Tulsa 9.12 Project and Tulsa Area Republican Assembly (TARA) to Host Republican Debate
1st Congressional District Republican Candidate Debate between Tim Harris and Kevin Hern
Tulsa – August 15, 2018 – Tulsa 9.12 Project and TARA announced today that they are hosting
a debate between Tim Harris and Kevin Hern, Republican candidates for the 1 st Congressional
District, on Friday, August 17th at 6:30 at Fellowship Bible Church, 5434 E 91st St. in Tulsa.
Pat Campbell with Talk Radio 1170 KFAQ will moderate the debate. Candidates will respond to
audience questions in addition to questions from the moderator, and questions each candidate ask
of one another.
The Republican primary runoff election is Tuesday, August 28th. On that date, Republican
voters will choose whether Harris or Hern will be on the November ballot. It is crucial that voters
understand where each candidate stands on critical issues that concern Oklahomans.
This debate provides voters one last opportunity to see the candidates side-by-side, addressing
the issues that are important to our state and our communities.
Family of Austin Box Shares Story in Latest Mike Hunter Ad
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mike Hunter for Attorney General campaign released a new ad today featuring Craig and Whitney Box, the father and sister of the late Austin Box.
Austin Box died suddenly from an opioid overdose on May 19, 2011. At the time, he was a star football player at the University of Oklahoma. Austin suffered from injuries his entire career and always tried to avoid taking prescription opioids. Unfortunately, during the 2010 football season, Austin suffered a ruptured disc. This is the injury his family believes pushed him into prescription drug addiction.
“I’m extremely angry at them [drug manufacturers],” said Craig Box. “When you learn the facts about how the drug companies have systematically flooded this country with prescription drugs and the easy access to them makes me feel extremely angry. Because I know the pain we’ve suffered and purposefully knowing that this is a likely outcome of their actions is corporate greed beyond comprehension.”
Attorney General Mike Hunter has become a national leader in fighting the opioid epidemic. On June 30, 2017, Attorney General Mike Hunter filed suit against the largest opioid manufacturers in the country, citing that these companies knowingly marketed the drugs as safe and downplayed the addictive qualities of the drugs. Oklahoma became the first state in the country to receive a trial date in May 2019.
“Mike Hunter has been relentless in going after the opioid manufacturers,” said Craig Box. “It is not political, it is sincere.”
While Attorney General Mike Hunter has been fighting to save Oklahoma lives, Gentner Drummond has actively attacked the lawsuit and the lead attorneys. Behind closed doors, Drummond has said he would dismantle the lawsuit and he blames the addict, saying, “if they can’t get their stuff together, they need to go to jail.”.
Drummond has also attacked the lead attorneys on the case, Judge Michael Burrage and Reggie Whitten. Both Burrage and Whitten lost family members to the opioid epidemic. When the manufacturers tried to move the case from state to federal court, Drummond defended the companies and said the state’s attorneys made a “rookie mistake.” (https://newsok.com/article/5598825/attorneys-make-impassioned-plea-for-judge-to-reconsider-opioids-ruling)
“Knowing Mike Burrage and Reggie Whitten and those people that have also suffered from this epidemic and what they are also doing, to have them attacked is just morally reprehensible,” said Whitney Box.
“If Gentner Drummond gets into office, I believe this opioid lawsuit will be derailed, it will cost Oklahomans their lives,” said Craig Box. “I think we are facing the greatest health crisis of my lifetime in the state of Oklahoma. And Mike Hunter is trying to do something about it.”
“I greatly appreciate the Box family for telling their story,” said Attorney General Mike Hunter. “I will continue to fight every day to make sure that Oklahoma families do not experience the same tragedy as Austin’s family.”
Stitt for Governor Campaign Launches New Ad: “Plan B”
Tulsa, Oklahoma (August 15, 2018) -- The Kevin Stitt for Governor Campaign announced a new TV ad today in the Republican runoff for governor of Oklahoma titled “Plan B” and themed on Kevin Stitt’s vision of moving Oklahoma forward and becoming a Top Ten state.
The television ad opens with Stitt addressing the recent negative attacks.
“My opponent’s running behind, so he’s gone to plan ‘B’-- running attack ads,” begins Kevin Stitt. “I guess if you’re a career politician, when all else fails, you go negative. Kind of says more about him than me, don’t you think?”
Stitt then shares his positive vision for Oklahoma and how he intends to leads as a conservative political outsider.
“Look I’m not a politician, but I am a pro-life, conservative outsider,” says Stitt. “My message is about moving Oklahoma forward, to becoming a place where other states point to and say ‘this is what’s possible.’ I’ve said it all along, and I’ll say it again: Oklahoma’s turnaround, it starts right here, right now.”
