January 2025 Archives

Talk radio host Lee Matthews is back on the air in Oklahoma City, but in Tulsa you'll only be able to hear him on the internet.

In early November 2024, there was a big layoff of iHeartMedia employees, including on-air talent. Lee Matthews, whose evening drive show had been simulcast 5 - 7 p.m. weeknights on KAKC 1300 and 93.5 in Tulsa and KTOK 1000 in Oklahoma City, was one of those suddenly off the air. In January 2024, Matthews's 6 - 8 a.m. morning drive show on KTOK only had been displaced by the nationwide "Your Morning Show with Michael DelGiorno." 1300/93.5 The Patriot is now syndicated talk radio 24/7. The station also recently replaced Charlie Kirk with Armstrong & Getty, a Sacramento-based morning show delayed six hours, and they added Houston-based Michael Berry to fill a two-hour gap in the evening. Armstrong & Getty and Berry are all based at iHeartMedia stations, so I suspect there is a financial benefit to using them.

Last week, on Inauguration Day, Matthews returned to the Oklahoma City airwaves on KQOB Freedom 96.9, with a weekday 4 to 7 p.m. evening drive program. Freedom 96.9 is licensed to Enid, with transmitter in Crescent and studios in Oklahoma City, and is owned by Champlin Broadcasting, which also owns KWFF Hank FM. (Champlin was also the name of an Enid-based oil company and refinery.) Freedom 96.9 also features former State Sen. Jake Merrick with a daily morning drive show from 7 to 8 a.m. The rest of the schedule is syndicated conservative talk, including Brian Kilmeade, Dan Bongino, Dana Loesch, Joe Pags, and Jimmy Failla.

Meanwhile, Tulsa remains without a daily local talk show. Tulsa Beacon Weekend, hosted by Jeff Brucculeri, provides a one-hour long-form interview every Saturday at noon, often on local topics. KRMG has occasional in-depth interviews with local newsmakers. KWGS's Studio Tulsa, a daily 30-minute interview with Rich Fisher, left the air in June 2023. But no station in town is offering the kind of local talk radio we enjoyed on KFAQ for nearly two decades, with local officials in studio to converse with their constituents, candidate and issue debates, and in-depth analysis from the host and local opinion leaders.

I have heard that there have been stations with an interest in offering local talk radio, but perhaps not for the kind of money needed to get someone to do three hours a day, five days a week, with all the off-air preparation involved.

To be honest, even when Matthews was on 1300, despite my early hopes, Tulsa issues never got much air time. Perhaps because of iHeart's prescribed format, the show's content segments were short, constantly interrupted with traffic reports and PSAs. A good amount of time was devoted to conversations with national iHeart reporters or talking to local callers about national issues, and there was often an interview with a nostalgic pop culture figure promoting a new book. It was fun to listen to Freddy Boom Boom Cannon and Juliet Mills, but I don't ever recall Matthews doing an interview with a Tulsa newsmaker. When Matthews was off for vacation or some other gig, the station simply moved Jesse Kelly's national show earlier, rather than have another local host substitute for Matthews.

Local talk radio matters. Conservative Republican voters will turn out and vote for RINOs in Republican primaries and progressive Democrats in non-partisan city and school elections because there isn't a mass-media outlet discussing local politics from a conservative perspective, there isn't a voice with a reach big enough to contradict dark money and big money. This is how you get faux-conservatives like Gentner Drummond, who couldn't win in 2018 when Pat Campbell was on the air, but could in 2022 after Pat's passing and the end of KFAQ. As I discussed in my City Elders talk in April 2022, the lack of an effective conservative mass-media voice is how you get a turnout for school board that's majority Republican but votes for the Democrat-backed progressive.

FOR THE RECORD:

From the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, captures of the schedules of KAKC and KTOK before the advent of Your Morning Show with Michael DelGiorno, after his show launched on KAKC and KTOK,

• KAKC schedule August 2023
• KAKC schedule September 2024
• KAKC schedule January 2025
• KTOK schedule December 2023
• KTOK schedule March 2024
• KTOK schedule January 2025

AND FURTHERMORE (2025/03/21):

In response to a FB comment complimenting Lee Matthews on his new Freedom 96.9 show and remarking that "the other station must have been holding you down," Matthews replied:

Thank you! You are correct. There was a LOT of corporate advertising that took time away from my content. There were also a LOT of mandates I had to abide that didn't make for good programming. Glad to be free of all that Bravo Sierra!

In Oklahoma, election season never ends. (Just ask our weary election board secretaries.)

Two special elections have been called to fill vacancies in Tulsa County State House seats that were just up for election last year: House District 71 in midtown Tulsa and House District 74 in Owasso. The filing period is this Monday, January 27, 2025, through Wednesday, January 29, 2025. The Special Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, the runoff (if necessary) on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, and the Special General Election: Tuesday, June 10, 2025. If a runoff is not necessary, the general election will occur on May 13.

(Filing for the vacancy in Senate District 8 in Okmulgee County took place earlier this month, and its primary will occur in March, with a runoff in April, and a general election in May. Filing for non-charter cities like Broken Arrow will be next week, February 3-5, 2025.)

Democrat Amanda Swope faced no opposition when she ran for reelection last year for House District 71. Swope resigned shortly after the start of her new term to take a job in Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols' office. Republican Mark Vancuren faced no primary opposition, then defeated an independent candidate with 76% of the vote. Vancuren is now chief deputy to newly elected Tulsa County Commissioner Lonnie Sims. Both Swope and Vancuren have swapped hours of driving on the Turner Turnpike and miserly pay for a job close to home and a much better salary.

