SoonerPolitics.org

Mahoney vs McDugle: Election Goes 'Extra Innings'

6/29/2018

Challenger Nick Mahoney is determined to see his election results clearly counted. He's taking on the scandal-ridden incumbent, Kevin McDugle. The election night returns showed a 3-vote margin for McDugle, but 18 'provisional ballots' were unsealed at 3pm, today.
The county election board rejected 8 of the provisionals and of the remaining 10, 6 votes were cast in the Republican HD12 primary. Those returns were:

McDugle - 4
Mahoney - 2

In addition, one military ballot was cast for McDugle. This adds to McDugle's previous 3-vote edge and makes a 6-vote margin, based solely on the original reports.

The Election board didn't announce their result until after 4pm on Friday. But candidates are required to file any recount demand by the close of the day. But they must do so in Oklahoma City!

SQ788 Negotiations Are Underway At Capitol

6/29/2018

Sources close to the issue have confirmed that the authors of SQ788 (Medical Marijuana) are meeting with legislative leaders to help guide the writing of companion legislation for sensible construction of regulatory policy.
While the citizens group are open to some adjustments in the initiative's language; Two key precepts are 'not negotiable' to the supporters;

Qualifying conditions must be determined by the physicians state oversight board, rather than legislative statute. As medical research begins to increase, the medical community must determine if & when a state-licensed physician is acting irresponsibly, and take disciplinary action through their structured process. When a medical finding is established, it ought not take an act of a legislature, (months or years later) to get people a safer standard of treatment.

Election Tools: How Did Your Neighborhood Vote?

6/28/2018

The Oklahoma Election Board has released the internals of the Primary Election night returns. The public is now given great access to poll data from every precinct in the state.
This data is crucial to the study of changing demographics. It allows candidates and management teams to study the high potential for voter turnout, since all the parties had very motivated people going to the polls for contested races on statewide and local levels. But even more impacting is the turnout due to the State Question(788) regarding a change in Drug policy whereby physicians would be able to consider Cannabis medicines for their patients' care. It has been 85 years since these options have been allowed by state law.
Several precincts are beginning to move from 'red' to 'blue' or vice versa.
Look at the spreadsheet below to find your precinct #
The number begins with your county's 2-digit numeric code, followed by a 4-digit precinct code. If you need help finding you precinct #, see the map further below.

Chip Paul: The Threat To Powerful Forces

6/27/2018

Owasso resident, Chip Paul, knows exactly what powerful forces he's been up against.

Last week he was on the receiving end a 'roughing up' by Rogers County sheriff Walton. The video shows the sheriff choking him and striking his head into a closed door. The event underscores just how frustrated law enforcement is over losing powers they long had.
This is the 3rd initiative petition in 19 months which has successfully overturned state policy and police powers.
The people have lost faith in the Keating Initiative to 'get tough' with people who use unauthorized medications. Keating is a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor who;

made deals with private prisons,
created a 3-strikes life sentence, &
mandated massive felony punishments .

A simple possession of a non-pharma substance could result in a a5 year prison sentence.

The Pendulum Swings In Oklahoma Politics

6/26/2018

Oklahoma politics makes a shift, tonight. The people went to the polls in numbers not seen in a 'non-presidential' year. A discontent people came to the polls in record numbers, to do what the legislature refused to. they gave doctors new tools for helping sick people get better.
Many factors impacted the discontent of the voters:

A failed drug policy that resulted in the nation's largest incarceration rate.
An anemic legislature which violates constitutional mandates and needs 3 session just to create one budget.
A failed educational vision which harms our next genreation
Public health needs not being met.

Many legislators 'jumped ship' in April; choosing to give up on representing their districts. Sure, a few of them were seeking to climb a political ladder toward more power & prestige.

Politician's Wife Pleads, "Don't Vote For My Husband"

6/25/2018

An abandoned wife of a freshman politician is calling on her neighbors and the entire Wagoner area citizenry to vote for the challenger seeking to unseat her estranged husband.
Tosha McDugle says that in early 2017 her husband of over 10 years, Kevin McDugle; decided to set up a 2nd residence in Oklahoma City. She willingly agreed and though her husband bagan coming back to their eastern Oklahoma family home less and less, she believed the best and prayed.
But by mid April of last year she had seen the last of him in their home, as a supposedly faithful husband.
The reality was that he had taken up with another woman and led a double life.
She threw a birthday bash for him in early May, showering him with public praise, but the reality had set in by mid June. He had abandoned her.
She eventually filed for divorce due to abandonment.
McDugle began traveling openly with the mistress, taking free trips from lobbyists.

