Election 2012: My Endorsements

After months of being bombarded by political materials and advertisements, Election Day is almost here. I wanted to take a moment to go through the various races in Oklahoma (primarily eastern Oklahoma), and give my thoughts and/or recommendations, for any who might be interested.


PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan
Obviously, we desperately need a change in the White House. Romney was not my top choice in the GOP primary (not my second, third or fourth, either), but even so, he will be a *MUCH* greater improvement over the disastrous Obama/Biden administration.

CONGRESS (1st District): Jim Bridenstine
Jim Bridenstine is a great candidate - genuinely conservative, and extremely intelligent. He will serve Oklahoma well in Congress. I have met Jim, and am thoroughly impressed with him as an individual, and expect great things out of him.

CONGRESS (2nd District): Markwayne Mullin
Markwayne Mullin (again, not my first choice in the GOP primary, or my second, third, or fourth) will line up on the conservative side in Congress on a consistent basis. The same can't be said for his Democratic opponent, Rob Wallace, who will caucus with the Democrats, and be just conservative enough every now and then to appease his conservative constituents.

STATE SENATE (District 5): Howard Houchen
Howard Houchen is a good friend of mine, and will make a *tremendous* conservative state senator. Howard is well known in Oklahoma for his outspoken support of legislation which promotes economic freedom and protects Life, Liberty, and Property while being very active in informing and resisting, and even defeating, legislation that threatens the freedoms of all Oklahomans. This will be a close race.
Senate District 5 covers all of Choctaw, McCurtain and Pushmataha counties, and portions of Atoka and LeFlore counties.

STATE SENATE (District 9): Barney Taylor
Barney Taylor is running against incumbent State Senator Earl Garrison. Garrison likes to act conservative at home, and vote more liberally in OKC. Barney is a conservative, and while not expected to come close, had the courage to place his name on the ballot and campaign. In Muskogee County, where Republican candidates can be few and far between, this needs to be rewarded by Republican voters.
Senate District 9 covers most of eastern and central Muskogee County (excluding Fort Gibson), and central Cherokee County (Tahlequah city limits, and south of Hwy 62 towards Muskogee).

STATE HOUSE (District 12): David Tackett
David Tacket is a staunch conservative (although I disagree on a few issues with him, such as tort reform), waging an uphill fight against incumbent Democrat Wade Rousselot, largely without help from the GOP establishment (whom he has fought with on numerous occasions).
District 12 covers most of central and eastern Wagoner County.

STATE HOUSE (District 14): Arthur Hulbert
This is the seat my dad has held for the past six years. Arthur Hulbert is a conservative who will stand up for family values and free-market principles. District 14 has only gone Republican once (George Faught, 2006-2012) - Arthur is a good choice to continue conservative representation.
House District 14 covers eastern Muskogee and western Cherokee counties.

OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT: vote NO
In Oklahoma, we vote on retaining judges, as opposed to a judge vs. judge race. As far as I know, never has a state judge not been retained in Oklahoma history. HOWEVER, I will be voting against ALL Oklahoma Supreme Court justices. The Oklahoma Supreme Court is rather liberal, with most of the justices having been appointed by Democrat governors (all OSC justices on the ballot were picked by Brad Henry), and in recent years has struck down many pro-life bills or petitions. Given those reasons, I strongly encourage you to vote NO on all Oklahoma Supreme Court justices.

OKLAHOMA COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS: vote NO
As with the Supreme Court, all of the Criminal Appeals judges were appointed by liberal Gov. Brad Henry (D). I encourage you to vote against all of them.

OKLAHOMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS
P. Thomas Thornbrugh - appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin (R). Vietnam veteran. (YES)
William C. Hetherington, Jr. - appointed by Gov. Brad Henry (D).  (NO)
Kenneth L. Buettner - appointed by Gov. Frank Keating (R). Involved with his Catholic Church in various capacities.  (YES)
Robert Bobby Bell - appointed by Gov. Brad Henry (D). At one time was the youngest sitting judge in Oklahoma.  (NO)
E. Bay Mitchell, III - appointed by Gov. Frank Keating (R).  (YES)

Since I know next to nothing about the courts, judges and justices, and finding out information about them is so very difficult, I tend to vote for the those appointed by Republican governors and against those appointed by Democrat governors. The other option is to vote against them all; if by chance one of them was not retained, their replacement would be appointed by the sitting governor (in the case, Republican Mary Fallin).

Tulsa Vision2 - AGAINST
Tulsa residents would be wise to reject this major tax extension. Michael Bates of BatesLine.com has excellent commentary and resources on why to vote against Vision2.

