Wagoner County Republican Party Newsletter
April 13, 2019
Next Meeting Scheduled for Thursday, May 2nd
6:30 pm (NOTE: SPECIAL TIME)
Church of God of Prophecy (123 West Sycamore Street, Coweta)
Guest Speaker: David McLain, Oklahoma GOP's New State Chair
McLain is a follower of Christ, an elder of his church, a devoted husband of 30 years, and a father of three. He is a successful and stable businessman owning multiple entities here in Oklahoma. He was a powerful and effective chairman of the Republican Party of Tulsa County. And now the newly elected Chairman of the Oklahoma GOP.
Come early and join us at 6:00 pm for a time of friendly fellowship.
(May Munchies – Bring a favorite spring snack to share!)
Please use the West parking lot and entrance when attending regular monthly meetings.
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Other important dates:
TAXPAYERS DAY AT THE CAPITOL
April 15 - 10:30 am to 3:00 pm
at Oklahoma State Capitol
2300 N Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City, OK. 73105
Sponsored by Tulsa 9.12 Project and A.F.P.
Taxes are Due
April 15
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Convention Report
By Marian Corcoran, Wagoner GOP 1st District Committeewoman
Thank you to the 26 Wagoner delegates to the OK State GOP Convention.
Wagoner County, with our record of supporting votes for Governor Stitt, had earned a 50-vote delegation for the 2019 State Convention. We have become the 5th largest County by allocation of delegates. This gives our County a powerful voice in our State Party. With our attendees, we were able to get our full contingency of votes for this Convention. Granted, it would have been best if we had 50 delegates in attendance, but the voting rules allow for each delegate to represent up to 2 votes and so we accumulated our complete 50 votes.
The beginning of this Convention seemed to be gearing up to be another Convention of chaos. The credentialing process was riddled with delays and computer challenges. Visions of the 2015 Convention floated in our memories as a time when credentials were not set until mid-afternoon, delegates could not leave for lunch, the final delegate count was questionable, and business of the Convention was incomplete. However, the problems were solved, and the credentials were set without controversy by 12:15 pm. Some basic business was attended, and we were able to take our lunch break. Then we returned for a remarkably uncontroversial Convention. There was some heated debate and some differing opinions, but this year, there was not the ‘Party-splitting bickering’ and not one fight! The business of the Convention was completed, and we ended early! This may perhaps have been the most agreeable and accomplished Convention in decades.
It could have had a different outcome.
The first item considered was the striking of the consideration of changes in the Party Rules from the agenda of business for the Convention. This was controversial since the Convention is the time that counties can bring change to the State Party, and to not consider the proposed changes would deprive the grassroots their voice in the process. However, the bylaws state that proper notice (10 days) must be given to the counties of the proposed changes so that the counties can inform their people and be prepared with their decision to support or decline the change. A mistake in the notification was made and counties did not get proper notice. So, what to do? A proposal was floated that the Convention should suspend the Rules and bring the rules changes to the floor for discussion. And a motion was made. A bit of heated debate ensued. Yet, in the end, the outcome was worthy of the Republican Party. Rules are rules. We are the Party of rules and not just good intentions. Even some of the counties that had brought rule changes for consideration agreed with this position and spoke for striking this business from the agenda. A voice vote clearly carried and we did not have to resolve the issue with a ballot vote.
By striking the discussion of rules changes from the agenda, we were spared a very controversial proposal. A couple of counties were presenting a radical change for the structure of the State Party. Basically, they were proposing that we elect a Party chair and Vice Chair, but then have the state executive committee be the actual governing body of the Party. Essentially, the change would make the Chair and Vice Chair basically figureheads and would give a committee that was not elected by the body of the Party the governing power. The Party structure would change from a grassroots led Party to be more like the Democrat Party that is led from the leadership down to the people. This was a battle that was shaping up to be loud and messy.
How fortunate that this Convention did not have to deal with the controversy…but be aware, we need to be prepared for future conventions and ready to attend in full measure.
Then, for the first time since 2015, we passed the Platform! And by voice vote. The State Platform Committee chaired by our State National Committeewoman, Carolyn McLarty, did a good job putting together the Platform. Counties that brought concerns to the committee must have decided that they were heard and represented, because there were no last amendments and arguments brought to the floor for consideration. After a short debate, we had voted and now have a 2019 Platform.
