada area has initiated a request of the state Auditor & Inspector's office, to  begin a proper investigation.

 Several counties around the state are now expressing deep concern on the CIRB Funds. On Monday we expect several official statements from county commissioners and budget board members.

Ada -  District Attorney Paul Smith (Pontotoc County),  says his investigation estimates that the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) is unable to identify where nearly a quarter of a billion dollars has gone. Those funds were allocated for the counties of the state and held by ODOT.  
  Smith said he consulted with 8 counties in and around his district...

"This may be totally innocent... we don't know, there may be a very good explanation," Smith said. "But I felt it incumbent on my office as the district attorney to request the audit."

  This latest matter is the 4th instance in less than a year, of a state agency having a serious problem accounting for missing funds. But this is by far the largest amount.

  Oklahoma's state courts and state prosecutors ought to have symmetry in their district boundaries, right?
  If you're a victim of a crime in Pawnee county, your perpetrator should face justice in the same district court system  and district prosecutors. But Pawnee felonies may be tried by a District Prosecutor from the Tulsa District(14), but a District Court judge from the Osage Disrict(10).  
  Muskogee county has their own District Court(15) but their prosecutor is Possibly from Adair, Cherokee, Sequoyah, or Wagoner County.
 In all, 15 counties are caught in this confusion. It's only confusing because the District Courts map and the District Attorneys map are, in fact, far more similar than distinct. 62 of the counties have identically numbered districts serving the cause of justice on their behalf.
  The root cause for such confusion seems to be a fundamental principle of the division of powers in our constitutional government. the Judges are subject to the Oklahoma Supreme Court and follow the order set by the 9 justices. But the District Attorneys answer to an Executive Branch officer of the state, namely, the Attorney General.

   Oklahoma's constitution requires something that the US Congress refuses to be subjected to... A balanced budget.  It used to be a central plank of the Republicans' national campaign mandate for control of congress.
  In Oklahoma govt., the Democrats controlled the state for the first 95 years, and maintained a very solvent state fiscal condition. Even in the lean years of the great depression, Democrats held to a fiscal austerity that neither today's Democrats or Republican legislators generally abide by.
  Our state and local governments now rely on bonds and other instruments of mortgage in a way that past generations strongly resisted.
  That's not to say our past generations of politicians didn't beg the federal govt. to pay for state projects. Our major lakes in the state are mostly a gift of the Army Corps of Engineers. Federal parks, Federal funding of Tribal govts., and other programs help mask the debt we've come to rely upon.

  The House passed the budget, today. It's the same budget which the Senate approved two days ago. There was less drama, but plenty of posturing. Democrats voted against it. Republican leaders claimed it is the greatest and best budget ever.
   The Accountability & Performance Audit Commission, a key effort of fiscal conservatives who want to get better oversight of agencies and discover potential waste, mismanagement, and mission-creep; got $2 million, but they said they needed $5 million to provide proper results.
  Once again the budget chair claims to have passionately fought for mental health funding, but that agency funding remains essentially no different from 3 years ago.
  The State Auditor's office remains about 60% funded, compared to 10 years ago.
  This budget nullifies the March budget for common education. But it remains essentially the same as March numbers.
    While this budget is our first post-recession funding of state operations which have suffered some recent tightening, There doesn't seem to be a real effort to set a 'cushion' so that we can restore our 'Rainy Day' funds for the next fiscal challenge.

  Oklahoma Democrats were exposed for their abandonment of the working poor, in Thursday's legislative session. The party which claims to champion the cause of 'the little guy' had extreme difficulty in justifying their effort to carve out $74 million dollars for the wind lobby. This lobby is extremely active and seeks to prop up politicians who will keep the cash coming to them.
  There is no economic justification for 90% of them to rationalize the corporate welfare because the Democrat politicians are almost completely from urban districts, but the wind farms are completely rural.
  A few rural legislators rationalize that the wind farms pay so much in property taxes to a few school districts, who in turn are so wealthy that the state dept. of education no longer gives aid to those schools.

​From Gov. Frank Keating:

“It’s time to end cash subsidies for wind production in Oklahoma. The wind production subsidy program has grown wildly beyond what was presented to me and lawmakers when we first approved the credits. As policymakers, when we realize that an act of government isn’t working or has gone way beyond what was intended, it is our duty to change it.” said former Gov. Frank Keating, who signed the first iteration of wind production tax credits when he served as the 25th Governor of Oklahoma.