STATE QUESTION 758 (info): YES
STATE QUESTION 759 (info): YES
STATE QUESTION 762 (info): NO
STATE QUESTION 764 (info): NO
STATE QUESTION 765 (info): YES
STATE QUESTION 766 (info): YES
State Rep. Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie) has an excellent page on the state questions, found here.

That about sums it up. If you have any questions or comments, or want to see what I think about something else, let me know!

Fallin photo on Democrat legislator's mailer stirs controversy

A recent campaign mailer from State Rep. Wade Rousselot (D-Okay) has caused a bit of a stir among some Republicans, due to the prominent featuring of Governor Mary Fallin (R) on the mail piece - which can give the implication that Fallin is supporting Rousselot's reelection bid against Republican candidate David Tackett.

The former head of 'Oklahomans for Liberty', Tackett has at times clashed heads with Gov. Fallin and Republican legislative leadership over legislation and policies he considers to be corporate welfare, unconstitutional, or against conservative principles. Rousselot is one of the few Democrat candidates that the Oklahoma State Chamber, a strong supporter/ally of Gov. Fallin, is supporting this year.

Governor Fallin has not officially endorsed in the House District 12 race, and according to Tackett, the Republican State House Committee has not lent him any support, leading his supporters to cry foul. For their part, the Governor doesn't endorse in every race, and the House PAC doesn't always spend money on every nominee.

Nevertheless, when the Democrat nominee uses the Governor's photo in an attempt to 'ride the coattails' of the top Republican in the state (Fallin has an approval rating of 69.3%), the Governor should publicly state her support for the Republican nominee.

Candidates often try to align themselves with popular figures by using pictures of the candidate with the other individual. More often than not, the picture was never intended to be used for campaign purposes, and usually the other person is unaware that they are being used by the candidate. As I have said previously, using a photo like this passes off a false impression, and attributes action to someone who never did what was implied.

As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words". Usually, when a candidate is shown with someone else on a campaign mailer, that implies an endorsement. When no such endorsement exists, it is unethical to give off the impression to unsuspecting voters, and just isn't commonsense.

I'm sure Governor Fallin never intended for voters to assume that she supports a Democrat nominee over a Republican nominee; however, she can rectify the situation with a simple paragraph expressing her support for the GOP candidate. When a mailer like this has so publicly muddled the truth about who she is supporting in House District 12, Governor Fallin should move quickly to clarify the situation, and join Sen. Tom Coburn in publicly endorsing David Tackett, the Republican nominee.

Tackett: The OKGOP convention - both sides messed up.

The following is a guest post from conservative activist David Tackett of Broken Arrow, giving what I consider to be the most fair and accurate assessment regarding the controversy from Saturday's Oklahoma Republican State Convention.

You know, conventional wisdom says I need to keep my mouth shut.  I'm a candidate for State House and I don't need to upset anyone inside the party lest they won't help me.

But I just can't be quiet.  And let me summarize it by saying this... Ron Paul people, you were right in principle, but wrong in execution.

First, let me try and say before the RPers completely ignore the rest of my diatribe...  Remember, I was the one who stood with you at the 1st Congressional convention, not because I'm a RP supporter, but because I believe in the rule of law.

So let me start off with the 1st complaint... Credentials... 
I was one of the volunteers who helped check in people. So I can answer exactly what the problem was....  new software, delegates who pre-registered incorrectly (we had several who registered as guests or typed their name differently than what was provided by their County Chair), and volunteers who entered in data wrong during the check-in (entering people as guests instead of delegates).

It was, frankly, insulting to hear people from the RP clan suggest fraud was committed by the credential volunteers. (I.e. badges weren't secured, etc.)  I know each and every single one of the volunteers who helped with the process and not one has EVER done anything unethical.

Could the badges been designed where they couldn't be easily forged? Sure.  But let me belabor this major point.  ALL of the populous counties (Tulsa, Oklahoma, Cleveland) and the other 20 or so counties that had off numbers, verified their delegates registered against the master delegate list.  And the two counties where the fraud could have been perpetuated the easiest because of their sheer size, Tulsa and Oklahoma, had each delegate verify, in person in the main hall, their status.

And don't forget the sheer size of this convention.  This is by far a record-breaker in attendance.  So were there problems?  heck, yes?  Was there fraud?  No.  Was their a conspiracy by the "establishment" to stack the delegates?  No.  In fact, I will argue that the delegates in question was about an even split between the 2 factions.

