Greetings:
I went to the gubernatorial forum Thursday. Sorry that I missed anyone else who showed. Drew Edmundson was the only
Dem on the panel. I’ll likely go into the matter in more detail later, but he was the only one there who had an
actual plan for dealing with the budget problems.
The Libertarians were for cutting everything; the Grifters On Parade were preaching trickle down and cuts.
Have to wonder about Mick Cornet preaching trickle down when the whole OKC revival was built with MAPS
sales tax money to the tune of about $1.8 billion. Shouldn’t expect them to make sense I guess.
The GOPers were all for education, too, even though two of them told The Oklahoman they would have vetoed
the bill that finally got passed.
The Libertarians did float the notion of eliminating all special interest exemptions, including the non-profits’.
Drew emphasized “restoring” GPT and capital gains conditions to when the funding was stable. He also wants
that extra 50 cents on a pack of cigarettes.
To maintain my neutrality, I’ll point out that Connie Johnson’s economic plan relies heavily on legalizing hemp
production, re-evaluating the tax credits given to the oil industry, and eliminating the privatizing trend that
commits OK resources to keeping prisons full in order to benefit private prisons. (Drew shares that view.)
The Oklahoma Academy that put on the show bills itself as non-partisan, but a scan of its membership shows
it heavy with corporate characters and a bit of a mirror to Step Up Oklahoma. So, it was no surprise that neither
prepared question nor the one submitted from the crowd touched on social issues — except in that tangential
way regarding prison population.
State Auditor Gary Jones is the only Republican who appeared the least bit qualified to run a state. But, the
Sunday Flashpoint listed Lamb, Cornet and Kevin Stitt (not attending, but already putting up billboards in the
OKC area) as the three leading candidates.
If you didn’t get the state party newsletter, with link, go to KFOR’s home page and see our state chair in
action. I thought she did OK.