SoonerPolitics.org

Wyrick Rolls The High Court Away From Strict Constructionism

8/31/2017

Patrick Wyrick is either the 'wonder boy' or the 'bastard' of the high court. After today's ruling, I clearly side with the latter. He was not constitutionally allowed to be nominated, much less serve; yet the judicial nominating committee had little regard for the constitution, so they nominated an OKC resident to a slot constitutionally reserved for a voter in the Second Judicial District ('Little Dixie' region) of the state. Gov. Fallin had even less regard for the constitution when she selected him over the only two other options given to her.

And even more egregious was the way the high court refused to even listen to a challenge by an Oklahoma legal watchdog group. The court said that only the two other finalists had constitutional standing to challenge. Tell that to 'Little Dixie' residents who just got denied constitutional representation. They got a 'carpetbagger' scam.

Now this young esquire is denying the plain text of the constitution and replacing it with the court's own seance sessions where they divine the attitude of the founders... if it suits their desired outcomes. Never mind that the constitution was amended more than 150 times by State Questions. Why don't they divine the attitudes of us who were here in 1992 and voted for the stiff provisions?

79% of Oklahomans Want To Keep Confederate Memorials

8/29/2017

Bill Shappard of SoonerPoll announced the findings of a poll conducted in the past several days. He told a forum hosted by OklahomaWatch that Oklahomans do not identify with the leftist protesters on east & west coast college campuses. According to his research, 79% of Oklahomans want the memorials to remain where they are.

Mr. Shappard said he had not intended to release the findings for a couple more weeks but he did decide to release that one statistic in advance.

The voters of Oklahoma rejected a key constitutional amendment last fall which would have cleared the way fro the return of a 'Ten commandments' monument to the state capitol campus. This recent poll shows that Oklahoma seems to retain a regard for historic memorials even if they don't think a constitutional amendment is fundamentally necessary to safeguard that type of expression.

Soonerpoll is a division of Shappard Research. The firm was rated the best in Oklahoma and in the top ten, nationally.

We posted the video of the event where SoonerPoll results were mentioned. Shappard discusses these details in the closing few moments.

Stone Mountain is a state-owned confederate memorial, in Georgia.

'Liberty Relief Truck' in Tulsa, Today. Headed To Texas

8/29/2017

Joanna Francisco of Tulsa's Liberty On Tap has announced a relief effort for South Texans impacted by the recent hurricane.

Joanna Franciso, of Liberty On tap

"Working with the Liberty Coalition for Disaster Relief, we are gathering donations of non-perishable food items for residents of Texas struggling in the aftermath of Harvey. We are also accepting cash donations to help pay for fuel and expenses to Zach Garretson of KC, MO who will be driving through Tulsa on his way to Houston to pick up donations.

You can leave donations with Joanna Francisco in the 71st & Harvard area during the day (Contact Joanna Francisco privately for address.)

Lisa Bowman will be available from 5:00 pm until 6:30 pm in the parking lot of WalMart Neighborhood Market on Brookside - 4404 S Peoria Ave, Tulsa, OK. Feel free to message her as well and let her know you're coming :)"

This is a bi-partisan effort of Libertarians & Republicans. Democrats are invited to make it a tri-partisan cause. The event is promoted on social media, here.

Anti Socialism In Oklahoma

8/29/2017

As much as we decry socialism as a fake form of the virtue we call 'charity', we must decry anti-socialism with even greater passion. It is extortion via the power of law and politics of pandering.
Oklahoma has several state policies which are blatantly guilty of robbing from one demographic and giving the loot to another favored class. We heard a lot about this when the 60s 'Great Society' programs sought to end poverty. Instead, we subsidized poverty then wondered why we had more of it?

Generational Warfare

Next time you go to a tag agency to renew your drivers license, look at the price chart. You'll see that anyone over 65 years gets their license for free! Why? Yours costs $40. There is no means test involved. The state seems to assume that a 65 year old is dirt poor.
It's clearly a pandering policy. Older folks vote and they pool their influence through lobbying efforts. AAA is just one powerful presence at the state capitol. they insisted on and achieved massive new requirements for younger folks to get a drivers license, but fought off legislation which would require folks over 75 to retake their road test, to insure they still have the motor skills and cognizance to safely share the road.

Private sector commerce exercises this pandering with 'senior discount' promotions. They effectively charge a premium to anyone younger than 55. But that's a proprietor's right. We can take our business somewhere else if we don't like it.

An Alt-Left Failure At Human Charity.

8/28/2017

In the terrible wake of the Texas hurricane disaster, one national charity is refusing to lend any assistance.