Voting
Now this is a point that frankly is the main issue.  Did the chair wrongly decide that the standing vote was OK for the slate vote?  Absolutely yes.  But the RPers had a recourse, and that was to appeal the decision of the chair.  They did and they lost by a vote of the delegates.  At that point, the body in essence had rewritten the rule. In roberts rules, you have no recourse from this issue.  You have a recourse in the RNC rules, and the chair advised of that process.

And let me step back for a moment here.  Just because you can call a point of order, doesn't mean you have to keep doing it.  It's called dilatory motions, when the only issue is to call motions just to impede the process.  And I would wager $1000 that if the RPers didn't try to stall the process with all of the points of order, we would have had time for a secret ballot... or even more important, if there had not been the hundred point of orders before the egregious error NOT to have the slate voted on I'm sure the delegates would have been on your side.

And aside from the dilatory motions, one thing I have learned in my short tenure in convention politics - It don't matter how right you are... if you keep pressing a point, the majority of people will shut you down.  If you think I'm just spouting off without any experience, then you weren't at the 2011 state convention.

Now let's hit another issue... It was clear from the first test vote that the voting came down 60/40 (about a 500 delegate difference) each and every vote...  be it voice vote (hey, let me give the RP people credit for having some MASSIVE lungs!), standing vote, or secret ballot.

It wasn't close, the RP faction was in the minority.  And so whether it was standing vote or ballot, the state committee's slate would have been approved.  But, I know why all these motions and point of orders were happening... because I was told by several of the RP delegates that this was their plan... to drag out the process until everyone else left then they could redo the vote and get their slate in.

I'm sorry, but I get red faced in anger when I keep thinking about that above statement.  That is NOT the way to win the hearts and minds of those conservatives who aren't yet with you yet. And the only way Ron Paul, Rand Paul, or any libertarian leaning Republican is going to win the nomination in the future is by getting more conservatives to join with you.  You may have had 40% of the delegates, but you only had 9.6% of the popular vote in Oklahoma.  And in Oklahoma it's the popular vote that matters so that is what you all need to be focusing on.

Oh and on that point, you will lose me and thousands of Oklahoman Republicans who sympathize with your movement if pledged RP delegates try to vote for someone else besides the candidate they were assigned to on the 1st ballot. It's not about what's legal (jurisdiction, etc.) it's about what's the right thing to do.

The last point - Adjournment and the Rump convention

It stated on the agenda, we had to be out by 5pm. Clear as day.  No, the walls didn't go up because Matt told the facilities people to, the Embassy Suites people did it on their own.  How do I know?  They did it to us in the credentials room, they literally unplugged our computers in order to prep one side for another rental. (That explains for about 30 minutes of the delay in the credentials report, btw!)

I know there was other business to attend to, but if we have to leave, we have to leave.  The party rules clearly gives the option for the state committee to convene and consider any issues that the convention couldn't address.

So then the RP crowd did what they did at the 1st CD, they held an rump convention, not an extension of the current convention.  That convention adjourned.  You can't appeal the decision of the chair to adjourn.  When the gavel falls for adjournment, it's done.

And I was at a place in the hall to see both sides, (you could still see both sides from the stage as well at that point) and yes, it was the same 60/40 split. But the Ron Paul people screamed and hollered and made a mockery by holding a parking lot rump convention.

Yes, I said it... A mockery. Even if, and I say a MAJOR if... I accept that the parking lot convention was an extension of the first convention, you didn't have a quorum... not even close...  Remember those precious rules that you said were being violated by the convention chair?  Nothing you did mattered unless you had a quorum of the delegates present at the signed credentials report.  Even with the first reported number, that would mean you had to have over 600 in your "parking lot" convention. I think the number you claimed was under 400.

So what does it look like from the outside? If the establishment breaks the rules, it's a travesty, but if the RP faction breaks the rules, it's OK.

Please hear me what I am trying to say.  Thuggery can only get you so far. But the RP people MUST change the way they approach these conventions if you TRULY want people to change their minds and support your cause.

I will continue to come to the defense of anyone who is being wronged during a GOP event that I am at.  But in order to succeed in the future, the tactics of the RPers must be revamped.

I say this last point. One way to earn the respect of the rest of the delegation, and frankly to increase your influence, is to keep being a part of the party apparatus throughout the year, every year.  This is what the Christian Coalition did in the 90's throughout the country.  And by doing this, the RPers (And yes, I know ALOT of RP supporters are already actively working in the party) will not be seen as an outside faction, but an important wing of GOP working to advance their cause in the party.

David Tackett is a conservative activist from Broken Arrow, and is the Republican nominee for State House District 12 against Rep. Wade Rousselot (D-Wagoner). His campaign website is DavidTackett.com.