City Council

OKLAHOMA CITY

On Tuesday, the latest attempt by leftists on the Oklahoma City Council to force another mask mandate went down in flames in the face of a strong, well-organized group of local conservatives that showed up en masse to speak out against not only the mask mandate, but also a resolution which would have taken city funds to help create was to incentivize Oklahoma City residents to take the Covid vaccine.

The meeting provided for rather dramatic theater at times, but was mostly marked by a stark contrast of approaches by the two opposing forces. The leftists, spearheaded by Councilmembers Cooper, Hamon and Nice, relied heavily on the same kind of emotional display and testimony that was used to pass the original mask ordinance last July. Those in opposition, including the citizens which spoke during public comments, focused their comments on fact-based arguments against both the mask and vaccine measures.

Cooper led off the mask ordinance portion of the meeting by showing two rather lengthy, and highly emotional, videos from the PBS News Hour about the current surge of cases nationally due to the so-called Delta Variant. This was followed by a presentation from Phil Maytubby, the Director of Public Health Protection for the Oklahoma City-County Health Department, which discussed the current state of the “pandemic” within Oklahoma County, with emphasis on the current shortage of nurses and healthcare workers in the metro area.

Councilman Bradley Carter, as he has done in recent weeks, questioned the OCCHD’s use of fear tactics to try and push the vaccine for a virus which has a survivability rate greater than 99% for all but the most senior of citizens (even that group has a greater than 95% survival rate).

One of the most powerful moments of Carter’s questioning, came when he pointed out that in 2017-2018 the nation experienced true pandemic levels for the seasonal flu, according to the CDC, that showed a 10% national mortality rate. “Yet,” Carter mentioned, “We didn’t push hard on the vaccines then.” He then continued, “You talk about the shortage of nurses, but right now a lot of them are leaving and quitting because they don’t want this vaccine.” Carter’s rebuttal was met with rousing applause from the audience, something which was met with ire from Mayor David Holt.

Carter continued, “with these kind of numbers we have here [referring to the survivability rate of Covid], and then knowing too that the vaccine manufactures have absolute no liability whatsoever if you get sick or die, how can you in good conscience stand here before the council and these people and then these hospitals, and tell them to ask for a mandate for something that could put them at more risk?” Maytubby attempted to rebuff Carter’s questioning by stating that he wasn’t asking for a vaccine mandate, despite OCCHD repeatedly encouraging mandates from the City Council. Carter responded, “do you have a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate for your employees at OCCHD?” Maytubby responded with an uncomfortable, “no sir.”

Perhaps the most astonishing moment of the exchange between Councilman Carter and Director Maytubby was when Carter asked what testing protocol OCCHD used to determine the current infection rate. When Maytubby said that the definitive test was the RT-PCR test, Carter responded with, “isn’t that the one that actually being discontinued at the end of the year because of how faulty it is?” Maytubby, seemingly ignorant of the FDA’s recent removal of authorization for the RT-PCR test, stated “no sir, it’s not.” Carter responded by referring Maytubby to the article on the CDC’s website that confirmed the FDA’s withdrawal of authorization for the faulty test. He then asked what the cyclic threshold (Ct) was for the PCR tests used by OCCHD, to which a seemingly clueless Maytubby responded, “I have no idea. I’m not a lab guy.”

As Ignite Liberty published last year, the Ct used during a PCR test has a huge effect on the reliability of the test results. Dr. Kary Mullis, the Nobel laureate inventor of the PCR test, stated during an interview that,

“PCR, if you do it really well, you can find almost everything in everybody…there’s very few molecules that you don’t have at least one single one of in your body…[the PCR test] allows you to take a very minuscule amount of anything and make it measurable and talk about it in meetings as if it’s somewhat important.”

