Medical orgs, left-wing political groups plan rally to support Medicaid expansion

A coalition of medical organizations and left-wing activist groups (including Planned Parenthood) is planning a rally at the State Capitol on April 24th to support Medicaid expansion:

COALITION TO EXPAND COVERAGE HOSTS RALLY AT STATE CAPITOL WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 10 A.M.

TULSA, OK — A broad coalition of Oklahomans are holding a rally day at the state Capitol to call on lawmakers to expand health coverage for more than 100,000 currently uninsured Oklahomans. This coverage expansion can be paid for using 90 percent federal dollars.

The rally is set for Wednesday, April 24 at 10 a.m. It will focus on Oklahoma’s opportunity to extend SoonerCare or private health coverage to Oklahomans making below the poverty level. Free buses to the rally will be available from cities across the state.

“Expanding care will help ensure that over 100,000 Oklahomans have access to the care they need while boosting hospitals and other health care providers in our communities across the state,” said Carly Putnam, Policy Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute, a state policy organization that is coordinating the rally. “It’s time we brought Oklahomans’ tax dollars back home to take care of Oklahomans.”

The rally is organized by the Coalition to Expand Coverage, a broad coalition of Oklahoma groups and individuals, including Oklahoma Policy Institute, Together Oklahoma, ACLU of Oklahoma, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Heart Association, CAIR Oklahoma, Coalition of Oklahoma Breastfeeding Advocates, E.B Consulting OKC, Evolution Foundation, Family & Children’s Services, Fellowship Congregational Church UCC, Guiding Right, Inc., Indivisible Stillwater, Improving Lives, Inc, League of Women Voters of Oklahoma, Mental Health Association Oklahoma, Morton Comprehensive Health Services, NAACP Oklahoma City, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Psoriasis Foundation, NASW Oklahoma Chapter, O.B. Hearne DDS, Oklahoma AFL-CIO, Oklahoma Conference of Churches, Oklahoma Heart Association, Oklahoma Hospital Association, Oklahoma Lawyers for Children, Oklahoma Primary Care Association, Oklahoma State Conference NAACP, Oklahoma State Medical Association, Oklahoma Women’s Coalition, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, Potts Family Foundation, Rock Whisperer LLC, St. John Health System, Take Control Initiative, TARC, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Oklahoma Academy, and Tulsa CARES. Additional members are joining the coalition on an ongoing basis.

“If we don’t expand coverage, Oklahoma will only fall further behind in health and economic competitiveness,” said Sabine Brown, outreach and advocacy coordinator for Oklahoma Policy Institute and Together Oklahoma. “All Oklahomans are invited to join this effort to make sure we can all see a doctor and get treatment when we need it.” To get information as it's released, learn more about the campaign, or sign on to the coalition, visit coverok.org.

OCPA column: Teacher unions echo far left

Teacher unions echo far left

by Jonathan Small, president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA)

There are still echoes from last spring’s Oklahoma teacher walkout, not all of them welcome.

Most recently, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, and U. S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts visited Oklahoma City to rally union teachers. Of course, what these figures proposed, a radical grab bag of far-left dogma, has almost nothing to do with teacher pay.

Weingarten, for example, is a vocal proponent of most of the Bernie Sanders-inspired leftist orthodoxy remaining from his 2016 presidential run. She backs “Medicare for all,” code for politician-controlled, government-run health care. She backs sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants. Weingarten even blasted former House Speaker John Boehner for inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress in opposition to the Obama administration’s cash-for-promises deal with Iran.

Weingarten is just as extreme—and out of step—on education. She backed a union contract that retained infamous “rubber rooms” in New York schools that keep inept teachers getting paid to do nothing instead of getting fired. She also backed California policies that protect bad teachers.

“Randi Weingarten would protect a dead body in a classroom,” a Queens school principal said of her antipathy for accountability.

