Endorsements and Recommendations for the General Election

Tuesday, November 8th, is the Oklahoma General Election, and voters all across the state will be heading to the polls to decide who will hold elected offices for the next two to six years (depending on the position). Below are a few of my voting picks. I know I'm just a lowly blogger, but hopefully the information in this post will be helpful with your voting plans.

If you don't know where to vote, or want to see your sample ballot, use this helpful link from the Oklahoma State Election Board to find out. Early voting is Wednesday, Nov. 2nd, through Friday, Nov. 4th, from 8am to 6pm, and Saturday, Nov. 5th, from 8am to 2pm, at these locations. Election day voting is 7am to 7pm at your polling place.

Gov. Stitt appoints Larry Edwards as Muskogee County District Attorney

GOVERNOR STITT APPOINTS LARRY EDWARDS AS DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR MUSKOGEE COUNTY 

OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 13, 2021) – Governor Kevin Stitt announced today the appointment of Larry Edwards to serve as district attorney for District 15 in Muskogee County. Edwards’ appointment fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Orvil Loge on Sept. 30.

“Larry has a proven track record defending the law and I know he will serve Oklahomans well as the district attorney for Muskogee County,” said Gov Stitt. “I look forward to his continued service to Oklahoma in this new role.”

“It is an honor and a privilege to be appointed by the governor,” said Edwards. “I look forward to this new opportunity to help serve the law enforcement and people of Muskogee County.

With casket in chamber, Muskogee City Council shoots down three mask mandate proposals

FOLLOW-UP: Watch the mask exchange that has all of Muskogee talking

Yes, that is a casket sitting in front of the Muskogee City Council. Read on to find out how it got there.

At the Muskogee City Council meeting Monday evening, three different proposals to mandate the wearing of masks in public buildings or areas were voted on. Each failed to receive enough votes to pass.

City Councilman Ivory Vann has pressed the council for months to pass a mask mandate, and went so far tonight as to have a casket (pictured above) placed in front of the council chamber as a prop in advance of the vote. Yes, a literal casket.

The first ordinance, proposed by Councilman Vann (coauthored by Vice Mayor Derrick Reed), can be read here, and stated the following: "All persons shall wear face coverings when entering and while inside any indoor place open to the public, or in any outdoor location where more than 50 people are gathered." There were a number of exceptions - children under the age of 10, those with health issues prohibiting the wearing of masks or face coverings, exercise, sporting or recreational activites, inside your own home or vehicle ("while other persons outside of the person’s household are not present"), schools, and a few other listings.

Vann's mask mandate further required all businesses to require their customers wear masks, under threat of fines and revocation or suspension of business licenses: "Each business located within the City of Muskogee in which members of the public are invited to enter shall require face coverings be worn in accordance with this Ordinance. Failure to do so shall be deemed a violation of this section and may subject the business to the imposition of a fine as set forth herein, or revocation or suspension of a business license in accordance with the procedures set forth in the licensing ordinance."

In addition to the threat of shutting down a business for lack of adherance by its customers, the Vann ordinance called for a $100 fine for offendering persons or businesses. Vann also submitted an amendment to his ordinance that would require law enforcement members to wear masks during any interaction with civilians.

The second ordinance was proposed by the Muskogee City-County COVID-19 Task Force, presented by District Attorney Orvil Loge. Their mask mandate was almost identical to Vann's (with the exception of the law enforcement mask clause), but focused at individuals as opposed to business, and - key point - without any enforcement or penalty mechanisms.

The third ordinance was proposed by Mayor Marlon Coleman. His mask mandate, like the Task Force recommendation, had no enforcement or penalty procedures. His was the most lenient, only calling for "retail businesses" to require masks or face coverings, as opposed to the all-encompassing nature of the other two proposals. Coleman's proposal also allowed businesses to apply for exemptions in the case of it causing an undue burden or hardship on their operations.

There was some heated discussion and debate among the council, particularly from Councilman Vann. Eight citizens spoke to the council on the matter (3 in favor and 5 against, several of which made pointed comments toward Councilman Vann over his use of the casket prop).

