OCPAC e-mail - Shannon, Lankford & Brogdon speaking at OCPAC this Wednesday!

[Charlie Meadows]

Members and friends of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC)

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

++  FILING IS OVER, THE RACES ARE ON

++  ACTION ITEMS

++  THE LOSS OF A GREAT MAN & PATRIOT

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Please pay close attention! Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, April 16, 2014 will be held at Olivet Baptist Church, 1201 Northwest 10th street in OKC. Our program this week will feature a candidate forum with the top 3 viable candidates for the U.S. Senate seat to finish out the term of Senator Coburn. In alphabetical order, the candidates are former Senator and Gubernatorial candidate, Randy Brogdon, current 5th District U.S. Representative James Lankford and former Speaker of the House and current State Representative T.W. Shannon. 

Following are the ground rules: we will start at 12:05 p.m. sharp. The candidates will have already drawn for speaking order. Each candidate will be given 5 minutes to tell us anything they want. We will then begin a Question and Answer session with all questions being asked from the floor microphone. No speeches from our members, only questions asked as quickly as possible and we will ask our candidates to answer as directly and quickly as possible so we have as much time as possible for questions. We will rotate which candidate goes first with answers, so no questions will be directed to one candidate only as they will all answer the same questions. 

After 30 minutes of Q&A, each candidate will be allowed a one minute closing statement. At that time, our dues paying members as of April 2nd and are attending the meeting, will be asked to cast their votes to endorse one of the 3 candidates or cast a vote for no endorsement. During this time, I am going to ask everyone present to remain silent as our members cast their votes so we can gather and count the votes as quickly as possible to determine if we need a run-off vote. The time frame is important as many folks have other time constraints. We just missed needing a run-off by 2 votes in the 5th District candidate race. I expect this vote for the Senate candidates to be very close. 

I would advise folks to arrive as early as possible since this will be the first candidate forum for this Senate race that is open to the public where the 3 contending candidates will all be present. Given the dept of understanding by many of our members on a wide variety of subjects, the questions asked may be more challenging than those at other events, should additional forums eventually take place. Everyone is welcome, you do not need to be a dues paying member to attend, only to vote.      

++  FILING IS OVER, THE RACES ARE ON

Around 575 candidates filed for office, with this Tuesday afternoon being the deadline for candidates to withdraw or candidate challenges to be filed. Normally the list of candidates shrinks a few names following that process. With one limited exception OCPAC’s by-laws determine the primary races in which we may get involved and which races involving a Republican incumbent that we will interview the Republican challenger. 

The by-laws reflect the following ideas. We only want to be involved in a Republican primary if it is a high percentage chance of the Republican being elected in the general election against a Democrat (independent candidates never have a chance). Or, if there are no Democrats that file for office, we of course get involved in such a primary. 

When it comes to considering a challenger to a Republican incumbent, we use the scores on the Oklahoma Constitution Newspaper’s Conservative Index. Any House member scoring a 63 or below for the first year of the current term (2013) is automatically nominated for the RINO (Republican In Name Only) award and is subject to us considering their opponent if they should draw such. In the Senate, we consider their most recent 2 year average score to determine which candidates we might consider. The exception is that the officers of OCPAC may select up to one lawmaker in each the House and Senate to consider as a target for removal, but even in such a case only by the approval of our voting members. 

Here is the breakdown for how our dues are used. Every year we set aside 10% of our dues for our accountability committee to use, currently chaired by Bob Donohoo. Those funds may be used to advance or oppose legislation or used for robo-phone calls or direct mail. 

In a presidential election cycle we set aside “up to” 10% of our funds for statewide races as we have only 1 statewide race on the ballot which is a Corporation Commission race. A possible exception would be a special election running concurrently with that regular election cycle. 

However, in a Gubernatorial election cycle, we have 10 statewide candidates up for election and in those election years we set aside “up to” 25% of our funds for state wide races. If we decide not to use the full amounts of these set asides, we put those funds into our primary and general election races. 

