House Leadership Bought and Sold Once Again
Crooked Harold has a nice ring to it I think. Last week we sent an extra email asking readers to contact their state representative to lobby for Rep. John Bennett for House Pro Tem but the effort failed as Rep. Harold Wright was elected Pro Tem. Wright faced Rep. John Bennett and Charles Ortega so we were completely surprised to learn afterward that Rep. Harold Wright had given both men $500.00 "campaign donations" earlier that year in an effort to get their vote for Pro Tem. Then we heard that Rep. Harold Wright had given a whole lot of "campaign donations" to other state representatives and candidates for state representative in an effort to sway their votes should they survive the election and win the seat.
Incumbent State Representatives that accepted the $500.00 campaign contribution for their vote:
Kevin Calvey Jeff Coody John Paul Jordan Mark LePak
Scott Martin Casey Murdock Jadine Nolan Dustin Roberts Shawn Roberts Ken Walker Kevin Wallace Scott Biggs Todd Russ
Successful candidates that accepted the $500.00 "campaign donation" for their vote:
Greg Babine Tim Downing Scott Fetgatter Mark Lawson
Ryan Martinez Tammy West Rhonda Baker Carol Bush
Scott Mceachin Rick West
Unsuccessful candidates that accepted the $500.00 "campaign contribution" :
Bob Ed Culver, Bruce Lee, Matt Jackson
Total cost to purchase a House Leadership position, $14,000.00 in tax free money.
The votes and the vote totals on the Pro Tem elections were "secret" of course with three vote counters allegedly ensuring an honest vote. What an excellent way to hide corruption. As Stalin once said, it matters not who gets to vote, what matters is who counts the votes.
Harold Wright, actually Glen Harold Wright, had milked dozens of Political Action Committees and individual donors for the cash mostly from banks and credit unions but there were dozens of donations from one medical company at 14101 Parkway Commons Drive, Oklahoma City. Other than this the only other really large expenditures were tens of thousands of dollars sent to newspapers and radio stations that shared the same address as his own business so it looks as if Wright is funneling campaign donations into associated businesses. Those addresses are 10132 Highway 54 , Weatherford Ok, and 10040 Highway 54, Weatherford Ok. The only other large campaign contribution went to Majority Designs which is a Fount Holland company. Found Holland of course has been charged with felonies involving the State Superintendant of Schools election in 2014.
We wonder what would lead a man to spend thousands of donated dollars on purchasing a House Leadership slot? The only obvious answer is that those that funded the bribes…oh, excuse me, "campaign contributions", expect a return on their investment. You know, this could solve the 600 million dollar budget hole this year, just auction off the elected official positions and by pass the entire voting and campaigning thing.
