| 2018 General Election Lost 54 — 42 |
An Okie from Muskogee
We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee;We don’t take no trips on LSDWe don’t burn no draft cards down on Main Street;We like livin‘ right, and bein‘ free.I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee
Merle Haggard’s song is a part of Oklahoma’s history. Eleven years ago, Oklahoma celebrated 100 years as a state of the United States of America. The Edmondsons, from Muskogee, are part of Oklahoma’s history. So is racial tension. Also liberals.In the decade before Oklahoma became a state, Tulsa had its first experience as an oil boom town. In Oklahoma’s second decade as a state, during Tulsa’s second stretch as an oil boom town, Tulsa had a pogrom.
That term is not exactly accurate. Pogroms happened in Russia and its neighbors. In Russia the state encouraged Orthodox Christians and the police and militias to humiliate and kill Jews. The segregated black Greenwood section of Tulsa had a thriving middle class and a prosperous central area. In Tulsa the state and city encouraged whites, including the police and militias, to humiliate and kill blacks. Historians call it a race riot, not a pogrom.
David Grann writes about Tulsa a decade later. He describes how the Osage Indians thrived as a result of the oil boom, thrived as a result of royalties received for oil under their land. He describes whites and the legal system they controlled systematically cheating the Osage Indians out of their money and their rights and murdering those who got in the way. Fifty years later, before Okie from Muskogee became an anthem, there was a chance that Oklahoma would become a liberal state. Fred Harris was the central liberal figure. He was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate in 1954. In 1964, Harris was elected to the US Senate to complete the term of Robert Kerr, who died in office. He defeated former governor J. Howard Edmondson (note the name) in the Democratic primary and the University of Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson (note the job) in the general election.
Harris was Lyndon Johnson’s second choice for Vice President in 1964. He was one of Johnson’s strongest Great Society supporters and ran for President in 1972. In that year of George McGovern’s disastrous candidacy, Harris was the most liberal Democratic candidate — for domestic policy. There was a chance that Oklahoma could have become a liberal state.As soon as he won the Democratic primary, Drew Edmondson ttps://drewforoklahoma.com was attacked by national Republicans for being a Hillary Clinton supporting liberal. Not true.
There are no liberal Edmondsons in Oklahoma. Edmondson’s record ismoderate, not liberal. Edmondson’s African American Lt. Governor candidate running mate is not a liberal. Her great grandfather was killed in the Tulsa “race riot” and her grandfather was a jazz musician. Anastasia Pittman is not a liberal. She has taught at the Oklahoma Christian Academy and values her grandmother’s life motto: “Christ, Culture, Community and Character.”
Drew Edmondson is from an Oklahoma political family. Before his father Ed was a Congressman, he was an FBI agent. His uncle, J. Howard the Governor was a good government reformer. Under his leadership Oklahoma repealed prohibition, developed something that resembled a civil service system, introduced central purchasing and a tax withholding plan. Drew’s brother James is Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. No one suggests that he has a liberal bias. He does live with the experience of a daughter participating in a crime spree that led to a 35 year prison sentence. Drew Edmondson’s deeply political family are Oklahoma type moderate Democrats. So is Drew.
Drew Edmondson’s record as Attorney General is moderate. Some of his positions as Attorney General could be seen as having a liberal tendency. He joined with Attorneys General around the country in a law suit against tobacco companies. He joined an unsuccessful national effort to require the Boy Scouts of America to permit gay men to serve as Scout Leaders.
Most of Drew Edmondson‘s record is focused on local issues. He prevented Governor Frank Keating from reorganizing his cabinet without legislative approval. He tried to impose draconian penalties on paid, out of state term limit and initiative rights petitioners for a ballot question. The statute on which he based his action was found to be unconstitutional.
Drew Edmondson would be a departure from the extremely conservative incumbent. With a recent 19% approval rating, Mary Fallin has been described as the least popular governor in the country. Any successor would want to be a departure.Fallin has gone from one bad experience to another. She imposed what became a heart attack inducing botched lethal injection execution over the objections of the state Supreme Court. She achieved changes in the criminal justice system to include life sentences for some non-violent crimes. Despite court rulings prohibiting an existing Ten Commandments Monument, she struggled to find ways to keep it. She supported a bill to place anti-abortion signs in public rest rooms, but vetoed an unconstitutional bill to require prison sentences of up to three years for doctors who performed abortions for reasons other than saving the life of the mother. She prohibited the State National Guard from granting spousal benefits to same sex couples and signed legislation to allow agencies to refuse adoption by same sex couples. She vetoed a bill that would have required the local sheriff’s approval for gun related purchases like silencers and vetoed legislation that would have prohibited guns in public parks. She did veto legislation to allow adults to carry guns without a permit or training.
The issues that really made Fallin unpopular were financial. She tried to shift from relying on an income tax to a sales tax. Income taxes were cut back. Reductions in the price of gas and oil created further revenue loss. The legislature never did impose sales taxes she wanted to replace thereduced income tax.
Revenue was down drastically. Reductions in education spending were the principal, but hardly the only cuts in public services. Education problems were an embarrassment to the state. Teachers who struck for increased education spending were well received.
Governor Fallin’s unpopularity has made a Democratic successor possible. Oklahoma could support a Democrat who is impervious to accusations of being a liberal and has a familiar Oklahoma name. Help Drew Edmondson https://drewforoklahoma.com/ get it done. Help create a blue wave that affects state houses.. Moderate Democrats are starkly different from radically conservative Republicans.
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