“Charlie’s Picks,” now “Michener’s Musings,” General Election Nov. 8. Over thirty years ago, friends of Charlie Meadows, founder of OCPAC, began asking him for his opinions on issues and candidates. Eventually the number of inquiries became so great that he began sending a mass email before each election which he called “Charlie’s Picks.” When Charlie retired as the President of OCPAC in March 2015, the duties of weekly commentary and election advice transferred to me, John Michener. To avoid confusion over authorship, we have decided that future election opinions, picks, and endorsements of OCPAC will be published under the heading “Michener’s Musings.”
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The following advice represents the opinion of the current OCPAC President and a majority of OCPAC’s leadership Board. Our recommendations will be organized into five major sections: 1) U.S. Races, 2) State Questions, 3) Judging Justices & Judges, 4) Oklahoma Senate Races, and 5) Oklahoma House of Representatives Races. In each race we have endorsed a candidate, picked a candidate, or leave it at “your choice.” Here is what those designations mean:
Endorsed. Candidates who are endorsed by OCPAC have received our seal of approval. You can rest assured that their values align with OCPAC values. They have completed our survey and appeared in person before our PAC for a grueling interview. Based on this vetting process, we believe they understand the proper role of limited government. They believe in the superiority of free markets over state-guided economic development, even in areas such as education and health care. They understand the duty of the state to defend its citizens against the oppression of the federal government. They believe we should not sanction, institutionalize, or encourage evil and depraved behavior, even if the federal government has done so.
OCPAC endorsed candidates include: Jim Bridenstine, Matt Jackson, Tom Gann, Molly McKay, Kevin McDugle, Kyle Hilbert, Joe Newhouse, Scott McEachin, Tess Teague, Joseph Silk, Nathan Dahm, Chuck Strohm, David Brumbaugh, Travis Dunlap, Steven McGowen, and Jason Murphey.
PICKED. Some candidates we simply pick. This typically means the candidate agrees with us on certain key issues of high importance which would make that candidate more preferable than the alternatives. We will attempt to explain a little about each pick.
YOUR CHOICE. This might mean we were unable to obtain enough information to make a pick. Some candidates do not respond to our inquiries and their campaign materials hold no trustworthy substance. Or this might mean we believe all of the choices are equally bad. What if none of the candidates believes in education choice for parents? What if they all support state-guided economic development? What if they all want to continue allowing babies to be murdered? In those cases, we sympathize with how hard it must be to make “your choice.”
SECTION 1 – U.S. RACES
U.S. Congress, House & Senate: STRAIGHT REPUBLICAN – Most of our congressional delegation is a huge disappointment. Unfortunately, once the primary was over, our good choices were taken away. We certainly cannot afford to send any Demonrats to Washington. The good news is we have Jim Bridenstine there (he is the best we have), and since James Lankford got away from Tom Cole and moved to the Senate, his
Freedom Index Score has gone from 66% to 80%.
SECTION 2 – STATE QUESTIONS
SQ 776, “Full Force & Effect of Death Penalty.” Vote YES. This measure would affirm in the state constitution that the death penalty is not cruel or unusual punishment. It would affirm that the death penalty remains in force even when a particular method of execution is unavailable.
SQ 777, “Right to Harm.” Vote NO. This proposed amendment to our state constitution sounds good on the surface, but it appears to have been written by Washington lobbyists on behalf of multi-national corporate agricultural interests. The measure is designed to bypass our state legislature’s authority, so that federal mandates and regulations can rule the day in farming. Ultimately, if passed, this measure would make it harder for small farmers to fight federal overreach and harder to fight the lawyers of out-of- state big corporations. Here is a
thirteen-minute explanation of SQ 777, and here is our
interview on the Pat Campbell Show.
SQ 779, “The Boren Tax.” Vote NO. This measure would create a new, huge, permanent funding source for education which would only exacerbate the problems inherent in an inefficient and
corrupt monopoly, as we have explained in
previous updates. If enacted, the Boren tax would increase the state education sales tax rate by about 28%, making our state less competitive with other states. According to the Tax Foundation, it would raise Oklahoma’s average statewide sales tax to the second-highest in the union.
SQ 780, “Smart Justice Reform Act.” Vote YES. This measure would change some drug possession crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor, and it would raise the property crime threshold to $1,000, so that if the crime involved less than $1,000 in value, it would be classified as a misdemeanor rather than a felony. These changes make common sense. There is a tremendous difference between having a misdemeanor versus a felony conviction on one’s record. If we want the penalty to match the crime, this is a reform in the right direction. Those who hurt themselves and others by abusing drugs are not beyond recovery. They may deserve some punishment and rehabilitation, but to treat them as felons is to unfairly limit many of their future options. The best argument against the measure is that it is tied to SQ 781, which is not good. If you are concerned with 781, you might want to vote no on 780 for the practical reason that that they would likely pass together.
