Sooner Politics.org
  • Front Page
  • SoonerPolitics TV
  • Oklahoma News
    • Oklahoma Reports
    • Oklahoma Center Square
    • AP Wire
    • NewsBreak Oklahoma
    • Oklahoma Almanac
    • Trump Tweets
    • Muskogee Now
    • Capitol Beat
    • Faked Out Sports
    • OSU Sports
  • Legislative Watch
    • Legislative Scores
    • Congressional Tweets
    • Kevin Stitt
    • Lawmaker's Journal
  • Editorial
    • From the Editor
    • Weekend Report
    • 3D Politics
    • On This Date
  • Financial
  • Health/Science
    • Public Health News
    • Ron Durbin
    • Dr. Jim Meehan
    • OMMA Reports
    • Cannabis Health Recipes
    • Okla. Health Blog
    • My Cannabis Health Story
  • Sooner Issues
    • State Groups
  • Sooner Analysts
    • OCPA
    • Pat Campbell
    • Muskogee Politico
    • 1889 Institute
    • Constitutional Grounds
    • E PLURIBUS OTAP
    • Steve Byas
    • Everett Piper
    • Michael Bates
    • Steve Fair
    • Andrew Spiropoulos
    • AircraftSparky
    • Corruption Chronicle
    • Josh Lewis
    • Sooner Tea Party
    • Red River TV
    • Me, Myself, & Liberty
    • Nigel O'mally
    • Cut The Crap
    • KOKC
  • Nation
    • Breitbart News
    • Rush Limbaugh
    • Daily wire
    • Steven Crowder
    • InfoWars News
    • The F1rst
    • NewsMax
    • America's Voice
    • Ron Paul Institute
    • Bill Gertz
    • D i s r n
    • Just the News
    • Trey Gowdy
    • Fox Politics
    • National Commentary >
      • Kanye West Campaign
      • The Media
  • Wit & Whimsy
    • Terrence Williams
    • Witty Cartoons
    • Will Rogers Said
    • Repository of Pith
    • Dubiosity
    • Steeple Chasers
    • The Partisan
    • Satire
    • New Media Guide
  • World
    • Almanac >
      • Political Events Calendar
  • SoonerPolitics.org
    • Masthead

Citizen of the Year: Ronald E. Durbin

12/20/2018

Comments

 
Attorney Ronald Durbin thought he was done with politics when he relocated to Oklahoma from his native Mississippi. He had been an associate to many notable political figures in the ascendancy of Hayley Barber, Trent Lott & others.
  In Oklahoma he wanted to practice law & advocate for the restoration of those seeking justice. For years Mr. Durbin has litigated & negotiated resolutions in Oklahoma's courts, board rooms, and in govt. agencies.
  But last spring he was asked to collaborate with a citizens group who was seeking a new ballot initiative to restore a measure of liberty for the citizens of this state.  He ended up being the state's most consistent legal advocate for a just implementation of a new law for cannabis medicine treatments.
  When political activists had completed a successful campaign for SQ788 and won a major victory, Ron Durbin was just starting his most impacting work as a defender of the new law.
  While entrenched state agencies were conspiring to sabotage the rollout of patient rights and treatment options, Durbin met them at every turn. He forced the State Board of Health to cease & desist. He drew the Attorney General into the battle on the side of constitutional limits of agency powers. He guided the legislative discourse in the first two weeks of a historic bicameral interim study.

Updated: 10:52pm

Picture
Ronald E. Durbin, II is our 2018 Citizen of the Year.

