Let's Pod This

Despite mounting pressure from voters, especially parents, Governor Stitt continues to refuse to issue a "state of emergency" declaration, a decision that has negative consequences for Oklahoma's ability to respond to the pandemic far beyond mask mandates in school. We're joined by state Senator Julia Kirt (D-SD30) to discuss that and more.

• Newly appointed attorney General John O’Connor has filed a formal petition with SCOTUS asking them to overturn their McGirt ruling. Good luck with that, General. 
• Cherokee Nation chief Chuck Hoskin Jr issued a statement, saying “With today’s ruling in Bosse v Oklahoma, they have made it clear that this was never about protecting victims or stopping crime, but simply advancing an anti-indian political agenda.”
• OKGOP chairman John Bennett issues a truly terrible statement equating vaccination records with the Star of David patches the Nazis forced the Jews to wear during the Holocaust...and then he doubled down on it the next day, AND THEN HE tripled-down. 
• At the same time, the head of OK2A, the second amendment association, issued a statement equating vaccine mandates to rape. 
• Covid update
• Sooner Survey 
• Interview with Julia Kirt 
• Democrat’s letter to Governor Stitt requesting special session to allow mask mandates
• Belated session recap
• Interim studies - plenty to talk about there in terms of value, process and all the potential we leave on the table for robust public participation.

“The Fault Lines of America” report

As we prepare to enter the third school year affected by Covid, we're joined by OEA's Amanda Ewing to discuss what's on the mind of teachers and how the government could (or should) respond.

This week: A bogus witch hunt in public education. The Governor ended his McGirt panel due to protesters. Power struggle in Western Heights school district. A former Cherokee chief will be featured on the quarter.

Episode outline:

• The State Board of Education adopted rules following passage of HB1775. 
• Western Heights school district fired superintendent, appointed a new one, then SBE said no and appointed their own, THEN this week Western Heights said no to the state and again appointed their own.
• We mentioned in our last episode that Governor Stitt was going to hold a “community impact panel” this week about the McGirt ruling. Well, he did...but it did not go well for him.
• On a related note, the FBI anticipates 7500 new cases in federal court next year as a result of the McGirt ruling 
• The board of Epic Charter Schools shared information about why they distanced themselves from the founders, and it’s kind of fascinating. 
• Let’s end on a good note: the US Mint announced the designs for the new quarters featuring Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller that will be released next year.

Update on the prison closure, Congressional redistricting, and the one year anniversary of the McGirt ruling.

Full description with links:

Last week we discussed the closure of the prison in Ft. Supply, and this week Senator Casey Murdock has asked Governor Stitt to delay closing the prison. Senator Murdock has raised concerns that closing the prison would cost the state money...which seems to be at odds with what DOC has indicated, since keeping open a half-empty prison is not exactly without cost.

On Thursday this week the legislature held their first town hall meeting about congressional redistricting, it went about like you’d expect. Twenty-ish people, roughly 10 or 12 of whom gave public comment or asked questions. Video is available on the Senate website so you could go watch it, but also People Not Politicians was there and live-tweeted it, you can go back and read 

Today is the one-year anniversary of the famous McGirt ruling, so naturally, yesterday a court overturned a murder conviction due to the ruling. Despite the fear-mongering headlines, the guy isn’t getting out of prison, as he was also convicted of arson, desecrating a corpse and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, all of which are not affected by the McGirt ruling. ALSO the murder will be re-tried in federal court and a grand jury was already empaneled for that reason back in March. 

Also, next week the Governor is holding a “community impact forum” in Tulsa about the McGirt ruling and its implications. His guests will be the Tulsa County sheriff, several district attorneys (districts attorney?), and...none of the tribes. Tribal leaders say they weren’t invited; Tulsa County DA says they were. Three tribal AGs acknowledged they got an email about it that said “you and your chiefs” are invited and that a “formal invitation will follow,” but that was never received. The tribes, of course, feel this forum is political theater.

The Oklahoma Dept of Corrections is closing a prison in Ft. Supply and, well, it's a complicated matter. We break down how it may affect the town and the state. Plus, Effie Rorke joins Scott and Andy to discuss her experience of variations in voting from state to state.