SQ 781, “County Community Safety Investment Fund.” Vote NO. A man came home and said to his wife, “Look at this new power drill I bought for free.” “Bought for free?” she said. “Yes. It was originally $40, but it was marked half off, so I bought it with the $20 I saved.” SQ 781 is reminiscent of the free power drill. The state would come home with a new slush fund. Revenue for the fund would come from the cost savings of implementing SQ 780, as imagined by the “best estimate” of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. Then the funds would be redistributed to counties for “community rehabilitative programs.” Let’s not buy another dollar-sucking socialist scheme. We can use existing public and private programs to help those with addiction problems. Any cost savings ought to be returned to the people or reallocated within law enforcement budgets for improvement to county jails or other proper needs.
SQ 790, “Repeal the Blaine Amendment.” Vote YES. Last year the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered a monument of the Ten Commandments be removed from the capitol grounds, citing a portion of the Oklahoma Constitution which prohibits the government from using public property for the benefit of any religious institution. The purpose of the monument was to remember the historical influence of the Ten Commandments, not to support a particular religious institution. Furthermore, the monument was placed by private funds. The court’s opinion was wrong.
If the court’s opinion is applied consistently, women and children on Sooner Care will not be able to receive services from a clinic or hospital affiliated with a religion, we will not be able to vote at church polling places, and we will not be able to hold school or conduct public business at churches after a tornado or fire destroys a public building.
Sen. Joseph Silk of Broken Bow and Sen. Rob Standridge of Norman authored SQ 790 so that the citizens might correct the injustice of the court. If SQ 790 passes, the state must still comply with the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents government from endorsing a religion, but we will be able to replace our Ten Commandments monument and continue to benefit from the generosity of churches.
Some argue that if we repeal the Blaine Amendment, we open the capitol grounds to satanic idols. This is simply false. Satanism played no historic role in the formation of our civil laws. One such idol was already proposed and was laughed out of town, all the way to Detroit.
Download this Ten Commandments Flyer, and give a copy to everybody at church.
SQ 792, “Modernizing Liquor Laws.” Vote Yes. In a perfect world, we would dismantle the ABLE Commission and allow any businessperson to sell all kinds of adult beverages without state interference. This complex resolution would not accomplish that, and it contains many anti-free market aspects. The Legislature would still be regulating the adult beverage industry to a high degree. The fascist ABLE commission would remain intact. Licensing and other restrictions on ownership and sales would continue under this proposed amendment (e.g., felons could not be licensees—another reason to vote yes on SQ 780). However, if passed, SQ 792 would inch Oklahoma in the right direction. We would see
more competition and availability of products as a result, and we would be more competitive with other states. We might even be allowed to buy local communion wine on Sundays!
SECTION 3 – JUDGING JUSTICES & JUDGES
Oklahoma Supreme Court Justices: Vote NO on Justices James Winchester and Donald Combs. They are not just. Overall, our State Supreme Court is progressive and activist. It sometimes disregards our state constitution, and its opinions are inconsistent. These two justices voted incorrectly on five out of six key votes, yielding a score of only 16.5%.
In the last few years, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has banned the Ten Commandments (Prescott v. Okla. Capitol Preservation Committee, 2015 OK 54), protected child rapists (Burns v. Cline, 2016 OK 99), protected abortionists (Burns v. Cline, 2014 OK 90), and protected sex offenders (Hendricks v. Jones ex rel. State ex rel. Okla. Dept. of Corr., 2013 OK 71).
Download this Judging Justices Flyer and give a copy to everybody at church.
Charlie Meadows provides the following recommendations on appellate judges based on his off the record discussions with attorneys, prosecutors, and lower court judges.
Judge Clancy Smith (State Court of Criminal Appeals): Vote NO – Sources tell us that this Brad Henry appointee is very smart, but ideologically progressive to her core and way too nit-picky with jury decisions.
Judge Robert Hudson (State Court of Criminal Appeals): Vote YES – Hudson is fairly new on the court. He was appointed Payne county District Attorney by Frank Keating, replacing a corrupt DA. Eventually he became chief of staff for Scott Pruitt. He was recently appointed by Gov. Fallin to the Criminal Court of Appeals. Hudson appears to be a serious Christian, and everyone consulted gave him very high marks.
Judge Thomas Thornbrugh (State Court of Civil Appeals): YOUR CHOICE - The Court of Civil Appeals is the most difficult to evaluate because they do not settle many high profile cases. Thornbrugh was the only judge on the court with whom some sources were not fully satisfied.
Judge John Fischer (State Court of Civil Appeals): Vote YES.
Judge Larry Joplin (State Court of Civil Appeals): Vote YES.
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