The Vote

After nearly 2 hours of debate and public comment, the mask ordinance and vaccine resolution came up for a vote. Sensing that the vote was likely to not go his way, Councilman Cooper attempted to change the wording of the ordinance before the final vote. The ordinance as written would have taken effect at midnight September 1st and run through October 1st. However, a state law requires that any ordinance which takes place immediately must be passed with an emergency measure attached. Per city rules, an emergency measure takes seven votes to pass. Because of this, even if the measure passed by a simple majority it would effectively cease as soon as it went into force, making it moot.

Knowing this, Cooper put forth a motion to change the dates of the ordinance to have it take effect October 1st and last until November 1st. The motion needed a simple majority to pass, but failed 5-4 with only Cooper, Hamon, Nice, and Mayor Holt, who seemingly coached Cooper through the process of proposing the amendment, as its only supporters.

The mask ordinance, then, failed to reach the emergency threshold by a wide margin, failing 6-3. Only Cooper, Hamon, and Nice – the ordinance’s co-sponsors – voted for it. Perhaps sensing the disapproval in the crowd, even Mayor Holt voted against it.

By this point, and obviously flustered Cooper tried to plead for passage of the vaccine resolution. He even proposed a motion to table the resolution until the next city council meeting, perhaps fearing that the fierce opposition would doom it to suffer the same fate as the mask ordinance. That motion failed 4-4, again with Cooper, Hamon, Nice, and Holt being its only supporters (Carter had briefly stepped out of chambers). Having no more delay tactics at his disposal, an emotional Cooper then called for a final vote on the resolution. Much to the delight of the audience, the resolution failed 5-4, again with Cooper, Hamon, Nice, and Holt being it’s only supporters.

After the city council meeting adjourned, Mayor Holt led an emotion-filled press conference where he nearly yelled into the cameras pleading with citizens to get the vaccine.

The Fight Is Not Over

Ignite Liberty spoke with many of the attendees afterwards. While elated by their victory over this attempted overreach, the majority of the organizers noted that their fight is far from over. They believe that the real goal of Holt and Co. is to eventually push for a vaccine mandate similar to the ones imposed in liberal cities like NYC, LA, Seattle, and Portland.

If that is the case, then they will need to take the lessons learned and confidence gained from this fight.

Ignite Liberty spoke to Carol Hefner afterwards about this exact subject, and she stated, “the people of OKC are more organized, committed, and fire up than ever before to take our city back from the Marxists that want to turn us into San Francisco. This is only the beginning. We are committed to displaying the eternal vigilance that is necessary to ensure that we pass a prosperous and free OKC down to our children and grand-children.”

Given how Marxists always play the long game, that kind of resolve and foresight may very well be necessary if the grassroots conservatives want to win in the end.

– Bryan Armstrong

OKLAHOMA CITY

Last week, Ignite Liberty reported that the case between Venom 64 et al., vs. Oklahoma City, that the Plaintiffs and the Defendants provided their reasoning on why the case either is or is not moot. During that hearing, the Honorable Judge Ogden presented a U.S Supreme Court case that he believed bore relevance to the case before him and issued a continuance so that both parties could review the newfound case law.

On Monday, August 23, 2021, Attorney Frank Urbanic stepped foot back inside the Oklahoma County Courthouse to stand against what he and his clients believe is an overreach of Municipal power. The City’s attorneys presented multiple cases which were dismissed and that they think were similar.

Ultimately, Judge Ogden denied the motion to dismiss the case as moot, stating that he believes this case is one of “broad public concern”. With this decision, the case is now on track to move into the discovery phase and eventually trial.

In an Ignite Liberty exclusive interview, Urbanic stated that he was pleased with the hearing outcome and that he is eager to move onto the next step in the process. He said that his clients are not asking for “compensatory damages” but that the lawsuit seeks a “declaratory judgement” regarding the vocabulary of the City’s Riot and Prevention Control Act.

When asked about his goals for the lawsuit, he responded that he and his clients seek a “judicial determination on the propriety of what [Mayor] Holt did”. To that end, Urbanic stated that the discovery phase will include a deposition of Mayor Holt to determine the standard that was used to invoke the RCPA. It is Urbanic’s belief that the standard was arbitrary, and therefore illegal.

