Oklahoma Politics: April 2017 Archives

The Oklahoma Bar Association, the leftist monopoly guild that has an effective veto over judicial appointments in our state, will be funneling money to the totalitarian Communist Castro regime with the organization's "President's Cruise" to Cuba this summer. Linda Thomas, mentioned in the flyer, is the current OBA president.

At the bottom of this post are the contents of an email sent to Oklahoma attorneys, urging them to sign up for this cruise -- which includes 6 credit hours of Continuing Legal Education! The OBA, which claims to stand for the rule of law, is planning a luxury trip to a country where law is used as a tool to suppress dissent.

Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of Lenin's arrival in Petrograd and the beginning of the Communist takeover of Russia. Over the subsequent century, Communist regimes have butchered over 100 million people, and even today one of every five people on the planet lives under single-party Communist control in China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam.

From Freedom House's 2017 report on Cuba:

Cuba is a one-party communist state that outlaws political pluralism, represses dissent, and severely restricts freedoms of the press, assembly, speech, and association. The government of Raúl Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel as president in 2008, monopolizes the bulk of economic activity within centralized and inefficient state enterprises. Increased engagement with the United States under the administration of President Barack Obama did not result in the lifting of restrictions....

Arbitrary detentions reached more than 9,000 during the first 10 months of 2016, the highest level in seven years. Government repression of the island's increasingly dynamic independent digital press also increased....

Political dissent, whether spoken or written, is a punishable offense, and dissidents are systematically harassed, detained, physically assaulted, and frequently sentenced to years of imprisonment for seemingly minor infractions. The regime has called on its neighborhood-watch groups, known as Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, to strengthen vigilance against "antisocial behavior," a euphemism for opposition activity. This has led to the use of "acts of repudiation," or supposedly spontaneous mob attacks, to intimidate and silence political dissidents....

Official obstacles hamper religious freedom in Cuba. Churches may not conduct ordinary educational activities, and many church-based publications are plagued by state as well as self-censorship....

Academic freedom is restricted in Cuba. Teaching materials commonly contain ideological content, and affiliation with PCC structures is generally needed to gain access and advancement in educational institutions. On numerous occasions, university students have been expelled for dissident behavior, a harsh punishment that effectively prevents them from pursuing higher education. ...

The Council of State has total control over the courts and the judiciary. Laws on "public disorder," "contempt," disrespect for authority," "pre-criminal dangerousness," and "aggression" are frequently used to prosecute political opponents.

A report this past week from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (an arm of the Organization of American States) has Cuba and Venezuela on the human rights "blacklist."

Regarding Cuba, the report details the high levels of repression, as well as excessive restriction on protests as well as dismissals and threats to government employees if they manifest any opposition to the policies implemented by the ruling party.

They also mention that the island remains on the list for "persistent restrictions on political rights, freedom of association, freedom of expression and dissemination of thought, lack of independence of the judiciary and restrictions on freedom of movement," which the report stresses, "continue to systematically limit the human rights of the inhabitants" of Cuba.

A few examples from the most recent report by Human Rights Watch:

Detention is often used preemptively to prevent people from participating in peaceful marches or meetings to discuss politics. Detainees are often beaten, threatened, and held incommunicado for hours or days. Members of the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco)--a group founded by the wives, mothers, and daughters of political prisoners and which the government considers illegal--are routinely harassed, roughed up, and detained before or after they attend Sunday mass.

Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca, a blogger and videographer who often covers the Sunday demonstrations of the Ladies in White, wrote that police arbitrarily detained him on June 7 and drove him 30 miles from Havana, where they took him from the car at gunpoint, made him kneel on the grass, and put the gun to his neck, telling him he was "on notice" to stay away from the demonstrations....

A small number of journalists and bloggers who are independent of government media manage to write articles for websites or blogs, or publish tweets. However, the government routinely blocks access within Cuba to these websites, and those who publish information considered critical of the government are subject to smear campaigns and arbitrary arrests, as are artists and academics who demand greater freedoms....

Despite the release of the 53 political prisoners in conjunction with the agreement to normalize relations with the US, dozens more remain in Cuban prisons, according to local human rights groups. The government prevents independent human rights groups from accessing its prisons, and the groups believe there are additional political prisoners whose cases they cannot document....

The government restricts the movement of citizens within Cuba through a 1997 law known as Decree 217, which is designed to limit migration to Havana. The decree has been used to prevent dissidents from traveling to Havana to attend meetings and to harass dissidents from other parts of Cuba who live there....

In November 2013, Cuba was re-elected to a regional position on the UN Human Rights Council, despite its poor human rights record and consistent efforts to undermine important council work. As a member of the council, Cuba has regularly voted to prevent scrutiny of serious human rights abuses around the world, opposing resolutions spotlighting abuses in North Korea, Syria, Iran, and Ukraine.

