Let's Pod This

Vaccinations for COVID-19 have begun in Oklahoma (including one of our hosts!), a cabinet secretary gets indicted for bribery, two GOP candidates get each other kicked off the ballot, and we manage to find a few diamonds in this otherwise giant turd of a year.

Session doesn't start until February but some members of the legislature are already plotting a course toward restricting voters' ability pass laws directly. Also, is "qualified" simply in the eyes of the beholder? Let's discuss.

This episode is...hard. Bailey lost her grandfather to Covid and Andy's mom is in the ICU on a ventilator. We stew on that and the glaring absence of political will by many elected officials to take the steps necessary to slow the spread and prevent *even more* Oklahomans from dying.

The newly-elected Oklahoma legislature has been busy - filing bills, scheduling meetings, and sending letters to other states telling them how to handle their elections. And, of course, there's the continued rampant community spread of Covid-19, which has finally made it's way into our homes.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Map of the legislature's redistricting town hall meetings
• Oklahoma using $15 million in CARES Act funds to update state websites
• Oklahoma County CARES Act grants (non-OKC)

We're joined by Rep. Cyndi Munson to discuss OG&E's response to the recent ice storm and how Oklahomans can be more effective advocates for change regarding utilities oversight. We also give an update on Oklahoma County shenanigans (including Hooten's horn) and Scott leaves us with a very strange "Moment of Zen."

(Spoiler: the Oklahoma Corporation Commission oversees utilities.)

• To file a complaint with them, go here.
• To find their next meeting, go here.

Please wear a mask whenever you are outside your home and do not go to work OR ANYWHERE ELSE if you have symptoms of Covid. Get a test and wait for the results.

In this special episode, we're sharing the "civic sermon" from our first virtual Civic Saturday event, which was held on October 17th, just a few weeks before Election Day. A video of the event and the full text of the sermon and "civic scriptures" can be found in this blog post.

We'll be back next week with a full recap of the election.

No full episode this week since everyone is dealing with fallout from the ice storm. BUT! two reminders: (1) Don't forget to vote and (2) we're doing a liveblog on election night beginning at 6pm. Join us at letsfixthisok.org/blog.

The past year has brought numerous challenges for government at all levels, and that includes the county level. Oklahoma County, in particular, has repeatedly made headlines for decisions regarding the county jail, what they're doing (or not doing) with federal CARES funds, and their relationship with the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. It's a complicated mess, and so we're joined by County Commissioner Carrie Blumert to walk through who all the players are and a timeline of events.

Board of County Commissioners Members

• Commissioner Carrie Blumert
• Commissioner Brian Maughn
• Commissioner Kevin Calvey

Jail Trust Members

• Tricia Everest (chair)
• Sue Ann Arnall, attorney & philanthropist
• Francie Ekwerekwu, assistant public defender & law professor
• Ben Brown, former state senator
• Commissioner Kevin Calvey
• Sheriff P.D. Taylor
• Todd Lamb, former Lt. Governor
• Jim Couch, former OKC City Manager 
• M.T. Berry, former OKC Police Chief

Budget Board Members

• Commissioner Kevin Calvey (chair)
• Commissioner Carrie Blumert
• Commissioner Brian Maughn
• County Treasure Butch Freeman
• County Clerk David Hooten
• County Court Clerk Rick Warren
• County Assessor Larry Stein
• Sheriff PD Taylor

ISSUES AT HAND

• ICE holds - the jail notifies ICE before inmates are released and will continue to hold individuals for up to 48 hours  if ICE wants to take them into custody. The Jail also provides office space for ICE agents inside the jail. (Or they used to; we’ll talk about that)
• CARES funds - federal funding designed for various covid-19 relief programs 

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

5/2019 Jail Trust created to oversee the management and financial activity of the jail. Prior to the Trust, the County Sheriff was responsible for managing the county jail. 

8/31/19 Sheriff submitted his resignation from Jail Trust & CJAC (Criminal Justice Advisory Council). However, the Sheriff can’t actually resign from the Trust, so the effect of this was more along the lines of “I disagree with this whole deal so I’m not going to attend meetings any longer, and in my place our general counsel will be attending as my proxy.”

11/??/19 Trust hired jail administrator hired

1/29/20 BOCC votes to contract with Jail Trust for management of the jail 

7/1/20 Date that the Trust officially assumed mgmt of jail

8/13/20 Budget Board voted 5-3 to move $36M of CARES dollars to the Jail Trust. County Treasure Butch Freeman questioned if this was a legal use of CARES funds. 

8/19/20 BOCC voted to move $34M in CARES dollars to Jail Trust. The issues  was listed as item #22 on the agenda but it was moved up and the vote was called for before Commissioner Blumert was even seated.

8/31/20 Jail Trust voted to accept $37M in federal CARES dollars - $3M for airflow at the jail and another $34M for yet-undetermined expenditures. Members of the public were there, gave comment, and were not happy with the vote.