After falling 10 points behind in the race, Mick Cornett and his base went negative on August 10. In response, Stitt called for a clean race that focuses on each candidate’s vision for the future of Oklahoma. Cornett’s campaign responded by doubling down and furthering their misinformation campaign. You can watch Kevin Stitt’s original press conference here: www.facebook.com/NEWS9/videos/10155532291327212/.
Kevin Stitt is running on a vision of leading Oklahoma to become a Top Ten state in education, economic growth, and infrastructure. Stitt believes the first step towards accomplishing these goals it by delivering accountability and transparency in state government, and his plan can be read at www.OKTurnaround.com.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Mick Cornett has gone borderline profane in his latest attack ad on fellow GOP candidate Kevin Stitt, transforming his opponent's name into a double entendre for profanity.
As if I didn't need any more reason on why to NOT vote for Mick Cornett. This sort of campaigning is absolutely shameful, and I hope the Cornett campaign crashes and burns like the Hindenburg.
There's a proper way to respond to attacks by one's opponent (Stitt is attacking Cornett on immigration and other issues), and there's a wrong way. Cornett chose the wrong way.
I don't find this type of junk to be "cute" or "funny", not one bit.
by Jonathan Small President of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA)
The University of Oklahoma is kicking off a national search for an associate vice president of university community.
“We can and must do more to ensure a diverse and inclusive community,” says OU president James Gallogly.
At a time when the cultural left believes it holds title to the phrases “university community” and “diversity,” here’s hoping this new hire will be different.
You’ll recall that Gallogly—obviously aware that Oklahoma taxpayers don’t place a high priority on government subsidies to higher education—went on the record early “to say to our legislature and our governor, we will be excellent stewards.” That’s smart.
After all, this is a state in which political-correctness foe Donald Trump got 65 percent of the vote. He won 77 of 77 counties. And yet last year, OU thought it was a good idea to bring to campus a radical leftist, Harry Belafonte, who had described the Trump presidency as “the Fourth Reich” and who has suggested that black Republicans such as Condoleezza Rice are race traitors or house slaves.
Indeed, many citizens aren’t aware how far left OU has drifted. Former president David Boren actually announced that “hate speech” (whatever that is) should be reported to the OU police department.
At a campus protest of Donald Trump, OU’s former diversity czar praised “the ability of people to overcome hate,” thereby impugning the motives of the vast majority of Oklahomans who voted for the current President.
OU now requires “diversity training” for new students. Political scientist Greg Forster called OU’s training “a horrifying recital of coercive tactics, clearly designed not to educate students about diversity (which would be valuable) so much as to manipulate, threaten, and control them so they don’t think the wrong things.”
Orwell would also be pleased with OU’s “bias response” hotline, which allows members of the university community to anonymously inform on their neighbors.
All this in addition to the tax-funded social-justice warriors marbled through the bureaucracy and the various grievance-studies departments.
Is it any wonder the Pew Research Center found last year that an astounding 65 percent of conservative Republicans believe “colleges and universities are having a negative effect on the way things are going in the country”?
OU’s new hire must cherish and defend students’ First Amendment rights to think and speak freely on campus.
He or she must never forget that the “university community” includes fraternities and the Baptist Student Union and ROTC and Turning Point USA and any number of other organizations.
There's a shady "dark money" group out there that's targeting conservative Republican legislators, while under the name Conservative Alliance PAC. It's anything but conservative, and the DC-based group is using deceit and flat-out lies to try to amputate conservatism from the Oklahoma Legislature.
State Rep. Tess Teague (R-Choctaw) is one of the conservatives being targeted by the group during the runoff election; Teague recently posted the following rebuttal to their attacks:
State Rep. Tess Teague, R-Dist. 101
It appears as though an out-of-state organization is attacking myself and other conservatives in the Legislature, sending mail and unsolicited text messages to our constituents with the same message that we "voted against a teacher pay raise four times." It would almost be laughable if it wasn't so disrespectful to voters because this is intentional deceit. You're being lied to. So let's talk about facts. In 2017, the House passed HB1114, the teacher pay raise bill. It passed the House with a vote of 92-7 (five democrats and two republicans voted no), but the Senate refused to hear it. If they had, we would have successfully raised teacher pay a year before the walkout. It would have been the first time teacher pay had been raised since 2006. Since the Senate ultimately failed our bill, we tried again in 2018. This time we passed HB1023XX (teacher pay raise) and HB1026XX (support staff pay raise) and these bills also passed the Senate, were signed by the Governor and became law. This happened the week before the walkout.
