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Oklahoma general election 2018: BatesLine ballot card
Polls are open Tuesday, November 6, 2018, until 7 p.m. The Oklahoma State Election Board's online voter tool will let you know where to vote and will show you a sample of the ballot you'll see. Here is the complete list of offices and issues on Tuesday's ballot across...
Oklahoma 2018 judicial retention ballot
Oklahoma has two separate appeals systems. Decisions of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals can be appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, while the Court of Criminal Appeals is the apex of Oklahoma's criminal court system. All of the appeals judges are appointed by the governor; the public has the...
Oklahoma needs Stitt and Pinnell
Life hasn't left me with much time to write about politics this year, so I've focused on areas like the State Questions where there's a gap in coverage. Where others have already said what I'm thinking, I'll gladly point you to their words. Jamison Faught, the Muskogee Politico, explains why...
Flashback: Ayatollah Drew Edmondson shackles petitioners
In 2007, Attorney General Drew Edmondson made national headlines -- embarrassing headlines -- when he indicted three leaders of a petition effort to protect taxpayers and property owners against government-backed greed and then had them shackled and perp-walked out of the courtroom. The spectacle caused publisher and erstwhile presidential candidate...
Accountability Burns in politics
William Newbill, who was a political activist in Tulsa in the 1970s and 1980s, emailed me a few days ago to ask whatever had happened to Accountability Burns. I haven't spotted him recently. The perennial candidate, who ran for mayor as recently as 2009, would be 91 years old. Over...
Oklahoma primary 2018 results: Runoffs galore
I'll be on with Pat Campbell on 1170 KFAQ at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning to discuss tonight's results. We are headed for runoffs galore. As I write this a bit after 11 p.m., Kevin Stitt is leading Todd Lamb for the second spot in the runoff by about 2400 votes....
Oklahoma primary 2018: Notes on statewide offices
I'll be writing about each office in a separate entry, but here are a couple of preliminary notes. Three of the candidates on the statewide ballot are current or recent members of legislative leadership: Former State Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman, House Majority Floor Leader Glen Mulready, and former...
Election 2016: Oklahoma's seven electors
I almost left the top line of my ballot blank. When I was filling out my absentee ballot, I left the presidential race until the last. Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton nor Gary Johnson -- our only three choices in Oklahoma -- are fit to serve as president of...
YES on SQ 755: A closer look
NOTE: This is what I get for writing at 2 a.m.; I wrote no when I meant YES -- as in vote YES on SQ 755. Thanks to the observant reader who caught it. Oklahoma State Question 755 is another fine example of a proposed constitutional amendment that Ayatollah General...
Oklahoma SQ 754: A closer look
I may have been wrong about 754. I made the mistake of believing the ballot title, which appears to be Ayatollah Drew Edmondson's valedictory middle finger to Oklahoma conservative voters. The retiring attorney general, a Democrat, is notable for having three political consultants involved with the popular Taxpayer Bill of...
Wilson on Oklahoma poll failure; Fair on Askins v. Fallin
A couple of interesting items on our recently concluded Oklahoma governor's primary and the upcoming general election battle -- Dem. Lt. Governor Jari Askins vs. Congresswoman and former Republican Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin. Political opinion researcher Chris Wilson has some thoughts on why the polls were so far off, predicting...
Oklahoma Primary 2010: The aftermath
I made it to three different watch parties last night, starting at Randy Brogdon's, then Judge James Caputo's, then finished the evening at Congressman John Sullivan's, watching the final numbers come in on the incredibly close Democratic nomination for Governor. I got home late, had family business to attend to,...
Fallin plans lobbyist meet, skips grassroots event and forums
You know a candidate is dodging debates when the mainstream media finally takes notice. From an Associated Press story: But one of the campaign's front-runners has been conspicuously absent from a series of recent high-profile forums sponsored by The Oklahoma Academy. U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, the presumptive favorite in the...
Last day of filing 2010
Today at 5 pm (barring any challenges or withdrawals), we will know the line-up for the Oklahoma 2010 elections. So far a lot of incumbents are getting a free pass. You can view the filings as they happen on the Oklahoma State Election Board website. New this year: You can...
Oklahoma's abortion-reporting law
You have likely heard about the lawsuit by abortion advocates seeking to halt implementation of Oklahoma's newly enacted abortion reporting legislation, due to go into effect on November 1, 2009. Here is a news release from Oklahomans for Life debunking a number of claims made in the lawsuit: NEW OKLAHOMA...
Rick Carpenter: Surviving a Grand Jury Indictment
BREAKING NEWS: Gov. Brad Henry has vetoed HB 2246, the initiative petition reform bill to which Rick Carpenter alludes in the essay below, despite near unanimous support from the legislature. According to an e-mail press release from Oklahomans for Responsible Government late last night, "[Henry] claims that the provision that...
Drew Edmondson tops in their book
Oklahoma is internationally renowned! Here's a comment about the Eliot Spitzer scandal on Samizdata, a libertarian blog based in Britain (emphasis added): Eliot Spitzer, one of the most nasty power crazed politicos in US politics today, perhaps second only to Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson in authoritarian thuggishness, has just...
Oklahoma college bans the word "Christmas" -- was it on Edmondson's advice?
It has been reported that Southwest Oklahoma State University officials banned SWOSU employees from using the word Christmas on the advice of Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. The story has appeared on a number of websites and blogs around the country today, along with reports of denials from spokespeople for...
Hazardous waste? Edmondson's lawsuit
Here is a half-hour video about Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondon's Federal lawsuit attempting to classify animal waste as hazardous material. The video includes interviews with Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Republican AG candidate James Dunn, and Rick Stubblefield, a member of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission. If you've wondered, as...
Quick picks
I had great plans of producing a post every evening this week, each one highlighting a different race in detail. But the rest of life intruded on those plans, so now I am hurriedly composing a short post, so that tomorrow at church, when friends ask me, "Who should I...
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