Oklahoma Supreme Court applicants include Democratic donors

Oklahoma Supreme Court applicants include Democratic donors

By Ray Carter | January 17th, 2025

In the November 2024 general election, Oklahoma voters chose to oust Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Kauger with a majority opposing her retention.

That opened a spot on the court. Three nominees will soon be selected by the secretive Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) and forwarded to Gov. Kevin Stitt, who will be limited to choosing only one of those three candidates to serve on the Oklahoma Supreme Court under the state’s current judicial-appointment system.

While the vote to oust Kauger, who was first appointed by a Democratic governor, may represent voters wanting a Republican governor to have the chance to make a court appointment, records indicate that at least five of the 14 individuals who have applied with the Judicial Nominating Commission have previously contributed to the political campaigns of Democratic candidates or to or to a political action committee that funded Democrats.

Democrat judges defy Oklahoma’s GOP trend

Democrat judges defy Oklahoma’s GOP trend

By Ray Carter | September 3rd, 2024

In the last 30 years, Republican candidates have been elected Oklahoma governor in 75 percent of races.

But nearly half of the members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court—four of nine justices—were appointed by Democratic governors. And those Democratic appointees have been retained by Oklahoma voters even as those same voters overwhelmingly vote for GOP candidates in presidential and statewide races.

The persistence of Democratic judicial appointees on Oklahoma’s top court contrasts with the pattern in two of the nation’s fastest-growing states where voters have largely supported Republican candidates in statewide races.

In Florida, as in Oklahoma, Republican candidates have been elected in 75 percent of the eight gubernatorial races conducted from 1994 to today. But all seven current members of the Florida Supreme Court were appointed by Republican governors. [Two members of the Florida court were appointed by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was elected governor as a Republican in 2006 but became an independent in 2010 while running for U.S. Senate and eventually became a Democrat in 2012.]

In Texas, where justices are directly elected, all nine members of the Texas Supreme Court are registered Republicans.

In Oklahoma, judicial nominees are selected by the secretive Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC). The JNC selects up to three nominees for court positions, including the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and the governor then makes an appointment from that list.

The JNC’s membership is substantially determined by the Oklahoma Bar Association, and public records show that 22 of the 32 individuals appointed to the JNC by the Oklahoma Bar Association from 2000 to today (nearly 69 percent) have directed most of their campaign donations to Democrats, including to presidential candidates like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Only one bar appointee to the JNC since 2000 overwhelmingly donated to Republican candidates.

The JNC’s structure tilts the judicial nominating process in favor of Democrat-aligned judges, particularly when the governor who makes the final selection is a Democrat.

However, judges are subject to retention ballot elections, which is supposed to allow the public to have input into the process.

But a lack of public information had made those elections virtually meaningless.

“What information would Oklahoma voters have on how judges are doing their job?” said Andrew Spiropoulos, the Robert S. Kerr, Sr. Professor of Constitutional Law at Oklahoma City University. “They’re not regularly involved in the legal system and so their presumption is that judges are doing their job and if that wasn’t the case someone would tell them.”

The Democratic appointees to the Oklahoma Supreme Court are Douglas Combs, Noma Gurich, Yvonne Kauger, and James Edmondson.

In 2012, all four Democratic appointees to the Oklahoma Supreme Court were on a retention ballot and received the support of more than 65 percent of voters each, even as two out of three Oklahoma voters supported the election of Republican Mitt Romney in that year’s presidential election.

While Democratic President Barack Obama received only 443,547 votes from Oklahomans that year, the three Democratic appointees to the Oklahoma Supreme Court received 775,016 to 792,216 pro-retention votes apiece.

In 2016, Combs was retained with nearly 59 percent of the vote even as nearly two-in-three Oklahoma voters supported Donald Trump’s election as president and Republican James Lankford was re-elected U.S. senator with nearly 68 percent of the vote.

Only 420,375 Oklahomans voted for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton that year and just 355,911 voted for the Democratic candidate in the U.S. Senate race, but Democratic appointee Combs was retained on the Oklahoma Supreme Court with 760,927 votes.

When Gurich, Kauger, and Edmondson were last on a retention ballot in 2018, they were supported by 59 percent to 62 percent of voters apiece, even as Oklahomans elected Republican Kevin Stitt as governor. Stitt received 644,579 votes to the 500,973 votes cast for his Democratic opponent, but the three Democratic appointees to the Oklahoma Supreme Court received 611,334 to 637,315 pro-retention votes each.

