Chairman Pam Pollard recently announced her decision not to seek another term at the helm of the Oklahoma Republican Party. This happens to coincide with the change of governor for Oklahoma.  Reports tell Sooner Politics that the transition team is keenly aware of the importance of a close working relationship between the governor's office and the state GOP leadership. To that end he and Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell (a former chairman and national GOP officer) have been watching the developments and seeking to encourage specific people to step up in the elections for county and state party offices.
  Our sources say that David McLain, (current chair of the Tulsa County GOP) is Gov. Stitt's choice for state chairman. Retired businessman, Bob Jack, is being asked to replace McLain at the Tulsa GOP.
  But other noted candidates are rumored to be considering their own bids to take over the party leadership. Edmond's Bob Dani is one such name being mentioned. Dani is the founder and former leader of the High Noon Club; a midday gathering place for conservatives, to advance conservative issues and become more informed about matters of public policy.

​  The Oklahoma Ethics Commission was formed to monitor the behavior only of our elected officials and our govt. agencies.
  But this current Ethics Commission is mulling new rules that would force private citizens to file paperwork or face fines, if they petition their government for redress of grievance (a constitutional right).
  They held public hearings this past week on a set of rules which will become law, unless specifically voted down by the Ethics Commission board, or the entire legislature. 
  Several citizens signed up to speak at the public comment period. But after the supporters all finished speaking, the commission then put time limits on everyone else.
Among the great presentations , OCPA was masterful in their arguments. While Trent England demonstrated that the commission is only mandated by law to enforce ethical standards on elected officials and govt agencies, they are turning their commission against the very people whom they were supposed to be protecting.
Rep. Meloyde Blancette was the initiators of this set of rules. She told SoonerPolitics that the 'dark money' in politics is so bad that something must be done. the problem is that her ideas do not in any effective way address the excuse she claims to be driven by. Namely, the 'dark money is almost completely coming from out of state entities which will never have to comply with these rules. But churches likely will be very suppressed, instead.

  As we await the first 6 performance audits that were commissioned by the Agency Performance & Accountability Commission(APAC); it would be helpful to understand the private sector members of the commission.  Jeff Raymond of Oklahoma Watch recently published an excellent set of biographies on each of them.
​  None of these members are being paid for their work, including monthly meetings at the state capitol. 

*UPDATED:
​  Representative Harold Wright -R, Weatherford, was expelled by the  Oklahoma Republican Party's ruling State Committee, today. The action took place at the State Committee meeting, in Edmond, OK. 
  OKGOP's national committeeman, Steve Curry, presented a letter of the OKGOP Executive Committee, advising action for Wright's actions, funding the campaign of a Democrat nominee(Jeff Berrong) for a state senate seat. Wright, who took money from the OKGOP for his own election, funneled at least $1000 to the Democrat effort, according to campaign reporting documents with the state Ethics Commission. Meanwhile, the OKGOP was funding the campaign of the Republican nominee(Brent Howard).
  Republican legislators are granted inclusion in the ruling body of the OKGOP, by being in elective office. Wright has been a State Committee member for several years. 
Rule 19-g states criteria for removal from office. The criteria specifically states that campaigning for, or giving money to the opponent of a Republican nominee is grounds for removal from all party leadership offices.
  Canadian County Chairman, Andrew Lopez made the motion on Harold Wright's immediate removal. Former National Committeeman, Steve Fair seconded the motion. The final vote was nearly unanimous with one lone voice voting 'nay'.

  Tulsa talk radio host, Pat Campbell, teased an announcement as he signed off, on his Friday show. He said that a big announcement is scheduled for his Monday morning show. KFAQ Radio program director, Shelby Travis is slated to announce some programming changes.
  Monday is coincidently the day that podcasting god, Ben Shapiro; will be launching his national radio show, taking on 2 hours which Michael Savage is vacating, on the Westwood One network.  The Shapiro  daily offering is a simulcast of his webcast show for DailyWire.com at 2pm, CST. From 3-5pm, his radio-only show will air. Many stations will take the Michael Savage live show for the 2pm hour, followed by the 2 hours of Shapiro Radio.
  Ben Shapiro is a young prodigy who began his syndicated commentary in print at age 17. He has a law degree from Harvard and was a producer for the Michael Savage radio show several years ago, along with Laura Ingraham. He then joined the staff of Breitbart News, eventually becoming the editor, before leaving in protest to the coverage Breitbart was giving to the Trump Presidential Campaign. 
  Shapiro has been on a station in the OKC market, on KZLS-1640, on tape delay at 10am, after the Tod Tucker morning drive show. It's not clear what exposure Shapiro will have in the OKC metro market as these changes roll out.