Each year, we set aside 20% of our funds for what we call our Conservative Incumbent Protection Fund. To be eligible for those funds a house member must have scored an 80 or above on the previous year’s Conservative Index and a senate member must have scored an average of 80 or above in the previous 2 years. Even the nominations are not a guarantee as our dues paying members still vote to determine which of the eligible members are to be supported. 

Any of these funds not used in our set aside funds are then used in our primary and general election races. So here are the breakdowns: In a Gubernatorial election year, 10% goes to the accountability committee, “up to” 20% goes to the Conservative Incumbent Protection Fund, “up to” 25% goes to fund for state wide races and 45% goes to our primary and general election races. 

As a note, we normally move some of the set aside funds into the fund for primary and general election races. I expect most of this year’s funds for state wide races will be moved as there is only one seriously contested statewide race and that is the Corporation Commission race between former Speaker Todd Hiett and current Senator Cliff Branan. 

During a presidential election cycle it is 10%,10%, 20% and 60%, again we have always shifted some of the second 10% and the 20% into the 60% fund. We believe this mix with its flexibility allows us to best use your dues to make the most impact to make Oklahoma a more conservative state. 

Once our members decide which candidates we are to support, we have a finance committee then determines how much is contributed to the endorsed candidates. Currently that committee is made up of the following OCPAC members: Charlie Meadows, Susan Goodman, Jess Allen, Stephanie West and Paul Kelley. 

Of the 149 legislative seats, 16 are to be considered for the Conservative Incumbent Protection funds, which is the largest number ever. I believe that is a reflection of the conservative leadership and performance of the 2013 legislative session. This is not a final number as yet, but it looks like there will be 13 House primary races for OCPAC’s involvement and 5 primary races in the Senate. We will need to interview these candidates as soon as possible as the candidates selected by our members will need their contributions as soon as possible so they can be used wisely.

It looks like there will be 13 general election candidates in the House to be interviewed with all of those interviews coming after the primary race is over. It looks like there will be 4 Senate candidates to be interviewed for the general election, again none of those will be interviewed until after the primary races.

There were many candidates that have already been elected as they did not draw an opponent, probably a few more this year than most. So there you have it, we have our work cut out for us. The main purpose of OCPAC is to determine the most conservative candidates that are viable and help them get elected. Over the past 7 election cycles, we have interviewed over 230 candidates, endorsed and contributed nearly $200,000 dollars to 114 of them, with 62 of them being elected to the legislature. 

Those aren’t bad numbers, even though our percentages could have been better if we were just looking for candidates with the best chance of winning. But, that is not our goal as we are looking for the most conservative candidates, the type of people that will make Oklahoma a more conservative state. 

If you have not joined OCPAC as yet, please consider doing so at this time. We are truly a statewide organization looking for the best candidates no matter where they live. That is because no matter where a candidate comes from or the district they represent, if elected, they are making decisions that affect everyone in the State of Oklahoma, no matter where we live. We are currently just 2 members shy of surpassing our membership numbers for the entire year of 2013. Instructions on how to join will follow my sign off.     

++  ACTION ITEMS

1)  Linda and I were out of state from April 2nd through the evening of the 7th. After returning and getting caught up on what was going on at the legislature while we were gone, I noticed the proposed fruit of the union organized teacher rally and their other supporters is the foolish idea of diverting some of the revenues recently dedicated to improving Oklahoma’s roads and bridges to the deep dark hole known as government schools.

Briefly let me say, the very reason Oklahoma’s highways, bridges and county roads got into such deplorable shape in the first place was because of the propensity of the Democrats over decades of time to divert road funds to education. Let us hope our lawmakers don’t cave to the raw political pressure and threats of the education industry. It will probably take another 15 years or so to get our highways and bridges to a level of best of any state and it may take longer than that to significantly improve the condition of our deplorable county roads and bridges.

