OKGOP Chair again calls on redistricting petition head to release donors, expenses

REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN AGAIN CALLS FOR REDISTRICTING PETITIONS HEAD TO RELEASE DONORS, EXPENSES

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, September 1, 2020 – In light of a third initiative petition filed by a political advocacy group aimed at disrupting Oklahoma’s redistricting process, the chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party said today that Andy Moore, leader of People Not Politicians (PNP), must immediately release the organization’s donors and expenses.

“This is the political story that keeps on giving,” said David McLain. “The latest PNP filing is nothing more than a political scheme to buy Mr. Moore’s left-wing, out-of-state donors more time to push their disingenuous petition on Oklahoma voters. Their plan is to increase the size of the state legislature for the 2025 and 2026 sessions, and draw legislative lines on a proportional basis, leading to many counties and cities across the state being disenfranchised. This would be true political gerrymandering.”

“Other states, Oregon for example, are using the exact name as Mr. Moore’s group which confirms my belief that his effort is a component of a national plan to advance a liberal political agenda across the United States. It is why, for the third time this summer, I call on Mr. Moore to release all donors and expenses related to his three redistricting petitions dating to October 2018. His organization has funded salaries, hired attorneys and a public relations firm, produced videos, and engaged in other campaign expenses that have never been disclosed.”

Column: Redistricting petition is blatant move that should concern all

Initiative Petition 420 is part of national plan

an op-ed by Michael Clements in the Durant Democrat

The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard arguments this week on a case that is getting little attention but could have huge implications on the local, state and national levels.

The case concerns Initiative Petition 420. If the petition’s backers are successful, they will put State Question 804 on the ballot. And, if that question is approved by voters it will completely change how legislative boundaries are drawn in Oklahoma. We have covered this issue before, but it’s too important to ignore.

Andy Moore, founder of People not Politicians which is pushing the petition, claims he is just a regular guy who got interested in politics after learning about gerrymandering. Moore claims he was just minding his own business when he became so outraged over the issue that he had to do something. So, he started the organization with the populist sounding name to fight the obvious corruption of having elected officials draw district lines.

Moore was so regular that he didn’t even know who Eric Holder, Attorney General of the United States under President Barak Obama, was. Which is odd since Moore is also the executive director of Freedom of Information Oklahoma, a group dedicated to fighting for government openness and transparency.

Apparently, the FOI Oklahoma Board was so impressed with the political neophyte that the fact that he couldn’t identify the top law enforcement official in the nation was irrelevant. So, why is Moore’s obtuseness relevant? Because Moore’s redistricting crusade just happens to coincide with far-to-similar-to-be-coincidence national campaign to flip red states to blue states being run by holder.

In another stunning coincidence, People Not Politics web presence is hosted by a company dedicated to advancing progressive political agendas, like those espoused by Holder. Moore claims it was simply a financial decision, but we’re pretty sure that if he was pushing a Republican agenda his Internet Service Provider wouldn’t be quite so blue.

Then there’s the census-data manipulation SQ 804 would require. Moore claims to have no idea how language calling for the incarcerated to be counted differently from all others for the purposes of redistricting, and only for that purpose, got into his proposed amendment. But, to our knowledge, he and his grassroots movement have made no moves to remove the provision.

Right now, the decision is in the hands of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. But even if the court rejects this move, it will not end. It is being pushed by a national campaign intent on bypassing the voters and the Constitution. People on one side of the aisle may be fine with that for the time being since they see it as a way to correct what they consider to be a mistake by the voters. But what happens when the other side controls the commission?

Frankly, we are being sold a bill of goods and the potential impact goes far beyond drawing some boundaries. This is a blatant move to take control an essential part of our political process away from the majority of the people and place it in the hands of a few. And that should concern people of all political persuasions.

OKGOP Chairman: Beware of Nat'l Democrats pushing redistricting petition

Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman David McLain is out with an op-ed pushing back on Democratic efforts to put redistricting reform on the ballot, which is part of a nationwide effort by leftist groups.

National Democrats Seek Inroads in Oklahoma With Redistricting Push

by OKGOP Chairman David McLain

Democratic Party leaders that include former President Barack Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder are spearheading a national effort to change the way congressional and state legislative districts are drawn. Their motives are partisan and ideological.

First, these “reformers” seek to reverse the Republican advantage in state politics brought on by widespread disaffection with the Democrat Party’s lurch to the left. Republicans have unified control over the legislative bodies in 29 of 50 states (including Oklahoma), compared with just 19 for Democrats. Leftist leaders know that simply redrawing these districts may produce faster gains for the Democratic Party than doing the hard work of winning elections. That is why the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), chaired by Holder, is working to redraw these lines exclusively in red states and areas where Republicans have experienced electoral success.

The NDRC is ideological in nature and understands the stakes are high. Its website cites global warming, gun control, and abortion rights as policy priorities and implores like-minded people and groups to join their cause.

In Oklahoma, they have found a taker: a coalition called “People Not Politicians” that is backed by out-of-state liberal interest groups and in-state Democrat political operatives. They have filed Initiative Petition 420, a precursor to State Question 804, which could appear on the ballot in Oklahoma if the group can overcome legal challenges and acquire the necessary number of signatures.

SQ 804 would remove control over the redistricting process from our elected officials and place it in the hands of unelected activist judges who would then assemble their own “independent” election commission. These new commissioners, unlike the bipartisan legislative committees that today control redistricting, would be held accountable to no one.

How has this worked in other states? Writing on the works of “independent” judges in Pennsylvania, The Wall Street Journal opined in July: “The judges substituted their own map that helped Democrats gain three seats in Congress last year. That’s not democracy. It’s judicial usurpation of democracy.”

Furthermore, the maps created by many of these independent commissions look as bad or worse than the corkscrew- or hockey stick-shaped maps that many legislative bodies produce. The difference, of course, being that activist judges are contorting districts into positions that accompany the “correct” numbers of urban, liberal, LGBTQ+, or whatever other left-leaning affiliation that might benefit Democrats. In Oklahoma, the redistricting proposal explicitly mirrors that kind of leftist “social justice” commitment, citing gender identification and sexual orientation as factors that should be taken under consideration when assembling the new commission on redistricting.

Finally, the Oklahoma proposal is designed in a way that will almost certainly benefit urban pockets in Oklahoma City and Tulsa at the expense of rural areas. Our legislators have taken pains to create legislative districts that empower the state’s rural voters, knowing that power will otherwise flow disproportionately to our bigger, wealthier cities. By contrast, the Oklahoma petition includes provisions that will undercut rural districts by changing, for instance, how the state counts incarcerated inmates. Under our current system, inmates count as residents in the community that houses them, most of which are in rural areas. SQ 804 would change that by counting them based on their address pre-incarceration, meaning thousands of inmates in rural prisons would be counted as residents of Oklahoma and Tulsa counties.

Ultimately, this is really about control. Our current system places the state Legislature in control of our elections, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, outlined in the Constitution and later approved by the U.S. Supreme Court. State Question 804, by contrast, sees the results of our democracy in action and says, “no thanks.” It replaces the will of the people and their representatives with the will — and the whims — of unelected judges and a new commission that will answer to no one.