Oklahoma Gazette

Oklahoma’s election and legal officials should determine whether the GOP-backed 100 Ideas initiative can continue to hide its money sponsors.

At issue is whether the initiative is government sponsored or not and whether it violates campaign contribution laws. Oklahoma House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah), pictured right, and former Norman Republican legislator Thad Balkman, who recently announced the initiative, said private citizens of Oklahoma were funding the venture but would not give the names.

Yet the initiative’s Web site (as of February 6, 2007) clearly states Cargill, in his role as an elected official, formed the initiative:

“Beginning in February of 2007, Speaker Lance Cargill will travel across the state to change Oklahoma’s mindset to look ahead to the long-term future of our state. Through a series of town hall meetings and interaction with the state’s citizens called IdeaRaisers, the 100 Ideas Initiative will develop a comprehensive vision” . . . blah, blah, blah.

Perhaps, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson or some other state legal official should consider these questions: Is this a political action committee supporting Cargill and the GOP? Should we look at the group’s funding as campaign donations? If so, then shouldn’t the funding be open to public scrutiny? Can any politician in Oklahoma now get secret money in this way?

The 100 Ideas initiative is a complete steal from the 100 Innovative Ideas For Florida’s Future. It’s a political gimmick to help the Republican Party on the state level. The cover story is the initiative will canvas Oklahoma and come up with 100 ideas to help the state prosper. These ideas will be published in a book and on the initiative’s Web site.

University of Oklahoma President David Boren, another public servant, and former Governors George Nigh and Frank Keating are board advisors for the initiative and have apparently signed off on the secret funding. Are they getting money, too? Expenses? Stipends? Trips? How much? Did the centrist Democrats Boren and Nigh realize the funding sources were secret? If so, what does that tell you about the state of the Democratic Party in Oklahoma these days?

As Austin-based songwriter James McMurtry sings about this area, “Out here in middle, where the center’s on the right.”

According to a recent article in the Oklahoma Gazette, the initiative doesn’t want any ideas that go against standard GOP operating procedure. “…we hope that all the ideas would not necessarily expand the role of government,” said Balkman, who as a legislator once endorsed the teaching of Intelligent Design, or creationism, in Oklahoma’s science classrooms.

Well, there goes improving educational systems, there goes decent health care for the state’s middle class people, there goes better roads for poor old Oklahoma. But you can bet all those tiresome cultural wedge issues the GOP and even some Democrats exploit for votes here will become great ideas.

The venture shows an interesting snapshot of how political power has always worked in Oklahoma. Behind the scenes, the rich power structure here pulls the strings of political puppets. Rock the boat in any fashion, and you’re out on your sorry ass.

Mike Hermes, who operates the popular Oklahoma blog, Okiedoke, has come up with his own Okie 100 initiative. It’s truly politically independent and provides full disclosure of anyone remotely involved in the project. This is where the people can speak freely these days, not in the latest conservative think tank created by the suits.

Shlain Speaks To Oklahoma Educators, Techies

Our culture is shifting from a communication paradigm of “one to many to many to many,” according to Tiffany Shlain, a leading Internet expert who spoke in Oklahoma City Thursday.

This shift will open up more social networking opportunities as more people communicate through blogs, emails, text messaging, podcasts, and individual videos, Shlain said. The idea of the “isolated” Internet user has become obsolete as more and more people connect on the Internet and create new communities.

Shlain was the keynote speaker at the Oklahoma Technology Conference at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City Thursday. More than 600 educators and technical innovators attended the one-day event, which featured presentations and software and hardware displays.

(Here is a podcast that gives an overview of my presentation at the conference. It may take a minute for the mp3 file to upload.)

An expert on the Internet and a filmmaker, Shlain created the Webby Awards, which are given to people who have enhanced the Internet. Former Vice President Al Gore recently received a lifetime achievement award, for example, and one of this year’s winners is Prince.

Shlain’s “many to many” paradigm reflects a shift of cultural power from mainstream media outlets to various Internet communities. These communities include political blogs, volunteer organizations and dating services. The new communication paradigm creates a myriad of new personal and public “spaces” for people in the twenty-first century, she said.

She said the new communication mirrors stream-of-consciousness, which is nonlinear and plural. The term stream-of-consciousness is often used to describe the literary techniques of authors such as James Joyce, whose writing often focuses on the unfiltered and fragmented psychological thoughts of his characters.