The $1.4 Million Acquisition of a Congressional Seat

6/25/2018

The financial reports are coming in on the race for 1st District Congressman. Most everyone expected that millionaire burger magnate, Kevin Hern would have the deepest 'warchest' in the race. Well that's an understatement. His $1.4 million about double the combined funds of the other four (they total $721,000).
Attentive voters will remember that Hern refused to participate in the June 5th congressional debate that several conservative civic groups put on. He told organizers that he "just cannot reschedule this fundraiser".
Tim Harris and Andy Coleman both reported about $300k in funding. Harris is a client of Advocacy Insight LLC (AI), which includes some of the principals of the old AH Strategies. AH Strategies ceased operations shortly after one of the founders was named in a criminal indictment for alleged violations. That investigation continues.
Coleman & Nathan Dahm share support from many of the same types of fiscal conservative and values-voter groups. Dahm has raised about $120,000

Kevin Hern, speaking in 2013, as a member of the Turnpike Authority board.

Campaigners Disrespecting Church Leadership

6/24/2018

Fisher Campaigners Are Disrespecting Church Leadership.
Local churches are finding their parking lots full of campaign flyers by people who lacked authorization to use the local church to further a political candidate.
We don't know if Pastor Dan Fisher has authorized it, or how his church responds when others have 'blanketed' his Baptist church parking lot, in Yukon, OK.
Congregant, Ben Pledger first notified SoonerPolitics of the matter. It took place at Destiny Church in Broken Arrow, OK. We asked the head of ushering about it. We were told that the church does not ever authorize a campaign to access church resources in a political race. We were also told that the church security officer 'ran off' the individual he spotted carrying a stack of pamphlets.
A church board member at Destiny Church said that this kind of action is a clear disrespect for church leadership and should stop. "You have to have the decency to ask the leadership, first."

Millennials Are Rejecting Political Affiliations In Growing Numbers

6/24/2018

The Oklahoma Election Board just announced the latest trends in Oklahoma's trendiest demographic; the 'under 30' crowd'.
According to their latest social media post on the topic, the 18-29 age group is now 27.6% 'Independent'.
Republicans have claimed 41% of the millennials who register to vote, Democrats claim 31%, and Libertarians have .7% of the base.
Republicans are now benefitting from the same family heritage dynamics which used to retain Democrats in power for decades. When parents stay with a political party for more than 10 years, their young children assume that a sense of family identity includes registering with that same political group.
Democrats are seeking to fight that dynamic by offering primary participation to voters who promise to remain independent or join the Oklahoma Democratic Party.
Libertarians dabbled with that same offering to Independents, but it backfired on the young party when a US Senatorial campaign went the direction that neither Libertarian candidate in the race wanted it to.

A high level of synicism exists in the millennials, regarding some cultural issues that older voters are clinging to in the political realm.

Early Voting Surge In Oklahoma

6/23/2018

Secretary Paul Ziriax & the Oklahoma State Election board reports a huge increase in their Absentee voting rolls, this primary season. Republicans no longer have a majority edge in early voting, but that's far closer than 4 years ago, when Democrats had multiple challengers vying for the nomination in the Governor's race, while Republicans had an incumbent on her way to reelection.

OK Primary: Democrats & Republicans have both seen a surge in early voting compared to 2014 Primary. More than 20K Democrats have voted (so far) during early voting vs. about 8,800 in 2014. Nearly 23K Republicans have voted (so far) during early voting vs. about 12,000 in 2014.
— Oklahoma State Election Board (@OKelections) June 23, 2018

Rep. Tess Teague: Why I said 'No' To A Bad Tax Bill

6/23/2018

House Freshman, Tess Teague Writes to her constituents about her vote on the failed Tax bill, HB1054x.

Today we heard HB1054X: cigarette tax, fuel tax, GPT, 3.2 beer tax and tobacco product tax. The bill failed and I voted against it.
I didn't vote against it [not] because I'm "in the pockets" of oil and gas. In fact I've been outspoken on my desire to raise GPT and I voted in favor of raising $50 million worth of GPT for this fiscal year last week.
I didn't vote against it because I don't care about teachers, health care or mental health services. That couldn't be further from the truth.
I voted against it because this was not the right way to fix the problem. Because I knocked doors for a year and half and I know that House District 101 does not want more taxation. Because I believe in standing firm in my principles and 65% of this district sent me to the Capitol because they believed I would do just that.

WORTH REPOSTING: This article ran on 11/8/17

Rep. Tess Teague Debates against HB1054x, in special session.