After discussion, Councilman Vann indicated that he would be open to re-proposing his motion without the penalty provisions, so the council voted his initial ordinance down and he remade the motion without the penalty clauses.

When it came to voting, all three measures failed. 6 votes were required for passage of Vann's ordomance, with 7 votes needed to approve the 'emergency' (basically, an expedited effective date earlier than is usual). The other two resolutions needed 5 votes for passage. Here's how the voting broke down on each of them:

• Vann's ordinance (with penalty provisions removed)
• Yes (3): Traci McGee, Ivory Vann, Derrick Reed
• No (6): Tracy Hoos, Stephanie Morgan, Alex Reynolds, Evelyn Hibbs, Jaime Stout, Mayor Marlon Coleman
• The City-County Task Force's recommendation
• Yes (4): Tracy Hoos, Traci McGee, Ivory Vann, Derrick Reed
• No (5): Stephanie Morgan, Alex Reynolds, Evelyn Hibbs, Jaime Stout, Mayor Marlon Coleman
• Coleman's proposal
• Yes (4): Tracy Hoos, Traci McGee, Derrick Reed, Mayor Marlon Coleman
• No (5): Stephanie Morgan, Alex Reynolds, Evelyn Hibbs, Jaime Stout, Ivory Vann

Just prior to the vote on his resolution, Councilman Vann said "As long as we get something down in writing, that we have a mask mandate, I'll be happy. I'll be happy."

At one point just prior to voting on the Task Force's proposal, Councilman Vann asked about combining that measure with Mayor Coleman's. Vann asked Coleman, "Mayor, would that be alright with you?" Mayor Coleman replied, "No. Simply because what I want is to have the businesses be able to do it with the flexibility that I'm providing, versus having a mask mandate for every individual." (<--- After which every business owner and freedom-loving citizen applauded, even if they don't want a mask mandate to begin with.)

Vann became exasperated after this exchange, accusing Mayor Coleman of "politicking" and tailoring his proposal around reelection campaign (which... is two years away). Coleman, very calmly I might add, rebutted Vann's diatribe by saying that "the only one politicking up here is you. I don't call you out when you have a difference of opinion. It's your's to have. You don't know if I'm running for reelection or not. But when I do something for the citizens of Muskogee, I don't give a hot chocolate about reelection. It's for their benefit." He went on to chide Vann on the use of the casket. (This exchange is well worth the watch, beginning around the 2:16:00 mark). 

Mayor Coleman's calm, mature handling of the heated discussion led to great applause on social media, including this graphic, as well as some DoorDash orders to deliver hot chocolate to the mayor in the morning on behalf of the citizens of Muskogee:

Upon the failure of the three mask proposals, Mayor Coleman moved for the council to recess for the purpose of removing the casket-prop from the chambers before proceeding to other, normal business.

And.... Ivory Vann was the sole vote against Coleman's motion to remove the casket-prop.

Here is the video of the meeting (the mask mandate discussion starts around the 17:00 mark):

If the above video does not embed properly for you, you can go to this link for the full, 2-hour+ Facebook Live of the council meeting, or use the link below for the closing portion of the meeting:

FOLLOW-UP: Watch the mask exchange that has all of Muskogee talking

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Group calls pro-SQ805 ads "disengenuous", says ads hide criminals' long rap sheets

“DISINGENUOUS:” Proponents of State Question 805 Are Hiding “Long Rap Sheets” of the Criminals in Their Ad

Criminals featured in Ad actually have much longer criminal records than suggested — perpetrators have been charged with serial theft, stolen vehicle, weapons charge, obstructing an officer, drug possession, assault and battery, and more.

“These are far from first-time offenders,” says former Governor Frank Keating

Oklahoma City (No 805, October 1, 2020) — Proponents of State Question 805 launched their Ad just a few days ago, suggesting that the criminals featured in it just needed a little more leniency for their offenses.

However, a FACT CHECK now reveals that the individuals featured in the ad actually have a long trail of crimes behind them that tells quite a different story.

