A few days ago we received a phone call from a Tulsa area activist and party leader asking for assistance for one of their local candidates, Brian Jackson, who was running against Senator Dan Newberry in the upcoming primary. Senator Newberry, AKA Homeless Dan for forced from his home for not paying his mortgage while running for office no less. Newberry scored a dismal 55 out of 100 points on the last RINO Index as he has a penchant for tax credits, lowering government accountability, and thinks the National Popular Vote is a good idea.
But who was this challenger? Some nobody running on a lark and a few hundred bucks? Nope, turns out the guy is a seven year veteran of the Sand Springs School board, something he initially didn't disclose when he emailed Tulsa County Chairman Mike Ford on March 3rd in a vain attempt to obtain a list of Republican voters.
Eleven days later Mr. Jackson politely emailed Mike Ford again, mentioning another local GOP staffer that said that Ford was the gatekeeper to getting access to the online Republican voter data, and bringing up the fact that he was a seasoned campaigner who had held the Sand Springs School Board position for seven years.
Finally Mike Ford, Tulsa County GOP Chairman, responds after another email from Jackson on March 21st. Ford (mford@tulsagop.org in case you want to email the guy) claims he has sent the request to the state GOP HQ and delivering access was up to them, saying that he would let Jackson know when the state GOP allowed access and delivered a password.
A week later on March 28th Jackson emails Ford again, asking that he receive the data before April first, noting that on that date it is a short 92 days until the primary vote. No reply from Chairman Ford.
On April 4th Jackson emails Chairman Ford once again expressing his need for the GOP data and drops the name of a prominent banker friend in the Tulsa area and that it is a short 86 days till the primary. No reply from Chairman Ford.
On April 28th Jackson emails again pointing out it had been 24 days since his last message on April 4th, 62 days till the primary election, that he has waited over two months for the requested GOP voter list for Senate District 37, and that he was becoming very frustrated with the GOP to whom he had been loyal since high school. No reply from Chairman Ford.
At this point Mr. Jackson had called the Sooner Tea Party, reminded them that it was 50 days till the primary vote and informed them that someone from the Tea Party would be coming by tomorrow to pick up the information.
And that got their attention; a few minutes later Jackson got an email from Jake Parsons, the Director of Operations for the Oklahoma Republican Party, asking for Jackson to give him a call. Jackson tried to call but couldn't get past the receptionist at the state GOP HQ in Oklahoma City so he emailed Jake Parsons back the same day and received no email response or return phone call. The Tea Party also called asking about the issue, noting that we intended to write a story about the lack of support but we received no response from Jake Peters or anyone at the state GOP HQ.
Finally on Wednesday, two days later, Jake Parsons has sent a new form to fill out requesting access to the Senate District 37 voter information. At that point we had had enough and processed the entire voter list for SD 37 from the Sooner Tea Party Voter Vault and emailed it to Jackson.
Now we are going to stop short of endorsing Brian Jackson. He has some positions that we aren't happy with such as allowing retired teachers to start teaching again immediately upon retiring instead of waiting three years. So a teacher retires, starts drawing a pension, then returns to work? Makes no sense at all, if they want to teach why retire other than to start siphoning off twice the tax dollars? He is for stopping federal overreach on school testing but he talks about riding a bus with seniors to the Capitol, upset that these seniors didn't pass their end of instruction test and therefore couldn't graduate. If the students didn't pass the test then they haven't been properly educated and are not ready to be passed on to college or employment. The teachers and school system has failed those kids but they ought not to be allowed to graduate if they didn't learn the basics.
Jackson was opposed to the POP Museum in Tulsa, saying that the money ought to have gone to roads and bridges and education so there is a lot to like about the candidate but he also supports the Boren penny sales tax so Jackson is a mixed bag for conservative voters.
But Chairman Mike Ford, State Chairman Pam Pollard, and Jake Parsons, the Director of Operations of the State GOP ought to be ashamed of their actions or inaction in withholding voter data from a Republican candidate for eleven weeks going on twelve weeks. And Jackson is a moderate Republican.