9/21/20 Jail Trust voted 4-2 to not honor ICE detainers, however, the Jail Trust’s  bylaws require 5 affirmative votes, so the vote was not actually valid and thus the decision was vacated. There was consternation about how this all went down. There were a number of very vocal protestors at the meeting, so tensions were running high. Trust chairwoman Tricia Everest was participating virtually and just before the vote was called, she disconnected from the meeting. It is unclear why. In her absence, Co-Chair Jim Couch called for the vote. Calvey & Lamb voted ‘no,’ Couch, Berry, Brown, & Ekwerekwu voted ‘yes,’ Everest was now absent, and because of that, Danny Honeycut, counsel for the Sheriff’s office who was sitting in for Sheriff Taylor, abstained from voting because he wasn’t sure it was a valid vote. So that made the vote 4-2-1. The counsel for the Trust, John Williams, was present in the meeting but did not say anything about it not being a valid vote until hours later 

Also at this meeting (Sept 21), the Trust passed a resolution to accept $34 million of federal CARES money from the BOCC, however, the Trust did not have a plan for how it was going to spend it. They had a long list of needs at the jail, but weren’t sure which ones to do. So, the Trust authorized the CEO to hire a Program Assistant to help winnow the list, which they would present at the next meeting. 

9/30/20 In an emergency meeting, the Trust authorizes $3 million in CARES money to be used for a no-bid repair contract with an out-of-state contractor. They also canceled the Trust meeting scheduled for Oct 5th and carried those agenda items over to Oct 19th.  This was interesting because the Oct 5th meeting was supposed to be when the Trust would re-vote on the involvement of ICE at the jail. 

10/5/20 BOCC approved full cooperation with ICE in a 2-1 vote. Before the vote, Commissioner Blumert raised the question why this matter had not gone through the board’s Policy & Governance Committee. Calvey claimed it didn’t need to. (Then what’s the committee for?) Commissioner Blumert also raised doubt that the BOCC could set policy for the Jail Trust since they are a separate entity independent of the BOCC by design. Calvey said the lease agreement with the Trust for operation of the jail states that they shall follow County policy, which is why he wanted to set that policy at this time.

10/6/20 The next day, Commissioner Calvey filed petition asking the court to order that the Trust must do what the BOCC tells them to do. The petition was filed on behalf of three parties: the Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Association, Tom Vineyard (an individual), and Commissioner Calvey himself, in his official capacity as County Commissioner. The rather obvious issue here is that Commissioner Calvey was arguably suing himself, since he sits on both the BOCC and the Trust. Furthermore, he filed the suit as the attorney of record for the petitioners. This might not have been a problem if he was party to this as an individual citizen (like Mr. Vineyard), but Commissioner Calvey was listed as party in his official capacity as County Commissioner. In effect, Commissioner Calvey hired a private attorney to represent the County, and that private attorney was himself. This was an unprecedented move, as the county already has legal counsel - the District Attorney.

10/16/20 District Attorney David Prater responded to Calvey’s suit. His motion to intervene basically said that the DA’s office is the official representative of the county in virtually all legal matters. Prater’s motion also said that the BOCC does not have authority over the Trust. He pointed to the lease agreement as saying that while the county owns the jail, the Trust is responsible for management of it. 

10/19/20 Jail Trust votes 4-2-2 to remove ICE from jail, but by-laws require 5 votes to pass, so no change

Monday was a barn-burner of a news cycle when it comes to Oklahoma politics, with important developments about everything from pandemics to Medicaid managed care, from new cabinet & agency heads to Epic Charter School investigative audits, and a ribbon of Governor vs Legislature running through most issues.

Links are below:

• Rep. Ryan Martinez (R-Edmond) announced plans to file legislation aimed at blocking Governor Stitt’s plan to move the public health lab to Stillwater
• Numerous legislators have voiced opposition to the Governor’s plan to privatize Medicaid (notably Rep. McEntire, Sen. McCourtney, and Sen. Standridge)
• Governor Stitt appointed former Senate Pro Temp Brian Bingman as new Secretary of State & Governor’s Finance Secretary Mike Mazzei resigned
• Governor formally appointed three state agency directors - Rachel Holt (OJA), Lt Col Lance Frye (OSDH), Carrie Sutton-Hodges (ODMHSAS)
• AG Mike Hunter assigned special counsel to investigate Epic Charter Schools
• State Board of Education giving Epic 60 days to pay back $11 million 
• Statewide Virtual Charter School Board moves to begin process of ending contract with Epic

Criminal justice reform has been widely supported by most Oklahomans, but there seems to be a lot of division and uncertainty surrounding the latest CJR measure on the ballot. In this episode we speak with supporters Kris Steele and Jacqueline Blocker from Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform as well as opponent Pat McFerron to hear their perspectives on the issue.

Read more:

Supporters: YesOn805.org

Opponents: No805.org

Also, near the end of the episode Bailey mentions a link to a resource about the judges up for retention on the ballot. Here's that resource: https://courtfacts.org/retentionballot/