Soon to be ex-Republican J.D. Johnston performed better than expected
in the Republican runoff election for Oklahoma County Commissioner
District 2 tonight.

The ex-mayor who sold his political soul and lost a fortune to idiot
campaign consultants got nearly 30% of the vote, silencing the critics
who thought J.D. would get only 1%.

Final tally: Brian Maughan 71%, the “geniuses” 29%.

Who was it said, “A fool and his money are easily parted?” J.D. Johnston’s campaign consultants!

On the day of the run-off, sources tell OKPNS that the hapless J.D.
Johnston County Commissioner campaign received a huge blow recently when KFOR television refused to run J.D. Johnston ads because they bordered on being “libelous.”

It was a major blow to the Johnston campaign, who were apparently counting on the huge Olympic audience to lobby into voting for the now disgraced ex-politician from Bethany. If KFOR (who regularly look the other way when their own clownish ex-politician Mike Turpen pimps his clients) can’t stomach the ads, they must really, really be bad!

It’s yet another setback to buffoonish Johnston, who has been backed by political hacks of both parties at the Oklahoma County Courthouse, causing some insiders to wonder just what it is the hacks are worried about the public discovering if their boy J.D. gets whacked at the polls by Brian Maughan on Tuesday. But look at it this way: now J.D. can go re-register as a Democrat and run against some of the other RINO’s down at the courthouse next time!

Developing……….

Related:

Okiepolitics: What did J.D. do to OKPNS?

J.D. Johnston’s been caught with his dirty tricks hanging out! The “geniuses” have screwed poor old J.D. once again after Republican officials, including U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, publicly shellacked the hapless Johnston after Johnston deceitfully used Coburn’s image in a negative TV ad against favorite Brian Maughan. Coburn authorized Oklahoma County Republican Chair Pam Pollard to do a robocall denouncing the slimy tactic, further harming Johnston’s slim chances to overtake Maughan in the Oklahoma County Commissioner District 2 race.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO CHAIRWOMAN POLLARD’S CALL

Insiders say the robocall should finish off Johnston, who foolishly hired an inept and untalented gaggle of campaign consultants whose only abilities, as we chronicled earlier, were the slimy dirty trick. “He’s dead meat,” one observer laughingly tells OKPNS. “He’s probably lost a quarter million dollars, he’s going to lose the election, and his reputation in the Republican Party is shot to hell as he touted his “experience.” Some experience: I’d like to sell the guy a used car!”

So tonight on the eve of the election, Johnston’s dirty trick has blown up in his face, his wallet is a lot lighter, and he’s the one wearing the slime. Great work, “geniuses!”

“The geniuses” are at it again. Today they’ve drug poor old J.D. Johnston out into the deep water, apparently advocating tax increases at a time when his opponent, Brian Maughan, is pulling away in the Republican County Commissioner District 2 runoff according to most
observers. Further, they have placed the former Bethany Mayor squarely into the controversy surrounding the Oklahoma County jail.

“For decades the jail has been a financial drain. Sheriff John Whetsel and his staff have done a great job of operating the jail as efficiently as possible.

The latest report from the Department of Justice has offered a scathing report, and while many of the issues raised have been addressed by the sheriff, county property taxpayers could be at risk.”

In a report made public this month, the United States Department of Justice strongly criticized the management of the jail, which has been the scene of 44 deaths since 2000, including three infants. In one instance, an expectant mother was chained to a rail for 10 hours before she delivered the still-born infant in a pool of blood. Referring to the jail controversy, J.D.’s genius handlers quote him as saying the jail’s management has done a “great job,” something the U.S. Department of Justice, the City of Oklahoma City and the families of 44 dead inmates disagree with, by the way. Even Whetsel, who in his first (losing) campaign blamed the management of the jail for its problems, has tacitly agreed with the report: a few days after the report was made public, Whetsel hurriedly hired a new administrator, who said the problems can be fixed, something apparently overlooked by J.D.’s geniuses.

At this rate, the Johnston campaign will overtake the Curtis Bruehl campaign as the worst campaign management job in the 2008 election cycle, ironically run by the geniuses who are torpedoing his chances, and his reputation in this disaster.

“Expect J.D. and his genius handlers to call for U.N. intervention before the Russians reach Atlanta.”

Fresh off lying to the voters about running a clean campaign, the formerly respected Republican known as J.D. Johnston has gone silly negative, again.

Johnston and the “geniuses” that run his campaign have issued a bizarre and rambling press release which, if you dig deep enough, contains an announcement that the former police officer has received the Fraternal Order of Police endorsement. Johnston, whose mind appears to still be in a fog after getting his butt kicked by Brian Maughan in the July 29th primary, apparently thinks he’s in a runoff for sheriff or district attorney. Regardless, his genius campaign handlers succeeded in burying the good news in a torrent of blithering idiocy and insults to Republicans, raising serious questions of his grasp on reality and his evident lack of competency to hold elective office.

