It's time for the weekly round-up and analysis of the week to come brought to you by your friendly former 400lb Gorilla of Oklahoma media...you ready?
Oklahoman Takes After Terrill (Again): In a story published by the ever-so-objective Oklahoman, questions about the "investigation" of Representative Randy Terrill by Oklahoma County District Attorney, David Prater. Michael McNutt implies that Terrill didn't return calls for an interview, but answered questions in an email and in the email (which Terrill sent me), McNutt was given the pimp-hand. One of the funniest exchanges was where the implication that Terrill's opponent said there were many voters out there concerned about the so-called investigation, to which Terrill replied,
"To be completely candid, most of my constituents say they don’t even know who my opponent is, so I seriously doubt many of them are “voicing concerns” to her. Be that as it may, i have knocked a lot of doors, and not many have told me they have any questions on the subject. That's most likely because they recognize the allegations as the baseless, politically-motivated election-year garbage that they are."
Ouch. But seriously, the real problem is that since Terrill was the unashamed author of HB1804 and plans a tougher illegal immigration bill next session, the Oklahoman has painted a target on Randy's back. Why? It's simple: Cash. Large corporations that comprise a significant revenue stream for the down-sizing Oklahoman do not support HB1804 and the advertising agency that handles said corporations place ad dollars with the Oklahoman. As long as Terrill is a hawk on immigration issues, and the Oklahoman is in the hip pocket of one or two ad agencies and their "branded news," Randy can expect continued attacks. Hell, if Gene Stipe himself were running against Terrill, the Oklahoman would endorse Stipe over Terrill.
RGA Is A-OK For OK Corps: Wondering where all the money came from to fund those anti-Askins commercials? Well, the money flowed from the heavenly streams of Oklahoma corporations, of course. According to the
Oklahoman's Paul Monies' analysis...here is the breakdown of contributions:
Devon Energy....$650,000
Rooney Holdings....$282,145
Chesapeake Holdings....$225,000
And so on, so forth totaling $1.4 million. Contrasted with the Democratic Governor's Association wherein Oklahomans contributed a whopping $1,250. And you wonder why Jari Askins is getting spanked in the polls? You have to wonder why Devon and CHK is so willing to fund such nasty ads against Oklahoma's Lt. Governor - particularly since Jari Askins is a mineral rights owner...
Sooners/Cowboys/Huskies Get Whipped: It was a bad week for my Washington Huskies as well as the Oklahoma college franchises (yes, I called them franchises because that is truly what they are), but we live to fight again next week. Oklahoma's undefeated streak comes to an end.
Jones Goes It Alone: Gary Jones has been fighting corruption for a very long time in Oklahoma and because of his work, former State Auditor Jeff McMahancan't is gone. And now, the Republican Party has all but forgotten the fact that it was under Jones' leadership that the House and Senate went to Republicans and we maintained control of the Corporation Commission. Todd Lamb, Mary Fallin, Ken Miller, Dana Murphy, Glenn Coffee and Speaker Steele owe Gary a debt of gratitude and their support - financial and otherwise. Locked in their own races of course, they are focused on their own opponents and it's understandable. BUT, the GOP continues to support the other statewide races and have even purchase ads on social networking media such as Facebook on behalf of Mary Fallin, but has failed to adequately support Gary Jones. The irony is that when these other candidates needed Gary, he was there for them but in politics, there is rarely a quid pro quo. What these candidates need to remember, however, is if that Henry appointee wins, his office will be auditing the hell out of them just for political purposes... It's time for the GOP to support their candidate for Auditor. Period.