The “declaratory judgment” and the “judicial determination” are orders that the presiding judge can issue in the case. The purpose of both orders is for the court to interpret the law when two parties interpret the law in different ways. In this particular situation, the City argues that the Holt was authorized to enact the curfews due to his interpretation of the word “disaster.”

Under the Riot Control and Prevention Act for Oklahoma City it prescribes that the mayor may enact curfews for the purpose of restoring order. Urbanic argues, there was no “disaster.” Further stating that for the mayor to “restore order,” there must have been a state of “disorder”; Urbanic and his clients do not believe any disorder was present or imminent when Holt enacted the order in November of last year.

The date for the next preceding has not yet been determined. However, the very fact that this lawsuit continues acts as a deterrent to any additional mask mandates or restrictions on businesses in Oklahoma City…which alone is a huge victory for liberty. Ultimately, a final ruling in Urbanic’s favor would serve as invaluable precedent to prevent future abuses of power by municipalities in Oklahoma.

Ignite Liberty will continue to monitor the advancement of the case and will continue to bring you the must-up to date information.

– Jonathan Hewitt

OKLAHOMA CITY

Oklahoma City

Even for the most prepared candidates there can, and usually is, a huge difference between campaigning and governing. Campaign promises are often made based on principle and a narrow understanding of what the position the candidates are running for entails. We caught up with newly elected OKC City Council members Bradley Carter and Barbara Young on the 1 month anniversary of their swearing in, to give us some insight on the real difference between campaigning and governing. We think you’ll enjoy what they had to say.

IL: What have you learned since being sworn in that surprised you?

BC: “What an amazing support staff we have in city government. The servant’s hearts of everyone that works at city hall are truly an inspiration. They serve because they truly love this city and want to see it be the best city in the country. My direct support staff has been a Godsend! This has been a HUGE learning experience. More like learning from a fire hydrant than a fire hose. However, they have done an amazing job helping me understand the nature of my role as a city councilman, and what I can and cannot do. I don’t know where I would be without them. It almost a bit unfair that we, as city councilmen and councilwomen, get all of the public recognition when it’s the city hall staff that truly makes the city run. They deserve much more credit than they get.”

BY: “That the tenure of the city hall employees is significant…and that’s a very good thing. Considering the city council positions are truly part time (though they could easily be a full-time position), it is enormously helpful to have a long-tenured staff that knows the inner-workings of city government. The city staff are enormously helpful with making sure we have the information and support necessary to do our jobs well.”

IL: How is it different than you expected?

BC: “I think I didn’t realize how little control the city council truly has over the inner workings of the city. We are absolutely barred by the city charter from controlling or even influencing city employees in any way. I also didn’t realize how small of a voice one councilman or councilwoman actually has. No one councilman or councilwoman can appoint anyone to a position. In fact, the council as a whole only appoints 4 positions: the city manager, the city attorney, the city auditor, and municipal judges. Everything else is handled by the city manager…who is absolutely amazing at what he does!”

BY: “Given that I’ve already worked in city government as a 911 dispatcher, it really isn’t any different than I expected. The one thing that did really surprise me, however, is how desperately the OCPD needs more officers. Between low recruitment classes and early retirement, the department is sorely understaffed. It creates a real problem when sending officers out on calls, because there truly isn’t enough officers to cover everything if dispatch has a particularly busy day. This is something that desperately needs to be addressed.”

IL: What is the biggest difference between campaigning and governing?

BC: “In campaigning, talk is cheap. It’s very easy to say ‘if I get in I’ll do this and I’ll do that.’ In governing, actions speak louder than words. You have to follow through on the promises you made.”

BY: “As one might expect, the complexity of the conversations expands exponentially. When you’re on the campaign trail knocking on doors, you’ve got to limit your conversations to about 5 minutes most of the time. So you really can’t go much deeper than surface-level. However, when you’re actually elected and doing the job, those same conversations start to take on a whole different depth. It’s not just a 5-minute conversation anymore. Now you have to consider all of the possible unintended consequences of a particular policy or decision. Sometimes there can be literally hundreds of different aspects you have to consider on any given subject, and that’s just between 3:00pm and 4:00pm on a Wednesday. There are no easy answers in this job. And someone is always unhappy within the answer  ”

IL: What is the one thing you would tell potential candidates for city council?

