Email we received yesterday from former ODP Chair Dr. Ivan Holmes

I read your post today on Senator Coffee. Clearly it appears that something is terribly wrong behind closed doors inside the Republican caucus. Since I am a Democratic political operative and former party chairman and you, Mr. Arps, are a conservative Republican, there are most assuredly many items in the public policy arena on which we will disagree. But there is one item on which we are in complete agreement: we despise corrupt public officials.

In 1974, I served as the campaign manager for a then-unknown college professor who traveled across Oklahoma in a crusade to sweep out corruption. I’ve never tolerated corruption. The Boren Broom Brigade lives on in the hearts of many reform minded Oklahomans. I am also a former journalism professor, and I’ve been very disappointed at the press’ nonchalant attitude toward Senator Coffee’s unethical behavior. When I read the details of the smear on AG candidate Jim Priest, and the compelling evidence that Senator Coffee was involved, a light went on for me.

Last Thursday I received a late night phone call from a man who identified himself as Sen. Coffee. This individual sounded as if he were intoxicated. Slurring his words, he said he heard I was thinking about holding a press conference on the ethics report he turned in concerning his travel, lodging, and meal reimbursement in 2008 and I better be careful of what I did or I would be sorry. That incident was consistent with the reports coming out of OKPNS these past few weeks. That incident settled in my mind the accuracy of the reports I’ve seen in your blog. While we disagree on many public policy issues, I nonetheless appreciate Republican reformers such as you and, Chair Gary Jones. Sen. Coffee offers Democrats a prime target in this year’s elections.

Ivan Holmes

“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!

Hat tip: MuskogeePolitico

From Hotline On Call:

Ken Blackwell’s name was put into nomination by OK GOP Party Chairman Gary Jones, who heralded Blackwell’s journey from the projects to the OH Sec. of State’s office.

Jones: “I’m not looking for somebody to do what I do. I’m looking for someone to complement what I do. … We need someone who is a proven leader. … It’s fitting that it’s Super Bowl weekend. Ken Blackwell has a record of 13 and 4. A proven record of being elected. … Ken Blackwell’s life is the American dream.” Read more…

OKGOP Chairman Gary Jones left this note on his Facebook page last weekend:

“Gary is running for re-election for OKGOP Chairman. I will be making a formal announcement next week after returning from the RNC winter meeting in Washington.”

Also announcing her intention to challenge Jones was vice chair Cheryl Williams. This what she left Saturday on her Facebook page: “Cheryl Williams is running for Chair of the Oklahoma GOP.”

We’re honestly confused as to the reason Ms. Williams feels a challenge to Jones’ leadership is necessary at this time. Didn’t John McCain when every county in Oklahoma last November? Aren’t Senate Republicans controlling that body for the first time – ever???? Mr. Jones deserves credit for contributing to that success. We’re left scratching our heads on this one!

Michelle Byte over at GetRightOK.com alerted us to a new website she’s started. It’s called www.appointgaryjones.blogspot.com. She says the site will have a link for reader’s to send a message to the governor and she will post “stuff I find elsewhere.” She also plans to occasionally write a few of her thoughts on the site.

“This website is all about doing what is right in this case, and to right the wrong that was done to Gary Jones and to the Oklahoma voters.”

Click here to listen to the OPEA Podcast

Someone once said that as long as there are tests in school, there will be prayer in the public schools. Apparently this also applies to state employees recovering from a payroll tax scandal, hoping for raises in light of a state budget shortfall.

In this podcast, from the Oklahoma Public Employee Association online “Break Room,” Dr. Ivan Holmes talks with Scott Berger about Democratic Party Fundraising, how the Democrats hope to take back the Oklahoma legislature, the employment rate in Oklahoma, the disconnect between the Oklahoma legislature and the voters and between the larger newspapers and the small-town newspapers.

Sources are telling the Oklahoma Political News Service that OKGOP Vice Chair Cheryl Williams was introduced by Senator Clark Jolly at last night’s precinct meetings as the “next OKGOP Chairman.”

Many insiders believe that after State Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan’s multi count indictment, a third Gary Jones’ candidacy is an eventuality. Insiders believe Williams is finally making her true intentions public after many months of quiet speculation among those who are in the party know.

The source says to count current party chairman Gary Jones as one of those who is wary of Williams. His distrust of her has created a relationship that can be described as “icy at best.”

Readers will recall Williams embarrassed Oklahoma at the National Convention in 2000 when she was ejected from the RNC Platform Committee by Governor Ridge. The media trumpeted her behavior as proof of “Dissension” within the ranks of the Party faithful

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OKPNS will continue to investigate.

OKGOP activists inquire on the Chairman’s recent travel itinerary:

In an example of true grassroots leadership, OKGOP Chairman Gary Jones spent Friday in federal court watching his nemesis, Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan, plead not guilty to felony charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and state bribery. In fact, Jones did not attend last night’s Helen Cole Republican of the Year dinner in the GOP stronghold of Cleveland County, because he overnighted in Tulsa to be closer to Muskogee, the location of today’s court proceedings. Not sure the Republican faithful in Cleveland County would appreciate his reasoning, but such is the motivation and focus of Gary Jones.

This unusual step was just the latest installment of Jones’s “I told you so” campaign of gloating and chest-thumping. Not sure exactly how Jones’s presence in federal court today helps the Republican party as it approaches the November elections, but it seems more and more obvious Jones views his position as OKGOP chairman as nothing more than a stepping stone to another campaign for state auditor.