  At a time of great displeasure with our state legislature, one senator wants to devote the government's time & energy to establishing an official state steak.
  Now, who doesn't enjoy a grilled T-bone, Filet Mignon, or even a Sirloin?  But the panhandle cowboy wants the Ribeye to be elevated above all other cuts and given state government assistance to affirm it's value and desirability.
  Is there an official state swimsuit? A designated state horse? How about a declared state fishing rod?
Where does this end? Should it even have begun?  Now there is some value in having emblems like our flags, seal, and maybe an anthem.  so we get that.
  Murdock is a strong proponent of rancher & farm issues. He also gets a lot of campaign cash from entities who benefit from his votes and lawmaking.  We encourage Murdock to find some worthy causes to advocate for. Those of us who like strip steaks don't particularly enjoy being told that we have bad taste.

*UPDATED:
Tulsa Atty. Ron Durbin posted to his social media site that the City of Grove, in Northeast Oklahoma, changed course at today's city council meeting. They had created several barriers which were not authorized under the Oklahoma law passed last June.
  House Majority Leader, Jon Echols traveled to the city and explained just how it could result in city taxpayers being liable if their ordinance had been challenged by a person claiming damages from illegal acts committed by the city. It would result in the city having to pay a marijuana business and/or sick patients who are authorized to treat their illnesses with legal cannabis medicines.
​  Here's the impromptu post from Mr. Durbin..

​  Patient and advocate, Chris Moe, is reporting a series of threats of harm were communicated to him over the weekend. On Friday night he exposed a series of narratives of illegal distribution in the Oklahoma medical marijuana industry. ​

  While Moe (known as Uncle Grumpy) did not name anyone specifically, he did give enough details to make many 'bad actors' feel very threatened. Some bad actors are going after Moe, rather than cleaning up their practices and apologizing to those Oklahoma patients being harmed. Moe suffers severe chronic pain & relies on the medicine, now that physicians are forced to stop treating most chronic pain conditions with opiat-based pain pills.
​
  SoonerPolitics wants to set the record straight about Moe's words. We read into his video statements that he might reveal conspirators at another time, if needed.

  The Oklahoma Medical Board(OMB) has published an announcement for an upcoming 'training session' entitled "Pills, Pot and the Politics of Pain".

  The content listed in the program is devoted completely to Opiate addiction and black market crime details. No medical training on Cannabis alternatives for pain management is mentioned anywhere in the program.

  The course offering has been certified (by the OMB) to suffice as meeting a state requirement of renewed licensure of continuing healthcare education. The title, however seems more like a political indoctrination meeting. It focuses on politics and the impact of political events upon the treatment of pain, and the medical use of Cannabis, which they still insist on referring to as 'pot'.
  To this point, no Oklahoma medical school or state licensure exam requires or offers any actual education on the endocannabinoid system or the proper dosing & safeguards for incorporating cannabis medicines.
  The event is scheduled for March and will be held in the Embassy Suites hotel. Members will get an early registration discount if they sign up & pay before Valentines Day.
  The OMB (a state agency which governs medical licensure) is not conducting the course. They are merely promoting it for the Oklahoma Medical Association (a trade group which is hostile toward the new medical marijuana laws).
  It appears to demonstrate a bias of yet another state agency.  They reward a physician with education credits for attending a political rally.
  Chip Paul, of Oklahomans for Health said; "This is more of 'same ol'... same ol' blurring the lines between agencies and entrenched trade groups."

  The Oklahoma legislature recently authorized a profit splitting deal with a division of a Sweden-based high tech company; to scan every vehicle in our state and issue threatening citations and a demand for $174 because the owner didn't buy a liability insurance policy from an approved list of underwriters.
  But exemptions were made for:

• corporately-owned fleets
• out-of-state registration
• tribal license plates.

