OKGOP Chair, Pam Pollard published a press statement on social media and other outlets, yesterday. 
It was a clear statement distancing the OKGOP State Committee  from the statements of the Canadian County GOP.
  But in doing so, she usurped the authority she clearly does not have.
  The State Committee is scheduled to meet this Saturday, in Oklahoma City. That Committee is the supreme permanent authority of the state party whenever the party is not in a state convention. It is a body of around 300 members from every county and congressional district. Elected Republicans also serve on this committee.
   The behavior is clearly out of line and should be called into question by the committee members, this weekend.
  It is the sincere hope of many grassroots party volunteers that their party leadership exemplify the clear rules of the party, or step aside when they no longer can.
  The rules of the party are clear and few. The State chair is not to act as a dictator, and certainly not a hypocritical and inconsistent one.
  The state Committee will issue a clear position where they have some consensus. Otherwise they will not issue a statement. The Canadian County Committee at least has some clear consensus and adherence to a vision of what the GOP stands for.

Is it happening right before our eyes? Is Trump now advocating a permanent Tariff Policy?
It sure appears this way from his tweets of the last few minutes.

Tariffs are a regime's way of saying, I'll punish my own people for buying your people's products. Trump is taxing us without legislative authorization.

  The worldwide catechism of the left has always been to use confiscated tax dollars from 'mom & pops' small business, to prop up the "too big to fail" cartels of the heavily entrenched political donors which put them in office.
  It happened in a big scale when Obama became president. Big unions got massive life support while your 401k dissolved into the ozone layer.
  Today; just 10 years after the "Great Recession", Obama's fix for General Motors got deflated, once again. They avoided the painful reforms which would have put the company is sound fiscal trajectories, and instead they gave a transfusion of healthy cells into a virus-infected host, which just brought color to the countenance while doing nothing to repair the immune system.
  For that, Obama was able to force GM to create a pathetic electric car which failed, and discredited Obama's worldview about economic power to control free markets. Consumers drive economies, Socialism destroys economies.

   A reader sent us a very interesting article and video clip from the former US Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. Last July, 
  A group of top career UK military leaders paid to have their editorial appear in the British newspapers.
  The substance of their writing was to say that US President Donald Trump is spot-on about the status of NATO and western Europe. Trump is refusing to maintain nearly complete fiscal underwriting of the NATO operation any longer. Trump demands that these EU nations start paying for their own global and continental military deterrents.
  The Hill ran the Gingrich article, but the global media elites said absolutely nothing at the time. Here is some of what Gingrich wrote:

Since President Donald Trump left the NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday and travelled to the United Kingdom to visit Prime Minister Theresa May and other British officials, the elite media have been desperately trying to cast this important overseas trip in a bad light.
They want you to believe that all NATO member states (along with their entire populations) hate our president, and that even our closest allies are upset and scandalized by his demand that all NATO members pay their fair shares for our common defense....

  The Canadian County Republican Party is taking the initiative to advance issues of fiscal reform to the bloated public education system.  County Party Chair, Andrew Lopez announced the open letter to the legislature, in which the party echoed Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb's call for a 65% classroom spending efficiency. That means at least 65 cents of every dollar in the state department of Education needs to be for a classroom expense. Teacher pay, curriculum, classroom supplies, furnishings, and other education processes must be  the nature of where the taxpayer's funds are going to.
   David Cheney of Epic Charter Schools says he's glad to have that discussion. His teachers are paid more than $63,000 on average, and about 80% of his budget is directly a 'classroom expenditure'. Cheney says that the national average is 61% for school districts, but Oklahoma falls far behind on efficiency, only seeing 55% of funding going to classrooms.
  But contrary to common perception, it isn't just because Oklahoma has too many tiny school districts. the 2 largest districts are some of the least efficient. On average, a school district of over 10,000 students will waste about $1000 dollars more per student on administrative costs. ​  
  Byron Schlomach of 1889 Institute (an Oklahoma thinktank focusing on fiscal policies) says that his research charts indicate the most efficient school districts seem to be the few dozen that have between 2000 to 5000 students. ​

  Since around Labor Day, patients with a state license have been cleared to treat their health conditions with Cannabis medicines. That card has kept them from facing prosecution for possessing small amounts of the state's newest 'old medicine'.
  But it's another story for the people trying to produce and distribute the medicine legally.  The cost of complying with state laws, agency rules, and federal tax code; is a huge challenge. And those laws are about to get even tougher.   This means that the black market (illegal trade" of the marijuana products) remains the main source of medications for most Oklahomans who face a serious health need.

   Fires burning, streets blocked, common working people finally reached a point where they will not tolerate the high cost of a socialist government in western Europe.
  The ridicule and shame that the French President Macron sought to cast upon the protesters is not deterring their resolve. 
  The BBC reports that "More than 100,000 people took part in about 1,600 protests across France on Saturday, the interior ministry said. NBC News put the crowd numbers as high as 280,000. Most passed off peacefully - except in the capital, where 8,000 demonstrators gathered."
​A spokesperson for the demonstrators insisted that they were peaceful. "We are not here to pick a fight with cops, We just want the government to listen to us," Laetitia Dewalle told AFP news agency.
  Follow the coverage at:  https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1049731/France-protests-paris-riots-police-emmanuel-macron-latest-france-news

  The  people of Oklahoma remember the name 'Keating, for many things; but not everyone knew the policy efforts and political work of former governor, Frank Keating's brother, Dan.
  Dan Keating has been a fixture in Tulsa and Oklahoma campaigns & initiatives. He was fearless and often took bold positions. At times he took a stand that brought a number of us to a befuddled reaction. But Dan remained committed to impacting our city, state & nation in a positive manner.
   Dan was a man of substance and intellect. His perspective was not always understood by the rest of us; not even his closest family.  Tulsa radio's Pat Campbell told his listeners, back in 2015; that he heard from Dan about the Donald Trump campaign for president. Dan was one of the leaders of the Oklahoma campaign. Now, this was at a time when very few believed Trump could win, and a lot of people saw a Trump nominee as a huge mistake.
  Campbell said that he sent a text to the former governor about  Dan's newest initiative.

