Wasted Votes
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
• An Independent JournAl of CommentAry • SEPTEMBER 2019 • VOLUME 51 NUMBER 9 • $5.00 WASTED VOTES Currently, Politicians Pick Their Voters – Not The Other Way Around. How Oklahoma Can Ensure All Votes Matter. Special Report begins on page 6 Observations www.okobserver.org In Search Of Sanity VOLUME 51, NO. 9 Thirty-one innocents slaughtered in one weekend in El Paso and Day- PUBLISHER Beverly Hamilton ton. Permitless carry set to become Oklahoma law Nov. 1 unless a veto EDITOR Arnold Hamilton referendum petition is successful. This is a time that cries out for reflection – and action. ADVISORY BOARD Will it, like so many others, pass quietly? Just thoughts and prayers? Andrew Hamilton, Matthew Hamilton, And the usual bromides about the gun lobby’s power at NE 23rd and Lin- Scott J. Hamilton, Trevor James, Ryan Kiesel, George Krumme, coln Blvd. or how protective Okies are of their 2nd Amendment rights? Gayla Machell, MaryAnn Martin, If past is prologue, the answer, sadly, is yes. But know this: the uber- Bruce Prescott, Bob Rogers, conservative Oklahoma political landscape is hardly static when it Robyn Lemon Sellers, Kyle Williams comes to the great gun debate these days. OUR MOTTO Moms Demand Action’s red-shirted activists made their presence felt To Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the at the state Capitol last session. Even before El Paso and Dayton, they Comfortable. had 13 meetings scheduled in the Oklahoma City area, Tulsa and Still- water between August and early Sept. 4. OUR CREDO So then to all their chance, to all their Rep. Jason Lowe’s petition drive to force a statewide vote on permit- shining golden opportunity. To all the less carry helped an already well-oiled machine kick into higher gear. right to love, to live, to work, to be Moms Demand Action was seemingly everywhere, gathering signatures. themselves, and to become whatever It was a tall order – 59,000 in only two weeks. Even if they weren’t suc- thing their vision and humanity can combine to make them. This seeker, cessful, they sent a message that the gun lobby may rule the statehouse is the promise of America. but people power is potent. And activists seeking common-sense gun - Adapted from Thomas Wolfe control aren’t going away. [Note: The deadline for submitting the SQ 803 petitions was just after FOUNDING PUBLISHER we went to press with the September Observer.] Helen B. Troy [1932-2007] The pushback against Oklahoma’s return to the Wild West also is evi- dent in the Sept. 27 grand opening of Oklahoma City’s new Scissortail FOUNDING EDITOR Park, thanks to state law that allows anyone with a valid license to carry Frosty Troy [1933-2017] a handgun in any public park. At least one Oklahoma City Council member, Ward 5’s JoBeth Hamon, [ISSN 0030-1795] intends to skip the festivities, citing the recent violence in El Paso and The Oklahoma Observer [USPS 865-720] is published on the first Wednesday of each CONTINUED ON PAGE 43 month by AHB Enterprises LLC, 13912 Plym- outh Crossing, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Periodicals postage paid at Edmond, OK and additional entry of- fice. Phone: 405.478.8700. POSTMASTER Send address changes to The Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. SUBSCRIPTIONS 1-Year [12 issues] $50. Send check to The Yes! Please send me a one-year subscription for only $50. Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, This special offer includes my certificate for a free book courtesy Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Online: Visit of Full Circle Bookstore [a $20 value]. See page 41 for details. www.okobserver.net to use a credit card. UPDATE ADDRESSES Please notify us at least two weeks before your move to ensure uninterrupted service. E-mail address changes to subscriptions@ okobserver.net or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. LETTERS TO EDITOR E-mail to [email protected] or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113- 0275. 2 • SEPTEMBER 2019 Observerscope Sept. 12’s Observer Newsmakers Here’s why the Corporation Log Cabin Republicans once features House Democratic Leader Commission is oft-derided as the worked to open the GOP’s tent to Emily Virgin discussing the gov- “Cooperation” commission? Okla- the LGBTQ community. What’s ernor’s new executive powers and homa industrial users pay only left of the long-marginalized group their impact on state agencies, 4.55 cents per kilowatt hour while now has endorsed Donald Trump services and employees. See back residential customers pay 11.17 for re-election. Their exec director cover for details. cents. h/t former Gov. David Wal- quit in disgust. ters. Dart: To Gov. Kevin Stitt, trying Dart: To