The Oklahoma Capitol Press Corps renders invaluable service to citizens

While Oklahomans are busy at work, the State Legislature deliberates on legislation that will affect their lives. Keeping up with events at the Capitol can be nigh impossible for the average citizen, especially when the Legislature runs late-night sessions and committee meetings, pulls legislation out at the last minute, and operates in ways and uses language that the average Oklahoman is unfamiliar with.

Unknown to most people, there is a small band of journalists and media personnel that are assigned to observing the legislative session, many of whom do as-it-happens reporting on Twitter rather than just the evening print or television stories. They bring much needed light and transparency to an oftentimes dim and hidden state government.

Sen. Thompson withdraws campaign "personal slush fund" bill after heat from the press

Last night, I wrote a post entitled OUTRAGE: Senate Approps Chair amends bill to allow campaign funds for use as personal slush fund. In short, legislation was amended by State Senator Roger Thompson, chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee and one of the handful of individuals in the state responsible for crafting state budgets, that would remove "personal use" restrictions from political campaign and committee funds, allowing them to be used for any purpose from paying a mortgage, to going on vacation, to plastic surgeries. In short, a tax-free personal slush fund.

Thanks to a vigilant press corps at the Oklahoma State Capitol, that bill was exposed to the public, and Sen. Thompson has now pulled the bill.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission went public on Twitter around 10:40am yesterday, expressing grave concerns with the legislation. Clifton Adcock with The Frontier followed that up by publishing an article around 5pm, 'As legislative session winds down, Senator proposes amendment to allow politicians to spend campaign funds on vacations, mortgages, gifts and other personal expenses'.

Before The Frontier published their article, neither Thompson nor the other authors of HB 3996 responded to messages asking for comment.

Thompson's amendment had largely escaped attention for almost 72 hours, but by the time I published my post around 7:40pm, Thompson was already making moves to withdraw his atrocious amendment.

Recognizing the Oklahoma Capitol Press Corps

While Oklahomans are busy at work, the State Legislature deliberates on legislation that will affect their lives. Keeping up with events at the Capitol can be nigh impossible for the average citizen, especially when the Legislature runs late-night sessions and committee meetings, pulls legislation out at the last minute, and generally makes things difficult for common people to be able to observe (i.e. difficult-to-navigate websites and technical issues with video/audio when under heavy viewing load... looking at you, State Senate, in particular...).

Unknown to most people, there is a small band of journalists and media personnel that are assigned to observing the legislative session, many of whom do as-it-happens reporting on Twitter rather than just evening print or television stories. They bring much needed light and transparency to an oftentimes dim and hidden state government.

Several of the journalists on the list below tweet details from committee meetings, floor activities, snippets from floor debate, practically everything that happens with or without a microphone in the Legislature.

These individuals provide an invaluable realtime service to the people of Oklahoma. When I'm working or unable to personally watch or listen to proceedings in the Legislature, I monitor tweets from these dedicated reporters in order to stay in the loop with what is going on at 23rd and Lincoln.

Below is a list of most of the Capitol press corps that is active on Twitter:

Catherine Sweeney (@CathJSweeney), Journal Record (which also tweets with @JRLROK)
Dale Denwalt, The Oklahoman (@Denwalt)

Trevor Brown (@tbrownOKC) and Paul Monies (@pmonies) with Oklahoma Watch (@OklahomaWatch)

Shawn Ashley (@eCapitol_Shawn) and Tyler Talley (@tylertalley22) with eCapitol (@eCapitol_House, @eCapitol_Senate, and @eCapitol)
Tres Savage, NonDoc @thricesavage and @nondocmedia (Savage and NonDoc are ideologically liberal, but deserve mention due to frequency in covering Capitol happenings)

The following reporters are also in the Capitol regularly, although they tend to be less active with as-it-happens tweets:

Aaron Brilbeck, News9 (@AaronBrilbeck9)
Grant Hermes, News9 @GrantHermesKWTV
Justin Wingerter, The Oklahoman (@justinwingerter)
Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World (@rkrehbiel)
Barbara Hoberock, Tulsa World (@bhoberock)

Janelle Stecklein, CNHI (@ReporterJanelle)

Sean Murphy, Associated Press (@apseanmurphy)
Bill Miston, KFOR (@billmiston)
Bret Buganski, KOCO  @KOCOBret

I've created the Twitter list below, featuring tweets from the bulk of these reporters (and a few others), which you can follow as well.

A Twitter List by JamisonFaught

Bibi Netanyahu talks about fake news

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted this video yesterday, discussing an example of 'fake news' and what should be done with it:

Public Insight Network seeks input on immigration terminology

Which term best describes immigrants living in the U.S. illegally?

from Public Insight Network

The Associated Press Stylebook and several newsrooms have dropped the term "illegal immigrant." On the AP website, a top editor clarified, "The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term 'illegal immigrant' or the use of 'illegal' to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that 'illegal' should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally."

The decision has been applauded by Latino and immigration advocates. For years, many protested the AP and other journalism organizations, including The New York Times, over usage of what they believed to be an offensive term. But journalists are left wondering, what is the proper terminology for an immigrant in the country illegally?

Do you use a specific term to describe someone with a certain immigration status? What do you think of the AP's new stance?

Public Insight Network journalists have launched a collaboration to see which terms people across the United States prefer to use. Everything you share will be read by journalists only, and your responses are confidential unless you tell us we may publish them.

Thanks to Ben Allen of KOSU for making me aware of this project.

Submit your take at this link, and view a map of responses from across the country.

Human Events profiles SD6 candidate Josh Brecheen

The national conservative news site Human Events recently wrote a profile on Oklahoma State Senate District 6's Republican candidate, Josh Brecheen.

You could sum up most elections this year as the established politician vs. the concerned newcomer. And voters craving a concerned newcomer in Oklahoma’s 6th District have a horse in that race; literally.

Josh Brecheen, 31, has been training and breeding horses since 2002. Now, he’s a Republican candidate running for state senate against Democratic incumbent Jay Gumm.

Historically, Oklahoma’s 6th District is a stronghold for Democrats. Gumm has represented the district for eight years. But that might be changing according to a recent poll that shows Brecheen ahead by six points running into the election.

Click here to read the rest of the article on HumanEvents.com.

Muskogee-based Site Roundup

I'd like to let everyone know about two new (or new to me) sites I have come across recently that are Muskogee-based.


MuskogeeNOW.com is a new alternative news source, started by Leif Wright. Wright, a former editor with the Muskogee Phoenix, explains "why this site is here" [halfway down the page]. Look for great things to come from competition in the Muskogee news market.


The other is MuskogeeUSA.net. The author of this blog talks about a wide variety of topics, but also spends time on Muskogee issues. I'll definitely be adding his blog to my area read-list.