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A group of individuals in the Oklahoma Republican party, led by people like Tobacco industry lobbyist Seth Rott; are seeking to radically replace the structure of party leadership in Oklahoma. One source says that US Senator, James Lankford is also behind the effort to give more control to incumbent politicians in the OKGOP. The move would eliminate most of the authority of the current presiding body (the State Committee), and replace it with a largely hand-picked group of designees which (to some degree) the congressional GOP incumbents get to pick.
The move would also eliminate the authority of the State Chairman to oversee the operation and replace that role with an Executive director whom the new Executive Committee would hire. Current Party Rules state that the Executive Committee is only an advisory Committee to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the state. This would set up the state party to be structured opposite of how each of the state's 77 County GOP organizations operate. The proposal further consolidates power by making the State Budget Committee a 'subcommittee of the State Executive Committee'. |
Seth Rott was instrumental in pushing the rule change at the Oklahoma County GOP Convention, on March 9th.
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Proponents of the idea say that "North Carolina operates in this same manner". We took a cursory look at the North Carolina Bylaws and found vast differences. Others say that Oklahoma's GOP is deliberately designed to be a "from the bottom, up" organizational structure, so that power and direction comes from the neighborhood precincts and flows to the County GOP, then to the State GOP leadership.
This would mandate several politicians to control the party and thereby insulate them from censure from the party's platform principles.
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 Rep. David Smith
Legislators have expressed frustration with sectarian struggles in the OKGOP, especially at the county level.
Rep David Smith is a freshman legislator whose constituents include all of Coal County. Recently an "anonymous letter" was published by Sooner Tea Party, and the author is described as a legislator who expressed frustration with State Chairman Pam Pollard for disenfranchising the delegation from Coal County and "declaring the 2019 Coal County Convention voided". It appears that Pollard had failed to properly keep the county party organized over the past 2 years. So she went to Coal County and served as temporary Chairman, to convene the county convention. A campaign consultant is said to have helped with logistics and promoting the event to at least a dozen contacts in Coal County. But about 17 other Republicans in Coal County unexpectedly showed up to properly participate. That loose group of folks even ran for leadership posts in the county and as delegates to the Oklahoma State GOP Convention. they prevailed, largely. You can read that legislator's account in this blog post from Al Gerhart. |