In 2022, Combs was again retained with the support of 628,893 voters, or 61 percent of the vote, even as Stitt was re-elected with 639,484 votes. As a Democratic appointee to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, Combs received nearly 147,000 more votes for retention than the Democratic gubernatorial nominee received that year.

Why do Oklahomans vote for Republicans candidates in presidential and statewide races while giving strong majority support to Democratic appointees to the Oklahoma Supreme Court?

In part, it’s because few Oklahomans are aware those justices are Democratic appointees.

“They don’t see any partisan listing on the ballot,” Spiropoulos said. “And to be truthful, Oklahomans get very little information on how judges do their jobs.”

Because of the lack of information, it is possible that many voters believe Oklahoma Supreme Court justices are conservatives, given that Republicans hold all statewide offices and supermajorities in the Oklahoma Legislature.

In other states and cities around the country, Spiropoulos said judicial evaluation commissions are common and provide public information on judicial performance.

But that has not been the norm in Oklahoma.

However, this year the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs has created what may be the most comprehensive judicial review site in state history, providing information on members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The Oklahoma Judicial Scorecard can be viewed at www.oklajudges.com.

Under business-as-normal in Oklahoma, when voters are provided almost no information on judges facing retention, judges are seldom removed from office because few voters have even basic information about those jurists. Only individuals who make headlines for bad behavior face any consequences, and those cases typically involve behavior so extreme that the judge made national headlines.

Critics have long argued Oklahomans should have higher standards for members of the state judiciary than “don’t embarrass us on a national scale.”

“If a judge goes insane, or shoots somebody like we’re trying to deal with right now, have sex with your bailiff, they’ll remove you for that; the texting on the bench,” Spiropoulos said. “If a judge does something that’s publicly terrible, we have judicial discipline. But that’s the only time we remove a judge.”

Article authored by Ray Carter of the Center for Independent Journalism. Re-published by permission.

Tribes seek share of turnpike revenue

Outrageous:

TRIBES SEEK SHARE OF TURNPIKE REVENUE

Ray Carter | May 22nd, 2024

Because many tribal car tags are effectively unregistered with the state of Oklahoma, drivers with tribal tags have run up millions of dollars in unpaid tolls on state turnpikes in recent months that cannot be collected.

Now a tribal official says tribes are willing to end that problem—but only if the Oklahoma state government agrees to divert potentially millions of dollars in turnpike revenue to tribal governments, effectively negating any financial benefit from the collection of tolls on drivers with tribal tags.

ABSURDITY: OU, state mental-health agency tout 'pregnant people'

What on earth?? Bureacracy (both government and corporate) is absolutely full of people who have lost their minds in the pursuit of the nonsensical woke agenda:

OU, STATE MENTAL-HEALTH AGENCY TOUT ‘PREGNANT PEOPLE’

Ray Carter | March 20, 2024

At a recent summit, officials with the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) urged greater focus on “pregnant people” with substance-abuse disorders, effectively downgrading the existence of women.

A release about the event, issued by ODMHSAS, was headlined, “State Summit Aims to Break Stigma and Build Support to Aid Pregnant People with Substance Use Disorders and Protect Families.”

The March 11 release stated that one of the goals of attendees was to raise “awareness of and reduce the stigma associated with the circumstances and needs of pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorders.”

RINO Labor Commissioner Osborn touts transgenderism, abortion

LABOR COMMISSIONER OSBORN TOUTS TRANSGENDERISM, ABORTION

Ray Carter | January 12, 2024

A Republican women’s organization is calling on Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Leslie Osborn to switch parties and officially become a Democrat due to Osborn’s participation in a group that touts transgenderism and abortion to youth.

For several years, Osborn has openly opposed the policy goals of Republicans on everything from tax cuts to protecting children, and she has even called on voters to oust Republican lawmakers.

In a recent press release regarding Osborn’s activities, members of the Oklahoma City Republican Women’s Club declared, “We are asking her to change her party affiliation as her current actions and apparent values to the protection of children and families are contrary to the principles of the Republican Party.”

Until recently, Osborn was a member of, and one of six officers on, the board of directors for Honestly, an Oklahoma City organization focused on “youth sexual health.”

The organization’s website declares that a “lot of young people have sex” and that in Oklahoma County “it happens a lot sooner than you’d think.” The group’s website does not appear to include any material that encourages children and teens to delay sexual activity until the age of maturity.

Gov. Stitt signs "Women's Bill of Rights" executive order safeguarding women's spaces

STITT SIGNS ORDER PROTECTING WOMEN’S RIGHTS

by Ray Carter | August 1, 2023

Becoming the first governor in the nation to do so, Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed a “Women’s Bill of Rights” executive order that bars males from being allowed in female-only facilities and events in Oklahoma.