The election of the officers was by ballot and properly administered.
David McClain was elected the new State GOP Chair and Mike Turner was elected after a run-off ballot vote to the office of Vice Chair.
Then we adjourned before 4:00 pm!
There is more to the Convention than just Business of the Party…there are ‘speeches’ from our Senators and Representatives. And good information to know and share.
(With gratitude for the memo pad and pen in our hospitality bags – I was able to jot a few notes. What follows is a brief recollection of what I heard and jotted down.)
Some of the most notable speakers:
Senator Jim Inhofe spoke with authority about the accomplishments of President Donald Trump. He gave us a card with a top ten list and explained some of the highlights.
1. Biggest Tax cuts since 1986
2. Golden Age of Regulation Relief – best economy since 2000- over 1,500 rules repealed.
He spoke of Trump’s promise that for every regulation that the President would write, he would
repeal 2. Instead, for every regulation that Trump has written, he has repealed 22.
a. 3% GDP vs Obama 1.5%
b. 5 million people off food stamps
The Democrats idea of compassion is to measure ‘more people on food stamps’; the
Republican idea is to measure how many get off food stamps and are able to be self-supporting.
3. Energy Dominance – U.S. largest oil and gas producer
a. 251% growth in crude exports
b. 132% increase in coal esports
c. 58% increase in natural gas exports
4. Crackdown on illegal immigration and build the wall
5. Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
6. Infrastructure bills in Congress – WRDA and FAA Reauth.
7. SCOTUS – Gorsuch and Kavanaugh
a. Remaking the Judiciary
8. Repeal Dodd-Frank rules
9. Passed Perkins Career Tech bill
10. Strongest military in 15 years- $750 B for FY20.
a. Compare to Obama constant dollar defense spending: No dollars to military without equal
dollars to social spending
i. 2010 - $794b
ii. 2015 - $586b
b. ISIS had territory the physical size of Virginia, but now in last 2 weeks, that territory has fallen,
and ISIS has lost their base of operations.
Senator Inhofe also countered the negative main stream media ‘picture’ of the character of President Trump. He told a personal story about his interaction with the President. Senator Inhofe recalled that he had been back on his property here in Oklahoma splitting logs with his grandchildren. The children would work with him in rotations. Toward the late evening, he received a phone call from President Trump. The President asked the Senator, “What are you doing?” and when Inhofe told that he was splitting logs with his 16-year-old grandson, President Trump asked if he could speak to the grandson. And so, Senator Inhofe’s grandson had a 20-minute conversation with the President.
Senator Inhofe and our other Congressional delegates related that President Trump knew people by name and was interested in their families. They spoke about his accessibility and constant work to reach out to members of Congress – even bringing Democrat Congressmen to the Oval office to negotiate.
Senator James Lankford spoke to the cloture voting in the Senate. He related that the Democrats try to blame the Republicans for ‘partisanship’ but revealed the falsehood with the facts as related to cloture votes. He told of his work to communicate with every Democrat Senator and that he had worked a compromise with Republicans and Democrats for confirming Obama’s government appointees, but when he brought the same compromise to the Democrats to confirm Trump’s appointees, the Democrats refused. He explained how Senate Democrats have abused the rules to the point where the president can’t put his team in place and the Senate can’t do its work. For the previous three presidents in the first two years of a president’s term, there was an average of eight cloture votes. Comparably, in the first two years of the Trump Administration, cloture was filed on 148 of President Trump’s nominees (62 Judicial and 86 Executive) in the 115th Congress, and the Senate was forced to hold 128 cloture votes. The result has slowed nominations to a glacial pace in the Senate. (Since the Senate works through the confirmation process on more than 1,000 nominees for each new president, if an additional cloture vote is required on each nominee, it could take more than 2,000 days - almost 5.5 years) just for the President’s staff to be confirmed and Judicial Branch vacancies to be filled. This clearly illustrates the Democrats political partisanship. So, now that he has spoken and worked with every Democrat Senator, the decision can be made to move forward with the nuclear option to confirm appointees.
Congressman Cole welcomed the Convention to his home District and shared appreciation for First Baptist Moore for their hospitality. His speech was well received – and I apologize that I forgot to take notes, so I cannot add more about his presentation.
Our 1st District Congressman Kevin Hern thanked his first District supporters and spoke of his work and support of President Trump. He called for Oklahoma Republicans to work to take back 5th District, emphasizing the importance of having a House majority to be able to move President Trump’s policies forward.