Sensys Gatso Group is making similar contracts with other governments all over the world, to provide the equipment, training, and other options, in exchange for a percentage of the fines collected by our court systems and other agencies.
  Civil liberties groups decry the Orwellian tactics which target the little guy and give a pass to corporate violators.  Tribal plates on the vehicles of Oklahoma residents already limit our state of needed funds.
  The driver of the vehicle is not ticketed; the registered owner is. Hence, even after selling a vehicle, a citizen can be cited if the new owner fails to comply. The Sweden-based corporation gets to divvy up their windfall from the fines, and stockholders in the global corporation should see dividends rise along with the escalation of tickets written.

A recent article in the Tulsa World confirms this report.

  The Oklahoma-based think tank founded by former US Senator, Tom Coburn, and his old D.C. roommate & colleague, Rep. Steve Largent; have published a strong endorsement of Senator Rand Paul's Festivus-themed report of massive and harmful federal spending.
  Coburn was noted for his expose's on federal waste when he was a US Senator. The problem is so serious that Coburn is now a leading advocate of a federal constitutional amendment for a mandated balanced budget amendment.
  Adam Kazda published the think tank's press release.

  Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) was in epic snarky form, this weekend; when he posted his annual Festivus-Airing of Grievances. 
 Paul is a rather young senator, the son of former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Both of them are medical doctors and proponents of a brand of libertarian  principles. In 1988, Ron Paul was the Libertarian Party's nominee for president.
  Ron later rejoined the Republican party and ran in 2008 & 2012 for the Republican nomination for president.
  Then-candidate Donald Trump used the opening moments of a televised debate to single out Rand Paul's looks while trying to say that he doesn't belong on a debate state with the top polling candidates.
  Since becoming president, Trump has courted Paul's collaboration on several matters; recognizing that Paul is driven by principles that may be frustrating, but are, nonetheless, heart-felt and compelling to many leading conservatives.
  Rand Paul has close alliances with Senators, Ted Cruz & Mike Lee. But Rand has also promoted some civil liberty initiatives than Democrats like Cory Booker of New Jersey are committed to.
​   Here are some captures from Rand Paul's epic Twitter Storm.

  In this weekend's edition of the SP Weekend Report, we cover many stories which made the headlines.

• Female Teachers are molesting students at a high rate, and getting very light sentences from judges (compared to male teachers).
• Muskogee Schools are arresting truant students ... at the school! Hauling them to the county lockup, instead of letting them return to the classroom.
• The Oklahoma legislature has an enormous freshman class, and 3/4 of the House has 2 years or less of experience in lawmaking.
• The Republican House membership shares a 'group hug' in their Kumbayah caucus retreat.
• The Budget surplus is more than double what the tax increases were said to be needed for.
• We picked a Citizen of the Year for 2018.
• We uncovered a terribly inhumane practice at the state cemetery, at the state's largest mental hospital.

  The new faces at the Oklahoma capitol are many, this winter. 36 Republicans and 9 Democrats were sworn into office for the first time, last month and are busy learning their new duties, protocols, colleagues, and legislative assistants.
  Many of them are already busy reading and writing legislation for consideration by the various committees they are being appointed to. These folks will not get wealthy by means of their legislative pay. The oversight committee which sets legislative compensation took a drastic turn last spring, last year, and cut the base pay of all legislators. It is now well under $40K for the entire year. They do, however; get reimbursed for travel & lodging expenses, based upon their district's proximity to the state capitol.
   This is the largest group of freshmen legislators since the state's very first session, back 110 years ago. It is also the largest Republican caucus in state history. The legislature was solidly  Democrat for about the first 100 years. Two of the current legislators have served as both Democrat and Republican members. About 75% of the current House membership has only 2 years or less of experience. And some of them are chairing very influential committees.
  We've linked each new member's portrait to the House webpage devoted to the district they serve. By clicking on that link, you can read an informative bio of the new member and about the district they now represent.

  Speaker Charles McCall made some key appointments known this week. Among them are two significant chairmanships of House committees. Sean Roberts will chair the Public Health Committee, and Tom Gann will chair the Administrative Rules Committee.  These two conservative leaders were esteemed among the House Platform Caucus, of the last two years.
  But The Journal Record tells a narrative of the big picture within the 76-member Republican Caucus in the House of Representatives. Journalist Catherine Sweeney of the Journal Record reports that caucus members are now specifically banned from actively seeking the ouster of their caucus colleagues. Speaker McCall intends to enforce this rule, but details are sketchy about how that discipline would manifest.