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The last 24 hours have been a flurry of spontainious and unscripted moves from several political dialogues. It appears to have been started with a social media video from Tulsa's former federal prosecutor, Gary Richardson. Gary is widely assumed to be running for governor.
And so is Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb.... So Todd Lamb decided the time is right for his own act of defiance. He resigned his auxiliary role in the Mary Fallin cabinet. He stays in his independent office as Lt. Governor, but not actively developing Fallin's agenda. Meanwhile, over in the capitol halls, some legislators decided the time is ripe for their own declaration of opposition to the Fallin Taxes. Rep. George Faught decided to pen a short statement over his lunch break. He emailed it to a couple dozen trusted colleagues. Immediately he got several responses from them, asking to be included. So Faught set a 2 hour deadline for his selected colleagues to get their statements to him. A total of 14 were able to get statements in. Several did not catch his email in time to even know of this development until they saw the media reports. |
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Here's the Richardson video that started the rebellion...
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Rep. Faught began the idea of a conservative caucus after studying the developments of last year's bizarre "tax week"(mid May) and how conservatives felt betrayed by their own house leadership.
After the general election, some legislators chatted about what could be done to better prepare for the inevitability of "tax week" and how to meet the challenge early. It was determined that such a caucus of conservatives should wait until they see where the threat manifests, and respond to the specific details, rather than operating as a traditional standing caucus. |
Look for more info to be released early next week, when legislators gather and identify their philosophical alliance. There will be more members identified. Some have already indicated disappointment that the short window passed on the Thursday press release.
We are told that Faught is somewhat of an interim leader in this movement, but in time there will be a much bigger and permanent identity, if developments warrant.
This is an excellent time for constituents to contact their legislators and demand that they make a stand of ideology. Perhaps before next Tuesday.
Some of the charter list of 14 did surprise me. Some freshmen names were absent. But some other names were on this list that I would not have immediately expected. It was also a bit of a surprise that 5 senators stepped up. I expected the House of Representatives to act alone until later in the session.
We are told that Faught is somewhat of an interim leader in this movement, but in time there will be a much bigger and permanent identity, if developments warrant.
This is an excellent time for constituents to contact their legislators and demand that they make a stand of ideology. Perhaps before next Tuesday.
Some of the charter list of 14 did surprise me. Some freshmen names were absent. But some other names were on this list that I would not have immediately expected. It was also a bit of a surprise that 5 senators stepped up. I expected the House of Representatives to act alone until later in the session.