The order was issued as a growing number of men have claimed to identify as female to access everything from women’s bathrooms to women’s domestic-abuse shelters to women’s prisons.

“We are making sure that women’s spaces are safe for women,” Stitt said. “No men are going to go into women’s prisons in the state of Oklahoma. No men in women’s domestic shelters in the state of Oklahoma. No men in women’s locker rooms. No men in women’s bathrooms. No men in women’s sports.”

Thanks to veto override (and PlatePay), tribal tags may evade turnpike tolls to tune of $10.8M per year

The double-whammy of removing toll booths to implement PlatePay and the legislative override of Gov. Stitt's veto of a tribal vehicle tag compact is going to cost Oklahoma citizens a pretty penny:

Tribal plates allow drivers to evade Oklahoma tolls

By Ray Carter | July 25th, 2023

This week, members of the Oklahoma Legislature overrode Gov. Kevin Stitt’s veto of legislation authorizing a one-year compact with tribal governments that allows the issuance of tribal vehicle tags.

When lawmakers did so, they locked in place a system that is allowing drivers with tribal car tags to evade paying tolls on state turnpikes, a practice that is expected to cost the state millions of dollars and increase the fees imposed on all other, non-Indian drivers.

Tribal vehicle registration/tag revenue used for political activity

TRIBE USES VEHICLE REVENUE FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITY

by Ray Carter | June 23, 2023

Even though state-tribal compacts on vehicle registration and car tags ultimately result in millions of dollars being diverted from Oklahoma state government to the control of a small group of tribal government leaders, defenders of the compacts often claim the agreements benefit the state because the money is used for education and transportation.

But Cherokee Nation budget documents obtained by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs indicate that the tribe at least considered, and may have used, vehicle revenue for political activity.

The Cherokee Nation acknowledges that some money generated by its motor-tag compacts with the state of Oklahoma has been used for electoral activity, but the amount of money tribal officials say was spent and the uses made of that money differ dramatically from the amounts and uses outlined in a tribal budget document provided by a whistleblower.

Bill aiming to curb sex-trafficking draws pushback as Dem rep declares prostitution is alternative income stream

BILL AIMING TO CURB SEX-TRAFFICKING DRAWS PUSHBACK
by Ray Carter | April 10th, 2023

An effort to increase the penalties on individuals who pay prostitutes for sex, informally referred to as “johns,” has run into unexpected resistance.

One prominent Democrat has argued prostitution is one of the “streams of incomes” chosen by individuals who find entry-level job wages insufficient, while an advocacy organization has declared the bill is effectively anti-transgender.

But the bill’s authors have both said the point of the legislation is simple.

“This bill aims to curb sex trafficking by reducing the demand for prostitution services,” said state Rep. Eric Roberts, R-Oklahoma City. “Many of those engaging in prostitution are victims of human trafficking.”

Carter: Career teachers are scant in the Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame

There was an uproar - a tempest in a teapot, really - the other week over new State Superintendent Ryan Walters removing portraits in a hallway at the State Department of Education building placed in recognition of a non-governmental organization's "hall of fame". Instead of using government space to laud this one group's favorite people, he wanted to use the space to honor and recognize the parents and children that the Oklahoma State Department of Education is supposed to be working for. 

Read below for some excellent context to the kerfluffle:

CAREER TEACHERS ARE SCANT IN THE OKLAHOMA EDUCATORS HALL OF FAME

by Ray Carter | February 24, 2023

When reviewing the more than 100 individuals inducted into the Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame since 1985, Ruth Genevieve Hudson stands out—because Hudson, inducted in 1994, is one of the very few career classroom teachers to make the cut.

While Hudson spent 45 years primarily teaching music at Sand Springs, Tulsa, and Blackwell Public Schools, as well as in the state of Kansas, her lengthy classroom service is in stark contrast to many of the other people honored in the educators’ hall.

Instead, the Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame is filled with the names of politicians, union leaders, lobbyists, consultants, and individuals who worked in college settings rather than in the K-12 school system.

The hall is also filled largely with men, even though the overwhelming majority of classroom teachers are women.

“To me, it wasn’t showing respect for the classroom teachers,” said Teresa Turner, who taught school for 26 years in rural Oklahoma before retiring. “It was just showing more respect for administrators and others instead of the ones that are in the daily grind doing the work with the children.”