Except for a brief two year period, District 71 had been Republican from its creation in 1967 until 2018, producing conservative representatives like Bill Clark (founding pastor of Redeemer Covenant Church) and John Sullivan (who went from the State House to the U. S. House in 2001). There was a brief interregnum from 2002 to 2004, when a scandal involving RINO incumbent Chad Stites erupted after the primary but before the general election; Democrat Roy McClain, the beneficiary of the scandal, was known as "Dead Man Walking," losing overwhelmingly in his 2004 bid for re-election, the year of the first Republican House majority since the Harding Administration. But Democrats have held the seat for the last four elections, beginning with former news reader Denise Brewer in 2018 and 2020, and Amanda Swope in 2022 and 2024.

In redistricting after the 2010 Census, House 71's boundaries were shifted to include the 61st and Peoria area, a neighborhood of public housing and subsidized apartment complexes. Democrats finished first in House 71 in every race in 2022, and Kamala Harris won 56% of the election-day vote in 2024. It would be amazing if Republicans could retake the district and regain a foothold in midtown Tulsa. That seems quite unlikely, but odd things can happen in low-turnout special elections.

Grover Campbell was the first Republican to win House District 74 in 1990; he held it for two terms before moving to the State Senate. Democrat Phil Ostrander held the seat from 1994 to 2000, when Republican John Smaligo upset the incumbent. District 74 has been in GOP hands ever since. In the 2022 elections, Republicans won the district overwhelmingly in every race, and Donald Trump received 71% of the election-day vote in 2024.

The full list of candidates is here. The filing fee is $500 and candidacy must be filed with the Oklahoma State Election Board in the State Capitol.

On the first day of filing, one Republican, attorney Beverley Atteberry, and two Democrats, PR consultant Amanda Clinton and stand-up comedian Hudson Harder, have filed in House 71. Atteberry ran for the seat in 2018 and 2020, both times making it into the Republican runoff and then losing by a wide margin to a nominee (Cheryl Baber in 2018, Mike Masters in 2020), who went on to lose to Democrat TV news reader Denise Brewer. (In 2020, Masters won election-day voters by almost 800, but was swamped by Brewer's 2,069 absentee and early-vote lead.) Clinton was communications director for Monroe Nichols's mayoral campaign and is a board member of Planned Parenthood of Eastern Oklahoma.

House 74 drew four Republicans and one Democrat on the first day of filing. Johnathon Shepherd is a Marine Corps veteran and Director of Operations for Eagle OPS Foundation, which helps veterans transition to civilian life. Kevin Norwood is a motivational school speaker with wiredinc and a ministry coach. Maggie Stearman is a wife and mother of two small children who has served as a teacher at Owasso Preparatory Academy and as a field organizer for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania during the 2022 election cycle. Stearman has pledged not to take money from lobbyists. Sheila Vancuren is a Realtor and the wife of incumbent Mark Vancuren; just as he is stepping away from the Oklahoma City commute, she is seeking to resume it. Amy Hossain, the lone Democrat so far, is an HR professional with pronouns in her LinkedIn bio.

UPDATE 2025/01/28: At the end of day two, three additional candidates have filed: In House 71, Democrats Ben Riggs and Dennis Baker, and in House 74, Republican Brad Peixotto. Dennis Baker, an attorney, former Tulsa police officer, and former FBI agent, was the Democrat nominee for Congress last year and received 51% of the election-day vote in District 71. He would have a significant name-recognition advantage. The only Ben Riggs I can find is a Sand Springs school teacher.

Brad Peixotto was a Republican candidate for House 74 in 2018 and 2020, losing the primary both times to Mark Vancuren and receiving only 15% of the vote in a two-man race each time, and for Senate 34 in 2022, managing 42% in a losing primary effort against Dana Prieto, who went on to defeat Democrat incumbent J. J. Dossett. In each of these campaigns, Peixotto spent his own money on the campaigns (excepting $700 in contributions in the 2018 race), which appeared as loans to the campaign in 2018 and 2020 and as in-kind contributions in 2022.

UPDATE 2025/01/29: On the final day of filing, two more Republicans filed in District 71: Tania Garza, 35, and Heidemarie Fuentes, 73. Garza is an experience specialist for Tulsa Remote. She appears to be very plugged into the Tulsa establishment.

State Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin) has filed a bill to require "that any organization engaging in independent expenditures in Oklahoma political campaigns must report to the Ethics Commission the name, address, and contact information for its President and Treasurer." He made the following pitch for SB 1051 on Facebook and makes some great points about the real purpose of these anonymous attacks (emphasis added). Here is the bill info page for SB1051 and a direct link to the bill as introduced.

It is time to clean up Oklahoma politics with SB1051, the Campaign Expenditure Transparency Act!

Those of you in Senate District 32 probably remember the cartoonishly absurd dark-money advertising in the 2023 special election. An anonymously sourced organization going by the name "Common Sense Conservatives LLC," about whom we know almost nothing, spent a quarter of a million dollars publishing mailers and TV ads depicting me as a grim reaper, a Chinese dictator, and other nonsensical slander. I know from knocking doors and interacting with voters that people were fed up with the whole election before it even ended; and sadly that is the desired effect of these anonymous liars.

I will let you all in on a trade secret of political campaigns: these sorts of obvious lies are not meant to persuade but meant to demoralize a voter base; to so inundate a district with lies and hyperbole that people check out of the process.

This is bad for Oklahoma politics as a whole. It is bad for each individual voter to be treated in this way. It is bad for those candidates who stick their necks out to run for office out of a genuine desire to serve. It is bad that our election process can be attacked by hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of anonymous lies with no purpose other than to discourage civic engagement.