Charitable Humans (@CharitableHuman) is a Seattle Washington organization which solicites money as a non-profit charity. The Obama Administration's IRS had no problem approving their application.

They shut down their social media acct., but we accessed a recent capture of their content. This is clearly a group which incites violence against not only the president, but also every Republican supporter. This group is certainly operating outside the 1st Amendment protections of speech and religion.
They tell people;
"We're a socially progressive tax-exempt nonprofit harnessing the power of passionate people to accelerate the change and expand the impact of good deeds."

Here are some of their more recent comments on Twitter, before they shut down their acct. this weekend.

OCPA: Use TSET money to plug budget holes

8/28/2017

By: Catherine Sweeney, The Journal Record
OKLAHOMA CITY – Amid Oklahoma’s continued revenue dry spell, one politically conservative organization recommends tapping a long-established health care savings account.
Continued financial troubles have taken an ax to the state’s ability to pitch in for Medicaid. As the Oklahoma Health Care Authority’s budget continues to shrink, so does the federal match. That has resulted in reimbursement rates to nursing homes and hospitals falling to about half the national benchmark. The reduced rates have sent the medical providers’ margins dwindling. It has become common for them to operate at a loss. Several have already closed, and hundreds more face the same fate.
Instead of raising taxes, some conservatives are advocating for the Legislature to look to a tobacco-fueled medical trust fund to fill the holes.
After settling a lawsuit against some of the tobacco industry’s biggest players in the late 1990s, Oklahoma ended up with one of the country’s few constitutionally protected health care trusts. Almost all 50 states sued the companies, which ended up settling. Among the other provisions, they agreed to make annual payments to the states as long as cigarettes sold. The figures are based on national cigarette sales.

Mentally Ill Man Gets Life, But Never Got His Day In Court

8/28/2017

It can happen to any of us or a loved one. A tragic car accident left Russell Ables with a traumatic brain injury. That disorder impacts his consciousness, reasoning, inhibitions, and social behavior.
Now a judge put him away without even a day in court. This happens to men at 10 times the rate of women. The mindset of our law enforcement & courts is preoccupied with the notion that men are a greater social danger than women, so mentally ill men usually end up arrested & put in jail, while women get the more humane treatment of medical intervention, or just left alone.
Journalist Dale Denwalt of the Oklahoman writes about Russell's day in court being denied, and how he will be locked up as a presumed criminal for the rest of his life (barring a miracle). Here's just a bit of how Denwalt describes it...

"Russell Don Ables, 47, of Elk City, was charged with violating protective orders, making harassing or threatening phone calls and resisting a police officer. His trial was quickly put on hold and he was taken from Beckham County across the state to Oklahoma’s mental health evaluation center in Vinita.
Court documents show he has medical issues stemming from an automobile wreck, conditions that leave him unable to stand trial. A judge has ruled him to be a danger to other people."

Talk & Say Nothing (the Lamb campaign)

8/27/2017

Editorial:
Lieutenant Governor, Todd Lamb, took his traveling speech machine to the Bixby Oklahoma business club, this week. But after his polished oratory expired, No one was quite sure what he really said. The Tulsa World is convinced that Lamb came out strong against any tax increases. Others thought they heard him say that he is open to any & all new funding and expansion ideas.
What the Tulsa World knows he said was;

“I’m focusing on a general review
of what’s in the books.
We have to see it through the lens
of cost-benefit analysis.”

Lamb was repeatedly urged by his advisers to take a stand on the constitutionality of the legislature's last batch of revenue raising schemes. He wouldn't even go on the record to applaud the scrutiny of the State Supreme Court. But when it was unanimous decision, he was the first to declare he 'knew all along that the bill was unconstitutional'.

Mary & Todd posed for hundreds of photos at the capitol, over the past 7 years.

Auditor Jones Wants A Completely New State Budget

8/24/2017

Auditor Gary Jones just posted to social media regarding the discredited state budget. Jones, a Republican; is a declared candidate for governor. He did not elaborate on whether the budget should be lowered to meet current projections on revenue receipts, or if he would advocate for new tax revenues in order to continue increasing state spending.

Gary Jones:

"The legislature and governor should use the special session as an opportunity for a do-over to fix the budget #LetsFixOK #TimetoElectaCPA"

Earlier today, McCarville report posted a story of a secret collusion between Gov. Fallin (a registered Republican) and Democrat legislative leaders.
House republican leaders are beginning to weigh in as opposed to the Fallin plot. Speaker McCall is expected to issue a press release soon.

BREAKING: McCarville Report Claims Evidence Of Fallin Collusion With Democrats For Big Tax Increase

8/24/2017

The McCarville report released this news...