  Twenty states in the US still have active semi-municipal governments known as 'civil townships'. Oklahoma is no longer one of them. Mind you, we're not talking about a "survey township" which is usually an unnamed 6 mile square area of land, within a state. 
 Wikipedia posted this short article;
The historic civil Oklahoma Townships of Oklahoma.
On August 5, 1913, Oklahoma voters passed the Oklahoma Township Amendment, also known as State Question 58. This allowed the creation or abolishment of townships on a county by county basis; by the mid-1930s, all Oklahoma counties had voted to abolish them. These civil township boundaries (and their names) were still used by the United States Census for counting purposes up to and including the 1960 census.
  Many of these townships led to a further economic development and eventually became cities. Even very large cities.  Of course, Oklahoma was experiencing an oil boom during the 1920s.
  Why did the county governments abandon them? and how did a majority of the 3 county commissioners (in each county) accomplish the death of the township?
   Perhaps the idea was plagued by unreasonable expectations. By 1915, most Oklahomans were recent transplants from other states. But the founding territorial delegates who formed the state were not transplants. Perhaps the people who came from other states saw the value more that the establishment did?  It was finally brought to a vote of the people in the 58th state question 

  In a little over a year, Oklahoma will take part in the 2020 census. With that comes the duty to adjust the districts of our legislature, so that every resident has equal representation.
 But Oklahoma sorely needs to go further and coordinate the two chambers of our legislature to a coherent system of districts that the common man can comprehend and identify with.
  Oklahoma has 101 Representatives in the lower house. That number is arbitrary. It has been larger and smaller, at times in our state history. The Senate has 48 members. Just a couple decades ago that number was a good bit larger.
   Here are 2 simple reforms which will help to citizens to better connect with their state legislature.

1. Have 1 senator for every 2 Representatives. We could have 50 senators and 100 Representatives. The total number isn't the point, but a 1:2 ratio is key to the 2nd reform.
2. Every House seat will be created by dividing every senate district into 2 parts, and number them the same as the senate district, but with an "A" or "B" after that senate district.  This way every senator knows that he also has 2 House members serving his same constituents.  

  Every district must be equal in population. That's a constitutional mandate. But there is no justification for a house district straddling into 2 or 3 senate districts.

  The 57th Oklahoma Legislature's members have been sworn in, this week. They include 12 new senate members, 4 of whom are Democrats from the OKC metro area. This brings the Democrat caucus up to 9 members. Just 2 years ago there were only 6 Democrats in the 48-member chamber..
   This is considered a big turnover, but in our upcoming companion article on the Oklahoma House of Representatives, we'll discuss an unprecedented turnover.
  The factors leading to a large turnover could be:

• A series of special sessions took a toll on the lives & livelihoods of those who left office. 
• A financial recession led to a series of budget struggles which left many govt. workers displeased and activated for change.
• A cut in legislative pay coupled public pressure for legislators to provide more agency oversight.
• Cultural hostilities from political activists, causing lawmaker's families to fear their safety.
• Moral & legal scandals involving lawmakers, leading to several resignations
• Attractive career opportunities drawing capable politicians into corporate leadership positions.

  Whatever the reasons, here are the resulting new members, who eagerly seek to make a positive difference for their constituents and supporters.

  Chairman Chris Kannady just got called out by the new editorial board of the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. He was exposed for his intolerance of any House Republican caucus member who didn't sign on to his massive tax increases; and he amazingly labeled his detractors as the 'intolerant' members who must be purged from public office.
  the Editorial opened their scathing remarks this way;

  As the identity of the massive Republican presence dominates Oklahoma government for another election cycle, the core organization of the OKGOP is finding a sharp disconnect between the party structure and tenants; and the elected officials who are tapped by the voters to carry out those principles in office.
  The biggest reason for that is because the party no longer manages the campaigns or the candidates, themselves. Rather; the candidates hire their own image consultants and campaign strategists. And no trio has had more impact on elections than the three consultants; 

• Fount Holland
• Karl Ahlgren
• Trebor Worthen

  In the weeks to come, SoonerPolitics will be looking into the history, practices, and impact that this trio has created. We'll learn their personal history, resume's, clients, and legacies. 
  We'll talk to their biggest fans and their detractors.  What mark they've left on Oklahoma and even national politics.
  Is this the future of how politics is done? Will political party organizations matter, anymore?
​ We welcome our readers' input and  anecdotes.  We'll reach out to these men for a better understanding of their motivation and practices. It should be an interesting journey...

  Wednesday morning the new Oklahoma legislature will be sworn in for their new terms This event will be full of a new round of campaigning and building coalitions for leadership posts within the Republican caucus.
​SoonerPolitics has learned the names of at least 8 Republican representatives seeking the 5 leadership posts.
​  It appears that no one is challenging Charles McCall for Speaker Designate. He was first elected to the post 2 years ago. He has served since 2012, in the Oklahoma House. He is from Atoka.

The Speaker Pro temp is a rather ceremonial post and was filled by Harold Wright, two years ago.  But Wright has been discovered to have heavily funded a Democrat senate candidate in an open seat, just this fall.