If you agree, contact your state representative and state senator to politely tell them not to divert any of our transportation revenues to education. Without adequate reforms, it is a waste of taxpayer dollars to spend any more on education, in the mean time, better roads and bridges are far more important to our economy and the benefit of more citizens than what we send to the education industry. If you don’t believe me, just ask the residents of Purcell and Lexington and anyone else needing to use the closed bridge connecting Purcell and Lexington and other major points of travel.   

2)  I was contacted by a conservative lawyer a few days ago and also read an informative article in the Edmond Sun about the “liberal” Oklahoma Bar Association’s intention to gear up to defeat legislation to reform the process for selecting lawyers to serve as Judges on our 3 Appellate Courts in Oklahoma. Those courts being the Oklahoma State Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals and Court of Civil Appeals.

Currently the Oklahoma Bar Association appoints 6 members of the Judicial Nominating Committee which then make selections from which the governor must choose to fill vacancies on these courts. SJR 21 is now in the House for consideration. While I believe it is very light on reform, at least this measure in its current form would remove the liberal Oklahoma Bar Association from an excessive amount of influence toward determining the people that will sit as Appellate Judges and Justices. Please contact your state representative and ask them to support SJR 21.     

++  THE LOSS OF A GREAT MAN & PATRIOT

Perhaps the greatest temporal reward for my involvement in politics are the many wonderful people and patriots I get to meet and know. On the flip side of that, is that some of those folks pass away and I always feel that loss, especially the ones I had an opportunity to get to know fairly well.

I didn’t find out until this past week that our former OCPAC member, OCPAC speaker and good friend Dr. David Yeagley had passed away on March 11th, while Linda and I were in Israel. Please allow me to honor David from the perspective of our personal relationship. The following  is from my memory therefore some of the details might not be perfect.

First let me say David was one of the most brilliant intellectuals I have ever been privileged to know, certainly he is in the top 5 and I have met some very brilliant intellectuals. Just a few things about David, His mother was a full blood Comanche and his father was white, much to David’s disappointment as he always had great appreciation for his Indian heritage and wished his blood quantum was pure Comanche. I believe his web-site is still up so folks can still log on to www.badeagle.com for viewing some of his accomplishments. 

In his youth he was invited to perform as a concert pianist for the OKC Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a tremendous athlete with a lot of promise in baseball, until he had his first of many bouts with cancer, the disease that finally put him to rest. He obtained 2 undergraduate degrees, 2 masters degrees and 1 PhD. One of his degrees was from Yale. He also attended Harvard and while he didn’t obtain a degree from Harvard, he did write an opera while there. Most of his degrees were in religion, music, psychology or the humanities. David credited God for his survival as a Christian with such a dangerous educational track he pursued.

I first came across David driving along one day while listing to Ken Hamblin (The Black Avenger) on a talk radio program originating out of Denver. David was Hamblin’s guest as a result of writing a very controversial article published on David Horowitz’s web site. Yeagley  was being interviewed by radio hosts all across America. The more I listened, the more I realized David was a conservative to the American Indian community much like Ken Hamblin and others were to the black community. I soon realized he was a professor at OSU-OKC and when I got home I called a friend of mine that was also a professor on that campus and asked him to locate Yeagley’s contact information for me.

By the time I located him, OSU had released the only American Indian PhD on campus because he was too controversial. At that time, OU actually contracted for a small amount of space on the OSU-OKC campus for some adult education courses and they picked up Dr. Yeagly for a class.

The class assignment for the semester was a mock trial based around the question: Should we teach Patriotism in our public schools? He divided his students into 4 groups with one group advocating the position, one group opposing the idea, one group serving as the jury and I believe the other group served as the press. 

That was 2001 as I had a representative of each group on my radio show to give their perspectives. They all indicated it had become a very emotional and tense exercise. Linda and I attended the mock trial in a downtown courthroom and presided over by one of our district judges. The next day, I had David on my program to discuss the whole dynamics of the course. 

