Oklahoma Primary 2020: BatesLine ballot card

Polls are open today until 7 p.m. The Oklahoma State Election Board's online voter tool will let you know where to vote and will show you a sample of the ballot you'll see.

Click the link above to download a printable ballot card listing the candidates I'm recommending and (if in the district) voting for in the Oklahoma primary elections on June 30, 2020. Below I'll add more detailed information on issues and candidates. (This entry will change as I decide to add more detail, link previous articles, or discuss additional races between now and election day. The entry is post-dated to keep it at the top.) The ballot card is now at Revision 2, as I have added recommendations in three suburban school district races and modified my recommendation in Senate 37.

As I posted this late Thursday night, there were races I had planned to write about in detail, but time was short, people were voting, and many have asked for a summary of my recommendations, so I've started by posting my printable ballot card, filling in some details as I have had opportunity.

Below you'll find some links to websites I found helpful in learning about candidates, their values, backgrounds, and political opinions.

When in doubt, I look at campaign contributions, which often tell a story about a candidate's ideological leanings or close ties with local power brokers. Campaign expenditures can be telling, too: Certain consulting firms have strong associations with the pay-to-play culture that makes our Republican supermajority legislature more crony-infested than conservative. Then there are principled conservative consultants; their presence on a campaign team is always a hopeful indication that the candidate is also a principled conservative.

In addition to the usual federal, statewide, legislative, and county races on the ballot, many school districts will hold the general elections for school board that were postponed from April. Two of the seven seats on the Tulsa school board will be filled: I'm supporting Shane Saunders in the open Office 5 seat and challenger Jerry Griffin in Office 6. I'm recommending challengers in the suburban school board races as well (see below).

There are a large number of legislative races this year with Republican primaries. In 2018, lobbyist groups working with the leftist Oklahoma Education Association succeeded in ousting a number of principled conservative legislators. These senators and representatives were guilty only of insisting that the state's voters should have the final say on tax increases, in accordance with Oklahoma's constitution. Many were defeated by RINOs in the primary, a few were defeated by Democrats in the general election.

In 2020 many of those RINOs are being challenged by conservatives in the primary. In districts that were won by Democrats, we have a Republican primary to pick a challenger. A few races are for open seats. All told, 33 of 101 House seats and 11 of the 25 Senate seats up for election this year have a Republican primary, so the outcome will have a massive impact on the character and quality of the Republican supermajority for the next two years. I discuss a few of the Tulsa-area races below.

Oklahoma Democrats also have a primary election on Tuesday, with fewer offices on the ballot. I'm not making any recommendations in those primaries, but I have to give a special mention to Maria Barnes, who is challenging the incumbent Democrat Monroe Nichols in State House District 72. Maria and I served together in the Midtown Coalition of Neighborhood Associations for many years, and she served honorably as a Tulsa City Councilor for District 4. We disagree on many state and national issues, but we found common cause on local matters of neighborhood conservation and public transparency, and I'm proud to call her a friend. One Republican filed in the heavily Democrat district: Ismail A. Shan, on the ballot simply as "Shan," who was not on the voter registration list as of the beginning of this month. He was disqualified, and the Democratic primary will decide the election.

NOTES ON SPECIFIC BALLOT ITEMS:

SQ 802: NO. This would place the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, an unfunded entitlement mandate, permanently into Oklahoma's state constitution. It is a fiscal time bomb and will starve other state responsibilities for funds while squeezing taxpayers tighter every year, while making no real improvement in access to healthcare.

Corporation Commissioner: Todd Hiett. The incumbent, who was the first Republican State House Speaker since the 1920s, is opposed by an 85-year-old perennial candidate.

U. S. Senate: Jim Inhofe. Inhofe's position as Senate Armed Services Committee chairman is important for Oklahoma's four military bases, and he can be counted on to vote as a conservative, even when many of his fellow Republicans stray.

U. S. House, District 2: Markwayne Mullin. Mullin has become a conservative stalwart, to the point that even his erstwhile opponent, Jarrin Jackson, has endorsed him.

U. S. House, District 4: James Taylor. Taylor, a conservative African-American pastor and public school history teacher, is once again challenging longtime incumbent Tom Cole, who was cited as an example of the legal "pay-to-play" system in the "Congressional Favor Factory" report by American Transparency (OpenTheBooks.com).

U. S. House, District 5: David Hill. Winner of this primary will go on to try to win back the seat taken two years ago by Kendra Horn, Oklahoma's lone congressional Democrat. Hill, owner of an auto parts manufacturing company and founder of the Academy of Classical Christian Studies, has been endorsed by the Family Research Council PAC. One of the other leading GOP candidates, State Sen. Stephanie Bice, voted to raise taxes on Oklahomans in 2018, bypassing a vote of the people.

Senate 35: Cheryl Baber. Baber is a known quantity among conservatives in state and local conservative circles. Creekpaum's strong backing from "the Kaiser System" should worry conservatives, and former Judge Morrissey's conversion to conservatism is dubious. Baber is the only candidate in the race who is wise enough to oppose SQ802.

Senate 37: No endorsement. This is a change. I have trustworthy conservative friends supporting each of the candidates. Both candidates have foolishly endorsed SQ802, even though both have indicated it would hurt Oklahoma's budget if it passes. Some of the names on Chris Emerson's list of donors give me pause, as do some of the names on his campaign team, and that's why I initially recommended voting for Cody Rogers. Both campaigns have presented misleading information to voters. (UPDATE: I'm hearing claims that both candidates really oppose 802 but were misquoted. Here's a tip: If the newspaper inaccurately ascribes to you a view on a controversial issue, don't just quietly tell people. Make a public correction on your website and Facebook page and push the paper into issuing a correction. Otherwise it looks like you're trying to have it both ways and can't be trusted.)