Congressman Markwayne Mullin also praised President Trump. He mentioned that as he has traveled to other countries, some of the world leaders have positively expressed to him in connection with President Trump and his policies, “This is what we have expected from America.”
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Congressman Mullin addressed several concerns, but of primary importance was the need to take seriously the push toward socialism by the Democrat Party. He focused on some aspects of the goals of the Green New Deal and gave his thoughts as to its ultimate result to bring government control:
The motive behind getting rid of fossil fuel transportation (airplanes, ships, cars) and the push to high speed rail – government control of where the ‘people’ can travel. He illustrated the point with the example of China. In Beijing Circle Zones are mandated and people can only travel between the zones by high speed rail and the government controls access. - The laughable ‘get rid of cow farting’ – the purpose is to control the food source. This is just one avenue for government to take over the source of food distribution. Ranchers don’t comply with the government regulations and so government can confiscate the ranch and the cows and therefore the ‘food’.
- The ‘climate change’ legislation to mandate that buildings have to be restructured to meet climate standards within a limited time-frame leads to government control through ‘imminent domain’ foreclosures. Government can take over housing and office buildings (therefore the businesses) and then control where people live and work.
Oklahoma National Committeewoman Carolyn McLarty had an interesting observation, “If socialist ideas are so good; they wouldn’t have to be mandated.”
Lt Governor Matt Pinnell spoke of the good work by Governor Stitt and that they were working well together. He spoke encouragingly of the Republican Party and thanked supporters. And he spoke with great enthusiasm about making Oklahoma a ‘Top Ten State’. #Travel OK
Editorial:
By Chris Corcoran, Wagoner County Secretary
The State Convention is an extremely important event in the life of our Party. It is an opportunity to meet like-minded Republicans from across our great state, conduct important business of the party and make sure our Wagoner County views are represented. We’ve worked hard to grow the standing of Wagoner County with the state party and as pointed out above, our strong voting record for Republicans has allowed us to rise to the 5th largest voting county in the state. It was sad to see many counties that were not represented at all. This year we had 50 available votes, but that number could have dropped if there were not enough delegates in attendance since the maximum votes per delegate is 2. We were able to cast our full 50 votes, but just barely. I would like to strongly encourage our members to plan to attend the next convention. To do so begins with attending your precinct meeting and then the county convention. These are well publicized events when they come around and attendance doesn’t take that much time. There are even procedures to be included in the delegate list if for some reason you are not able to attend. You can inquire of our County Chair or one of the other officers if that becomes an issue for you next time. We all know that many people with a liberal bias are registering as Republicans since we are now the dominant party in Oklahoma. If we want to continue to be a conservative party, we must all do our part. We can and MUST do better as Wagoner County Republicans. Please make attendance to our monthly meetings and other activities a priority. Get involved and stay involved. We need every conservative Republican in Wagoner County to be engaged to ensure that we don’t become a RINO county and lose the state-wide influence we’ve worked so hard to achieve.
One of the possible rules changes that has been brought up in recent years from various counties is one that would require Republican candidates to each initial each plank in the state party Platform indicating their agreement in order to receive the support of the Party. Since no such rule has yet been approved it is unclear if this would only apply to state-wide Republican candidates or all Republican candidates. Did you know that we believe Wagoner County is the only county in the state of Oklahoma that already has a process in place to measure the conservatism of our candidates? At one time it was called the Vetting Committee and has been in place for several years. Last year a group was established to review the process and determine if and how it could be improved. The outcome of that process is what is now known as the Candidate Information Committee. This group is charged with the responsibility of trying to determine to what extent candidates running as Republican truly represent the values of the Wagoner County Republican Party. This process is evenly applied to all candidates and may include questionnaires, interviews, background checks and review of past voting record for incumbents. The results of these efforts are then published on our website for all interested voters to review. This process is designed to give voters the best possible information about candidates before they go to the polls. Once again, Wagoner County is demonstrating that we are a state-wide leader and further reinforces our view that our efforts should be governed at the local level since we know best what process truly represents our views. We believe governing at the local level works best and this effort demonstrates our commitment to the belief. FYI – For more information on the Standing Rule, please go to our website (wagonergop.com) and go to the Party Information tab, then select the Standing Rules link.