Sandy Garrett joins education leaders endorsing Faught for State House

Faught endorsed by Sandy Garrett, other educators

Muskogee, OK –  George Faught, candidate for State House District 14, today announced that he has been endorsed by several prominent state and local educators, including former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett.

"As former State Superintendent and a teacher, I had the opportunity to work with many leaders across this State. George Faught is one of those leaders who works hard and has earned people’s trust. As a State Representative, George worked tirelessly for local schools and teachers," said Sandy Garrett, who served as State Superintendent from 1991 to 2011. "George is committed to helping the next generation succeed with a quality education. Join me in helping re-elect my former student, George Faught, to the State House." Garrett taught in Muskogee for 15 years, and was Faught's first-grade teacher.

"George Faught will be a great representative who listens to the people of his district. He is a strong and proven leader. George supports local control of education and will work to give teachers more time to teach by stopping the excessive testing of students," said Linda Murphy, former Education Advisor to Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating.

"George Faught has the experience needed to be the voice of House District 14. He cares about Oklahoma’s children and will ensure they receive the best possible education. George possesses the moral compass we need in Oklahoma City," said Muskogee teacher Lorie Alexander. "Deeply devoted to his family and directed by his faith, George is a man of integrity you can trust with your vote." In 2013 Alexander received recognition as the top Elementary Teacher in the state by Professional Oklahoma Educators and was given the 'Elementary Educator Merit' Award.

Jenni White, president of Restore Oklahoma Public Education (R.O.P.E.), also endorsed Faught's campaign for re-election. "I support George Faught for State House District 14 because of his strong stance on local control of education and the rights of parents to educate their children in the way they deem best for that child. In 2012, Rep. Faught sponsored Parental Rights legislation that clearly delineated the role of parents as the primary decision makers for their children. We need more Representatives at the state level willing to guard and protect the rights of parents - especially today, as we continue to fight to keep Oklahoma 'Common Core' free."

White continued, "Though not a member of the House when historic HB3399 (the repeal of Common Core in Oklahoma) was passed, Rep. Faught voted against the initial legislation in 2010 that led to Common Core, and supported our fight to stop Common Core. We will need his advocacy as our new standards are written and the federal government continues to bribe states to educate Oklahoma kids their way. Please help me elect George Faught to the Oklahoma State House of Representatives." White and her organization played a key role in advocating for the successful repeal of Common Core in Oklahoma.

"George Faught has been an advocate for National Board Certified Teachers and achieving excellence in our schools. He has supported teacher pay increases and common sense reforms. George Faught has a strong conviction to do what is right for Oklahoma," said Alicia Rodgers, Fort Gibson teacher.

"I am honored to have the endorsement of these outstanding educators," said Faught. "It shows that Education isn't about partisan politics, but about preparing the next generation of Oklahoma's leaders. We must work together to make it happen. The investment we make in Education today will determine the future of our state tomorrow."

Learn more about George Faught and his campaign by visiting his website.

Schools & SQ744 Campaigning

News is coming out in this final week of the election that public school superintendents are illegally campaigning for State Question 744 on and with state property.

"It's for the children," we hear all the time and this time, school superintendents and officials plan to use our children as campaign volunteers for the infamous State Question 744.  Today, a Yukon resident filed a temporary injunction and restraining order against Sandy Garrett and Superintendent Bill Denton of Yukon.  The plan was to give out materials to children to take home the day before the vote on State Question 744.

Click here for the rest of Ron Black's post.

Patrick McGuigan reports:

Julia Seay, a Yukon resident, filed the restraining order and temporary injunction through her attorneys, Shawnnessy Black and Anthony Ferate.

The injunction states, in part: “Petitioner, Julia Seay, believes that the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the various proponents of State Question 744 have conspired to engage in electioneering and distribute flyers that are in clear support of Oklahoma State Question 744, such material is intended to be distributed to the parents of students attending Oklahoma Public Schools.”

The Seay injunction continues: “Petitioner, Julia Seay, has knowledge that the Superintendent of Public Instruction requested that flyers in support of Oklahoma State Question 744 be distributed on Monday, November 1st, 2010, to impressionable school age children.”

Shawnnessy Black, one of Seay’s attorneys, said in a statement sent to CapitolBeatok, “Distribution of political material through the classroom is a direct violation of state law and citizens and supporters of State Question 744 will stop at nothing to get what they want – and what they want is to use our children as campaign volunteers for their tax increases.”

Click here for the rest of the article on CapitolBeatOK.com.

I have copies of two emails sent out by Braggs Superintendent Lucky McCrary through his official school email account that campaigns for State Question 744 (including another document by Crescent Public Schools Superintendent Steve Shriever).

Additionally, I have received information from a Muskogee parent who, while attending a recent parent-teacher conference, was given information by a teacher who encouraged her to vote yes on SQ744. The teacher told the parent, "I know I'm not supposed to be doing this, but..." and continued on with her electioneering.

As I have said before, schools are meant for learning, not electioneering. This is shameful, and there should be swift penalties for electioneering with state resources and at schools. The Oklahoma taxpayer is not paying the salary of their local superintendent (or any other state employee) so that he or she can campaign on our dime or exploit our schoolchildren.

Republican Primary Results - State Superintendent

Click here for the entire Muskogee Politico series of election results maps.

Endorsement: Janet Barresi for State Superintendent

Longtime Democrat State Superintendent Sandy Garrett declined to run for re-election this year, sparking a flurry of candidate to run for the post. Three Democrats, two Republicans, and one Independent filed in June.

The clear choice for this seat is Janet Barresi.