  Then came the relentless efforts of municipalities to nullify the state law through predatory ordinances, zoning schemes, and confiscatory fees & licensing mandates.  Durbin offered his services to cities and councils, to help develop sensible safeguards, while staying within the language of SQ788 and the limited authority is allows municipalities to operate in.
  Some cities invited Durbin to advise, and they avoided jeopardy of lawsuits. But other cities were hell-bent on a fight. Durbin obliged them.
  The Broken Arrow city council was the first such entity to incur the Durbin law machine in litigation. the case went before a District Court judge in Tulsa. The courts made the unusual step of applying an injunction on Broken Arrow to block any implementation even before the case was heard. That signalled a very strong case was compelling a likely finding for Durbin's plaintiff.
  The ruling came within days and Durbin was successful in making Broken Arrow a test case precedent.  Broken Arrow is now appealing and the Oklahoma Supreme Court is set to announce a final ruling any day.  If Durbin does succeed, then a long list of cities will be ordered to comply. Cities like Grove, Hugo, & Weatherford are weighing ordinance proposals which would certainly be  out of order, if Broken Arrow is defeated at the state's high court.
   This kind of legal advocacy is, in itself, nothing especially outstanding if the legal council is properly funded by a trade group, civil liberties union, or wealthy business association.  But Durbin has been compensated almost nothing for his stellar work on behalf of liberty, constitutional order, and compassion for the suffering ill patients all over the state.
  Durbin has sat for hours in city council meetings, state agency board rooms,  & legislative committee rooms. He has graciously given briefs on tv & in radio studios, He has informed advocacy groups and occupational groups. We sat down with Durbin this week to review all of this. He did not know we were going to bestow this recognition. What he told our interview was that he does not enjoy politics. He left that phase of life in Mississippi. 
  It's funny how some of society's greatest leaders are those how simply do the right thing and never really seek political opportunity from it. Durbin didn't discover the alleviating & healing properties of any medicine. But when the entrenched medical establishment and big pharma try to continue to keep it from the legitimate patients, a good humanitarian lawyer might be just as necessary as a good team of medical researchers.

About the Award..

  SoonerPolitics is announcing the inaugural pick for our Oklahoma Citizen of the Year award. In the past years there have been efforts by others to acknowledge the many contributions made by ordinary people in Oklahoma, to insure a better state for all of us. Some great people have received a portion of the recognition that they deserve.  But recently we have seen such distinctions fade into silence. To that end, this publication is embarking on an annual award program, to identify a citizen in our midst who is one of many who could and should be given some of the appreciation they deserve for the efforts they make.
Comments

    Sooner Politics
      Editorial  

    Picture
    David Van Risseghem reports the events and adds some perspective. 

    Subscribe to SoonerPolitics daily email news bulletin.
    Enter your email address:




    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    August 2015
    January 2015


    Subscribe in a reader
    ​We recently moved our blog. Our archives are still partially stored at our old site. 

    Author

    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
​FRONT PAGE •  OKLAHOMA NEWS • EDITORIAL • SOONER ISSUES •​ STATE GROUPS •​ SOONER ANALYSTS •​ LAWMAKER'S JOURNAL •​ NATION •​ NATIONAL COMMENTARY •​ CARTOONS •​ ​
Picture

918 . 928 . 7776

 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.​

  • Front Page
  • SoonerPolitics TV
  • Oklahoma News
    • Oklahoma Reports
    • Oklahoma Center Square
    • AP Wire
    • NewsBreak Oklahoma
    • Oklahoma Almanac
    • Trump Tweets
    • Muskogee Now
    • Capitol Beat
    • Faked Out Sports
    • OSU Sports
  • Legislative Watch
    • Legislative Scores
    • Congressional Tweets
    • Kevin Stitt
    • Lawmaker's Journal
  • Editorial
    • From the Editor
    • Weekend Report
    • 3D Politics
    • On This Date
  • Financial
  • Health/Science
    • Public Health News
    • Ron Durbin
    • Dr. Jim Meehan
    • OMMA Reports
    • Cannabis Health Recipes
    • Okla. Health Blog
    • My Cannabis Health Story
  • Sooner Issues
    • State Groups
  • Sooner Analysts
    • OCPA
    • Pat Campbell
    • Muskogee Politico
    • 1889 Institute
    • Constitutional Grounds
    • E PLURIBUS OTAP
    • Steve Byas
    • Everett Piper
    • Michael Bates
    • Steve Fair
    • Andrew Spiropoulos
    • AircraftSparky
    • Corruption Chronicle
    • Josh Lewis
    • Sooner Tea Party
    • Red River TV
    • Me, Myself, & Liberty
    • Nigel O'mally
    • Cut The Crap
    • KOKC
  • Nation
    • Breitbart News
    • Rush Limbaugh
    • Daily wire
    • Steven Crowder
    • InfoWars News
    • The F1rst
    • NewsMax
    • America's Voice
    • Ron Paul Institute
    • Bill Gertz
    • D i s r n
    • Just the News
    • Trey Gowdy
    • Fox Politics
    • National Commentary >
      • Kanye West Campaign
      • The Media
  • Wit & Whimsy
    • Terrence Williams
    • Witty Cartoons
    • Will Rogers Said
    • Repository of Pith
    • Dubiosity
    • Steeple Chasers
    • The Partisan
    • Satire
    • New Media Guide
  • World
    • Almanac >
      • Political Events Calendar
  • SoonerPolitics.org
    • Masthead