Ah, September! Football Time in Oklahoma has been ushered in with a welcomed decline in the daily high temperature and the primary election runoff is now in the rear view mirror! The changing of the seasons has brought us a clear picture of who is running against whom for what office as we are now within sixty days until the November General Election. Drew Edmondson, who won the Democratic nomination in the June Primary will be facing Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt to become the 28th governor of the State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma voters will have an opportunity to restore some resemblance of critical thought in decision making in the Governor’s Mansion which, with few exceptions, has been notably absent for the past eight years. One pearl of wisdom I have picked up along the way following national and state politics for so many years is that 90% of good governance usually involves stopping things. If we wake up the day after the election to find the OKGOP still holds a legislative majority despite losses, it would be nice to have a governor that can at least slow down their flailing agenda.
Although the GOP-majority Oklahoma House of Representatives and Senate have much fewer unopposed seats this year, they still hold a decided edge in registration by nearly 173,000 voters statewide over the Democrats. The prospect of a return to reason in governance may hopefully appeal to enough of the nearly 299,000 registered Independents to neutralize that advantage, but it remains to be seen if it will actually happen. That said, a Drew Edmondson governorship would place a badly needed check on a heretofore unchecked GOP-heavy legislature and restore some sense of balance to our state government. Regardless of what the GOP candidate may articulate regarding specific policies he will foster as a chief executive, all his claims of what he intends to do FOR Oklahoma must be considered within the context of what his entire party has already done TO Oklahoma over the past eight years. Thus far, Mr. Stitt has not stated any policy intention that would be a radical change from the current status quo.
Since Inauguration Day 2017, the entire Oklahoma Congressional delegation has appeared to have fostered a tacit policy of unconditional compliance with any and all requests, recommendations and demands of what is proving to be a rogue presidency. We constituents of the Oklahoma First Congressional District have not even had representation since our Congressman, Jim Bridenstine, opted to resign earlier this year and become the chief administrator of NASA. The runup to the GOP primary runoff was what has become the standard ritual of which Republican can “out-conservative” the other. In 2018 it is not so much who is the most conservative anymore as it is who is the most friendly and accommodating to the *45th President. The winner of that race was businessman Kevin Hern. According to Mr. Hern, the incumbent president can apparently do no wrong. If Mr. Hern’s runoff campaign ads were any indication on how he intends to, if elected, represent the Oklahoma First Congressional District, he is going to be nothing but a rubber stamp for the current White House regime. At this point in time I am well beyond caring about what any candidate believes in terms of ideology. One thing that it is reasonable to demand of any candidate is the respect for and compliance with the rule of law. For any undecided voter who may be enamored with Mr. Hern’s affinity for the current occupant of the Oval Office, please understand that the below-linked running tab of the Mueller Investigation by a former Republican IS NOT AN OPINION!
A Running Tab Of Mueller Investigation Conviction and Indictments
The First Congressional District primary runoff election winner for the Democrats was Tulsa attorney and fellow George Washington University graduate, Tim Gilpin. Mr. Gilpin has experience in government having served as an appointee of former governor Brad Henry to the Oklahoma state Board of Education. During the tenure of his appointment, he stalwartly opposed cuts to public education. As a private attorney, Gilpin’s focus has been on worker’s rights, fair employment and consumer advocacy. Tim Gilpin brings to the table a functional working knowledge of how government is intended to work and, if elected, will at very least provide one voice in a necessary constitutional check on an Executive Branch that badly needs opposition. I will even go as far to say that Tim Gilpin is probably the most capable candidate of either party we’ve had on the ballot in the First CD in several years but to say he has an uphill slog is an understatement. My optimism and delight at the Gilpin candidacy is muted by the reality of what his campaign is facing. In the very red First CD, the GOP holds an advantage of over 82,000 voters over the Dems. It is going to take a lot of work to make the case to enough reasonable Republicans and as many of the undecided 62,000+ Independents to put him over the top on Election Night. That said, I know his campaign staff is motivated and up to the task at hand which is another thing the First CD Democrats haven’t had in a few years.
The consensus of the national media pundit class is that the 2018 election is a referendum on chaos government headed by a cult of personality that extends all the way down every ballot. Locally it is shaping up to be a referendum on one-party controlled government that has been unable to deliver on rudimentary budget requirements like education, health care and basic core services and is out of excuses for failure. One thing Oklahoma Democrats have weighing evermore in their favor is this growing dissatisfaction with the results borne of an all-Republican government. In June, the entire world was surprised that indicating that traditional conservatism may have lost enough of its influence in the state to matter. Democrats as a whole are known for falling in love with their candidates for whatever office. Now that the primaries are over, all Democrats must fall in line behind their nominees. Moving forward to November it is imperative that all voters of whatever stripe or affiliation who support a change from the status quo of failed and failing government understand that there is a distinct difference between an imperfect friend and a deadly enemy. Albert Einstein once defined insanity as repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Eight years of this in Oklahoma has all but destroyed a once solvent state. The return to sanity in government that so many are seeking begins with electing competent candidates whose ideas can provide balance to failed ones and impose a check on more of the same. It is also true what the pundits are saying: 2018 is the most important election of our lifetime!