Tulsa restaurant owners presented Frank Urbanic's team a 5-figure monetary 'thank you'.
| On Friday night the owners of 6 Tulsa area restaurants and taverns threw a 'Patriotic Party' to celebrate the legal team who successfully stopped Governor Stitt's declaration of unspecified powers to shut down thousands of businesses across the state through a nightly 'curfew' of sorts. The 11pm order to cease transactions on food & beverage was halted by a district court injunction after Attorney Frank Urbanic and his half dozen plaintiffs persuaded the judge that no such statutory power exists which would allow such arbitrary actions of the governor, without a special session of the legislature approving the move on a 30-day authorization. Shortly after the January 8th litigation failure of the legal team from the Attorney General, Governor, and the State Health Dept.; the Governor changed course and decided to lift the 11pm shutdown order. The legal team headed up by Urbanic took on the case as essentially a community service because they saw this as an essential civil rights struggle against an abuse of power. Some of the plaintiffs were seeing a financial ruin in which they still need financial help just to keep their employees paid. |  Civil Rights Attorney, Frank Urbanic (center) is presented an award from the panelists of 3D Politics TV show, for his advocacy of merchants' civil rights. David Van of Sooner Politics (left) & David Oldham of Constitutional Grounds (right) |
But the co-owners of several Tulsa area entertainment & dining venues, including PJ's Pub & Grill, threw a huge appreciation & thank you party for the Urbanic Legal team. The capacity crowd and outdoor overflow was decorated in patriotic themes as a message that these entrepreneurs are supportive of good govt., yet committed to stand up for their civil liberties against govt. overreach and misinformation.
This isn't Urbanic's first public advocacy effort. Last March he discovered that Gov. Kevin Stitt was using a declaration of riot & sedition to shut down dining & entertainment venues. Shortly after SoonerPolitics reposted the Urbanic findings, Gov. Stitt quickly changed course and sought a proper legislative authorization for a Declared Public Health Emergency. That led to a 30-day authorization and a phased-in reopening which led the nation by example.
President Donald Trump praised Stitt for his restraint and Trump later came to Tulsa to begin his 2020 presidential campaign efforts.
Oklahoma recently was declared the top state in the nation for reopening in the current drop of covid spread. We asked Urbanic if he thinks his court action helped Oklahoma gain that title..
"That's a different way of looking at it, if you're saying I helped the governor; because I'm not expecting an invitation to the mansion any time soon." Urbanic says he's a Republican and he wishes Stitt well, generally, but civil rights come first. Urbanic also notes that he and the governor have close mutual friends in politics.
President Donald Trump praised Stitt for his restraint and Trump later came to Tulsa to begin his 2020 presidential campaign efforts.
Oklahoma recently was declared the top state in the nation for reopening in the current drop of covid spread. We asked Urbanic if he thinks his court action helped Oklahoma gain that title..
"That's a different way of looking at it, if you're saying I helped the governor; because I'm not expecting an invitation to the mansion any time soon." Urbanic says he's a Republican and he wishes Stitt well, generally, but civil rights come first. Urbanic also notes that he and the governor have close mutual friends in politics.