Mary:
9 felonies total

A criminal character who is portrayed in their initial ad is a person whom proponents say is an older woman arrested for just “writing a few bad checks.” But in fact, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections database proves that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

The character in the ad appears to be based on Mary L. Phillips, who didn’t just “write a few bad checks” — rather, she has at least 14 counts of bogus check-writing, forgery, possession of a controlled substance (drugs), larceny, and more. She has 9 felonies:

“Bruce”

7 felonies total

The 805 ad also highlights a veteran named “Bruce” — whom the proponents of S.Q. 805 portray as a guy who after leaving the military was just a little down on his luck. However, Bruce was given many chances even after committing theft, possession of drugs, and stealing a vehicle, He was given every opportunity including drug court in lieu of prison — but eventually he even went AWOL from that. He has 7 felonies total.

“Barry”
8 felonies total

Another individual that proponents of 805 like to discuss is “Barry” — who proponents suggest was facing incarceration for simply “stealing a lawnmower” — but he, too, has a long rap sheet. “Barry,” who has also used an alias, has at least 8 prior offenses in 3 different jurisdictions and has committed serial theft, stolen a vehicle, was in possession of a controlled substance (drugs), obstructed an officer, had a weapons charge, and more. After he failed drug court, he was placed on an ankle monitor to return to society; while still on his ankle monitor, he committed assault and battery. His Department of Corrections rap sheet actually looks like this:

“Proponents of S.Q. 805 talk about second chances, however this was ‘Barry’s’ ninth chance. If 805 becomes law, and ‘Barry’ commits his 10th felony, he’ll be out in a matter of days because neither the judge nor jury will be permitted to take into account his history as a repeat offender,” said Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge.  “When the system is working harder to keep a criminal out of prison than the criminal himself is, there is clearly a problem.”

“Sonya”
9 total felonies

The Yes on S.Q. 805 also features a “single mother” who was simply “shoplifting.” But a closer look at her record shows that she was actually a serial shoplifter with multiple violations of larceny/theft, in addition to forgery and at least five (5) occasions of possession of drugs — with at least one occasion of possession of drugs with the intent to distribute (drug dealing). With 9 total felonies, her rap sheet looks like this:

Conclusion 

“These criminals are far from first-time offenders, and for proponents of State Question 805 to suggest otherwise is disingenuous,” said former Governor Frank Keating, supporter of Oklahomans United against 805, former prosecutor and former U.S. Attorney. Keating also oversaw the nation’s top law enforcement agencies such as the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.  “S.Q. 805 would reward repeat offenders, encouraging them to continue committing crimes including check forgery, possession of drugs, domestic violence in the presence of a child, child trafficking, solicitation of a child using online technology, and more. Oklahomans deserve better than this.”

Muskogee City Council, County Commissioners adopt shelter-in-place resolution

The Muskogee City Council and County Commissioners held an historic joint emergency meeting this evening, where they unanimously voted to adopt "a task force's recommendation that directs Muskogee County residents to 'stay at home and avoid unnecessary travel.'"

During the meeting, health officials said that Muskogee County now has 4 confirmed COVID-19 cases, up from 1 yesterday.

Details on adopted Joint City-County Task Force recommendations:

• Residents of the City and County are directed to stay at home and avoid discretionary travel unless they are performing essential activities.
• Essential activities include health-related appointments, purchasing food/home goods, outdoor activity under social distancing guidelines, as well as work at an essential business as defined by Gov. Stitt's executive orders
• Not a curfew
• No plan to stop residents and ask why they are not home
• Requires essential businesses to set controls within their operations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 (i.e. work from home, social distancing, etc)
• Echoes Gov. Stitt's order to close non-essential business

You can read the full resolution here.

Afterwards, Mayor Janey Boydston and District Attorney Orvil Loge addressed Muskogee city/county residents about the meeting:

OHP, Loveless comment on ERAD card reader usage

Civil asset forfeiture has been a brewing controversy over the past few years, both in Oklahoma and across the nation.

What is civil asset forfeiture? Here's an explanation from the Cato Institute:

Under state and federal law, police departments can seize and keep property that is suspected of involvement in criminal activity. Unlike criminal asset forfeiture, however, with civil forfeiture, a property owner need not be found guilty of a crime—or even charged—to permanently lose her cash, car, home, or other property.

