Sullivan and Aldridge Under Increasing Scrutiny
Yesterday represented the largest increase in web traffic to Okie Pundit we’ve seen since we took over in December. We received dozens of emails from people wanting more information and from some wanting to provide their own information. Several other Oklahoma political blogs picked up the Dan Sullivan and Cliff Aldridge campaign contribution story and we expect mainstream media outlets to run with it soon.
As our readers know, we are conservatives at Okie Pundit. But that doesn’t mean we won’t call out some of our Republican representatives who claim to be “common sense” conservatives when they author bills that expand government or act in unethical ways, as we believe Sullivan and Aldridge did. We are committed to good, limited government. We will continue investigating these claims and others precisely for that reason, even (especially) if it means people at the capitol are angry with us. Each time an elected official acts in a way that will erode public confidence in their government, that story needs to be told regardless of party or ideological belief.
When Republicans took control of the State House in 2004, a lot of good was accomplished and our state was better off after 100 years of Democrat neglect. But it appears some of our representatives are becoming increasingly complacent and reckless in their new majority power. That’s leading them to become the corrupt social engineers and big government cheerleaders that we thought we rid ourselves of from 2004-2008. Since Republicans took control of the legislature, we’ve seen everything from a ridiculous proposed ban on pitbulls, to absurdly expanding Quality Jobs tax credits to call center jobs, to legislation further prying into the private contracts and dealings of private citizens, and increasing government budget without tangible results (e.g., given the increase in education and health spending and bureaucracy, there is little evidence of commensurate increases in results). We’ve seen this before on the national level, and it doesn’t end well.
Even though we are a modest news and opinion outlet in the realm of established blogs, hopefully Okie Pundit can still help prevent some of the excesses that come with increasing government power.
I’m pleased I found this link on Mark Shannon’s site. After reading your posts I have registered and bookmarked this site into my daily reading folder.
It appears the Republican controlled State House is following the same path the Republican Controlled House in Washington took and almost on the same time line.
I dread to think of the future of Oklahoma if Republicans continue on this path.
For those legislators that believe they have POWER I just want to remind you that I have the POWER along with every voter in this state to take away any POWER you perceive as yours.
For many years I grew complacent about elections on the State and Federal level because it was difficult to replace incumbents. This year the elections in Va., NJ, NY and Mass. has renewed my belief that we can make the needed changes with hard work and the Internet getting the truth to the citizens.