Session on hold: State Capitol closed for one week for electrical upgrade

As part of the ongoing restoration work at the State Capitol, the building's aging electrical infrastructure will be replaced, necessitating the complete closure of the Capitol building for an entire week, starting tomorrow evening.

This had been scheduled for quite some time, and will mean that the Legislature will be unable to meet for the ongoing Special Session until power is restored and the building is reopened on Monday, October 23rd.

State Capitol Building to be Temporarily Closed for  Electrical Upgrade

OKLAHOMA CITY – The State Capitol building, which will be without power, will be closed to everyone but workers from Manhattan Construction for one week starting at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 13, per direction of the Oklahoma Fire Marshal. The temporary closure is necessary to ensure the safety of construction workers, tenants and visitors while the Capitol’s outdated electrical infrastructure is being replaced. The building will be reopened to tenants and the public on Monday, Oct. 23.

“When you’re talking about this sort of voltage, there’s virtually no way to work it safely when you’re talking about the terminations. That’s why you have to completely shut down the power to do the work,” said Andrea Gossard in a video detailing the electrical power project. Gossard is the project manager for Manhattan Construction, the company handling the interior restoration work.

The upgrade will allow the old and new systems to run parallel during restoration. As restoration progresses, electrical service will be switched from the old to the new, thus limiting the need for future power outages.

“As in all aspects of the Capitol Restoration project, safety is our No. 1 priority,” Capitol Restoration Project Manager Trait Thompson said. “This work is necessary to make the transition from the Capitol’s outdated electrical system to a modern system. This is one more positive step in the restoration of the people’s building.”

Thompson says the Office of Management and Enterprise Services established a special project team for the outage and assigned key staff to partner with the agencies in relocating them to other state office buildings during the time the Capitol is without power.

Since the announcement of the outage was made in April, OMES’ entire project team has met in person twice with representatives from every Capitol tenant, as well as numerous times over the phone and by email to coordinate logistics for moving phones, printers, computers, specialized equipment and other necessary items to their temporary locations. Additionally, OMES worked out a plan with each tenant for mail delivery during the outage. For those tenants with IT servers in the building, there was a special meeting to review shutdown and power up procedures and timelines.

Signs announcing the closure will be posted at each Capitol building entrance. On Oct. 13, prior to powering down the building, OMES and the Department of Public Safety will physically inspect every area of the building to ensure everyone has vacated. Once the all-clear is given, OG&E will commence action to bring the power down.

Visit capitolrestore.ok.gov for more information on the Capitol Restoration project, including documents related to the electrical work on the blog "VIDEO: Electrical Shutdown Necessitates Capitol Closure in October."

Auditor eviction drama grows

The drama continues to grow over plans to permanently evict the State Auditor's office from the State Capitol building as a result of ongoing renovations, with Governor Mary Fallin and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman commenting on the situation.

Gov. Fallin spoke with The Oklahoman about the issue:

“Certainly I think it is important for a state elected official to have an office in the Capitol,” Fallin said. Fallin said she was unaware of a plan to move the auditor's office out of the Capitol building until she read about it in the newspaper.

John Estus, spokesman for OMES, previously said "“The decision [to evict the Auditor's office] was made jointly by the House speaker's office, Senate pro tem's office and our office with assistance from architects and engineers working on the restoration project." While House Speaker Jeff Hickman issued a statement supporting the move, Senate President Brian Bingman had a different reaction:

Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman expressed surprise Wednesday that the state auditor had been told that his office would be forced to permanently move from the state Capitol, which is undergoing a $245 million renovation. “I'm not aware of any final decision that, ‘Hey, this agency has got to move out,'” Bingman, R-Sapulpa, said Wednesday. “I don't think I'm aware of anything that's been finalized.”

Rep. Mark McBride (R-Moore), a member of the State Capitol Repair Expenditure Oversight Committee, said the following: "The Capitol Repair Oversight Committee has never discussed moving the State Auditor from the Capitol. Neither has the Oklahoma House of Representatives ever held any discussions on moving the State Auditor from the Capitol. No legislative member that I have talked to has any recollection of ever discussing this move. I am very disappointed in the way this decision was made. This is a discussion that not only should have included all invested parties in the restoration of the Capitol Building, but also any subsequent decision should have been made using the proper protocol and procedures."

Blogger David Van Risseghem points out that for most of Oklahoma's history, the State Capitol was large enough to house most or all of the state's agencies, but now, government growth has made that impossible, even though Republicans who espouse cutting government and bureaucracy are in full control of Oklahoma's government.

Jones seems to think he'll win the fight. Yesterday, he told the Edmond Kiwanis Club, "A little kink in their plans is that Article 6 of the Constitution says that these certain constitutional offices will be housed at the seat of government. And there’s an Attorney General’s opinion that says the seat of government is the state Capitol."

The REAL reason Gary Jones is being evicted from the State Capitol

From News9:

OKLAHOMA CITY - With the renovations to the state Capitol, one agency is getting kicked to the curb. The state auditor said he’s being told to leave, and he believes it’s because he’s ruffled some feathers.