In addition, the amount of information on the Internet on sites such as Wikipedia has enabled people to rely less on rote memory, freeing them to develop new ways of thinking and constructing reality, Shlain said. Everyone is now just a click away from finding information. The question becomes: How important is rote memory in the information age?

Shlain called the Internet an “incredible moveable feast” that has transformed the world.

Shlain also showed one of her short films, “The Tribe,” which deconstructs stereotypes about Jewish people and other groups using the life story of a woman who created the first Barbie doll. She recently showed the film at the Sundance Film Festival.

Oklahoma City Not Sustainable?

Oklahoma City ranks 49th out of 50 cities in terms of sustainable living, according to rankings released by Sustainlane.com, an environmental group.

The city gets such a low ranking because of its public transportation systems and lack of carpooling, according to a local news report. Perhaps the main reason for the low ranking, in my mind, is Oklahoma City’s massive sprawl, which requires automobile transportation no matter where you live. This sprawl, if left unchecked, will make it extremely problematic for the metropolitan area in an energy or environmental crisis.

Could it be that homes in those expensive gated communities so far removed from the metropolitan area will someday be worth less than homes in the inner city near public transportation hubs, such as the airport and bus station? I think so.

We should focus on building more infrastructure—office buildings, schools, medical centers—in the central part of downtown to prepare for $5 a gallon gasoline and environmental problems created by global warming.

Perhaps, we also need to create a new public college or build a major (note the word “major” here) branch of an existing public university in the Bricktown area in order to meet the needs of students who are facing rising gasoline prices along with higher tuition costs. The new college would transcend the existing Downtown College Consortium by offering students a full college experience in a thriving, downtown environment. It would also ensure Bricktown’s business success.

Bleakley on Cornett

Bill Bleakley, publisher of the Oklahoma Gazette, has an insightful article in his paper this week about how Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett “has not been a stand-up guy with respect to the handling of his political aspirations.”

I agree. Cornett recently won a new term as mayor and then turned around almost immediately and started looking at his options to run for Oklahoma’s U.S. House 5th District’s seat in 2006. Bleakley writes: “He should have told us . . .”

You bet he should have told us. How well can Cornett run the city and a major campaign at the same time? Oklahoma City citizens deserved to know what they were getting into by reelecting Cornett. And, as Bleakley points out, what if the House race gets “mean-spirited?” How will that affect Oklahoma City?

The April 20, 2005 edition of the Oklahoma Gazette contains a misleading opinion piece by Brandon Dutcher, who describes himself as the vice president for policy at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. The OCPA is an ultra-conservative organization bankrolled by the state’s powerful right-wing political lobby. Dutcher’s writing has appeared on the editorial pages of The Daily Oklahoman.

The piece, titled “Against government freed,” is a typical Republican distortion. It is deceitful in that it tries to mask its political leanings under populist rhetoric. The piece essentially argues that we are taxed too much. (The mainstream conservative media always runs these typical anti-tax pieces around April 15. The Gazette is no different.) But then it supposedly shows how former gubernatorial candidate Steve Largent gives more in charity than Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry. The point here, of course, is that Republicans are better people than Democrats, and we should always vote Republican. Ultimately, then, the piece is not a typical “libertarian” rant against taxes, but an endorsement of Republican ideology.

Here are a couple of things to consider when considering Dutcher’s argument. (1) He relies on information that is three-years old, and he does not consider the overall income of both Largent and Henry. Supposedly Largent gave away 22 percent of his income in 2002 to charity whereas Henry gave away one percent, but overall who has the most money of the two? And three years ago? And look how much more money Largent ($185, 758) made in 2002 than Henry ($116,288). I, for one, think Henry can relate to average Oklahomans far more than Largent, and especially when it comes to income. And where is Largent these days? (2) Judging by the OCPA website, Dutcher is a TABOR (Taxpayers’ Bills Of Rights) Republican, which means he wants a standstill government budget tied to population growth and inflation. And this is probably Dutcher’s real point in the piece, though, again, he disguises it under populist rhetoric about taxes.

No one likes to pay taxes, and no one likes it when the government wastes money. Both Republicans and Democrats have been a part of government waste in the past and they will be a part of it in the future. Dutcher makes it a partisan issue when it is not a partisan issue.

It is disconcerting and somewhat frightening for Oklahoma’s future to see The Gazette run a piece by a local conservative “think-tank” flak. Dutcher already has a voice in the state’s largest newspaper, which is one of the most conservative newspapers in the country, and his organization has the money and people to get out the right-wing message in a myriad of other ways as well.