Unfortunately, some of the students complained about the stress created in the course and though OU kept David’s name on their list of Professors, they never gave him another class. David was on the Young American’s Speaker Bureau and spoke on college campuses all over the United States and the world, he even spoke in Tehran, Iran and developed a true love for the Iranian people. David said the worst thing to ever happen to Iran and what ruined the country was the religion of Islam. 

David moved back to Oklahoma around 2000 to take care of his aging mother, she died within a month of my mom’s passing. David’s first book he wrote was BAD EAGLE, THE RANTINGS OF A CONSERVATIVE COMANCHE. In the book he talks about OCPAC and takes me to task for my desire to eliminate Indian Sovereignty. On the other hand, one of the greatest honors I have ever received was to be named as the 3rd winner of the annual Bad Eagle award for patriotism. 

One of my most entertaining moments in life was the evening Will Grigg, then senior editor of the New American Magazine, flew into OKC to give a speech. Upon arrival, Grigg was excited to learn that Yeagley was going to attend as he had been reading his posts on Bad Eagle and Yeagley had been reading Grigg’s articles in the New American. They were both excited to meet each other in person. 

My assignment after the speech was to take these 2 guys to a coffee shop after the meeting. For 2 hours I sat silent and spellbound listening to these 2 intellectuals talk about common encounters and issues. One funny part was the discussion was about Russell Means, leader of the conflict with federal agents in Wounded Knee, South Dakota, probably sometime during the 1970s? Means was a big time leftist speaker that would push the limits any reasonable person’s BS (Blue Smoke) meter as well as an author and Hollywood movie star. He played the key role in the movie, THE LAST OF THE MOHEGANS. David had debated Means on an occasion or more, but Grigg has read Means’ lengthy autobiography. In the end, it was apparent to me that Grigg, the non Indian, knew more about Means than Yeagley, the Indian, though they both knew just how destructive Means was to America and the American Indian.

In 1921 a silent movie was made in the Wichita Wildlife Refuge with over 300 actors and actresses, all American Indians, and all of whom were either Comanche or Kiowa. It was a silent movie that was shown only one time at a directors screening in California and then the movie disappeared. Approximately 10 years ago, a collector in North Carolina contacted the Oklahoma Historical Society and informed them he had the movie and wanted to sell it to us. Turns out it had been preserved well enough to convert to digital format and was shown to the public for the first time at the OKC dead-beat (I know that is not the correct name) film festival during the Summer of 2012. 

The movie was a story about romance, courage, Indian culture and conflicts between tribes. David was commissioned to create from scratch a sound track that would reflect the different moods and events of the movie. His musical creation was spectacular. Unfortunately, copies of the movie are not available at this time to the public. Hopefully the Oklahoma History Center can work through the legalities of the matter to make the movie available to the public someday.

One of my prized possessions in my office is a pencil drawing by David of his great grandfather, Comanche Chief, Bad Eagle. His great grandfather was born in 1839 and died in 1909. Bad Eagle was a leader with insight and was instrumental in convincing the fiercest of all of America’s Indian tribes, the Comanches, to give up their warrior ways and learn to live with the white man.  

I wrote in an e-mail early in August of last year that David was once again in a very serious battle with cancer again. I called him and asked if I could come by to see him, just a couple of days before we left for our 5 vacation to the west coast and Alaska. He responded with please do. During our 2 hour visit he indicated he was feeling some better and had hopes for more time on this earth. God granted him another 6 months, I am so sad to say I didn‘t take the time to visit with him again after we returned. 

In closing, David and I had lunch many times over the years, almost always at a Mexican restaurant. There were always 4 themes to our times together. We always discussed Indian issues, politics, his passion for all Americans to understand what it truly means to be patriotic and his burning desire to draw ever closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. David never married, never left a swath of fatherless kids and never converted his intellect into much temporal wealth. But in my eyes, he was a great man, a true patriot and I and many others are really going to miss him.  

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

Charlie...@gmail.com 

    

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