Missouri transgender clinic scandal adds urgency to Oklahoma child-protection effort

MISSOURI SCANDAL ADDS URGENCY TO OKLAHOMA CHILD-PROTECTION EFFORT

(Ray Carter | February 10, 2023) News that a Missouri children’s transgender clinic has been accused of unethical activity and is under investigation by law enforcement officials has added urgency to Oklahoma efforts to keep children from being subjected to sex-reassignment surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones, lawmakers say.

As conservative policies advance, people are moving to Oklahoma

AS CONSERVATIVE POLICIES ADVANCE, PEOPLE ARE MOVING TO OKLAHOMA

By Ray Carter (February 3, 2023) | During Gov. Kevin Stitt’s first term in office, he cut taxes, expanded school choice, restrained government growth to build up record state savings, and imposed COVID restrictions that were far more limited in scope and duration than those in many states.

Today, Stitt is calling for more tax cuts and wants to expand school choice so all families can use tax funds for any school, including private schools.

Stitt’s critics have decried those policy choices. But new data show that citizens across the country have reached their own verdict: Many now see Oklahoma as a place they want to live.

State Sup't Walters warns federal funds come with strings attached, can strip state's control of education

I would just like to point out that homeschoolers, for decades, have argued that government funds come with strings attached (which is why we have overwhelmingly rejected efforts to give us education vouchers).

SUPERINTENDENT WARNS FEDERAL FUNDS CAN STRIP STATE CONTROL
published by the Center for Independent Journalism

Ray Carter (February 1st) -- State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters warned lawmakers that they risk losing control of state schools if they accept all forms of federal funding without hesitation.

Oklahoma not an outlier on teacher shortage

OKLAHOMA NOT AN OUTLIER ON TEACHER SHORTAGE

by Ray Carter, Center for Independent Journalism (original link)

(August 31st) Reports of a teacher shortage in Oklahoma have often intimated the problem is one largely driven by Oklahoma-specific factors.

But the head of the state’s college system suggests that is not the case and that all states are seeing a reduction in the number of teachers.

Administrative spending soars at largest Oklahoma school districts

ADMINISTRATIVE SPENDING SOARS AT LARGEST OKLAHOMA SCHOOL DISTRICTS

by Ray Carter, Center for Independent Journalism

Oklahoma schools devote a larger share of funding to non-instructional uses than their counterparts in several surrounding states and a dramatic surge in administrative spending in some of Oklahoma’s largest school districts suggests that situation is poised to get worse, based on data in a recent report by a state watchdog agency.

In a report reviewing Oklahoma’s K-12 public-school funding, officials with the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) found that administrative spending in Oklahoma schools is growing at a faster pace than instructional spending.

LOFT found that, between 2010 and 2021, Oklahoma public schools’ administrative expenditures increased by 40 percent while spending on instruction grew at a slower rate of 35 percent.

Cherokee Chief orders removal of Oklahoma flags from Cherokee Nation properties

CHEROKEE NATION CHIEF BANS DISPLAY OF OKLAHOMA STATE FLAG

by Ray Carter (Center for Independent Journalism)

Through a new executive order, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. has prohibited display of the state flag of Oklahoma at tribal facilities.

Hoskin’s executive order declares that the chief of staff of the Cherokee Nation shall “cause all flags of the State of Oklahoma to be removed from Cherokee Nation properties” by Sept. 1.

It’s the latest indication that some tribal officials and activists do not consider themselves citizens of Oklahoma now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled their tribal reservations were never disestablished, creating numerous jurisdictional questions on everything from public safety to taxation.

OSU leaders duck question on 'Drag Queen Story Hour' aimed at TWO-YEAR OLDS

COLLEGE LEADERS DUCK QUESTION ON OSU ‘DRAG QUEEN STORY HOUR’

by Ray Carter, Director, Center for Independent Journalism

The Oklahoma State University Office of Multicultural Affairs recently announced it was hosting a “Drag Queen Story Hour” that was “geared towards ages 2-8.”

Critics said the event amounted to “ideological grooming” of children.

Do officials with oversight of state colleges believe the event was a proper use of taxpayer facilities and aligned with OSU’s mission? And if not, what action do they plan to take?

For the most part, those officials have adopted a “duck and cover” policy in response.

Hofmeister spox: public schools must allow students to use bathroom of their choice, can't restrict based on biology

HOFMEISTER: SCHOOL TRANSGENDER BATHROOM POLICIES MANDATORY

by Ray Carter, Center for Independent Journalism

A spokesperson for State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister says Oklahoma public schools must allow students to use the bathroom of their choice, based on the student’s self-professed gender identity, and cannot restrict bathroom access based on biological gender.