Sen. Warren is just as far to the left. Aside from attacking President Trump for hiring a former Devon Energy lobbyist, she can also be seen in a Michael Moore documentary nodding and agreeing with his description of free markets as “immoral,” and she said of the radical, left-wing Occupy Wall Street movement, “I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do.”

And, after an illegal immigrant from Mexico killed Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa, Warren bizarrely launched a rant against immigration policies that would have kept that killer outside our borders, noting that she would prefer to focus on “where real problems are,” meaning the detention of illegals rather than, well, murder.

Weingarten, who earns at least $500,000 annually from her union job, and Warren, who was earning $429,000 a year from Harvard and living in a $5 million mansion before she was elected to the Senate, are eager to posture as advocates for the poor and to lecture Oklahoma taxpayers about how much more to pony up.

Unfortunately, they made no mention during their Oklahoma City appearance about declines in student test scores that followed the walkout they so enthusiastically promoted. When national, far-left figures come into our state promoting their radical ideology, it is the most vulnerable that suffer.

Figures like Weingarten and Warren bring out the worst in Oklahoma politics.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

Costello thanks AFL-CIO for endorsing her opponent

CATHY COSTELLO THANKS AFL-CIO FOR ENDORSING LESLIE OSBORN

    The AFL-CIO has announced its endorsement of Leslie Osborn in the Oklahoma Labor Commissioner race and Cathy Costello is happy to see the union is supporting her opponent.

    "The AFL-CIO kingpins have no interest in what is best for the people of Oklahoma," Cathy Costello says. "The leadership of the AFL-CIO is notoriously liberal, operating as a political machine, that has prioritized its agenda above the interest of workers across the country. Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly passed Right To Work yet AFL-CIO bosses have relentlessly fought to reverse that law so they can strong-arm our workers into paying union dues. I proudly stand against the entire AFL-CIO agenda.”

    The labor union’s endorsement of Cathy Costello’s GOP primary challenger, Leslie Osborn, highlights the difference between the candidates.

    “The AFL-CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism, typically in support of Democrats and liberal or progressive policies,” says labor author and historian, Timothy J. Minchin.

    “Today, the AFL-CIO appears to exist primarily to launder union dues into the campaign war chests of Democrats who don’t even deliver on the core organized labor agenda,” according to American Conservative contributor, Grant Starrett.

    “The AFL-CIO does not represent rank-and-file workers — it represents liberal activism,” says Costello. “Republican voters in Oklahoma can judge candidates by the company they keep. The union bosses’ endorsement of Leslie Osborn says more than I could in a thousand campaign commercials.”

         Cathy Costello is a co-founder of several businesses, both domestic and international, and is a sought-after national speaker and advocate on issues of mental health. She has been instrumental in passing major state and federal legislation to improve how employers address mental health needs in the workplace.

       The Republican primary for Labor Commissioner is scheduled for June 26, 2018 and the general election will be held November 6, 2018.

    For more information on Cathy Costello's campaign for Oklahoma Labor Commissioner, visit her website at www.CostelloForOK.com.

Leslie Osborn endorsed by the AFL-CIO

In a rather unhelpful move for a Republican primary, the AFL-CIO has endorsed GOP Labor Commissioner candidate Leslie Osborn in a mailer sent and paid for by the Oklahoma branch of the leftist labor union.

Evidently, spelling is not a strong point for the AFL-CIO, as the mailer they issued noted that it was a "Rebuplican Primary Election Alert".

Chalk this up for more compelling evidence that conservative Republicans should reject liberal Leslie Osborn and vote for Cathy Costello for Labor Commissioner

Union loses big in Muskogee VA vote

(photo credit: Muskogee VARO Employees against the AFGE Union)

This week, employees at the Muskogee VA Regional Office torpedoed a proposal to unionize under the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO. 175 (19.7%) of ballot casts were for unionization, while there were 714 (80.3%) votes against.

Both sides claimed that Muskogee's office is one of the only non-union federal government offices in the country.