BC: “In this city government, everyone has an agenda, however most everyone genuinely wants the best for the city…even Mayor Holt. We may have very different philosophical ideas on how to get there, but in the end we all want OKC to be the best place in America to live. Obviously I have a very different worldview from some of the people on the council, but I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to have real, constructive conversations with everyone I’ve talked to. It reminds me of the Reagan era, when we as American’s all wanted America to be successful, we just had very different beliefs on how to make that happen. That kind of healthy debate is not just good for the country, but good for this city as well.”

BY: “It’s never too soon to start making connections within the community, with existing council members, and really get to know the area that you’ll be running in.  The people the places there are so many great ones around OKC and our neighboring communities.”

Oklahoma City

Rumors have begun to swirl in conservative circles in recent weeks about a possible defunding of the OCPD by the City Council. The rumors were fueled, at least in part, by a misleading article published by
The Oklahoman on May 4th. The article begins by stating, “Oklahoma City’s proposed 2021-22 budget includes $300,000 for mental health crisis response, a step toward relieving police of some responsibilities and reducing chances that encounters between police and residents end in violence.”

Taken on face value, and combined with the fact that Mayor Holt did form a Mayor’s Law Enforcement Policy Task Force in July of last year, the article does seem to give credence to the fears that the Council was set to strip over a quarter of a million dollars out of the police budget to fuel the same kind of “community policing” efforts that have made liberal cities like Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis a cesspool of violence and destruction.

Upon hearing these rumors, Ignite Liberty reached out to newly-elected Councilman Bradley Carter (Ward 1) and Councilwoman Barbara Young (Ward 3) to determine their legitimacy. As it turns out, there was much more to the truth than The Oklahoman’s article let on.

Carter helped to clarify the budget process and how budgets are proposed and approved. “The OCPD is the one who put together their budget request. We don’t just tell them what they can and cannot have. They present their budget request to the Council, and we vote to approve it.” Carter added, “Chief Gourley did an outstanding job of preparing and presenting this year’s budget.”

In regards as to whether the OCPD’s budget is likely to be approved, Carter stated, “I don’t think there’s anyway the budget won’t be approved. Even if we did disapprove it, which is highly unlikely, OKC’s Charter mandates that we would have to go into binding arbitration with the OCPD to finalize the budget. In that scenario, an independent firm would be brought in to conduct the mediation.”

“In that highly unlikely scenario,” Carter continued, “the OCPD would likely at least get everything they’re asking for, if not more. The vast majority of everyone on the council fully support Chief Gourley and the work his outstanding officers and staff have done, and want to make sure they have all of the funding they need to keep the citizens of Oklahoma City safe.”

Carter also pointed out that the OKC Charter mandates that the contracts with the OCPD and OCFD be renewed by a certain date. If they are not renewed, the Charter mandates that the contracts be auto-renewed with the same funding as the previous year. “It’s public knowledge that the OCPD had to take a cut in funding last year due to anticipated COVID-related shortfalls in the City’s tax revenue,” Carter added. “This year, the OCPD is set to receive a substantial increase over last year.”

Indeed, the Oklahoman’s article does state towards the end that the OCPD’s budget is set to increase from $204.4 million from last year’s budget to $211.2 million in this year’s. This would be the largest budget in the department’s history.

The Mysterious $300,000

So what was the $300,000 the Oklahoman talked about that would be used to “relieve police of some responsibilities”? As it turns out, that statement may be more a liberal pipe dream than actual reality. The Oklahoman’s article accurately states that City Manager Craig Freeman has set aside $1.3 million out of the City’s budget to, “develop the alternative to police response to mental health calls and to begin implementing recommendations of a community policing review group and of task forces on police reform and homelessness.”