Janet has experience in both public and charter schools, and has a vision for reforming public education in Oklahoma. She understands that throwing money at education will not fix the problem. She will fight to reduce bureaucratic waste in order to get more funds to the classroom, and will work to give more control to local school boards. Also important to me, she has pledged to protect the rights of homeschoolers here in Oklahoma.

Janet has a undergraduate degree in Education, a master's in Speech and Language Disorders, and got her DDS degree and became a dentist in 1984. She has a good resume not only as a dentist, but as an education reformer.

I'll be voting for Janet Barresi.

You can learn more about Janet and her campaign by visiting her website at www.JanetBarresi.com. He is also on Twitter (@JanetBarresi) and Facebook.

Janet joins Tom Coburn, Dana Murphy, Owen Laughlin, John Wright and Gary Jones as my endorsed candidates for the July 27th Republican primary. Stay tuned for more endorsements!

Hime Slams Barresi for Donating to Democrats

A fundraising letter from Shawn Hime, Republican candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, that hit mailboxes today is sure to spark a firestorm. The letter slammed his opponent, Janet Barresi, for donating to Democrat campaigns.

The text of the letter is as follows:

Do you want our party to nominate a candidate for state school superintendent with no classroom teaching experience? A candidate with no experience hiring and firing teachers?

Or -- in the case of my "Republican" opponent, Janet Barresi -- a candidate in our primary who supports convicted criminal Democrats with her own checkbook?

That's right.

My opponent, Janet Barresi, donated thousands of dollars to the Gene Stipe political machine.

These contributions are public record, available for anyone to see. But to save you the trouble of looking it up at www.ok.gov/ethics, I'll give you a brief summary right here:

• Donated to convicted former Auditor Jeff McMahan
• Donated to Treasurer Scott Meacham, promoter of Oklahoma's lottery law
• Donated to Sandy Garrett, current Superintendent of Schools

As you can see, Ms. Barresi likes to support liberal Democrats.

And we're not talking small contributions. Barresi's contributions to liberal Democrats total thousands of dollars.

The most disturbing contribution is the one she gave to Gene Stipe's lackey, Jeff McMahan, the disgraced former State Auditor who is now serving jail time for his criminal activities.

Now, after all of her support for liberal Democrats -- even one who is a convicted felon! -- Janet Barresi is running for statewide office as a Republican.

You read that correctly. Janet Barresi is actually running as a Republican, even though she's supported liberal Democrats to the tune of thousands of dollars in personal campaign contributions. If you're sick of "fake" Republicans like Janet Barresi trying to win office as conservatives, then I need your help.

As you can see, Ms. Barresi has plenty of money to throw around. In addition to giving thousands to liberal Democrats, she has given over $100,000 to her own campaign. That's $100,000 she'll spend, no doubt, trying to sell the lie that she's a real conservative who deserves to be elected.

Ms. Barresi, a dentist for the last 24 years, also will be selling the lie that she's qualified to run our schools. As the current Superintendent of Enid public schools, I have the practical experience from the classroom to the principal and superintendent's office. I've made the tough choices to balance a school district's budget. Janet Barresi has none of this experience but still claims to be our party's best choice.

I think you know better.

I don't have vast personal wealth to donate to my campaign. I'm running a grassroots campaign that relies on the support of real conservatives -- that's why I need your help.

I'm asking you to support me with a $500 contribution. Your contribution will help me fight Janet Barresi's money machine and get my message out to real conservatives.

You may not be able to give $500 right now. If you could contribute $250, $100, or even $50 it would still be a great help.

We can't afford to have any more "fake" Republicans elected to office. A Republican who donates thousands to liberal Democrats is not the kind of leader we need.

If you agree with me, then please send me your most generous contribution right away.

Than you for your support of conservative candidates. I hope I can count on that same support as well.

Sincerely,
Shawn Hime


P.S. I need your support to get the truth out about Janet Barresi. Ms. Barresi is running for school superintendent as a Republican despite lacking education experience and despite the fact she has contributed thousands of dollars to liberal Democrats.

I'm asking you to support me with a $500 contribution.

If you can't give $500 right now, please consider contributing $250, $100, or even $50. Every dollar you contribute will help me spread my conservative message and the truth about liberal Janet Barresi.

I pulled up the State Ethics Commission website, and Hime is absolutely correct about Barresi's contributions.

Barresi gave $250 to Democrat Scott Meacham (State Treasurer) in 2006, and $500 in 2007, for a total of $750. She gave $250 to Democrat Jeff McMahan (State Auditor) in 2006. To ironically cap things off, she gave $4000 to Sandy Garrett (State Superintendent) in 2006, and another $500 in 2007 to Garrett's 2010 campaign, for a total of $4500.

Garrett opted not to run for a sixth term, and Barresi announced her candidacy to replace Garrett [correction - Barresi got in before Garrett opted for retirement]. Hime got into the race several months after Barresi.

Granted, Barresi has not solely donated to Democrats. She has contributed $29,670 to Republican candidates since 2006, as opposed to $5500 to Democrat candidates. Although it may have been a much smaller percentage, as a Republican office-seeker, it doesn't look good to have donated to Democrats (in particularly, to the incumbent that you as a candidate are bad-mouthing).

Hime's political donations are much smaller. In 2006, he contributed $600 to a Republican District Attorney candidate, and in 2007 he donated another $100 to the same candidate. Then, in February of this year, he gave $150 to the Payne County GOP.

This race has been heating up, with Hime beginning to campaign more publicly, and Barresi supporters passing around rumors about Hime. With this letter from the Hime campaign, things are sure to heat up even more.


UPDATE: More information to come tomorrow...