“Despite the fact a Republican sounding group has endorsed my opponent; even they admit they dont (sp) believe he has the experience or ability to get the job done. I do have the experience necessary to do the job and am looking forward to working with the other elected leaders in a cooperative way and end the embarrassing disagreements that have brought our county such negative publicity, Johnston said.”

J.D. is touting his “experience,” but based on what we’ve seen from his campaign - besides the fact that the author of Johnston’s press releases vehemently dislikes commas - we know the following: he lies about running clean campaigns, he can’t remember which party he’s in, he can’t select efficient and competent employees, he’s confused about what office he’s running for, he wastes in a manner that makes Nancy Pelosi jealous and he seeks out the support of groups that want illegal immigration to run wild. Bet the FOP really appreciates that last one!

Based upon this week’s developments, J.D will probably seek the endorsement of the state Democratic Party, and issue a press release blaming Maughan for the Russian invasion of Georgia. Expect J.D. and his genius handlers to call for U.N. intervention before the Russians reach Atlanta.

“Geniuses” to seek Ahmadinejad endorsement?

When we told you that Republican Oklahoma County Commission District 2 candidate J.D. Johnston had fired his second team of campaign consultants and hired a third batch, we also suggested that the former Bethany Mayor would be tempted to go silly negative in his uphill battle to catch Brian Maughan.

We were right, and it’s curtains for Johnston’s reputation.

Sources tell OKPNS Johnston hired a gaggle of undistinguished operatives known mostly for poorly orchestrated dirty tricks. The so-called consultants have been tied to the catastrophe that was the campaign against Rep. Randy Terrill in the District 53 Republican House primary. Insiders says some of the faction that instigated the lawsuit against the State of Oklahoma for not offering driver’s license tests in the Iranian language were donors to the ill-fated anti-Terrill campaign. Johnston’s new “advisors” participated in that epic bungle, which was replete with slimy dirty tricks. They also have been tied to failed slimy behavior against State Rep. Jason Murphey. Heck of a resume’, huh?

“From what I’ve seen, they’re who you want handling your campaign if you’re running for dogcatcher or some local yokel office, but basically they’re awful,” one county insider says about the new advisers. And on Thursday, as predicted, a fecal flinging e-mail circulated. Here are some excerpts:

“The extremist groups, those that have Republican sounding names, are
blasting me and it is my belief this is a sure sign of the weakness and lack of experience my opponent has and how desperate they are to elect another Stan Inman/Brent Rinehart clone to county office they can control with
their anti-government agenda.”

“There are some in both parties who are admitted libertarians that oppose all government. Inman/Rinehart earned the endorsement of these groups because of their extremist, out-of-the-mainstream, Republican-sounding ideas that pander to the lowest common denominator.”

“My opponent may have an endorsement of a ‘Republican sounding group’ but he has a lack of experience. We need an experienced leader, not an unproven former county worker who, much like a ghost, has left no footprints of leadership anywhere he has worked in political-based jobs.”

“I’m a grown up, I have a lifetime of experience and will serve the
voters full-time as county commissioner that is my goal. I’m interested in
serving the county I have lived and worked all my life. My opponent, endorsed by extremist groups that have brought ridicule to Oklahoma County, meets the requirements to file for office, but lacks the experience to effectively serve the people of our great county.” (Click here to read entire email)

We’re glad to know Johnston is a “grown-up”: after the hire of the “geniuses,” we were a little shaky on that. And labeling the 69% of Republicans who didn’t vote for him as “extremists” is really a clever way to gain support, huh?

The imbecilic e-mail slandered activist Republicans and, in an attempt to fool all the people all the time, attempted to link Maughan to the man he defeated in the July 29th primary, Brent Rinehart. Maughan far outdistanced Johnston, 47% to 32%, in the race. Maughan’s entire campaign was based on getting Rinehart out of government, and he had publicly declared that in the event he finished out of the money, he (Maughan) would endorse Johnston.

So now Johnston has violated his promise to run a positive campaign on the issues by either sanctioning the dirty trick or by being asleep at the switch as his team of campaign miscreants executed a ridiculous political scam. Whether he was too clever or too clueless, it was an incredible political miscalculation. Either way, it was a very, very bad week in the political career of J.D. Johnston. After this idiotic move, with the consultant’s ties to him, getting the Iranian President’s endorsement won’t seem like such a silly idea after all!

By Charlie Meadows

I was recently questioned as to why I suggested in my Charlie’s Picks that J.D. Johnston should never hold office again based on his performance as Bethany Mayor. Following are some of the reasons. Bethany is a small city which struggles to accomplish providing it’s vital city functions, even with a high 4% city sales tax tacked on to the 4.5% taken by the state. Johnston’s TV commercials promote him as a conservative. However, his past performance strongly suggests otherwise.

