| The Oklahoma Republican Party held a quarterly meeting of their top presiding authority, today. The OKGOP State Committee met at the campus of Windsor Hills Baptist Church. Over 100 of the members were represented in person of by authorized proxy. One of the more curious concerns is the contradiction between the overwhelming legislative support for the biggest tax increase in state history, while the OKGOP platform position is squarely in opposition to the radical growth in the size and burden of state government. The most current state platform mandates a party policy of annual performance audits, first; to determine if core functions of government have exhausted all possible reform options, before resorting to a request of the voters for more tax dollars. This, of course, is not what the legislative leaders and governor have done. Someone on social media tried to get the OKGOP State Chairman to state a position. I remarked that it's more important to ask if the OKGOP State Committee was going to have a position? The Chairman takes her direction from the State Committee. When we asked some members of the State Committee if the subject of Republican tax initiatives had come up, there was an ambiguous confirmation; we were told that a formal statement would be made in a few days. Those sources also did not want to go on the record. |  The OKGOP website is promoting an effort to let people express themselves to the state government. But we can't find out what message the ruling committee may have sent, today? |
The OKGOP Platform calls for annual performance audits of agencies. There is a striking ideological split between the state political leaders and the grassroots. Candidate Gary Richardson said he's hearing plenty of voter rage everywhere he goes. Richardson is also a plaintiff in the several lawsuits which were effective in overturning some of the unconstitutional tax increases we saw this spring.
Long time OKGOP party member, Steve Byas echoed Richardson's observations from his own travels and speaking to civic and political groups. Byas has been publishing the Oklahoma Constitution and the annual Conservative Index. He says the Republicans have perhaps the lowest scores for conservatism that he's ever seen.
Former OKGOP Chair, Randy Brogdon is blunt with his scolding of the current republicans in state legislative office. Sooner Politics has carried some of Brogdon's writings in the past couple weeks.
Rep. John Bennett is one of more than a dozen House Republicans who have stayed true to the OKGOP platform's principles. He recently renewed the call for routing independent state performance audits. He says that not a dime of added funds should be budgeted to an agency until that agency has a current performance audit done by a credible outside source.
We'll stay on this issue and report solid details when they are available, from the OKGOP State Committee.
Long time OKGOP party member, Steve Byas echoed Richardson's observations from his own travels and speaking to civic and political groups. Byas has been publishing the Oklahoma Constitution and the annual Conservative Index. He says the Republicans have perhaps the lowest scores for conservatism that he's ever seen.
Former OKGOP Chair, Randy Brogdon is blunt with his scolding of the current republicans in state legislative office. Sooner Politics has carried some of Brogdon's writings in the past couple weeks.
Rep. John Bennett is one of more than a dozen House Republicans who have stayed true to the OKGOP platform's principles. He recently renewed the call for routing independent state performance audits. He says that not a dime of added funds should be budgeted to an agency until that agency has a current performance audit done by a credible outside source.
We'll stay on this issue and report solid details when they are available, from the OKGOP State Committee.
