| Republican Attorney, Gary Richardson, gave a major address to Tulsa Area Republicans about the disastrous legislative session and the unconstitutional actions taken by Republican Legislative Leaders. Just one week earlier, Richardson was standing in front of the justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, to make his constitutional argument for throwing out the revenue bills which violated Article Five of the Oklahoma Constitution. Richardson secured the legal team of Stan Ward and his partners. Stan was an author of the very constitutional amendment which the legislature and governor blatantly ignored. Ward's presence and testimony completely devastated the state attorney general's team. It's hard to parse words and twist language when the author of the constitutional text is standing there opposing you. The court quickly ruled 9-0 to completely throw out the entirety of SB845 (the tobacco tax) within 48 hours of the 50 minute oral arguments. Richardson was one of 3 separate plaintiffs who filed cases in this matter. He was given the 3rd spot on the docket. The fortunate position allowed his legal team to speak to the original intent of the constitution, and emphasis on legislative intent. the previous plaintiffs (tobacco distributors and auto dealers) had already argued the specifics of the bills and the parsing of words contained therein. |  Former Federal Prosecutor For the Reagan Administration, Gary Richardson; from his press conference in June. |
Richardson's address did not directly focus on his campaign platform. This was not a campaign stump speech, but it is not possible to discuss the impact of the case without acknowledging the vast anger of grassroots voters.
The Tulsa Republican Assembly published a live video on social media for those who could not risk the trip to the meeting because of a major storm system which hit the Tulsa area at the same time as the meeting. We're making that available, below.
The Tulsa Republican Assembly published a live video on social media for those who could not risk the trip to the meeting because of a major storm system which hit the Tulsa area at the same time as the meeting. We're making that available, below.