Gov. Kevin Stitt, dis- to bully Chancellor Glen Johnson Dart: To U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, balk- missing the permitless carry veto into early retirement. Johnson is ing at Cherokee Nation’s decision referendum because “the people a top-notch leader for higher ed. to send a delegate to Congress. have spoken.” Hardly. The power- Stitt is Donald Trump with a smile. Could it be because new Cherokee ful gun lobby spoke. And its legis- Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. is from a lative lapdogs delivered. This bud’s for you: In the first rock-solid Democratic family? year since medical marijuana was Laurel: To Democratic stalwart legalized, the state issued licenses The latest Sooner Poll shows Kalyn Free, selected as the party’s to 178,173 patients, 1,277 caregiv- 56% of likely Oklahoma voters new national committeewoman ers, 4,287 growers, 1,848 dispen- currently support Medicaid expan- from Oklahoma. She succeeds the saries and 1,173 processors. sion. You only have until Oct. 28 to late Betty McElderry. sign the SQ 802 petition to get the Laurel: To state Rep. Jason Lowe issue on next year’s ballot. Kudos to new Chief Chuck and Moms Demand Action, leading Hoskin Jr. and the Cherokee Na- the charge to block the dangerous Laurel: To Labor Commissioner tion, exercising their rights un- permitless carry law set to take ef- Leslie Osborn, whose department der a 200-year-old treaty to send fect Nov. 1. Their around-the-clock recently awarded $928,309 in un- a delegate to the U.S. House. Kim efforts long will be remembered, paid wages, benefits and liquidat- Teehee, a former adviser to Presi- no matter how the petition drive ed damages to Oklahoma workers dent Obama, is an excellent choice. turns out. – nearly double last year’s total. CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 THE OKLAHOMA OBSERVER • 3 Letters cards]. Its $3 trillion or $4 trillion cost was simply passed on as deficit spend- ing. With the global environ- mental, population and refugee challenges all heating up, the notion of war has become a truly obsolete relic of past eras, though much of humanity does not realize it yet. Nathaniel Batchelder Oklahoma City Editor’s Note: Nathaniel Batchelder is director of the OKC Peace House. Editor, The Observer: Gov. Kevin Stitt is a kill- er wannabe. On Dec. 7, 2018, he told OKC’s Fox 25 that he supports the death pen- alty “for the worst of the worst.” Editor, The Observer: With help from his caddie Here are a few facts for him to The rich get richer and the poor And tricks that are shabby consider before he orders his first get poorer. In the mean time, in He outscores all contenders by a execution of one of the 50 inmates between time, aren’t they having stroke. left on his death row: fun? Tom Birbilis Fact No. 1: The death penalty They have always wanted to Tulsa does not deter crime or rehabili- privatize everything, including So- tate. cial Security which means putting Editor, The Observer: Fact No. 2: It is racially biased. your security that you paid for in Americans nervous the Trump Fact No. 3: In a number of cases, the hands of wealthy white gam- administration might wage war on the wrong man is executed. blers on Wall Street. Iran in a desperate attempt to win Fact No. 4: It violates all stan- Trump says no GOP health care re-election demand that Congress dards of human rights and decen- plan until after 2020 because they invoke the War Powers Act to en- cy. know it will not be a winning plank sure that the president not launch Fact No. 5: The only reason left in their platform. They are disman- war on his own. Congress must ap- to justify the death penalty is ven- tling anything that will help the prove going to war. geance, which is a horrible lesson working class, including collective Perhaps we should also demand for our children. God said, “Ven- bargaining. that any military action or war be geance is mine.” They are already talking about a pay-as-you-go operation, funded Fact No. 6: Psalm 102: “For the more tax cuts for the wealthy and by whatever “revenue enhance- Lord looked down from his holy corporations, but they are not ment” is required, so as not to in- place on high; from the heavens talking about a living wage for the crease the deficit, or pass on the he beheld the earth; that he might rest of us. debt. hear the groan of the captive and Keep America Great is worse. The G.W. Bush administration set free those condemned to die.” Karen Webb launched the Iraq War and imple- Fact No. 7: There is only one who Portland, OR mented a tax cut almost simulta- has the authority to take human neously, ensuring support for the life and that is the one who created Editor, The Observer: war as nobody was being asked to and gives life.