"Multiple sources close to the recent budget negotiations have confirmed that Governor Fallin and House Democrats are nearing agreement on a billion-dollar revenue bargain. The McCarville Report received a document with the secret details of their back-room budget talks.
After the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the tobacco “fee” as an unconstitutional tax, Fallin and House Minority Leader Scott Inman said they would be negotiating personally in an effort to fill the budget gap.
House Democrats refused to vote for nearly all revenue-raising measures last session. Without support from their Caucus, the legislature cannot increase taxes because of a Constitutional provision that requires a three-fourths majority to pass such measures.
That was then. Now, sources claim the Governor and the House Minority Leader are close to agreement on a billion dollars in new revenue, mostly in the form of tax increases."

Majority Floor Leader, Jon Echols posted a brief and blunt response to social media: "This is a bad plan."

Senate Wants More Legislative Oversight Of State Agencies

8/23/2017

A group of senators is calling for a change in the way the legislature oversees the state agencies which they fund annually. Senators Roger Thompson & AJ Griffin are just two senators who are frustrated at how agencies avoid actually doing several core services so that they can leverage the failure for increased funding in the next budget 'go round'.
One detrimental result of the current process is that the legislature has often increased funding far beyond the needed levels just to acquire assurances that a particular function will get accomplished.
Those Oklahomans who have been trying to call in to state agency offices in the past 8 years will tell us that it's mostly impossible to get real state workers to answer the phones at all. But the legislature has not been able to get funding designated to alleviate that failure. In the same way, the Dept. of Public Safety has deliberately caused waiting times of over 2 hours at many motor vehicle testing facilities, because it leads voters to pressure the legislature to hike the overall agency budget. But even when that trick does prevail in the legislature's budgeting, we sometimes see that the problem remains unchanged.

The Fisher Factor

8/22/2017

Pastor Dan Fisher is entering the race for Oklahoma's next governor. He isn't searching for a set of issues. It doesn't appear that he lacks an ideological base, either.

Former senator, Randy Brogdon came out to support Dan Fisher, at his announcement.

The former legislator and founder of Patriot Pastors is perhaps feeling the frustration that many in his base of supporters have expressed. They feel that the political class has exploited and abandoned them. The real campaign promises of the last 10 years have been largely abandoned. The state is mismanaged and corruption is becoming epidemic.
Last weekend Dan Fisher called them together and talked about a plan to fix the state. Yes, Fisher taps into many of the same themes that other candidates have advanced. But his 'hard-right' fellow believers are determined to not let their movement be co-opted by another fake conservative. Many of them still express remorse about the 2010 race, when the 'darling of the Tea Party movement, Sarah Palin, came into Oklahoma and endorsed Mary Fallin when Randy Brogdon was leading in the polls.
Fisher is not the most recognized name in Oklahoma politics. Others will eclipse his initial numbers. He thinks others may have broad support, but only shallow intensity. Fisher's support may be intensely deep, but we're watching to see how wide his message resonates... especially with some other more populist messengers in the race.

Civil Rights Commission Gives Passive Approval To Antifa Violence

8/21/2017

Another government agency who enjoys great perks and funding from American Taxpayers, is selectively outraged at violence in recent rallies.
  The Commission on Civil Rights released their report on the violence at Charlottesville, VA, on August 11th. The conflict began when people who were not invited to join the rally created a counter demonstration and included violence & destruction as their game plan.
  There are sick & demented folks in our society. There always has been. But even when the American Nazi Party selected the Jewish Holocaust survivors of Skokie, IL; for a 1978 march; it went peacefully because the Jewish folks let them march and go home. Not so with the thugs of today's Antifa 'blackshirts'. They come to disrupt the right of others to peaceably assemble, using helmets, clubs, toxic chemicals, and lots of gasoline.
  But the Commission on Civil Rights blamed the peaceful march organizers for the hostilities which quickly escalated to beatings, toxic poisoning, and eventually... death. The commission said nothing of the lawlessness of Antifa intolerance.
  Some of us recall the events of Selma, Birmingham, and others; where Dr. King himself, led marches. they were peaceful until the counter demonstrators and even the municipal law enforcement got violent with them. Dr. King and his associates followed statutory law. The counter demonstrators did not.

Ken Miller Was Right

8/18/2017

Back in June, many politicians were avoiding the press and would not step up for sound principle on how state funding ought to be done.
But State Treasurer, Ken Miller, was not shy about any of it. Here's what he said, at the time.

