Mike Mazzei voted for the National Popular Vote Compact
Don't urinate on my leg and tell me it's raining.
I like Mike Mazzei. He seems to have the best platform and the most credible conservative credentials of the four candidates actually working* to win the governorship. He seems to be the only one of the four who won't roll over for tribal apartheid and who will fight for one system of justice for all Oklahomans.
But there's a problem with what he's saying about his vote for the National Popular Vote Compact in 2014. He really did vote for SB 906, and SB 906 was a law that would commit Oklahoma to the National Popular Vote Compact, giving Oklahoma's electoral votes to whomever was deemed the presidential candidate with a plurality of popular votes nationwide. It wasn't a vote to conduct a study. It was signing Oklahoma up to be the first Red State to join a long list of liberal states to be an NPV state. NPV would go into effect as soon as states with at least 270 electoral votes had agreed to the compact, and while Oklahoma's 7 votes wouldn't have been the tipping point, the precedent would have helped NPV lobbyists convince other conservative states to follow suit. That's why John Koza, Saul Anuzis, and their allies targeted Oklahoma.
The bill Mike Mazzei voted for would have gone into effect in November 2014. It would have been in effect in 2016. Oklahoma would have given its electoral votes to Hillary Clinton even though Donald Trump won every county.
18 Republicans had the good sense to vote against SB 906. 16 Republicans, including Mazzei, made the wrong vote, along with all the Democrats. (That should have been a clue.) After the outcry following the vote, some conservative State Senators, including Gary Stanislawski, Josh Brecheen, and Mark Allen, publicly recanted their vote for NPV and apologized to their constituents, although some conservative activists said that these senators had been warned and should have known better.
The general tone of the excuses from Republicans who voted for the NPV Compact is that lobbyists made legislators angry thinking about how presidential candidates take solid-red states Oklahoma for granted while wooing swing states. Some of them got so angry that they'd pledged to vote for the bill and did out of a sense of moral obligation, even after they realized it was a bad idea.
This is what Mike Mazzei is saying online about his vote for SB 906, with my comments in brackets:
Let's put this issue to rest once and for all. [Being straightforward and honest about voting the wrong way is the only way that will happen.]I do not support the national popular vote and I never have. [You voted for Oklahoma to participate in it, to allocate our electoral votes to the national popular vote winner.]
I will always back the electoral college because the Founding Fathers had it right. [In 2014, you voted to bypass the electoral college.]
The electoral college gives smaller, less populated states - like Oklahoma - a more balanced representation in the federal government. [This is true, one of many important reasons not to vote to join the NPV Compact.]
As far as that bill from 15 years ago that went nowhere, it's a silly non-issue. [The bill was only 12 years ago, and it passed the Senate.]
They tried pulling this stunt against Congressman Josh Brecheen a few years ago. Voters saw through it then, and they see through it now. [Brecheen had the good sense to recant and apologize shortly after the vote. He seems to have learned his lesson.]
First of all, there was nothing in the bill about abolishing the electoral college. [Technically true -- that would require a constitutional amendment -- but misleading. The bill was about working around the electoral college to elect presidents by popular vote without technically abolishing the electoral college.]
Second, our understanding of the bill at the time was that it was a study to determine the best ways to drive out the Christian conservative vote. [This makes no sense. Here is the text of the bill, the "Engrossed" version as approved by the State Senate. The word "study" occurs nowhere. The full text of the bill, only six pages of double-spaced type, is appended at the end of this entry. It's like he didn't even read it before agreeing to vote for it.]
Once we realized it was a bit more than that, we quickly and effectively quashed it before it even got to the House. [It was grassroots conservatives who raised a stink and convinced the House not to touch SB 906. I don't recall Mike Mazzei speaking out, and I can't find any record that he did.]
If this non-issue is the best attack my opponents can come up with, good luck to them. [Voting for NPV is an issue. They don't need luck with this kind of own-goal.]
Oklahomans want the income tax eliminated, no property taxes for seniors and veterans, and students reading at grade level. [We also want the electoral vote system protected, not bypassed.]
We all want a prosperous future for our kids and grandkids. [Electing Hillary Clinton in 2016 would not have helped.]
NOTE: *If Jake Merrick were actually working to win the governorship, instead of being on a lark, he'd have been able to build a big enough number of grassroots supporters who would give him enough in small donations to reach potential primary voters.