House 11: Wendi Stearman, a mom who organized her own homeschool coop in Bartlesville, is a solid conservative challenging an incumbent with a weak voting record.

House 12: Justin Dine. Dine has the universal support of conservative groups and commentators. Charlie Meadows writes that he was blown away by Dine's moral principles, well-developed thought on political principles and communication skills. Incumbent Kevin McDugle has been hanging out with National Popular Vote lobbyists, and his divorce trial hinted at some strange proclivities.

House 14: George Faught is seeking to return to the State House, where his principled refusal to cave to lobbyist pressure put a big target on his back two years ago. We need him back in the Legislature.

House 69: Angela Strohm. Strohm is a conservative challenging the special-interest backed RINO incumbent. Strohm's husband Chuck held the seat previously, but was targeted for his principled opposition to raising taxes without a vote of the people.

House 70: Taylor Woodrum is a conservative, pro-life, pro-2nd-Amendment college student challenging Carol Bush, one of the most liberal members of the Republican House caucus. Woodrum has the support of conservative groups. Bush showed her true colors in an interview with old friend Barry Friedman, then threw him under the bus when her remarks got her in hot water with her Republican colleagues.

House 71: Beverly Atteberry. The candidates in this race to challenge Democrat incumbent Denise Brewer have been very reluctant to share their opinions in candidate surveys, but Atteberry did earn an AQ for her response to the NRA's candidate questionnaire.

House 74: Brad Peixotto. Peixotto owns a medical marijuana dispensary. This is a rematch from two years ago. The incumbent, a Republican, gets poor ratings from conservative groups for his voting record on fiscal issues.

House 79: Margie Alfonso has a long history of conservative activism on behalf of the unborn, serving as president of the Tulsa Eagle Forum and delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Tulsa County Court Clerk: Don Newberry. Newberry is running for re-election four years after defeating the outgoing clerk's preferred successor. He is credited with improving customer service and efficiency in the Court Clerk's office.

Tulsa County Commissioner, District 2: Josh Turley. Turley ran a strong race against incumbent Democrat Karen Keith four years ago, and he had the endorsement of County Assessor Ken Yazel, who saw Turley as someone who could provide much-needed transparency in the county budget process. Turley served as a crime scene investigator for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office and then creating the first risk management program for TCSO, which succeeded in reducing car accidents involving deputies and tort claim payouts, and independently developed policies and procedures to be used by smaller sheriff's offices and county jails to improve performance and minimize risk. Turley wants Tulsa County to follow an open data policy -- by default, data used and generated by county officials would automatically be made available to the public, without the need for an open records request. Turley's primary opponent, Eddy Barclay, is currently Director of Road Operations for Tulsa County. While either would be preferable to Keith, Turley looks like he would be the most effective at making needed moves toward transparency in Tulsa County government.

Tulsa School Board, Office 5: Shane Saunders. Saunders is a Republican businessman with two daughters in the TPS system, running for an open board seat.

Tulsa School Board, Office 6: Jerry Griffin. Griffin is a professor in higher education with an earned doctorate, a Republican with some ideas for improving the district running against a 24-year Democrat incumbent who is a rubber stamp for the administration.

(Here's the video of the League of Women Voters virtual candidate forum for TPS Offices 5 and 6, held on June 17, 2020.)

Berryhill School Board, Office 5: Allisha Craig, a public school teacher with Epic, with children in the Berryhill system, would bring a critical eye to "the way things have always been done," and experience in remote instruction that may be crucial in the coming years.

Collinsville School Board, Office 5: Jeromy Burwell is a corporate finance controller with children in the upper elementary and middle school and experience in accounting for government contracting.

Union School Board, Office 5: Brandon Swearengin has a master's in accounting and is pursuing a law degree. He wants to stop the undemocratic practice of rushing through important financial and policy decisions on the board's consent agenda without debate. The incumbent, Ken Kinnear, is VP and treasurer of George Kaiser's Kaiser-Francis Oil Company. During a February 10, 2020, board meeting, Kinnear delivered a cringe-inducing speech that was effectively a campaign commercial, which was recorded in the minutes (see page 10).

MORE INFORMATION:

Here are some blogs, endorsement lists, candidate questionnaires, and sources of information for your consideration.

• Talk Radio 1170 Pat Campbell podcast archive
• iVoterGuide: Candidate responses to a detailed questionnaire written from a conservative Christian point-of-view
• Muskogee Politico news, questionnaires, and analysis
• Muskogee Politico 2020 primary election tips and picks
• Charlie Meadows's picks
• Oklahomans for Life candidate surveys
• Oklahoma Constitution newspaper's Oklahoma State Senate ratings and Oklahoma State House ratings.
• Endorsements from Tulsa Area Republican Assembly and other Tulsa conservative groups
• NRA-PVF endorsements and grades
• Oklahomans for Public Education 2020 voter guide: This is a kind of reverse-psychology voter guide. The red apple next to a candidate's name probably means he or she supports higher taxes, no reduction in school administrative bloat, and no meaningful educational choice for our children and their parents. You should treat a yellow triangle as a gold medal -- this is likely a candidate who will defend taxpayers' interests and work for school choice and educational efficiency.

TIP JAR: If you appreciate the many hours of research that went into this guide, and if you'd like to help keep this site online, you can contribute to BatesLine's upkeep via PayPal.