I voted for all three of these pieces of legislation. What I didn't vote for were packages of massive taxation which included Step Up, A+, A++ and HB1010XX. I voted against all four of them. If out of state entities are saying I voted against teacher pay raises four times because I voted against taxation four times, I would say they're very confused. Since when is raising taxes synonymous with supporting education? It's not. I voted in favor of every single teacher pay raise and yet people who want conservatives out of the House will try to convince you that I'm anti-education. I voted for every single teacher pay raise but the OEA has targeted my district for a "day of action" - I vote in support of teachers but the OEA doesn't care about that, they have a vested interest in a different agenda of raising taxes and getting rid of conservatives. The argument I've faced is that the tax raises were necessary to pay for the teacher pay raise - that's also not true. Even our House leadership has come out and said that we wound up having such a surplus that we could have paid for the raises without new or increased taxation. This has been what conservatives have been saying since day one. I'm thankful for an economy on the rise and there's been a lot of work put into making sure our state pulled itself out of the deficit we were in. On the national level, we finally have a president committed to growing the economy as evidenced by our 4.1% GDP growth – the former administration only got to 1.6%. I'm proud of the Legislature for righting our financial ship here at home and it is exciting to see Oklahoma's thriving economy. But I am absolutely heartbroken that the rhetoric of "raising taxes is the only way to do it" won during session and that those of us with the foresight to see past the politics are being demonized for doing the right thing: supporting education AND protecting taxpayer's wallet.
On August 25 when the OEA targets my district with their "day of action" I need your help. Conservatives, this is our day of action. I won't let my voters be lied to. Stand with me and say "enough is enough" - these kind of tactics won't win over our country and they won't win over our state. Let me know if you'd like to join my group of volunteers from now until August 28, every little bit helps.
This week's Music Monday is Ashokan Farewell, composed in 1982 by American folk musician Jay Ungar. The song achieved fame through prominent usage in Ken Burns' PBS documentary miniseries The Civil War.
Enjoy!
See below for all previous Music Monday posts. Do you have a song you'd like to suggest for a future Music Monday? Email me at JamisonFaught@MuskogeePolitico.com.
Poll Shows Kevin Hern Leading Harris by 16-Points in CD1 Republican Primary
Tulsa, OK – The Kevin Hern Campaign released the following statement regarding a new poll showing Kevin Hern leads Tim Harris in a survey of Oklahoma 1st Congressional District GOP primary voters by double digits.
“These poll results show the momentum our campaign has gained since the June election including our powerful grassroots operation,” said Campaign Manager Johnny Moyer. “While we are pleased with these numbers, our campaign will only continue to spread Kevin Hern’s conservative message in support of President Trump and against more spending from career politicians in Washington.”
The Tarrance Group poll revealed that Hern's positive momentum in the recent weeks finding Kevin Hern with a 16-point lead (50%-34%) over Tim Harris in the upcoming Republican primary run-off election. In addition, Hern holds a 9-point lead (29%-20%) among voters who have made a definite choice on the ballot. In a further sign of the positive image Hern has with GOP run-off voters, fully 61% of voters who have an impression of Hern think of him as a conservative. In contrast, just 43% of voters with an impression of Harris think of him as a conservative.
As the campaign enters this final stretch, Kevin Hern is well positioned to win this GOP primary run-off election. He has a double-digit lead on the ballot. This impressive lead is driven by his strongly favorable image with voters that includes being well defined as a conservative who will be a strong ally for President Trump.
Responses to this survey were gathered August 7-9, 2018. All respondents interviewed in this study were part of a fully representative sample of N=301 registered likely Republican primary run-off voters.
KEVIN STITT FOR GOVERNOR SURPASSES $1 MILLION RAISED IN REPUBLICAN PRIMARY RUNOFF
TULSA, Oklahoma (August 13, 2018) – The Kevin Stitt for Governor campaign today announced it has raised more than $1 million in individual donations in the Republican primary runoff, with more than a quarter of the support flooding in over the past few days.
“I am honored by the strong outpouring of support from Oklahomans across the state who are ready for us to be Top Ten and know only a conservative outsider can lead us there,” said Kevin Stitt. “Over the course of this campaign, we have held more than 100 town hall meetings, listening to Oklahomans and building a platform to deliver transparency and accountability to state government. It is time we apply business practices that enforce efficiency, root out waste, and responsibly deliver core services such as education and infrastructure.”
