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M odern P atriot C hronicles
An Eleventh Commandment Free Zone
Vol. 5, Issue 11
October 20, 2006
By Craig Dawkins

Why Gary Jones MUST Win in November
Why James Dunn MUST Have Strong Support in November
Why Republican Voters MUST Support Istook in November
Oklahoma Country Needs a New District Attorney

Copyright@2006, All Rights Reserved
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POLLS! POLLS! POLLS! POLLS!

Will you campaign hard for Republicans this election cycle?
Yes - it is better than the alternative.
No - I'm completely fed up with Republicans.

Go to www.ModernPatriot.net and vote today!!!
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Why Gary Jones MUST Win in November

The purpose of a State Auditor & Inspector is to root out public corruption and give independent oversight within all levels of state, county and local government. Also the SAI is responsible for regulating the Abstracting industry in Oklahoma. But let's not get too deep into what is and isn't the responsibility of the SAI. Let me tell you a simple story.

Back in the summer of 2005, Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart asked for a performance audit of the Oklahoma County vehicle fleet. The SAI office was paid to perform the audit. When the audit was received, there were a few interesting errors and omissions in the audit.

First, the audit omitted a huge number of Oklahoma County Sheriff's vehicles. The reason stated by McMahan was because of the assumption held that law enforcement vehicles didn't need to be reviewed. Second, when the audit was presented to Commissioners Stan Inman and Brent Rinehart, they were told that they could not have a copy of the audit. But the purpose of the audit presentation was to tell them what the audit found and to get an audit response from the Oklahoma County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). I thought it was odd that the two Republican commissioners didn't receive a copy of the report. But what was even more interesting was that District 1 Commissioner Jim Roth, the lone Democrat on the BOCC, received a copy of the report and was requested by McMahan NOT to forward copies to both Inman and Rinehart. The reason offered was that it was a "preliminary copy" that might have some modifications. But the BOCC was going to have to respond to the existing "preliminary" version of the audit.

After some arm twisting and phone calls to the SAI, they finally agreed to give both Inman and Rinehart copies of the "preliminary" audit. I know of no substantive alterations that were made to the audit after both Inman and Rinehart received the audit. But it bothered me that McMahan gave a copy to Roth with instructions to keep it away from Inman and Rinehart. Roth had the audit in his possession more than a week before the audit was even presented to the two Republican commissioners.

My recollection is that the SAI wanted a response in just a few days after meeting with Inman and Rinehart. Apparently, the Republican commissioners were supposed to come up with some answers to the audit without an audit copy and in a very short period of time. All the while, the lone Democrat commissioner who had the only copy was asked not to share it with Inman and Rinehart. I thought that this reeked of good ol' boy partisan politics.

So after some checking, I discovered that Jim Roth, Jeff McMahan and John Whetsel were all clients of Pat Hall. Pat Hall is currently the President of The Capital Group LLC, a consulting firm. He is also the former Chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party and former Executive Director of the Oklahoma Public Employees Association.

So let's review for a moment. A huge number of the vehicles in John Whetsel's office were excluded from the audit. Jim Roth received a copy of the audit with instructions to withhold copies from the two other Republican commissioners. McMahan, Whetsel, and Roth are all clients of Pat Hall. (As is Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. See and )

Hmmm……Is this what you might call the appearance of impropriety?

At a minimum, it stinks how this whole vehicle audit situation went down. And the recommendations of the audit performed by the SAI was not adopted by Oklahoma County due to concerns that the findings were not well founded in terms of giving Oklahoma County the savings suggested in the audit.

But of course you didn't read that in the news, see it on television, or hear it on the radio did you?
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Why James Dunn Must Have Strong Support in November

James Dunn is running a campaign for Attorney General against Drew Edmondson. Drew Edmondson has abused his power in prosecuting a civil case against Tim Pope. It is amazing to me, in a shocking kind of way, that Edmondson has been so aggressive in attempting to silence political speech of his political opponents. You may recall that Edmondson filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit because Tim Pope apparently paid for a phone call advertising a Gay Pride event in which Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth was scheduled to speak.

Now don't get me wrong. I have absolutely NO CONCERN about who sleeps with whom. But if you are an elected official and you are speaking at a meeting that is a newsworthy event and an individual, like Pope, chooses to spend their money to call your constituents and let them know about it, isn't that just a matter of protected free speech? I understand that the calls weren't on behalf of any candidate. I also understand that Edmondson has used a federal law that regulates commercial speech to sue Pope. So other than the fact that Pope tagged one of his Pat Hall Capital Group brothers, why did Edmondson choose to file a $10 Million lawsuit?

Could it be because he planned to attend a fundraiser by Jim Roth the very next week following his filing of the lawsuit?

Can you say abuse of power?

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Why Republican Voters MUST Support Istook in November

If you are like me, you are quite disgusted with the direction of the Republican Party. But is it time to throw that baby out with the bathwater? I don't think so. Here are a few reasons why limited government conservatives should support Ernest Istook.