"It’s a concerted effort,” Auditor Gary Jones said. “I mean, for the last two years, they have gutted our budget in an amount that's almost obnoxious. And you know what's sad is when they are not truthful about it."

Jones has long been a very vocal critic of government waste. It’s his job. Now, he believes he’s being punished for it.

State Auditor Gary Jones broke the news yesterday afternoon in a Facebook post:

"Since the Oklahoma State Capitol was built the Oklahoma State Auditor's office has had an office there. Sadly we were just notified that after the next legislative session we are being told to vacate and find rental space somewhere else at an additional cost to taxpayers of $70,000 annually. We are not happy! This decision was made by the House, Senate, and Office of Management Services with no input from our office."

Jones told the Oklahoman this:

“I think obviously it's political in the fact they don't feel like we're important enough to have space in the Capitol,” Jones said. “As to whether it's vindictive, I can't help but think that it is. Maybe we've been a little too vocal talking about how much money the House and Senate is spending, along with others. I'm talking about the raises that have been given by OMES — the huge raises whenever we were supposed to be cutting back. They've got people comparable to ours making anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 a year more than ours.”

Blogger and longtime GOP activist Steve Fair pointed out that Jones has made a lot of enemies at the Capitol with his opinionated nature and his auditing work, and that played a role in this decision. I think there's a lot of validity to that. Gary Jones is not one to go along to get along, and he's irritated a lot of powerful players in the Capitol.

However, I think I've figured out the REAL reason why the Auditor's office is the one being evicted, rather than say, the Office of Management and Enterprise Service (OMES).

Secretary of Finance and OMES Director Preston Doerflinger, following

a Jan. 2015 DUI-related arrest. He was recently cited for driving with a revoked license.

If Gary Jones needed to go to the Capitol for a meeting, he can drive himself there. If Preston Doerflinger needed to, he'd have to walk or get a designated driver.

American Majority Training in Tulsa - Feb. 20th

American Majority, a conservative grassroots training group, is holding a training seminar in Tulsa on February 20th.

American Majority Oklahoma is hosting a Candidate Training on Saturday, February 20 at Tulsa Technology Center (Business and Career Development Training Center) located at 3638 S. Memorial in Tulsa. The training will run from 8:30am to 4:00pm with registration beginning at 8:00am.

Regardless of campaign experience, American Majority’s Candidate Training Program makes running for office easier! American Majority Candidate Training Seminars are designed specifically to educate candidates on every level how to run effective and victorious campaigns and prepare them to become successful elected officials.

The Candidate Training Program includes:

• Lectures* from campaign veterans, including:
  • “Your Campaign Plan to Win: Planning for the Time, People and Money to Win.”
  • “Dollars and Sense: Fundraising for What You Need, Not What You Can Get.”
  • “New Media Engagement: The New Ways to Talk to Voters and Engage Supporters.”
  • “Grassroots Action: How Ordinary People can get Extraordinary Results.”
  • “American Majority’s Core Principles.”

• Personalized communications training.
• Interaction with individuals thoroughly involved with the issues confronting your state.
• The opportunity to network with other liberty-minded candidates.
• A complimentary resource guidebook full of material designed to further assist candidates.

Upon completion of the seminar, candidates will receive continuing education materials, access to podcasts and other presentations, communications curriculum, and suggestions to help them utilize think-tank resources.

The cost is $50 per candidate/first attendee in advance or $75 per candidate/first attendee at the door, and $25 for each additional attendee (spouse, campaign staff, campaign volunteers, etc.) in advance or $40 for each additional attendee (spouse, campaign staff, campaign volunteers, etc.) at the door. Space is limited.

Please click here to use our online reservation system and secure your place now! If you have any questions, please contact Trait Thompson at Trait@americanmajority.org or call (918)-289-0159.

American Majority is a non-profit and non-partisan organization whose mission is to train and equip a national network of leaders committed to individual freedom through limited government and the free market.

I highly recommend this training for anyone interested in running for office.

American Majority Training Seminar this Saturday!

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Just a reminder - the American Majority Activist/Candidate training session is this Saturday! The event will take place at the Muskogee Public Library, from 9:30am to noon on Saturday (the 14th). Cost will be $10 per person - this will help American Majority to cover the cost for serving snacks and a light breakfast, in addition to the other materials that will be handed out.

This is an extremely informative event, no only for candidates, but especially for activists like you. I can't recommend this training session enough! The information you will receive is amazing.

Again, I highly encourage anyone interested in politics, whether as an activist or a candidate, to attend. You can email Trait Thompson (trait@americanmajority.org) for more information.

American Majority Candidate/Activist Training Seminar

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American Majority will be conducting a candidate/activist training seminar here in Muskogee on Saturday, November 14th. I highly encourage anyone interested in politics, whether as an activist or a candidate, to attend. You can email Trait Thompson (trait@americanmajority.com) for more information.