The anonymity allowed under current law enables mega-wealthy anonymous organizations to bombard our inboxes without voters having any ability to find out who is behind them. When I am assessing a bill before a hearing, I want to know: Who supports this bill and why? Who opposes this bill and why? How is it a voter supposed to determine the validity of a claim on a mailer if they are unable to find out who is making the claim?

Politics, at its best, is about a battle of ideas and debating the issues. Sadly, right now in Oklahoma, politics is largely about destroying reputations. SB1051 could change that by requiring that any organization engaging in independent expenditures in Oklahoma political campaigns must report to the Ethics Commission the name, address, and contact information for its President and Treasurer. People, naturally, will be far less willing to engage in such absurd, shameful, and discrediting behavior if they have to attach their name to it.

This important bill would reform Oklahoma politics to become more idea-driven rather than mudslinging-driven. Everyone should support that.

The bill also requires disclosure of the owner of any post office box used by an independent committee. (It may need to mention private mailboxes explicitly.)

B. It shall be unlawful for any individual or organization to engage in campaign expenditures through the use of a fictitious or unregistered name, or through the establishment of a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, or entity with the primary purpose of concealing its identity. Entities engaging in campaign expenditures through rented post office boxes shall disclose the name and contact information of the renter and all beneficial owners of the entity.

This would be a great start, but we have a great deal of work to do to improve transparency. Independent expenditure committees and political action committees need to be on the same reporting schedule as campaign committees with a pre-election report and continuing disclosure of major contributions and expenditures up to election day. (Currently these committees are only required to file quarterly reports.) All candidates in Oklahoma for any office in any political subdivision should be filing with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission's Guardian system. Citizens should not need to file an Open Records request and show up during school board office hours to view handwritten, illegible, and incorrectly completed disclosures. Everything should be filed digitally and available online 24/7.

The Ethics Commission website needs some improvements, too, such as permanent, sharable URLs to each filed report, the ability to search across all campaigns by donor or by vendor, and the ability to produce whole-campaign reports of contributions and expenditures, rather than having to download each individual report and total them up.

So far the bill has no coauthors and has not been assigned to a committee. Encourage your state legislators to support SB 1051 and to work for these other improvements to campaign transparency.

UPDATED 2025/01/27 with information about Wagoner County precinct meetings. See the end of this entry for details.

This coming Tuesday, January 28, 2025, at 6:00 pm, Republicans will gather for precinct meetings across Tulsa County, the first stage in a series of conventions leading to the Oklahoma Republican State Convention in May.

Precinct meetings were traditionally held in homes, but in recent years the Tulsa County Republican Party has arranged for central meeting places where multiple precincts can gather. These are organized by State House district and located at churches, community centers, and libraries. The complete list of meeting places is at the end of this article (click the "Continue reading" link if you're on the main page).

Here's how the meetings typically go: After the Pledge of Allegiance and invocation for all the precincts present at the location, voters separate by precinct, then each precinct caucuses to decide who will serve as precinct chairman, vice chairman, and secretary for the next two years, decide who will go as the precinct's delegates to the county convention (usually everyone present), and then debate and discuss any resolutions for platform planks or amendments to the party rules. All of the above gets recorded on various forms. Often, only one voter shows up for a particular precinct, and things go very quickly. Nearly all precincts choose to send an "open" delegation to the county convention, which means that the number of delegates attending is not limited by the number of votes allocated to the precinct; the votes of those who attend are weighted proportionally to the votes allocated.

On Saturday, March 1, 2025, the Tulsa County Republican Convention will meet at the Stoney Creek Convention Center in Broken Arrow and elect a new chairman and vice chairman, the county's two representatives on the State Committee, and the county's two representatives on the 1st Congressional District Committee. These six individuals together form the county's Central Committee. Incumbent chairman Ronda Vuillemont Smith is not running for re-election. The county convention will also vote on a county platform and any proposed rule changes. The county convention will almost certainly vote to attend the state convention as an open delegation, allowing any of the county convention delegates to serve as state convention delegates, where a state party chairman and vice chairman will be elected to a two-year term. The Oklahoma Republican State Convention will be on Saturday, May 3, 2025.

It's best to be present at your precinct meeting if you wish to serve as a delegate to the county and state conventions, but there is another path if you cannot attend on precinct meeting night. Details are below.

Following are the official details about the precinct meetings sent out by the Republican Party of Tulsa County:

UPDATE 2025/01/26: Sen. Goodwin has paid the traffic citation online, pleading nolo contendere. News on 6 initially mis-reported the disposition of the case; details at the bottom of this entry.

State Sen. Regina Goodwin (D-Tulsa) refused to cooperate with a Tulsa County Sheriff's deputy during a routine traffic stop in downtown Tulsa, refusing repeatedly to produce her driver's license, resulting in her briefly being handcuffed and sat in the back of the deputy's vehicle. The stop occurred on Saturday, January 11, 2025, at 1:23 pm, at the corner of Cincinnati and Archer. Deputy Freddy Alaniz informed Sen. Goodwin that she had run two consecutive stop signs without coming to a complete stop. During the traffic stop Goodwin's attorney Mike Manning, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, and District 4 City Councilor Laura Bellis all walked up to the scene, with Manning and Nichols both speaking to law enforcement officials. Goodwin was issued a citation and allowed to go on her way.

KOTV News on 6 was the first with the story. In response to BatesLine's Open Records request, the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office provided all the bodycam footage from the three deputies who responded to the location. TCSO blurred or bleeped any personally identifying information, such as dates of birth and addresses. The videos released by TCSO have now been uploaded unedited to Rumble and are embedded below (click the "Continue reading" if you're on the home page). Many thanks to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Public Information Office for their prompt response to the request.