A few notes:

• Prison being closed in NW Oklahoma has several implications...but it’s a mixed bag.
• Fewer incarcerated people saves the state money and, presumably, more people in the workforce. (~5000 fewer than 2 years ago) Except…
• The closure means fewer job opportunities for prison employees, and they generally live  in an area of the state that has limited opportunities as it is. (142 jobs; population of the town where it’s located is only 350)
• DOC board is now advisory in nature, but DOC still falls under the Executive branch, and we all know how much Governor Stitt wants to run this state like a business. Well, DOC is a loss leader for the state to an exceptional degree, so if nothing else, closure of this facility makes good business sense. However, the legislative branch isn’t thrilled with it, especially those from that part of the state, like Senator Casey Murdock from Felt. So, this  week  lawmakers had a meeting about it. 
• Discussion between Sen. Casey Murdock (R-Felt) and DOC Director Scott Crow:
• Murdock asked, “The day that you made this decision, when you went home that night. How much sleep did you lose?”
• “Sir, I lose sleep on nearly a daily basis because of the problems in the correctional system around the state of Oklahoma,” he said. “It’s not limited to one facility or community.”
• Also has negative impact on local hospital, which isn’t great 
• Also discussed the historical value of the prison, which seems...weird, right?

Covid is up, tuition is up, TSET effectiveness is in question, Canoo incentives are secret, and we still don't have an Attorney General. Let's talk about it.

• COVID cases are increasing in Oklahoma and around the country. OK has roughly doubled the number of new diagnoses since the beginning of June. Likely due to Delta variant (as there is an outbreak in Missouri), but we can’t know for sure because Oklahoma is dead last for genomic sequencing, with just 0.19% of total cases sequenced. So, they’re working on that. 
• Good news is, vaccinated folks are not contracting the virus. OK only at 37% vaccinated, though, so there’s a lot of people out there who are “eligible to get the virus”
• 
  
• OU increases tuition (NonDoc) (avg of $248 per year for in-state, $671 per year out-of-state)
• Timing is just coincidental, but also not great given last week’s news about NonDoc suing OU to release two reports from Jones Day law firm, one of which has to do with misreporting or fabricating of fundraising data...which impacts the university budget, even if just a little.
• 
  
• LOFT report questions the effectiveness of TSET and says some of its impact cannot be measured.
• OK is Top 10 for tobacco cessation spending...but despite that, we’re also still Top 10 for number of adults and youth who use tobacco
• But is part of the blame on lawmakers? They could increase the tax on tobacco products and e-cigarettes—in fact, TSET asked them to do it—but they haven’t.
• But remember, last year the legislature sent a state question to the ballot (SQ814) asking voters to give them [the legislature] more access to TSET funds. Voters rejected the measure...and now the legislature is coming after TSET again. If nothing else, this seems suspicious.
• 
  
• Oklahoma chosen as site for new Canoo electric vehicle production facility
• Incentives still secret, at least for now. Apparently agreements haven’t yet been signed, which means there’s still time for talks to break down?
• Tulsa World reports that former US Senator Don Nickles tipped off Oklahoma to the possibility of the deal
• 
  
• Governor still mulling candidates for Attorney General. Names supposedly on the short list:
• Ryan Leonard, currently Stitt’s special counsel for Native American affairs, 
• Tim Downing, Stitt’s counsel for Sec of State until Trump bumped him up to US Attorney, but he resigned once Biden took office (weird)
• Tricia Everest, formerly Stitt’s Sec of Public Safety, then chair of OK County jail trust
• Greg Mashburn & AJ Ferate, both attorneys with strong ties to OK GOP and big oil
• and of course there’s Gentner Drummond (ran in 2018, narrowly lost in primary to Hunter who was the incumbent)
• 
  
• Legislature’s Congressional redistricting  town halls start July 8th. 
• 6 p.m. July 8 in Oklahoma City at the state Capitol, Room 535
• 6 p.m. July 13 Virtual
• 6 p.m. July 20 in Enid at the Autry Technology Center
• 6 p.m. July 22 in Tulsa at the Tulsa Technology Center
• 6 p.m. July 27 in McAlester at the Kiamichi Technology Center
• 6 p.m. July 29 at Lawton City Hall
• 6 p.m. August 3 Virtual

Relatively slow week in Oklahoma political news, which leaves Scott and Andy to ponder the questions "What would ALEC do?" and "Do Oklahoma Republicans have any notable policy agenda items remaining?"

It seemed like a quiet week for Oklahoma government, and yet, lawsuits were filed, transparency was reduced, and two pieces of legislation still hang in the balance.

Budget analysts Paul Shinn & Emma Morris from OK Policy join the show to help us understand what actually went down with the state budget this session.

Also, a bit of good news! More than 50,000 Oklahomans have enrolled in Medicaid since the expansion opened up on June 1st.

We're taking a break for this week, but here are some important headlines we don't want you to miss and we'll be back next week to discuss them in more detail!