Here's the bill information page for SB906 (2014). Here is the engrossed version -- the version that passed the Senate, the version that Mike Mazzei voted for:
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 10-110 of Title 26, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. Pursuant to terms and conditions of this act, the State of Oklahoma seeks to join with other states and establish the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote.
B. This state enters into the Agreement with all other states legally joining in substantially the following form:
AGREEMENT AMONG THE STATES TO ELECT THE PRESIDENT BY NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE
ARTICLE I. MEMBERSHIP
Any state of the United States and the District of Columbia may become a member of this agreement by enacting this agreement.
ARTICLE II. RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE IN MEMBER STATES TO VOTE FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
Each member state shall conduct a statewide popular election for President and Vice President of the United States.
ARTICLE III. MANNER OF APPOINTING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS IN MEMBER STATES
Prior to the time set by law for the meeting and voting by the presidential electors, the chief election official of each member state shall determine the number of votes for each presidential slate in each state of the United States and in the District of Columbia in which votes have been cast in a statewide popular election and shall add such votes together to produce a "national popular vote total" for each presidential slate.
The chief election official of each member state shall designate the presidential slate with the largest national popular vote total as the "national popular vote winner".
The presidential elector certifying official of each member state shall certify the appointment in that official's own state of the elector slate nominated in that state in association with the national popular vote winner.
At least six (6) days before the day fixed by law for the meeting and voting by the presidential electors, each member state shall make a final determination of the number of popular votes cast in the state for each presidential slate and shall communicate an official statement of such determination within twenty-four (24) hours to the chief election official of each other member state.
The chief election official of each member state shall treat as conclusive an official statement containing the number of popular votes in a state for each presidential slate made by the day established by federal law for making a state's final determination conclusive as to the counting of electoral votes by Congress.
In the event of a tie for the national popular vote winner, the presidential elector certifying official of each member state shall certify the appointment of the elector slate nominated in association with the presidential slate receiving the largest number of popular votes within that official's own state.
If, for any reason, the number of presidential electors nominated in a member state in association with the national popular vote winner is less than or greater than that state's number of electoral votes, the presidential candidate on the presidential slate that has been designated as the national popular vote winner shall have the power to nominate the presidential electors for that state and that state's presidential elector certifying official
shall certify the appointment of such nominees. The chief election official of each member state shall immediately release to the public all vote counts or statements of votes as they are determined or obtained.This article shall govern the appointment of presidential electors in each member state in any year in which this agreement is, on July 20, in effect in states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes.
ARTICLE IV. OTHER PROVISIONS
This agreement shall take effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have enacted this agreement in substantially the same form and the enactments by such states have taken effect in each state.
Any member state may withdraw from this agreement, except that a withdrawal occurring six months or less before the end of a President's term shall not become effective until a President or Vice President shall have been qualified to serve the next term.
The chief executive of each member state shall promptly notify the chief executive of all other states of when this agreement has been enacted and has taken effect in that official's state, when the state has withdrawn from this agreement, and when this agreement takes effect generally.
This agreement shall terminate if the electoral college is abolished.
If any provision of this agreement is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall not be affected.
ARTICLE V. DEFINITIONS
For purposes of this agreement:
1. "Chief executive" shall mean the Governor of a state of the United States or the Mayor of the District of Columbia;
2. "Elector slate" shall mean a slate of candidates who have been nominated in a state for the position of presidential elector in association with a presidential slate;
3. "Chief election official" shall mean the state official or body that is authorized to certify the total number of popular votes for each presidential slate;
4. "Presidential elector" shall mean an elector for President and Vice President of the United States;
5. "Presidential elector certifying official" shall mean the state official or body that is authorized to certify the appointment of the state's presidential electors;
6. "Presidential slate" shall mean a slate of two persons, the first of whom has been nominated as a candidate for President of the United States and the second of whom has been nominated as a candidate for Vice President of the United States, or any legal
successors to such persons, regardless of whether both names appear on the ballot presented to the voter in a particular state;7. "State" shall mean a State of the United States or the District of Columbia; and
8. "Statewide popular election" shall mean a general election in which votes are cast for presidential slates by individual voters and counted on a statewide basis.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2014.
Passed the Senate the 12th day of February, 2014.
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