According to Councilwoman Young, the $300,000 is part of that amount, and is not coming out of the current OCPD budget. Young also pointed out what the Oklahoman failed to, namely that “the $300,000 is all going to help the police department better fulfill their duties to protect and serve the citizens.” Young continued, “due to the overwhelming shortage we have of officers, due both to early retirement and low recruiting numbers, we have a very real problem when it comes to having enough officers to adequately handle all of the calls that come in.”

Young highlighted how this shortfall creates stress on the department, “many instances we have officers who have to go out on calls alone, when maybe they really need to have additional officers with them. This isn’t a reflection on how the department is handling calls. It’s merely a statement of the reality we’re in.”

Drawing on her experience as a former 911 operator, Young pointed out, “the problem this situation creates is in where to best use the forces available. If you have multiple high-profile calls, such as murder, armed robbery, etc., coming in at the same time as a mental health call, and you don’t have enough officers to cover all of them, which calls do they get sent on? Perhaps, in some instances, it would be better to send a specially trained social worker to handle a non-violent mental health call rather than taking resources away from the more high-priority calls. We look forward to hearing all the potential solutions that will be presented to the council soon.”

Citizen Engagement Urged

When asked about how that $300,000 is going to be used, and if it could be used to hire new officers, Young said, “the options are currently being discussed and debated by the Mayor’s Law Enforcement Policy Task Force, and 21CP [the community policing review group mentioned above]. Once they have their recommendations, they will bring it to the Council.” This is where both Young and Carter urged citizens to get involved. “The citizens could be involved in the process right now. They can submit their ideas, and concerns, on how to better improve the police department directly to 21CP.”

The problem, as both Young and Carter put it, is whose voices are being heard right now. “Pretty much the only voices that we’re hearing from are the ones who aren’t fans of the police, many of whom would prefer to see the department defunded. We desperately need citizens who love and respect the police to make their voices heard as well.”

More than just giving the police an “atta boy”, which they absolutely deserve and should receive from every citizen. Young stressed that this is a real opportunity for citizens to be part of the policy-making process. “All of the input that 21CP receives will go directly into forming the policy recommendations that they ultimately send to the Council. This is the opportunity for citizens to have a real, meaningful impact on the safety of their community. It is absolutely vital that they get involved.”

The Time to Get Involved is Now

The email that citizens can send their suggestions and comments for how to improve the OCPD is voicesofokc@21cpsolutions.com. While no one in the conservative circles are thrilled with Mayor Holt’s decision to create the Law Enforcement Policy Task Force (a tactic often seen in leftist cities), that doesn’t change the reality that this group will have tremendous input on how the OCPD carries our their job to protect and service the citizens of Oklahoma City. Unless the passionate, conservative citizens of Oklahoma City get involved in this process, we may very well see the same policies that Portland, et al, have implemented become part of the OCPD’s SOP.

When asked about what possible uses are being floated for the $300,000, Young replied, “it could be anything from training additional CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) training for officers, to hiring and training social workers to follow up on mental health calls.” Young stressed, “This is why we need citizens to get involved in this process and make a difference.”

Though Young wasn’t sure whether the City’s budgetary process would allow for the $1.3 million to be used to hire new officers, it’s obvious that increasing the force size should be the number one concern. Both Carter and Young pointed out how an audit performed about 10 years ago showed that the OCPD was understaffed by more than 300 officers. With the population growth of OKC over the last decade, that deficit has only gotten worse.

Does the OCPD need to be better trained? Absolutely. They should be the finest trained, and best equipped police force in the country. But without the necessary manpower to put enough officers on the streets, all the training and equipment in the world won’t make much of a difference.

While concerns about Mayor Holt’s leftist leanings are certainly justified, we as citizens have a real chance to be a part of the solution here. OKC is not Tulsa, where the Mayor wields a great deal of power. Here, the Mayor is simply one vote on the Council. If we as citizens don’t get involved in this process, the fate of the OCPD, and the City of OKC, will rest solidly at our feet. It’s time to do our part.