First, let's not forget that Istook refused to join the Republican establishment in endorsing Kirk Humphries. He endorsed Tom Coburn in the Republican primary. The payback for Istook is that the Republican establishment is anxious to make an example of him by showing what happens when you don't play ball. There's the problem of raising money. The establishment has control of the purse strings. It is my opinion that the Republican establishment stands with Brad Henry. And I think Brad Henry stands with them.

Second, Istook was a consistent voice of conservatism while serving in the U.S. Congress. While I certainly disagree with him on a plethora of issues, I feel that he will be more responsible in dealing with Oklahoma's prison population problem. While other states have taken advantage of Oklahoma's private prison industry, Brad Henry has chosen to build the DOC Empire. And of course that makes sense. State employees favor Democrats while the privateers favor Republicans. So he has a big government solution for prison over crowding. That's a very bad solution for Oklahoma taxpayers.

Third, get excited about voting for Istook in November, or get ready for one of the worst Republican defeats in recent memory. This election has the potential of delivering coat tails on behalf of Brad Henry supporters who see blood in the Republican waters. Not only will Republicans not win key offices like State Auditor & Inspector, Attorney General and the State Senate, they may very well lose the Lt. Governor's office, the Labor Commissioner's office, and take a step back in the State House. Is this the kind of showing you really want for Republicans statewide?

Fourth, while it is tempting to watch the Republican Party burn for its terrible mis-management of the national government, do we really want to bury Oklahoma Republicans with the same kind of wrath?

I'm disgusted with the Republican establishment. But will losing the political majority in Oklahoma do anything positive for limited government libertarians and conservatives?

A lack of enthusiasm for Istook may lead to an electoral disaster in November.

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Oklahoma Country Needs a New District Attorney

Wes Lane is a nice guy. He's got a great campaign consultant. I hear he's got a 94% conviction rate. He's been in office since 2001. He's purported to be a great Republican conservative. So why do I say I can't support him? Three words…."Faith, Family, freedom."

Faith
It bothers me when any political candidate or office holder goes out of their way to drip religion over whatever they do in office. Others may think it is fine. But I don't. I think the bible says something about knowing someone by their "fruits." I don't like the way his public vendettas have been waged using his prosecutorial power against his political enemies. Frankly it reminds me of Drew Edmondson.

I'm weary of the way Lane has allowed his lieutenants to twist and turn the law in favor of powerfully entrenched county officials. The DA who said that he'd be crazy to file charges on a police officer before running for reelection seems to have forgotten that he has made other constituencies rather unhappy. And what about the police - are they truly above the law? Is that where we are in Oklahoma County today? Is this the Oklahoma County you want?

Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, who has been fighting off demands for an FBI investigation of the Oklahoma County jail and who is facing a Department of Justice investigation regarding jail abuse, sponsored a fundraising event for Lane. That's beautiful. I lack the "faith" to overcome my suspicion that this is just another version of the Oklahoma County good ol' boys back slap.

Family
Let's talk family. While I can understand why Lane did not wish to charge his wife with a serious drug crime, I question why he is going after Brian Bates' wife in his public fit of rage in prosecuting what seems to simply be a political critic. I don't think it's fair to give Lane a pass on his wife and then stay silent when he goes after the wife of his political opponents. It's wrong. The case seems shaky to me. I question Lane's motives. AND I'm not satisfied with the reasons offered by Lane as to why he fired Prater.

Freedom
Freedoms in the United States are often based on how local DA's interpret the law. Laws that are trivial and unreasonable have been written in the past. Laws like those that regulating private sex acts between man and woman go way too far. Thankfully, Lane hasn't chosen to prosecute these laws.

But when Oklahoma became the last state in the United States outlawing tattoos, Lane continued to prosecute tattoo artists. The Tulsa County DA refused to prosecute the law because it was such a terribly written law. But Lane stayed the course and prosecuted this stupid law. Then Oklahoma decided, finally, to legalize tattoo parlors. (Better late than never.)

Lane looked like a regretful soul when he announced to the television cameras that he was going to have to drop existing cases against tattoo artists who had been arrested in Oklahoma County. It is truly ironic and quite common to see police officers and sheriff's deputies with tattoos. And yet they are the ones who were arresting and charging tattoo artists with crimes against the state. Ironic indeed.

When DA's prosecute violent and heinous crimes like rape, murder, robbery, etc. the law has a moral high ground. But when DA's aggressively pursue felonious prosecutions against those who commit trivial crimes, the law loses its moral compass. When Lane brought animal cruelty charges against a man for using a broom in protecting his dog from an aggressive wild Goose, it was just silly. And it diminishes the credibility of his authority by filing such charges. He later dropped the charges only after the man's neighbors stepped forward.

While I know there will be some who are disappointed to read my words against Wes Lane. It's not personal on my part. I just think we need a change in the way the DA's office operates. I'm concerned that Lane has lost his way. I'm concerned that he's lost focus on the most important task of a District Attorney. And what is that most important task?.....Getting to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God.

Since we still live in a quasi-free country, I reserve the right to publish my opinions to those who might care. If I wanted to live in a police state, I'd move to North Korea.