A few years ago while serving as Mayor, J.D. Johnston was behind a plan to have the taxpayers provide health insurance for the Mayor and council. That measure required unanimous approval from the Mayor and Council members to take effect. Even though then Councilman Richard Engle was self employed and would have benefitted greatly from that action, he was opposed to putting that burden on the taxpayers. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand Engle was the conservative and Johnston the big spending liberal in that situation. Recently Johnston proclaimed on Mark Shannon’s program that Oklahoma County needed to quit spending the money on themselves and spend it on the people? Do you think he has had a change of heart now that he is running for office? I seriously doubt it.

Sometime after that the Mayor proposed the city float a bond issue and repay it with a property tax increase. The needs were valid, new roof on city hall, new police station and a new animal shelter. However, Bethany had available in a special fund, twice the money necessary for the improvements which resulted from the sale of their hospital. Again
it was Richard Engle forming an organization “Citizens For a Better Bethany,” who with the help of others, printed and distributed literature to inform the citizens of J.D.’s unnecessary tax increase proposal. Properly informed, the citizens strongly defeated the property tax proposal and then the city did what it should have done in the first place. That was to make the improvements with the monies on hand. Again it was Richard Engle watching out for the taxpayers and Johnston was again the big spending liberal.

I am told the reason they didn’t want to use the money on hand was so they could use it for economic development (corporate welfare) programs. Bethany has lost or tied up hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer monies on several failed programs. Another problem I have with Mr. Johnston is that he built a new home in OKC, but continued as Mayor of Bethany, though the city charter required he live in Bethany. He claimed he was still living in his old home. If you believe that, you will believe he must have just wanted to build that new home to look at and admire rather than to live in.

A little over two and a half years ago he announced at a council meeting that he was going to resign as mayor to devote more time to his business. One councilman told me, “I couldn’t believe he said that as I knew along with many others that he was planning on running for a state house seat.” Sure enough, shortly after he resigned, rather than devoting more time to his business he ran for a legislative seat. Thank goodness Charles Key defeated him in the primary run-off by the whopping majority of about 40 votes.

All I can say is, J.D. Johnston is not a conservative and if you want someone to speak straight with you, don’t elect J.D. Johnston for County Commissioner. Personally, I like Brian Maughn, but I am not sure he will be able to stand up to the “court house gang.” If he doesn’t, I fear they will destroy him or he will learn to go along to get along. I would vote for Brian Maughn in a heartbeat over the liberal Republican RINO, J.D. Johnston.

The Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC) meets for lunch every Wednesday, 12 noon at Italiano’s Restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC.

The confusion and chaos in the J.D. Johnston Oklahoma County Commissioner District 2 campaign exploded to the surface Thursday, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Brian Maughan came close to winning the three-way Republican race with 47% of the vote. Johnston finished second and made the runoff, but had only 32%, and most political observers say the lead is next to impossible to overcome, especially since Johnston has virtually no political organization on the ground and Maughan sports a formidable grassroots operation.

On Thursday, as the reports of Johnston firing his second group of campaign advisors circulated, rumors began to surface that Johnston has hired yet another set of operatives. These sources say that if true, Johnston is bringing on board some campaign ‘experts’ who seldom win yet are versed in the art of the dirty trick, including one who was deeply involved in management of Randy Terrill’s primary opponent.

Also on Thursday, Johnston circulated an e-mail that appeared to, among other strange items, exploit his wife’s cancer in an effort to attract support, ala Elizabeth Edwards. It was simply sad and pathetic, and combined with the day’s other news, appears to indicate the Johnston campaign has gone completely off the tracks, and trains running off the tracks can do a lot of damage. He’s publicly pledged to run an upbeat, positive campaign emphasizing his business and government experience, but if Johnston has chosen to go silly/stupid negative, and it appears he’s loaded up on consultants whose only talents are for sleaze, his reputation will be ruined. As we’ve pointed out before, bad consultants get you bad results.

Political observers say the runoff campaign for the Oklahoma County Commissioner District 2 Republican nomination is picking up where it left off: with leader Brian Maughan returning to old-fashioned retail politics and runner-up J.D. Johnston back with paid media.

As promised: Based upon the returns, and combined with the campaign expenditures as reported in the media through July 14^th, Maughan raised approximately $58,000, or $13.71 per vote; and Johnston approximately $180,000, or $64.10 per vote. These are not precise numbers, and the cost per vote will increase when the final figures are in, but it does demonstrate a stark difference in how the campaigns were managed.

With Maughan failing to reach a runoff by only a few percentage points, it’s no wonder he’s returned to the tried and true retail approach. But it’s puzzling why Johnston, a highly-qualified and experienced candidate, would return to an expensive and thus far ineffective method. Some are pointing to the former Mayor’s a large payroll of ineffective consultants, pollsters and paid workers as the main culprit for his expensive and poor showing at the polls.

It goes without saying that the former Bethany Mayor, who is now touting his extensive business experience, should show the Republican voters how he would manage county government: operate a lean and efficient operation, and rid the rolls of those who bring nothing but increased costs to the table.

You think his campaign advisers would see the irony in that message?

Watch for OKPNS to post the ‘dollars per vote’ analysis between Maughan and Johnston in this primary. Developing…

Related:

It’s official, 100% of 2234 precincts have reported.