To date, the campaign has raised more than $3 million from more than 2,000 contributors. As a personal commitment to work hand-in-hand with Oklahomans, Kevin Stitt matches donations and has contributed more than $3 million to the campaign.
Governor Mary Fallin Places Vision Fund Question on November Ballot
It joins four other measures that voters will be asked to consider
OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor Mary Fallin today signed an executive proclamation placing on the Nov. 6 general election ballot a measure that would create the Oklahoma Vision Fund to support the operation of state government.
State Question (SQ) 800, if approved by a majority of voters, would consist of annual deposits of at least 5 percent of the total collections of the gross production tax.
No more than 5 percent of the Vision Fund could be used for service payments due on bonds or other financing instruments. Four percent of the average annual principal balance of the endowment fund could be transferred to the General Revenue Fund each year.
Lawmakers this year approved Senate Joint Resolution 35, which supporters said would better prepare for the cyclical nature of Oklahoma’s energy economy and would help keep core services funded in downturns.
The deadline for the governor to sign paperwork for state questions to be placed on the Nov. 6 general election ballot is Aug. 27.
Fallin earlier placed three other referendums approved by legislators on the ballot, and signed paperwork authorizing one initiative petition measure to be on the November ballot.
SQ 793 (initiative petition) would amend the state constitution by allowing optometrists or opticians to practice in retail establishments, and would allow the Legislature to regulate them.
SQ 794 (legislative referendum) would provide certain rights for crime victims, such as expanding the court proceedings at which victims have the right to be heard and being notified of the defendant’s release or escape from custody.
SQ 798 (legislative referendum) would establish a joint ticket for the top two statewide offices, like candidates for U.S. president and vice-president. If voters approve the question on the Nov. 6 general election, it wouldn't take effect until 2026.
SQ 801 (legislative referendum) would give local school boards the flexibility and options to use existing property tax funds for use in the classroom, such as teacher pay and textbooks, without raising taxes.
The deadline for the governor to sign paperwork for state questions to be placed on the Nov. 6 general election ballot is Aug. 27.
MORE THAN 80 FARMERS AND RANCHERS ACROSS OKLAHOMA ENDORSE KEVIN STITT FOR GOVERNOR
OKLAHOMA CITY (August 9, 2018) — The Stitt for Governor campaign today announced that more than 80 farmers and ranchers across the state have endorsed Kevin Stitt in his campaign to become the next governor of Oklahoma.
“I am honored to have the strong and diverse support of leaders from our hard-working agriculture community,” said Stitt. “Agriculture is one of Oklahoma’s economic mainstays, with our farmers and ranchers producing food and fiber for not only our state but also millions of people worldwide. Because our agriculture economy is so diverse, it is imperative that all facets of the industry have a seat at the table. As governor, I will seek advice from and fight to protect the agriculturists, farmers, and ranchers that play a vital role in driving economic opportunity and job growth in Oklahoma.”
Farmers and ranchers endorsing Stitt span across 37 different counties and include:
Alan Jett of Beaver County said, “As a 4th generation farmer from the panhandle, I am excited to endorse Kevin Stitt for Governor of Oklahoma. His message has been clear on his intention to serve as the Governor for all 4 million Oklahomans. He is a businessman that understands the issues agriculture faces in today’s society and will serve us all well.”
Brent Bolen of McCurtain County said, “Mr. Stitt, is certainly surrounding himself with the right folks for council with regards to agriculture and rural Oklahoma issues. I believe he will bring fair and proper guidance to our state because of his leadership skills developed during his years of doing business in the private sector. Kevin Stitt is the candidate rural Oklahoma needs.
Tammi Didlot, past president of Oklahoma and American National CattleWomen and current CFO for American National CattleWomen, said, “As a business owner and rancher, it is refreshing to see someone like Kevin Stitt in the race. I appreciate someone willing to run government like a business with transparency. His work mantra is similar to mine, ‘don’t ask others to do anything you wouldn’t do!’”
Eric & Tracie Chapman Family of Johnston County said, “This year’s Governor race is as important as ever. We must elect a Governor that represents family values, supports Oklahoma’s farmers and ranchers, and that will lead our state forward. We are proud to endorse Kevin Stitt for Governor of Oklahoma.”
Stitt is dedicated to working with the agriculture community in Oklahoma to achieve a vision of making Oklahoma a Top Ten State.
Here's a new ad from Lieutenant Governor candidate Matt Pinnell:
In social media posts about the ad, Pinnell had this to say: "We can’t keep playing musical chairs with the same career politicians and expect different results. I’m a proven conservative leader with the right experience to lead. As Lt. Governor, I’ll recruit businesses and tourism to strengthen our state’s economy."