Goodwin did almost everything you shouldn't do during a traffic stop. She did pull over, but rather than waiting for the officer to approach her, she got out of her car and walked toward the deputy's vehicle, she began arguing about whether she had run the stop signs, and she refused to produce her driver's license when requested.

Deputy Alaniz asked ten times for her driver's license, and on the 10th occasion he explained that the consequence of not producing her license would be a trip to jail. At that point she projected her voice toward the open driver's side door on her vehicle, repeating what was said about going to jail, perhaps attempting to be heard by someone on the other end of a phone call via the car's Bluetooth system. (There did not appear to be anyone else in the vehicle.) Alaniz asked for her driver's license five more times, for a total of fifteen times, and after Goodwin said "Do what you gotta do" the second time, he told her to turn around and place her hands behind her back. He proceeded to handcuff her and had her sit down in the back of his patrol car.

Attorney Mike Manning can be seen walking up to the scene from the east at about 2 minutes into the video. He stood on the curb and recorded the interaction between Goodwin and Alaniz on his phone. After Goodwin was seated in the car, Manning asked if he could approach and speak to the deputy. When the deputy asked for a moment to close Goodwin's driver's side car door and Manning walked in the same direction, there was a brief feedback ring, possibly indicating that a phone call between Goodwin's phone and Manning was still connected. This may explain how Manning was on the scene so quickly: Goodwin may have either been on the phone with him as she was driving or called him as soon as she had been pulled over. Manning told the deputy, "We were getting ready to meet."

Manning showed Alaniz his courthouse access badge and Oklahoma Bar Association license, and then said, "I realize Senator Goodwin can be a little strongheaded at times, but don't you think...." His comments are hard to hear as Alaniz directs him out of traffic and back to the side of the road, but Manning asked about just issuing a citation. Alaniz told Manning he had only intended to give Goodwin a verbal warning, but Goodwin's refusal to cooperate with his instructions meant he had to proceed with an arrest. When Manning asked to speak with Goodwin, Alaniz readily agreed.

As Manning attempted to get Goodwin to "take a deep breath" and cooperate, Goodwin continued to filibuster and argue. Eventually she gave her name and date of birth verbally to Alaniz, who then ran the information on his car's laptop. About that time, Deputy Caleb Stout arrived on the scene. Alaniz gave Stout the story so far and mentioned that Manning and "some other people" had been recording the interaction. "When he was telling me that she was a senator, something like that, I was like, yeah, better get Corporal up here."

Historically, state legislators have been entitled to a special license plate with H or S followed by the district number, e.g. S-11 for Goodwin's Senate District 11, but the car Goodwin was driving had a specialty Historic Greenwood District plate instead, PAYBWS, which appears to be advocating for reparations to victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (BWS standing for Black Wall Street).

Alaniz did not stop or cite Goodwin for speeding, but he mentioned to each of his fellow deputies that she was traveling at a high rate of speed, telling Stout, "she was bookin' it down Archer," and later telling Deputy Corporal Swatzenbarg that she was "haulin' butt, she was going so fast that when she was hitting the puddles of water they were shooting out."

While Alaniz was completing the citation, Stout and Goodwin were standing on the sidewalk, and Manning walked back up. At 1:40 pm, Manning asked for confirmation from Stout that a citation was being written. Stout said that Goodwin would be allowed to go on her way, and then Manning walked off to the east. A minute later, Bellis can be seen on Stout's bodycam crossing Archer and then approaching Goodwin from her right. Bellis was not visible at this point (Stout is on Goodwin's left) but can be heard asking, "Do you want me to call anybody?" Goodwin replied, "Mike was just here." Bellis responded, "Just checking. Let me know if you need anything, OK?" Bellis can then be seen walking back to the corner of Archer and Cincinnati, appearing to make a phone call and then walking back to the other side of Archer.

At 1:46 pm, 23 minutes after the traffic stop began, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols walked up to Stout and Goodwin, asking, "What's going on?" As Goodwin continued to argue with Alaniz about what happened, Nichols interrupted: "Senator, senator, senator, let's, let's, let's take care of it in court." When Goodwin showed annoyance and confusion over the answer to her question about paying the fine versus going to court, Nichols intervened to try to calm Goodwin down and bring the encounter to a conclusion: "You misunderstood what she was asking. It's all good. Let's go ahead and get this taken care of."

City Councilor Laura Bellis returned at this point and began speaking to Nichols. She was dressed as if for an exercise or yoga class, was carrying a large insulated mug, and said something to Nichols about needing to get her nails done. She didn't interact with the deputies at all and didn't appear to interact with Goodwin this time, walking off at 1:51 pm as the deputies were returning to their vehicles.

Goodwin was given a citation with a court date of February 25, 2025. The case number is TR-2025-581.

This is not Goodwin's first traffic citation. She was twice stopped by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for speeding 11-15 MPH above the limit on the Indian Nations Turnpike, in August 2000 and April 2003. In August 2003, she was cited for an expired license plate on a 1999 Mazda. In 2012, Goodwin was stopped by a Creek County deputy on State Highway 51 near Silver City for speeding; she pled nolo contendere and paid the ticket. In 2021, Goodwin was sued by a collection agency for an unpaid medical bill from 2017 for $2,397.42.

(Someone named "Regina L. Goodwin," with a different date of birth and vehicle, a 1990 Mercedes, was cited in July 2003 for an expired plate and lack of insurance verification; a bench warrant was issued for failure to appear for these citations, and a notice of suspension was "RETURNED BY DPS UNABLE TO SUSPEND. NO RECORD FOUND FOR LICENSE NUMBER." This may be a strange coincidence involving someone else with a similar name, or it may reflect transcription errors.)