  Oklahoma's House members largely affirmed the 2nd Amendment in yesterday's floor vote to restore a public policy that individual's right to bear arms will not require special taxes, fees, indoctrinations, or bureaucratic process.
  SB1212 by Sen. Dahm and Rep. Sean Roberts refers to the clear language of the US Bill of Rights which forbids any govt. entity from  abridging the rights of the free citizen to bear arms.
  For several years there have been clear suppressions of the right to bear arms in public. to that end, there have been alarming reports that mass murders tend to happen in gun-free zones.
  The facts indicate that even an uncertainty of whether armed citizens are present will serve as a viable deterrent. 
  Those fundamental, philosophical, and practical arguments were enough to  bring passage by a 2-to-1 vote ratio. 14 Republicans refused to support the measure.
  The bill was amended in the House, so it goes back to the senate for final passage. It previously passed the senate by a vote of 44-0.
  Republicans voting against these 2nd Amendment assurances were; Josh Cockroft, Roger Ford, Alise Hall, Katie Henke, & Pat Ownbey.
  A Democrat supporting this bill as Johnny Tadlock.

  Rep. Jeff Coody was finally allowed to present a bill to end the $74 million dollars, paid for by our sales tax, to out-of-state corporations who have erected windmills for the generation of electricity, which they sell in other states. The final bill now goes to the Senate.
  Several efforts were made by Democrats and Republican crony capitalists. Among the Republicans fighting against Coody & Breecheen's SB888, were Mike Sanders & Leslie Osborn. Osborn's predecessor at the Budget chair, Earl Sears fully supported the Breecheen/Coody bill on the House floor. the measure passed with 51 votes of support.
  Osborn floated the claim that a legally binding contract was written by the state and there will be a lawsuit filed if this bill becomes law.
  Mark McBride, a longtime opponent of the 'cash for windmills' corporate welfare program, said he consulted former Gov. Frank Keating. McBride reported back; "We keep hearing about signed contracts and former Gov. Keating. I called him. There are no contracts, and wind companies are not doing what they said they would for our economy. They're just taking our money.".
 An attempt to table the bill before it could receive a full floor vote was supported by 3 Republicans (Moore, Newton, Sanders, & Park).

  Without any fanfare or press release, Will Fourkiller has withdrawn his candidacy for reelection this year. The incumbent was facing 2 challengers within his party and a Republican nominee in the general election.
  Fourkiller became the 2nd named member of the House to be investigated in December of 2016, shortly after securing more than 62% of the vote in the previous month.   His wrongs were mild compared to Dan Kirby's. Kirby resigned but Fourkiller faced a reprimand and mild sanctions. It appears he made an off-color comment to a teen female page.
​  There is no indication that Fourkiller will cut short his term. The House is hoping to adjourn within 2 weeks.

  The news of Fourkiller's decision to end his public service was only made known when we were researching the list of candidate withdrawals, at the state election board's website.

  The Oklahoma State Election board held a marathon docket of hearings today. At issue were 15 contests of candidacy for various elections ranging from district judge to legislator, to State Attorney General.
  At 9am the contestants and contestees were all required to be at room 230 of the state capitol for a roll call of sorts and to demonstrate that they would even have the right to make their case.
  The election board secretary, Paul Ziriax, announced 2 cases were settled already. One was by a candidate withdrawal from a race and the other was a contestant withdrawing his complaint against his opponent. 
  Then Rep. Kevin McDugle had to plead mercy when he failed to follow instructions and have a cashiers check to present to the board. The board gave him until noon to come back with the proper fee in proper form. One other novice candidate also took advantage of that precedent and got the same mercy.
  Rep. Bobby Cleveland and one other contestant succeeded when the contestees failed to show up. Cleveland had 2 such cases ruled by default for failure to appear.
   Then came the main event. The Drummond v Hunter case. We wrote about that decision earlier today.  Hunter was allowed to stay in the race despite declaring principle residence in Virginia within the past 10 years.

  By a 3-0 vote of the State Election Board, Mike Hunter was determined to be a 10-year qualified elector of Oklahoma, even while he lived in Virginia and only had an Oklahoma property "for when I visit Oklahoma relatives & friends" according to his own testimony.
​
​  At 2pm, the board will hear several challenges for House races.

  At 9am, today, the Oklahoma state election board convened to hear challenges to the eligibility of several filed candidates for the upcoming elections.
While county races are handled by the county election boards, the races for state offices are under the jurisdiction of the state election board. 
  The state board is meeting in the state capitol, room 230. The senate has agreed to provide live audio & video access for the public to observe the events of the election board.
  State Election Board Secretary, Paul Ziriax, has announced that two Assistant Attorney Generals are providing legal counsel to the election board.
   During the case of Drummond v Hunter, the two Asst. AGs will be recused and two Asst. District Attorneys will provide the legal counsel to the board.
  Two cases published on the docket are already withdrawn. Wright v Smith (HD57) is withdrawn. Smith is reported to be withdrawn from the race.
  In the case of Waldren v Blackburn (HD77), the contester has withdrawn the contest.
  Rep. McDugle was given an extension of time to provide the required cashier's check. He opted to bring a money order, butthe board advised him that he was not in compliance. the board decided to give him until noon to appear with the proper cashier's check.