Everyone could see this was a bad piece of legislation and I heard so many times, "I don't like this bill. But I support a yes vote" or other variations of the same sentiment. Even those that would begrudgingly support it didn't like it and knew it wasn't good enough. Why settle for less? Our state does not deserve settling for less.

A Hostile Supreme Court Beheads SQ799 Veto Referendum

6/22/2018

After weeks of stalling the citizens' petition through court wrangling and then delaying a decision for nearly 2 weeks, The Oklahoma Supreme Court showed their opinions, today. Here's the breaking news from KTUL TV.

An anti-tax group led by former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn had launched a referendum petition seeking a vote to repeal tax hikes on cigarettes, fuel and energy production approved by the Legislature earlier this year. Money from the taxes would fund an average $6,100 teacher pay increase.
But the court says the wording of the petition is misleading and those who sign it don't know what they would vote on.
The court says the group has until July 18 to circulate a new petition.

They could have issued a decision within hours of the June 11 hearing, like they did with last year's Tobacco Tax case, but this time they delayed and cut the time available for the OTU to draft a new petition and return it with 42,000 signatures in the next few weeks.

The June 11th oral arguments.

How Grandma's Medicine Destroyed Our Civilization

6/21/2018

A recap of another Medical marijuana debate:

Grandma's being eaten up with arthritis. She's been taking opiates for the pain, but she can't sit for very long and she can't make a fist because her joints are so inflamed.
But we can't have her taking pot! Why, Pot's a sin, right?
But why do we call it a sin? Why is the presence of a plant inherently sinful? Could it be that the intent within the heart of mankind is what really constitutes sin?
We can certainly respect... and do respect the warnings of people who have succumbed to vice in their own lives. They tell us of hard lessons they have learned regarding their own experiences. But Ronald Reagan told us;

by David Van Risseghem - publisher

"Government exists to protect us from others.
When government goes wrong is when they seek to protect us from ourselves."

Polls Are Now Open At All County Election Board Offices

6/21/2018

The state election process has been improved for voter access by allowing working people to more easily participate in elections. Every county election board office has been setting time for registered voters to come in on Thursday, Friday, & even Saturday, for voting. Some larger counties even set up a secondary polling location.
Here's how the state Election Secretary defines it:

In-person Absentee Voting - Voters may cast an absentee ballot in person at the county election board office from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday before all elections. For state and federal elections only, in-person absentee voting also is available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. In-person absentee voters must fill out and sign an application form when they arrive to vote.

Political Terror: The Bombing of Oklahoma Is Underway

6/20/2018

Take Cover, Oklahoma You're under assault and your mailbox may contain bombs!
Okay, not literally the kind that the ATF would investigate,; but the US Postal Service may...
If your daily mail looks anything like mine, it's absolutely beyond saturation, and it's going to get much worse...
Worse both in volume and depravity. The most egregious stuff isn't even complying with Oklahoma Ethics Commission reporting rules. And that's because they set up shell corporations in other states, so that they can hide who they really are, and make up the most pathetic lies about their opponents.
In the last 24 hours I've seen several pieces of mail that has come from out-of-state operations, and they completely made up ridiculous statements. Statements that can be proven false, but the election is already under way.

Sooner Politics
Editorial

David Van Risseghem reports the events and adds some perspective.

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David Van Risseghem is the Publisher of SoonerPolitics.org. The resource is committed to informing & mobilizing conservative Oklahomans for civic reform. This endeavor seeks to utilize the efforts of all cooperative facets of the Conservative movement...

"No politician 'checks off every box" in your list of issues. You have to prioritize and use personal discretion regarding every current and future issue that you can imagine. Then you have to also judge integrity & consistency. A candidate's openness to study the issues & courage to think for themselves. Then you need to review their honesty & work ethic. I respect any voter's decision, when they've informed themselves and took voting seriously." - David Van Risseghem

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SoonerPolitics.org is committed to informing & mobilizing conservative Oklahomans for civic reform & restored liberty. We seeks to utilize the efforts of all cooperative facets of the Conservative movement... Content of the diverse columns are solely at the discretion of the dozens of websites who create the content. David Van Risseghem is the founder of this platform.
Sooner Politics News is a platform, not a media site. All our bloggers get their feeds promoted regardless of content. As soon as We suppress or delete even one posting, we become an endorser of whatever We didn't censor..The publisher doesn't (and could not) logically agree with all the content, so we would not expect any rational reader to agree, either. What we do hope, is that readers will think for themselves, and at least be better informed of the issues, events, and values that our citizen journalists work hard to provide for free.. We automate much of the tasks so that our sources' content gets as much exposure as possible. We encourage constructive discussion & debate. The solution is more free speech, not less.