I have twice in my life been pulled over for failing to come to a full stop. As a senior in high school, I was driving downtown, heading south on Denver and turned right on 6th Street against a red light without coming to a complete stop. There happened to be a detective in an unmarked car right behind me, heading back to police HQ, who saw what happened and pulled me over.

Many years later, I was driving through my neighborhood and did a rolling stop at a four-way stop intersection, and there happened to be a police officer there specifically because of complaints from nearby residents about drivers failing to stop and speeding on that street, a cut-through street through the neighborhood. The officer told me that he ought to be able to count the lugnuts -- in other words, the car would need to be motionless for at least three seconds, long enough for someone to count to five.

In both cases, I pulled over, rolled down my window, answered the questions the officer asked, and produced my driver's license when I was instructed to do so. I didn't argue. In the second case, I had to pay for and attend an all-day-Saturday defensive driving school to avoid getting points on my license.

Throughout the incident, the sheriff's deputies acted with courtesy, patience, and professionalism. I didn't see anything untoward in the actions of Manning, Nichols, or Bellis. Manning and Nichols seemed anxious to mollify Goodwin. My guess is that Bellis called Nichols (possibly before we first see her on bodycam) to ask him to come by, but Manning may have made the call.

The only person in the situation with a reason to be embarrassed is State Sen. Regina Goodwin, who behaved like a spoiled brat throughout the incident, even after her brief timeout in the back of the squad car. The reactions of Manning and Nichols seem to indicate that this kind of behavior is nothing new for her. We hope that she will find the grace and humility to acknowledge and apologize for her inappropriate behavior.

Twenty-two jurisdictions -- counties, small towns, and rural school districts -- across Oklahoma had elections this past Tuesday, January 14, 2025. Just over 10,000 voters turned out statewide, casting 10,681 votes on 27 propositions (five jurisdictions had two propositions).

Twenty-four county election boards had to set up for early voting and staffing election day precincts. Cleora and Inola school districts and the city of Clinton extend into multiple counties. Two Mayes County precincts had to open for Inola Public Schools. One person showed up and voted no. Craig County had to open a precinct for Cleora schools and Washita County had to open a precinct for the City of Clinton, and no voter showed up at either precinct. The one Wagoner County precinct in the Inola school district drew five voters.

Biggest turnout: 5,379 voters in Muskogee County voted to approve a 0.849% public safety sales tax. Runner-up: 1,159 voters in Inola defeated a $62 million school bond issue 49%-51%. Smallest turnout: Town of Sparks in Lincoln County voted 8-1 for a 25-year extension of OG+E's franchise as the town's electricity provider. (Carlton Landing, Oklahoma's lakefront version of Seaside, Florida, was a close second: 11 voters voted unanimously to authorize the mayor to appoint the town's clerk-treasurer with town council approval.)

The only reason to schedule a special election in January is to hope for low turnout mainly consisting of motivated yes voters. (That gambit doesn't always work, and it didn't work for the Inola school board this time.)

Oklahoma law sets one possible election date for every month in odd-numbered years and for seven months in even-numbered years (January through April, plus June, August, November).

It's time for our legislature to consolidate elections: Every year a June primary, August runoff, and November general election. Federal & state elections in even-numbered years. Elections for all political subdivisions -- including counties, municipalities, school districts, fire-protection districts, rural water districts -- in odd-numbered years. Propositions on the November ballot only. In a true emergency, a proposition could be on another date but would need at least 50% of the number of votes cast in that jurisdiction's previous general election.

When I say municipal, I mean every city and town, including charter cities like Tulsa, Owasso, and Catoosa that currently are allowed to set their own dates. My fraternity brother Brad Waller, who is a city council candidate and former school board member in Redondo Beach, California, says that "California passed a bill (SB 415) to consolidate elections, but they forgot to specifically include charter cities." While most cities moved their elections to conform with the law, Redondo Beach did not, and the city pursued its right to its preferred dates all the way to the State Supreme Court and prevailed there. So any Oklahoma reform will need to include an explicit provision to overrule any dates to the contrary in city charters.

State Rep. Chris Banning has a bill, HB 1151, that is a step in the right direction, putting school elections on the ballot in even-numbered years and making all school board terms four years, with half of a school board's members up for election every two years.

Odd-numbered years would be better. Our federal, state, and judicial ballots are already long enough, and since City of Tulsa elections were moved to the federal schedule, city issues are overshadowed by state and national issues and don't get the public scrutiny that they got when Tulsa's elections were in the winter/spring of even years or (all too briefly) in the fall of odd years.

I would also cut some language out of section 4, so that there is always a top-two general election in November, since far fewer voters turn out for a primary, and some voters have the attitude that the "real" election is not until November, and they're content to let more active voters winnow the choices for them.

4. If more than two candidates qualify to have their names appear on the ballot, the names of all such candidates shall appear on the ballot at the board of education primary election. A candidate receiving more than fifty percent (50%) of the votes cast in the board of education primary election shall be elected to the office. If no candidate receives more than fifty percent (50%) of the votes cast in the board of education primary election, then the two candidates with the highest number of votes shall appear on the ballot at the board of education general election.

Repurposed from a post on Facebook.

Wagoner County residents face a Hobson's Choice at next month's school primary election. In November, the county settled a Federal wrongful-death lawsuit for $13.5 million. Wagoner County taxpayers are stuck with the bill, but they get to decide on February 11, 2025, whether to pay for it with a higher property tax or a higher sales tax.