Oklahoma is widely recognized as a state with many abuses in the civil asset forfeiture practice. Mike McCarville of The McCarville Report has posted extensively about this topic. One recent case took place right here in Muskogee County, when Burmese Christian band manager Eh Wah had over $53,000 in sales proceeds and donations seized by the Muskogee County Sheriff's Department after being pulled over for a broken tail light. Wah was never charged with a crime, and after the story hit national media Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge dropped all charges and returned the money.

Recently, news broke that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol had acquired new technology that can be used in asset forfeiture. Enter the Electronic Recovery and Access to Data (ERAD) Prepaid Card Reader. Here's this from the Department of Homeland Security:

During arrests of criminal couriers, law enforcement officers rarely find bundles of cash wrapped in rubber bands anymore. Instead, they find stacks of plastic cards — bank credit and debit cards, retail gift cards, library cards, hotel card keys, even magnetic-striped Metrorail cards — that have been turned into prepaid cards.

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate’s Electronic Recovery and Access to Data (ERAD) Prepaid Card Reader is becoming a vital tool for law enforcement seizing these cards and funds associated with criminal activity.Several credit cards, hotel key cards and other cards with magnetic strips

The ERAD Prepaid Card Reader is a small, handheld device that uses wireless connectivity to allow law enforcement officers in the field to check the balance of cards. This allows for identification of suspicious prepaid cards and the ability to put a temporary hold on the linked funds until a full investigation can be completed. The project, developed by S&T’s First Responder Group (FRG), began in March 2012.
[...]
FRG transitioned the card reader to the commercial market, and it is now available for law enforcement use.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol acquired between 15 and 20 ERAD devices from ERAD Group, Inc., in April. According to the contract (PDF link), OHP is paying a one-time implementation charge of $5,000, in addition to 7.7% of all funds seized through the readers and up to $1,500 for training.

I spoke with OHP public information officer Capt. Paul Timmons yesterday about the program. According to Timmons, "The [ERAD] readers have been used in other states across the country for quite some time; Oklahoma has had them for approximately 3 weeks." He didn't have any information about surrounding states using the readers. Due to the amount of readers purchased, only a small number of patrol cars have the devices.

I asked how many incidents have resulted in seizing of funds, and he said that "there have been no seizures of funds to date." 

He further said that two arrests have taken place as a result of OHP implementing the ERAD readers. "There have been charges filed for taking a credit card without consent, false making of credit/debit cards, possession of unsigned credit/debit cards, and possession of incomplete credit/debit cards as a result of having the [ERAD] machines. Other charges filed include possession of falsely/embossed bank cards and possession of drug paraphernalia. Total arrested so far 2 subjects with charges totaling over 260 felony charges.  Arrest warrants have been issued for two other suspects." The two individuals arrested had 129 cards with them.

When asked under what circumstances the readers are used, Capt. Timmons likened it to a DUI stop. The individual has to meet certain benchmarks before being pulled over, and if the officer determines there is enough probable cause or reasonable suspicion, they obtain consent to search vehicle and to run cards through reader. If the information listed on the card doesn't match what shows up when the card is scanned, the ERAD reader gives an error message, at which point they can pursue to an arrest and/or seizing of the card(s).

Capt. Timmons said that the biggest misconception about the readers is that they can scan bank debit or credit cards and pull banking information off. He said that is not the case; the readers only work on preloaded gift cards and similar cards. "We absolutely will not ask for your banking information" or credit card information.

According to Capt. Timmons, OHP is using the devices primarily to investigate credit card fraud and identity theft.

State Sen. Kyle Loveless, the primary legislative author of civil asset forfeiture reform, has strong concerns about the program.

Overreach by the government without any or little due process is what we fought the British over 200 years ago.

Rewind your clock a year, we were told NO innocent people's property was ever taken, and we only could use the property on drug interdiction efforts and law enforcement purposes.   That sounds great- but it is patently FALSE.

Ask the Goss family of Creek County or Chief Steven Mills of Apache, Oklahoma or the famous case out of Muskogee – of international fame because of Mr. Wah who was the manager for the Christian band that traveled around the US raising money for missions, and for orphans in Burma.