Bad idea: State House votes to roll back pension reforms, return to same bad system that got into trouble

It wasn't that long ago that the Oklahoma Legislature was faced with the reality of massive financial crisis with state employee retirement systems. We had some of the worst-funded state pension systems in the nation. Following the leadership of individuals like then-State Rep. Randy McDaniel, the Legislature took steps to remedy that situation.

This past week, however, the State House approved a measure by State Rep. Avery Frix (R-Muskogee) that would take a dramatic step backward into the failed policy of the past. Frix has a history of pandering to government unions on this issue, and this vote coincides with the launch of his campaign for Congress.

When a previous bill of Frix's came up in 2020 which raided pension assets for a transparently political election-year state workers' retirement boost, State Sen. Marty Quinn (R-Claremore), who is also running for the same congressional seat as Frix, had this to say:

Sen. Marty Quinn, R-Claremore, said he was “not going to crawl under a rock and ignore the financial mistakes that continue to be made by this body and other bodies so that people can ‘like’ me.”

“Why are we taking the same financial destructive path of previous administrations?” Quinn asked. “You know what I’m talking about. A system that was one of the fifth-worst systems in the entire United States, almost $16 billion underfunded, giving away COLAs in election years. We’re doing the same thing. Just a different group of people.”

More on the bill:

HOUSE VOTES TO ROLL BACK OKLAHOMA PENSION REFORMS
by Ray Carter, Center for Independent Journalism

House lawmakers voted to roll back a 2014 pension reform that was projected to save taxpayers $3.8 billion over 30 years and instead provide state workers retirement benefits that are not available to the typical private-sector worker in Oklahoma.

House Bill 2486, by state Rep. Avery Frix, eliminates a defined-contribution retirement plan, similar to a 401(k) plan in the private sector, and instead places most state government workers in a defined-benefit plan.

In a defined-benefit plan, state government employees receive a guaranteed, specified amount in retirement payments, while in a defined-contribution plan they contribute and invest in funds over time to save for retirement.

Lawmakers voted in 2014 to shift all new state government employees (aside from teachers or those working in hazardous positions, such as police and firefighters) into a 401(k)-style retirement plan. That law was authored by current Oklahoma State Treasurer Randy McDaniel, who then served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

When she signed the reform into law, then-Gov. Mary Fallin noted, “The system as it stands today is not financially sound or sustainable. Moving future hires to a 401(k)-style system helps to ensure we can pay our current retirees and employees the benefits they have already earned.”

In a 2014 interview, McDaniel said the cost of defined-contribution plans is predictable for state government, and also noted that defined-benefit plans involve moral hazard that causes politicians to rapidly inflate the system’s unfunded liability by increasing benefits without covering the cost.

“An issue that is overlooked in the mathematical data is the issue of political incentives to harm the system by making unsustainable financial promises,” McDaniel said. “Unfortunately, those incentives are real, and they greatly impact the situation we face today. It’s easy to make promises when someone else is going to have to pay for those promises at some point in the future.”

Carter: Oklahoma open-transfer law benefiting few students

OKLAHOMA OPEN-TRANSFER LAW BENEFITING FEW STUDENTS

by Ray Carter, Center for Independent Journalism

A new open-transfer law that allows students to shift from one public school to another has been touted as a significant expansion of opportunity for Oklahoma children.

But a review of public data, conducted by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), shows a significant share of the slots available through open transfer are in two of the state’s most troubled and academically struggling districts—Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Otherwise, should students want better options, they are often blocked from transferring, particularly to suburban districts touted as public-school successes.

Those findings come as leadership in the Oklahoma House of Representatives has cited the open-transfer law as justification for not enacting more significant school-choice legislation this year.

“We did a lot of work last year on open transfer and collaborated with everybody on that,” House Speaker Charles McCall said recently. “I personally believe that is the best policy for the state because it works in all four corners of the state.”

McCall made those comments as he announced he would not allow a House hearing on Senate Bill 1647, by Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, which would create the Oklahoma Empowerment Account (OEA) Program.

Under the proposed program, any student eligible to enroll in a public school would be eligible for an OEA, which could be used to pay for a range of education services, including private-school tuition. Money deposited into the account comes from the per-pupil allotment of state funding already dedicated for education of a child.

The state’s new open-transfer law, approved by legislators in 2021, allows for transfer of students between public school districts throughout the year. Previously, such transfers were mostly limited to a short period of time.