On May 17, 2021, Angela Liggans, 41, was arrested for assault and battery against a police officer and was booked into Wagoner County jail. According to the complaint in federal court, Liggans was a Type 1 diabetic and was deprived of insulin by jail personnel for days. The complaint alleges that staff did not move her to emergency care despite skyrocketing blood sugar levels and hallucinations. She died at the jail 16 days after her arrest. Here is the complaint in the federal lawsuit, Liggans v. Elliott, via thetruthaboutwagonercounty.com. The lawsuit was filed by Liggans's mother, Sharon Dalton, who was appointed as Special Administrator of Liggans's estate in 2022.

The parties reached a settlement on August 16, 2024, which was entered on November 19, 2024. The county's insurance through the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma Self-Insured Group (ACCO-SIG) already paid the plaintiff $483,156.70, out of the county's $1 million maximum benefit; according to the County Commission resolution accepting the settlement, the remainder went to pay "attorney's fees and costs pursuant to the reducing liability coverage provided to Wagoner County in its liability protection plan." (Since the settlement, other parties have intervened in the probate of Liggans's estate, including someone claiming to be her common-law husband.)

To pay the settlement, Wagoner County will vote on a single sales tax proposition on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. The proposed sales tax increase is for a quarter of a cent on the dollar (0.25%) for up to 15 years, in order to satisfy the judgment levied against the county in a Federal lawsuit. If debt issued to pay the judgment is satisfied sooner, the sales tax increase ends sooner. Wagoner County currently has a 1.3% sales tax, which would increase to 1.55%, and several municipalities, including Coweta, Okay, Tullahassee, Porter, and Wagoner, would see their total sales tax rate, including state and municipal sales tax, go to 10.05%.

Here is the ballot language for the proposition:

A Proposition providing for funds for Wagoner County, Oklahoma; levying a one fourth of one percent (one-fourth cent) sales tax increase on gross receipts or proceeds on certain taxable sales; the sales tax increase to terminate on July 1, 2040 or until any debt issued in connection with said sales tax increase has been satisfied in full, whichever occurs sooner; such tax to be used to provide funds to pay and satisfy the balance due and owing on the judgment entered against Wagoner County in Case #23-CV-139-RAW-GLI in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma on November 19, 2024 by depositing said balance owed on the described judgment into the County's sinking fund to be used for that purpose and that purpose only; authorizing the payment of debt service and costs of issuance; fixing an effective date; making provisions severable.

(An election-systems gripe: The above is from a ballot image that was texted to me by someone who had received an absentee ballot for the election; the sample ballot was not available in the Oklahoma Voter Portal on Tuesday, possibly because there was an election for Wagoner County voters in the Inola Public Schools district that day. In order to look at sample ballots for jurisdictions other than my own, I have to find a voter in that jurisdiction from the voter database and enter his name and date of birth. The state election board needs to make all sample ballots directly and publicly accessible, with a permanent link for sharing, and they ought to be accessible as soon as the ballots have been ordered.)

Here is the ballot resolution, approved by the County Commissioners on December 2, 2024, which defines more precisely what Wagoner voters would be approving on February 11, 2025. Sections 5 indicates that the Commissioners intend to issue revenue bonds against the sales-tax proceeds, so there would be additional costs -- debt service and costs of issuance -- beyond the settlement itself. Section 6 means that a bank or banks in Wagoner County will get to make some money off of these revenue bonds, which would not be the case if the settlement were paid from the sinking fund.

SECTION 5. The sales tax shall be limited to a period of Fifteen Years (15) from the effective date or until any debt issued to satisfy the purpose set forth herein has been satisfied whichever occurs sooner. Any debt issued pursuant to this resolution shall allow prepayment in whole or in part at any time with excess bond proceeds or excess sales tax collection.

SECTION 6. That any debt issued to be paid with this sales tax shall be offered through the underwriter with banks located in Wagoner County to be given an opportunity to participate in the financing either through bonds purchased by the local bank or banks.

(Section 6 is missing an "or" for its "either.")

A year ago, Wagoner County residents defeated 8 tax propositions that would have made existing temporary taxes permanent, added new taxes of a half-cent on the dollar, and added a 5% lodging tax. The three sales-tax increase propositions failed by 18% to 82%.

So what happens if Wagoner County voters say no to a sales tax this time?

By state law, court judgments are paid out of the county's sinking fund which is replenished by property tax. Each year, the county excise board calculates for the county, each municipality, and each school district how much money has to come out of the entity's sinking fund to make bond repayments and pay for court judgments. They take that number and divide it by the assessed value of property in the jurisdiction to calculate the necessary increase in the property tax millage rate for each entity. Here's an example of the Estimate of Needs completed by each taxing subdivision of the state: In the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year, Wagoner County has no sinking fund at all and no levy for a sinking fund because it had no obligations to pay from that fund. Exhibit Y, on page 106 of the PDF, shows that the total valuation excluding homesteads of Wagoner County is $892,586,381, which forms the denominator for all millage levy calculations.

The settlement in the case calls for the repayment of the balance of the settlement of $13,016,843.30 "in ten equal annual installments plus post-judgment interest compounded annually on the first day of January of each year," beginning May 1, 2026, with interest accruing from January 1, 2025, 4.96% for first three payments, then 6% thereafter. If I've understood the nuances correctly, each year's payment will decrease because the interest accrued each year will decrease as the principal is paid down.

My calculations put the first payment at $2,159,583.46 and the last at $1,379,785.39. That would be the numerator for the annual millage levy calculations. Assuming no growth at all, the sinking fund levy would be 2.42 in the 2025-2026 tax year and would decline to 1.55 in the 2034-2035 tax year, a property tax impact on a $200,000 home of $51.78 in the first year and $33.08 in the last. A FAQ on the County's website estimates a slightly lower amount, $41.77 in higher taxes the first year on a $200,000 home, then decreasing over time. If Wagoner County valuation grows by 5% a year (last year's growth was 8.7%), the sinking fund levy would be 2.30 in the 2025-2026 tax year and would decline to 0.95 in the 2034-2035 tax year.