Did anyone within the OBA leadership oppose making Cuba this year's vacation destination? If you're an OBA member -- and every practicing attorney in Oklahoma is required to be a member -- and don't publicly express opposition to this decision, it's reasonable to assume that you approve.

MORE:

Last year, Cuban dissident Armando Valladares marked the return of cruise ships to Cuba with a report on ongoing human rights abuses:

Just weeks before Carnival's maiden voyage to Cuba, hundreds of government workers in eastern Cuba surrounded and demolished the Strong Winds Ministry Church of Las Trunas and threatened to throw its pastor, Reverend Mario Jorge Travieso, in jail for seven years if he said a word about it. The church's crime? Failure to register with the government. Strong Winds was the fourth church to be destroyed by the government in 2016.

The Cuban government is especially good at violating the human rights of its people, and then labeling the victims as the criminals. I spent 22 years in Castro's gulags for the simple crime of refusing to place a sign on my desk that read: "I'm with Fidel." I lost 22 years of my life, and countless friends and family, for that sin against the regime. I spent eight of those years naked, when I refused to wear the prison uniform of a criminal. Of his treatment at the hands of the Cuban authorities, after they had destroyed his church and the house of worship for many more, Rev. Travieso said he was made to feel "like a common delinquent."

The text of the OBA email (on the jump page):

Oklahoma State Representative David Brumbaugh died Saturday night, April 15, 2017, of a heart attack. Brumbaugh, a Republican who had represented House District 76 in Broken Arrow since his first election in 2010 and chaired the House Republican Caucus, was 56 years old. He is survived by his wife and their two daughters. His funeral will be held Saturday, April 22, 2017, at 1 p.m. at Tulsa Bible Church, where Brumbaugh served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher. His body will lie in repose in the State Capitol on Thursday, April 20, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Brumbaugh was a consistent, principled conservative who was respected by his ideological adversaries for his gracious demeanor. I regarded him as a legislator who could be counted on to understand the issues, know which bills were and were not consistent with conservative principles, and then act in accordance with conservative principles. It was a pleasure to get to know him and speak with him about various issues.

Among many other bills signed into law, Brumbaugh was the author of a bill, approved in 2015, to protect the conscience rights of clergy with regard to solemnizing or recognizing a marriage. The same year, he authored a bill to tighten the definition of blight and to require an additional public hearing prior to adoption of an urban renewal plan.

Brumbaugh was a champion of county budget reform. In 2013, he advanced a bill, HB 1230, that would have required earmarked funds and carryover funds to be accounted for in the budget process. Because of pushback from county officials who apparently like the lack of oversight, the bill stalled after passing out of the Government Modernization committee. Shame on GOP legislative leaders for blocking such a simple and straightforward measure for financial accountability. In 2012, he successfully shepherded a bill requiring training for County Excise Board members, so that they would know their powers and responsibilities in considering millage requests from taxing entities.

His 2015 bill to protect electric utility customers from the involuntary imposition of "smart meters" passed unanimously in the Utilities Committee but never got a hearing before the whole house.

Those of you who, like me, despised the illegibly tiny letters on the signs for unnumbered Oklahoma turnpikes owe David Brumbaugh a debt of gratitude for advocating for their designation as state highways (e.g. Creek Turnpike as 364), with nice, big, legible numbers.

In the current legislature, Brumbaugh had introduced legislation further tightening the overbroad definition of "blight," requiring the State Auditor to post raw data sets from county audits to data.ok.gov, and requiring the Oklahoma Tax Commission to provide and the State Equalization Board to use actual revenues from the last five years in estimating revenue for the budget process.

May God bless Oklahoma with more trustworthy, principled, sensible legislators like David Brumbaugh. May God comfort his family as they mourn his homegoing.

MORE: The power-generation industry honors their fallen colleague:

If you never met David Brumbaugh at your plant or office, or at a user-group vendor fair--often with wife Shelley and occasionally daughters Abigail and Hannah--that's unfortunate. The late president of DRB Industries LLC was particularly knowledgeable on gas-turbine inlet and exhaust systems, air filters, and cooling towers, and always willing to share best practices and lessons learned. He was positive-minded and had an engaging personality; many in the electric-power industry benefited from his caring/sharing nature.

David died last Saturday evening (April 16) of a heart attack--so unexpected it left even close personal friends in shock. Rick Shackelford, division director, powerplant operations, for NAES Corp, knew Brumbaugh well, both personally and professionally. He told CCJ, "Such a terrible loss for Oklahoma. . .the power industry. . .his family. . .and his friends. David was a true-life world-changer."

Industry people generally are aware that David founded DRB Industries to support powerplant owner/operators in the selection, installation (including design and construction services to the degree necessary), inspection, and maintenance of filtration and cooling products. But that was only the tip of the iceberg for this perpetual-motion machine of a man.