If their money isn't safe neither is yours or mine. These ERAD readers are forfeiture on steroids.

Their own promotional materials boast of taking months of wasted time and process where we can drain the funds from these cards in seconds—from months to seconds. They leave two words out – DUE PROCESS.

The legislature was never told about these purchases and when 25 states had legislation to reform their terrible forfeiture laws- Oklahoma double downed and went the opposite direction.  The timing of hearing about this after session is lost on no one.

We are hearing of how business and tourism will be effected by this unacceptable, unconscionable, un-American and the opposite of what Oklahomans want.  This is a slap in the face of every Oklahoman.  Guess who the biggest card issuer is of prepaid debit cards?  The state of Oklahoma uses pre paid cards for all kinds of reasons.

I will continue to fight, there is no left or right up or down – there is wrong and right and this is plain wrong.

According to OklahomaWatch, the ERAD readers are also in use by "a joint law enforcement drug interdiction team under the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office".

What do you think about the program? Comment with your thoughts.

Muskogee DA Drops Forfeiture Case Against Christian Orphanage, Church, and Band

Victory: Muskogee DA Drops Forfeiture Case Against 

Christian Orphanage, Church, and Band

Muskogee, Okla.—This afternoon, Muskogee, Oklahoma, District Attorney Orvil Loge indicated that his office was officially dropping all charges against Eh Wah, a Burmese refugee he had charged with possession of drug proceeds [background stories from the Institute for Justice and the Washington Post]. He also indicated that he would drop the civil forfeiture and immediately return the money Muskogee law enforcement officials took from a group of Karen Christian refugees from Burma and Thailand. The announcement comes less than a day after the Institute for Justice announced that it was representing the innocent owners in the case.

Following the announcement, Institute for Justice (IJ) Attorney Dan Alban issued the following statement:

“We are thrilled that District Attorney Loge has dropped the criminal case against Eh Wah and offered to return the money to the band, the church and the orphanage. The intense public scrutiny generated by this outrageous case led to justice being served. Unfortunately, civil forfeiture laws allows property to be seized from innocent people every day in this country. The law allows this to occur and most people do not have the media or pro bono counsel to fight it. Absent the extraordinary circumstances of this case, that property is almost always forfeited and lost for good, even if no one is charged with or convicted of a crime.”

“Muskogee has no excuse for this gross miscarriage of justice. Based on next to no evidence, what started as an ordinary traffic stop turned into a nightmare. They turned a man’s entire life upside down. It should have never come to this. This is a clear-cut case of abuse of power.”

“Not every civil forfeiture victim is a Christian orphanage or a world-renowned Burmese Christian band, but when even their money isn’t safe, no one’s money is safe from forfeiture abuse. This case illustrates that civil forfeiture laws are fundamentally unjust.”

IJ Senior Attorney Matt Miller added:

“Earlier this year, Oklahoma rejected a bill that would have reformed the state’s civil forfeiture laws to better protect property owners after law enforcement claimed that there was no evidence the law was being abused. This case shows that no one’s property is safe from a forfeiture system that incentivizes police to take as much cash and property as possible while making it difficult for owners of that property to fight back. Civil forfeiture needs to end, or be radically reformed. It cannot come soon enough.”

Finally, Eh Wah added:

“This was an experience that no one should ever have to live through. It felt like something that would happen in a third-world country, but not in the United States. I’m just so happy that this is over and I hope that no one else will have to go through something like this.”

          *          *          *          *          *

It's amazing how quickly justice can move when enough attention is brought to bear. It certainly makes you wonder about similar situations where money is wrongly seized, but this type of ending doesn't occur. Kudos to the Washington Post and others for shining light on this, and bringing this outcome to pass.

Mike McCarville (the "elder statesman" of Oklahoma's conservative blogosphere) has been beating the drum for quite some time now on changing Oklahoma's civil asset forfeiture laws. It's a shame that powers-that-be in the state legislature stopped State Sen. Kyle Loveless' attempts to bring much-needed reform to this issue.