Here are the property tax rates for Wagoner County for 2024-2025. They range from 74.58 mills in the Okay School District to 129.42 in the part of the Haskell School District in the city limits of Bixby. The portion of that millage that goes into county government's general fund is 10.31 mills. Currently the county has no sinking fund nor do any of the municipalities based in the county. (Tulsa, Catoosa, Broken Arrow, and Bixby, which all have some territory in Wagoner County, have sinking-fund obligations.)

The Wagoner County website has a Frequently-Asked Questions page on the proposed tax increase, which acknowledges that each method for paying the settlement has its advantages.

Taxpayers might ask why this burden should fall on them. Well, you elected the official responsible. When it comes to the jail, the buck stops with the sheriff, who was just re-elected by Wagoner County voters to another four-year term. Sheriff Chris Elliott had two Republican primary challengers last June and was forced into a runoff with Tyler Cooper. Elliott won the runoff and re-election by just 35 votes, 4,327 to 4,292. Only Republican candidates filed for the office.

Note that the mandatory two-month gaps between filing in April, June primary, August runoff, and November general elections mean that a lot can come to light between filing and the election, too late for candidates to jump in to the race. When I was a kid, filing was in July, three months later. Perhaps we need a None-of-the-Above option on the general election ballot, to give voters a final option to say no in response to late-breaking scandal and force a special election.

There is a perverse incentive for Oklahoma government entities to settle a lawsuit: Paying for insurance comes out of the budget. Paying lawyers to defend a lawsuit comes out of the budget. Operational improvements to avoid lawsuits come out of the budget. But a lawsuit judgment or settlement comes out of the sinking fund, which does not eat into the elected officials' budget. In 2008, Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor agreed to a settlement with the Bank of Oklahoma, regarding Great Plains Airlines, that cost Tulsa taxpayers $7.1 million dollars. It was no skin off her nose when she agreed to the settlement, and it undoubtedly made her corporate cronies happy. Happily for taxpayers, the Oklahoma Supreme Court threw the settlement out, and BOK was forced to repay the City of Tulsa.

The Wagoner County FAQ addresses a couple of the obvious questions.

Why can't the county sell property or pay for it some other way?

State statute governs the way judgements are to be paid through a sinking fund. The tax levy,either sales tax or property tax, must be sufficient in itself to repay the debt. If collections exceed projections, the tax must be stopped at that time even if it is prior to the end of the stated term of the tax. The county cannot lawfully collect more than is due. The county can commit other funds (such as use tax) to the sinking fund in an effort to retire the debt early if the commissioners decide to do so.

Why can't they just take it out of the Sheriff's budget?

The Sheriff's office is a Constitutional Office, meaning it is first in the priority of funding for the county along with other Constitutional offices. The governing boards are bound by statute and the State Constitution to provide for law enforcement for the county. The Sheriff's office does have other funds by which to operate his office, however they are restricted for that purpose and cannot be used to pay for a judgement. The statutes provide for judgements to be paid for with a sinking fund instead.

Note the acknowledgment that the county could choose to draw on other, unrestricted funds (such as use-tax revenue) to pay toward the settlement and retire it early.

Ken Yazel, the late Tulsa County Assessor, was a strong advocate for the idea that elected county officials had discretion to use more of their earmarked funds to cover operation of their offices related to the earmarked purposes, thus reducing the amount of money the officials would need from the general fund, freeing general fund money for capital improvements, rather than always asking the taxpayers for more. He wanted the law to require annual county budgets to account for all funds accessible to county officials, including carryover earmarked funds. State Rep. David Brumbaugh proposed such a bill in 2013, but it died in the Appropriations and Budget Committee. I seem to recall that State Rep. Pam Peterson had a similar bill some years earlier, but pulled it at the request of county officials who promised to adopt similar reforms voluntarily.

If I were a Wagoner County voter, I would vote against the sales tax and then tell my elected officials (especially the two County Commissioners up for election next year) that I'll be watching to see if they can free up money from their budgets so that not all of the cost of this settlement falls on property owners.

Yesterday I received the sad news that Josiah and Erin Conrad, friends from Tulsa who are now living in southern California, lost their home in the Altadena wildfire. They were among many Californians who had been unable to secure insurance coverage.

Josiah was a program manager for FlightSafety in Broken Arrow. Erin was involved in Republican politics in the Oughts, then became a well-regarded portrait photographer. Eleven years ago this month, they moved to southern California and have since added two children to the family.

Three of their friends (two of whom, Connie Pearson and Jeremy Bradford, I know from local politics 20 years ago) have set up a GoFundMe to help the Conrad family recover:

As you know, the Los Angeles area has been devastated by wildfires in recent days, and our dear friends, Josiah and Erin Conrad, along with their children, Naomi and Benjamin, have lost everything. Their home in Altadena was completely destroyed, and, tragically, all of their belongings have been lost to the flames. The emotional toll of such a loss is unimaginable, but on top of that, they are now facing the overwhelming task of rebuilding their lives without any insurance coverage. Despite their best efforts, they were not able to secure coverage for their personal property.

We know that many of you want to help, but because of the distance and current circumstances, it can be difficult to know how. That's why we've set up this GoFundMe campaign to support Josiah, Erin, Naomi, and Benjamin as they try to recover from this unimaginable loss. Your generous donations will go directly toward helping them replace what they've lost--from the everyday essentials like toothbrushes and clothing to larger items like furniture and appliances.