It's the first Tuesday in April, April 4, 2017, and for many municipalities around Oklahoma (mainly those without their own charters), it's the day for electing city councilors or town trustees. Here's the complete list of April 4, 2017, elections in Oklahoma.

(It's great that we can now find info about any election in the State of Oklahoma in one central location. Wouldn't it be nice if all of the campaign finance and ethics reporting information were just as centralized and electronically searchable?)

Jenni White, the teacher and mom who was a leader in the fight to repeal Common Core in Oklahoma, is running for trustee in the town of Luther, in northeastern Oklahoma County.

Here in Tulsa County, there are two council seats each in Broken Arrow and Bixby, four seats in Jenks, and one seat each in Skiatook and Sperry up for election today.

Sperry also has a proposition on the ballot, a 20-year, 0.6% sales tax for capital improvements.

Two longtime Broken Arrow councilors, Craig Thurmond and Richard Carter, have drawn challengers, Rick Thomas and Debra Wimpee, respectively. Even though Broken Arrow is now the fourth most populous city in Oklahoma (only OKC, Tulsa, and Norman are larger), it is still governed by the "statutory charter," the default form of city government specified in the state statutes. This means that every seat on the council is elected at-large by the entire city. Thurmond currently serves as mayor and Carter as vice mayor; they are appointed to those positions by their peers on the council, so if either is defeated, the successful challenger would not automatically inherit the mayor or vice mayor position.

Debra Wimpee has the endorsement of a number of conservative legislators and activists, including State Sens. Nathan Dahm, Dan Newberry, and Joe Newhouse, State Reps. Kevin McDugle, David Brumbaugh, Michael Rogers, and Scott McEachin, Tulsa County Assessor Ken Yazel, and Wagoner County Assessor Sandy Hodges. Tulsa 9/12 Project leader and Broken Arrow resident Ronda Vuillemont-Smith has endorsed Debra Wimpee and Rick Thomas, saying, "It is PAST time for new blood on our city council," and noting that Carter has served on the Council for 24 years and Thurmond for 16.

It's also runoff election day for a handful of school board seats in which no one received a majority of the vote at the primary election in February.

One of those school board seats is here in Tulsa: Incumbent Lana Addison-Turner received 474 votes to 454 for challenger Jennettie P. Marshall. A third candidate received 60 votes, enough to keep either candidate from reaching the required 50% majority.

Here is video of Turner speaking at the "Exploring Equity community conversation" in February. The Oklahoma Eagle has endorsed Marshall for Office 3. Given the school board's insistence on lavishing big paychecks on executives in a time of tight budgets, it's time for a change, and I would vote for Marshall if I lived in District 3. (Here is a map of Tulsa Public Schools board member districts

MORE: The Tulsa County Republican Party has posted information about the party affiliations of council candidates in Broken Arrow, Jenks, Skiatook, and Sperry.

Edmond is electing a mayor and also has two propositions on its 2017 city ballot. The propositions would alter the comprehensive plan and zoning classification to enable a proposed mixed-use development consisting of 260,000 sq. ft. of retail and 350 residential units, to be called the Shops at Spring Creek. I can't think of another example of zoning changes going to a public ballot. If I'm understanding this story correctly, the Edmond City Council voted to approve the changes, but a citizen petition was filed to put the decision before the voters. As a result of SQ 750, which was narrowly approved in 2010, it takes the signatures of 5% of the number of votes cast in the previous race for governor to put an ordinance passed by a legislative body (such as a city council) before the voters for final approval. (CORRECTION: SQ 750 only affected statewide referenda; the threshold for municipal petitions is governed by Article XVIII, Section 4(b), and remains 25% of the "total number of votes cast at the next preceding election," which state courts have interpreted to mean the next preceding election at which all qualified municipal voters, and only they, could vote.

RESULTS: Edmondites voted down the zoning and planning referenda by nearly a 2-to-1 super majority. With this precedent in place, it will be interesting to see if citizens in other Oklahoma cities use this tool to override development-related legislation. The threshold would be easy to reach in Oklahoma City, which tends to have low turnout for its mayoral elections, but hard to reach in Tulsa, which has moved its municipal elections to coincide with state and federal general elections. This could be an interesting tool for citizen activists in metro suburbs. In Edmond, the previous city general election in April 2015 drew 2,808 voters, so the threshold to put this referendum on the ballot was a mere 702 signatures.

Congratulations to Jenni White and Rob Ford, elected to town trustee boards in Luther and Mounds, respectively. In Broken Arrow, Mayor Craig Thurmond was re-elected, but 24-year councilor Richard Carter was defeated by challenger Debra Wimpee. Jeannettie Marshall defeated incumbent Lana Turner for a seat on the Tulsa Public School board. Full results are available on the Oklahoma State Election Board website.