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Examiner.com:
Huh? While the capitol press corps attention on Sen. Coffee continues to be on technical ‘wonkish’ stories about political forms and reports, the electronic media is subtly shifting their focus into other areas, which threatens to take controversies surrounding the senate leader to a whole new, and bigger, audience. Read more…
Related:
The Lost Ogle:The Oklahoman ♥ Glenn Coffee
Oklahoma Women’s Network Blog: Future of African-American Heritage Plaza in Question?
“However, the Senate leader, Sen. Glenn Coffee, refused to hear the bill. Senate leadership was asked specifically why they did not want to hear the bill they reported said, (they) don’t believe such display should be on the capitol grounds.”
From Examiner.com:
Insiders say Corporate Commissioner Jeff Cloud is still talking about running for the 5th District Congressional seat being vacated by Congresswoman Mary Fallin, who has announced she’ll be running for governor.
Reheated Coffee: Dirty Harry to the Republican Rescue? Read more…
“In between naps, Cloud has let it be known that he is opposing Gary Jones, perhaps the hardest-working chairman the party has seen in recent years.”
There are many informed observers who believe State GOP Chief Gary Jones has a real race on his hands for another term as chairman. Jones, who lost the 2006 race for state auditor to now-convict Jeff McMahan, largely in part due to the refusal of the state media to cover the race, is facing a stiff from challenger Cheryl Williams. Most believe Jones will win if there is a large turnout of Republicans at the state convention, but if the numbers are small, Mrs. Williams has a good chance of unseating Jones due to her small but fiercely loyal group of supporters.
But a comical element to the race us emerging: insiders say one of Jones’ leading opponents is none other than Corporation Commissioner Jeff Cloud, the ‘D’ student who won re-election in the 2008. Cloud’s laziness and proclivity for hanging out with liberals was exposed last year, and he was embarrassed and apparently angered that Jones did not come to his “rescue.” Cloud has not explained to our sources exactly what he wanted Jones to do, since erasing the facts from the media does not seem to be within Chairman Jones’s power.
Observers are still shaking their head that Cloud was re-elected while fellow Commissioner Jim Roth was defeated. Roth and Cloud had virtually identical liberal records on the commission, and many believed that Roth, superior to Cloud in work ethic, intellect and campaign funding, stood a better chance of re-election. In fact, energy lobbyists worked feverishly to get Cloud out of the race so that Roth could run for the full six-year term, instead of the two-year seat Roth held as a result of his appointment by Gov. Henry to fill the Denise Bode vacancy.
But the anti-Obama backlash propelled Republican Cloud to victory and Democrat Roth was swept away in the same wave. Roth’s management team, led by lobbyist Pat Hall, made critical errors, and the strategy used by Roth’s opponent Dana Murphy capitalized on those errors. Jones masterminded the anti-Roth earned media campaign and insiders say was he was critical to the Murphy’s success.
Since his re-election, Rip Van Cloud had resumed his six-year nap, accomplishing little and working on his golf game. But in between naps, Cloud has let it be known that he is opposing Gary Jones, perhaps the hardest-working chairman the party has seen in recent years. For Cloud, hard work is a foreign concept, something that should have him in line for an Obama cabinet seat; but we digress.
At OKPNS, we’ve had our differences with Jones, but it’s hard to argue with success: as Chairman, he was at the helm as Republicans took over the House of Representatives and the State Senate. The old-guard liberal-leaning Rockefeller Republican wing of the party despises Jones because he has succeeded without their money and their help. Two years ago, he defeated their candidate, and now he faces a challenge from the blue-bloods and the Ron Paul forces, a group one long-time observer tells OKPNS that is serious minded but includes a large percentage “of crazies.”
We don’t know about that characterization of the anti-Jones coalition, and we have nothing against Mrs. Williams, but we do know that if the state’s laziest politician is working talking smack against you, then you must be conservative AND hard working. And that’s something that Jeff Cloud simply does not understand.
Related:
OKPNS FLASHBACK: Video: Corporate Commissioner Jeff Cloud Gets Caught!
By Andrew W. Griffin
Red Dirt Report, editor
Posted: April 6, 2009
Where does the long and winding road in Adair County lead Red Dirt Report???
STILWELL, Okla. – Constructing and maintaining roads and bridges is one of the main functions of a county commissioner’s office. But when the line between private and state becomes blurred in Adair County, one commissioner is left with more questions than answers.
Russell Turner, chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of Adair County told Red Dirt Report that he has already had some negative encounters with some folks who think the county can pave private roads. “It’s kind of an old mentality,” he said.
“After I first took office, this guy lived off State Highway 59, he called me up and wanted me to build a road for his son to put a trailer house in a field,” said Turner. “I looked at it and told him I can’t do it. I can’t build a road there. And he got madder than hell at me. I told him the money was going to the roads where they were meant to go.”
Turner admits that the State of Oklahoma is partly to blame for the problems he is facing in his home county regarding road building and repair issues. “The state should be more black and white on some of this stuff,” Turner said. “It’s somewhat ambiguous.”
But despite some ambiguity, Turner and the Commissioners do their best to follow the law.
The Association of County Commissioners (ACCO) is, according to their site, a place where “231 County Commissioners in all 77 Oklahoma counties work together for the health, safety and welfare needs of all county citizens.”
Basically, it helps county commissioners know what they can and cannot do, Turner said.
And when Red Dirt Report contacted ACCO’s transportation engineer, Randy Robinson, he was pretty explicit about the limitations that county’s have when it comes to doing work on private roadways and such. Read more…
“The county has enough money; we can afford the decrease” - Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan
That “giant sucking sound” you hear, as Ross Perot used to say, is actually the daily OKC paper trying to mend fences with one of the state’s brightest new political stars, reform-minded District 2 Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan.
The paper did everything it could to stop Maughan during last year’s campaign. To the paper, Maughan seemed to threaten the old guard good ol’ boy downtown crowd. OKPNS was on the Maughan bandwagon from the very beginning, and after just a few months in office he’s demonstrated why we’ve been such big supporters: he’s a reformer with integrity.
So we’re glad to see the paper admit their error, and we offer our hearty congratulations to the Commissioner on another job well done!
Related:
Examiner.com: Reporters Should Just Stick to Reporting the News!
Hat tip:OklahomaHorizonTV
Many Oklahomans have lost their jobs in recent months, with some companies taking a wait and see approach. But for workers who have lost their jobs already, they can’t afford to wait which is why Oklahoma has a rapid response team designed to help people facing layoffs.
Excerpts from this morning’s radio edition of “Your Vote Counts” on AM 1520:
VOTER ID:
“What is so wrong with proving who you are.” - Randy Renner
“Solution looking for a problem. The voter system in Oklahoma is one of the best in the country.” - Rep. Morrissette
“There’s the nonsense of this argument. How would we know if there is voter fraud since we don’t require I.D. now?” - Rep. Terrill
SEN. COFFEE:
“Should Glenn Coffee resign his position as leader of the Senate?”
“No he should not. Before this ever became a story, Glenn Coffee manned up and paid his taxes that were due.” – Rep. Terrill
“We have heard resolution after resolution to stop out of state travel by members of the state house of representatives. My friends on the right won’t hear it.” - Rep. Morrissette
Et Tu Bode?