Additionally, once logistics are figured out, we will share a link to their Amazon wish list for those who prefer to send specific items directly to the family. Every little bit counts, whether it's a financial donation or a much-needed household item.

We wish we could physically be there to lend a hand, but this is the next best way to show our love and support. Together, we can make sure that they don't face this hardship alone.

Thank you for any contribution you can make, whether large or small. Your kindness will make a world of difference to the Conrads during this difficult time.

The fundraiser is going well. As I write this, over $90,000 of the $125,000 sought has been donated, after just four days. Thank you for whatever support you can provide.

We are in between two 100th anniversaries of the Shipping Forecast on radio. The summary of maritime weather for sea areas near the British Isles was first broadcast on the radio on January 1, 1924. It was first broadcast on the British Broadcasting Corporation in October 1925. The forecast itself dates back to 1861, developed by Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy and originally delivered via telegraph to coastal stations.

Beyond its utility to ships at sea, the Shipping Forecast is beloved for its soothing effect. It is read by a BBC continuity announcer at a steady pace and tone, with the names of sea areas and terse forecast terminology read at a hypnotic rhythm. The forecast is preceded by the playing of "Sailing By," a waltz by light orchestral composer Ronald Binge; the music is meant as an aid to tuning in advance of the forecast, but the sweet strings and flutes enhance the calming effect. I encountered the broadcast on my first visit to the UK in 1989, when I listened to Radio 4 throughout the day.

In the early days of BatesLine, in December 2003, I posted a self-indulgent reminiscence about a novelty song I had heard once on Doctor Demento, the Shipping Forecast set to Anglican chant, by a group of school teachers who called themselves the Mastersingers. (The reminiscence was inspired by a Daily Telegraph column by future London Mayor and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.)

That post served as a beacon, and it attracted emails and comments from people connected with the group, including Helen Keating, the wife of Geoff Keating, a member of the group. It's an interesting story with connections to Beatles producer George Martin and comedic actor Peter Sellers. I compiled that authoritative information into the definitive story of the Mastersingers, the Weather Forecast, and the Highway Code, published in May 2007. I note with some pride that it is the chief source cited by the Wikipedia article on the Master Singers. (The name of the group appears on the records with a space, but I follow Helen Keating's practice of treating Mastersingers as one word.)

BBC Sounds has a collection of programs in honor of the Shipping Forecast centenary. Be aware that many of these programs will be available online only until the end of January 2025:

• My Shipping Forecast: Leading fans of radio explain what the Shipping Forecast means to them.
• The Shipping Forecast: A Beginner's Guide: Paddy O'Connell guides us through the history and meaning of 'The Ships'.
• Sailing By: Soul Music: Stories about a piece of light music which became interwoven with the Shipping Forecast.
• Solomon Browne: Forty years on, the dramatic story of the Penlee lifeboat disaster.
• The Shipping Forecast: A Haven Illuminated: Discovering who really listens to the Shipping Forecast at 00:48 every day.
• The Shipping Forecast: Poetry Please: Roger McGough is joined by Paul Farley, sharing poems inspired by the Shipping Forecast.
• Archive on 4: The Shipping Forecast: Shipshaped: Jerry Brotton explores how Britain's maritime heritage has shaped us.
• Sea Like a Mirror: An atmospheric gathering storm of a documentary explores our language for naming the wind.
• Seaborne by Nuala O'Connor: Irish author Nuala O'Connor's sixth novel is a rollicking portrayal of the life of 18th-century pirate Anne Bonny. (Ten 15-minuted episodes.)
• The Shipping Postcards: Visits to the areas from the Shipping Forecast: Lundy, Dogger, Forth, Irish Sea, Wight. (Two hour-long episodes.)
• Front Row on the Shipping Forecast, at the Cutty Sark: Samira Ahmed with a special edition of the arts programme exploring the Shipping Forecast.

This archived Met Office article has the history of the Shipping Forecast and changes to the sea area definitions over the years.

"The Shipping Forecast - an icon of British weather and safety at sea" is the slide deck for a 2018 presentatio by Jim Galvin of the Met Office, Exeter, explaining the history and terminology of the forecast, and the importance of forecasters in the unique conditions around the British Isles. One slide shows the cones and cylinders that would be hoisted at coastal observation stations to indicate approaching gales and high winds, used before radio communications were available. The presentation explains the Beaufort wind scale, sea states (wave heights), and the meanings of the terse terms used to stay within the 380-word limit.

MORE:

Jo Ellison writing in the Financial Times:

It's always seemed one of the more yawning ironies that a nightly radio dispatch designed to protect sailors from the most treacherous stretches of water should have been co-opted by half of its audience as being the equivalent of aural Xanax.

BBC continuity announcer Viji Alles (whose radio voice I envy) offers the #ShippingForecastChallenge -- try your hand at making a recording.

As an aid to sleep, here is five whole hours of the Shipping Forecast.

Peter Jefferson, who read the Shipping Forecast from 1969-2009, now has a version featuring unusually calm conditions for the Calm app.

Recently, the Royal Museums Greenwich posted a sea areas map from 1956, placing the sea areas listed in the broadcast Shipping Forecast in the larger context of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. FAREWELL is a rather ominous name. I wonder if MILNE is meant to honor the author of Winnie The Pooh. (The map can be found here as well.)

France has its own set of sea area names, like Romeo, Altair, and Faraday. It has a Finisterre which overlaps with but is smaller than the British area formerly known as Finisterre, changed in 2002 to Fitzroy. The US has sea areas too, but they aren't geographical or poetic at all -- three letters followed by three digits.