For Immediate Release: June 28, 2017
Statement of State Treasurer Ken Miller
OKLAHOMA CITY - State Treasurer Ken Miller issued the following statement concerning his vote against final certification of the FY-18 budget during a meeting Wednesday of the State Board of Equalization.
"I have labored over this decision and have my own interpretation of the duty of this board. I reject the notion that equalization board members do not have the authority to exercise judgment and vote their conscience.
"I believe in co-equal branches ofgovernment and the checks and balances that brings. I do not believe this board should be a rubber stamp.
''If this budget, and the new revenues therein, are worthy of certification, it's hard to imagine one that is not, which would then beg the question of why today's action is even necessary.
''As a former appropriations chair, I have empathy for the great efforts and good intentions of budget negotiators this session. Even so, this budget has problems: violation of the spirit and probably the letter of the state constitution, estimate issues stemming from legal challenges, and continued structural imbalance caused by dependency on one-time funds.
"My vote today is not meant to browbeat or cast aspersions, but simply one of conscience.''

Treasurer Miller is commended for his plainly-stated advocacy for making sure the state manages funds properly.

Lawmakers Orchestrated A Crisis For Mental Health Funding

8/17/2017

Gov. Fallin, today, announced the necessity for a special session to appropriate funding for several key health related agencies. Of those agencies, the Department addressing public mental health is set to shut down operations in November, unless funding is moved to the agency's operations.

The governor's announcement said;

The three agencies that received the bulk of the money from the unconstitutional tobacco tax increase are the Department of Human Services (DHS), the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (DMHSAS), and the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA).

ODMHSAS would have received $75 million (about 23 percent of its total appropriation), OHCA would have received $70 million (about 7 percent of its total appropriation), and DHS would have received $69 million (about 10 percent of its total appropriation).

Without legislative intervention, DMHSAS said it would run out of state appropriations in November. OHCA said it would run out of state funds in January and DHS said it would out of state funds in May.

My comments are my own and I do not claim to represent the policy of NAMI Tulsa or NAMI Oklahoma by any statement in this article. - DVR

My personal involvement with this...

Remember how they sold us this lie?

My volunteer work extends deeply into the area of mental health advocacy and training. I volunteer my time to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) through the Oklahoma organization and I serve on the Tulsa affiliate's board. As the Chairman of the Legislative and Public Policy Committee, I spent a good deal of time at the capitol and in meetings with govt. officials from all levels.
  A strategic decision was made by lawmakers to take away about 1/4 of the general revenue funding to ODMHSAS and instead, earmark about the same amount to come from the controversial new tobacco tax hike. I was repeatedly asked to advocate for this new tax. That pressure came from lawmakers, lobbyists, Contracted mental health providers, and other citizen advocates. But that earmarked money would only apply to the current fiscal year. After that, ODMHSAS would have to fight for sustaining capital from other means... perhaps some other new tax.
  It's a way to get passionate advocates to do the work of activism for free. It's also a way to get the public to insist on the new funding because of the dire predictions of what the consequences would otherwise be.
  Teachers in our public schools are very aware of this, because they have been played in much the same way. Remember how our education problem would be fixed, if only we'd approve of:

Para-mutual betting
Indian Bingo
State Lottery
Casino Gambling
The Boren Education sales Tax

I continually said 'No' to those who asked me to advocate for the new tobacco tax. The truth is that the existing tobacco tax and TSET settlement money is sitting in the banks and the state will not let that $1Billion+ fund be used for addiction related care. Instead that trust is wasting it on frivolous ad campaigns about drinking enough water and other 'feel good' initiatives. I advocated a change in state code and policy so that TSET money could be accessed in a more responsible manner. Lawmakers ignored that idea.

Now the lawmakers are preparing a narrative for a special session and the rhetoric will heat up for even more tax schemes. We could just put the matter before the citizens for a vote. But they don't seem to trust us anymore. Well, we don't seem to trust them very much, anymore... so the feeling seems mutual.
I'll speak for myself. I am insulted that lawmakers, lobbyists, and corporate contractors would exploit the many families who care for loved ones with chronic mental illness. Public mental health is a constitutional role of the state and it's equitable funding is mandated in our state constitution. If you think it's more than you want to pay, then consider the high cost of not paying. When the state abdicates it's constitutional role, the counties are forced to get them off the streets through criminalizing their disoriented behavior and spending way more through county and municipal agencies. It is abject inhumanity.
Making these heroic families and individuals help push new taxes so the politicians can divert them to other programs, is highly unethical and indicates a lack of compassion for the suffering among us. This is a public safety mandate and we need to count on all govt. officials to understand that a sensible treatment hospital is far more essential to the state than a Pops Museum or High Speed Rail venture.

- David Van Risseghem

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.