Oklahoma City – Seeking to save face, and potentially kick off a re-election campaign, OKC Councilman Mark Stonecipher – the author of OKC’s insidious mask mandate – has partnered with Councilman Todd Stone to propose an early end to the mask mandate on March 31st.
In a press release issued on the City of OKC’s Twitter account earlier this evening, Councilman Stonecipher, speaking on behalf of himself and Councilman Stone, stated that OKC’s “vigilance in complying with health recommendations, as well as the work of our health community and their partners in getting the vaccine distributed,” has resulted in the rate of positive tests below 5% for the last two weeks.
According to Stonecipher, the city rising above the 5% infection rate was the main justification for passing the mandate in the first place…an interesting fact considering no such justification was mentioned in the ordinance itself. In fact, there were no such guidelines for reversal listed in the ordinance whatsoever, not to mention a complete lack of legal justification for the ordinance in the first place.
Stonecipher goes onto claim that “I have never been a fan of the mask ordinance, but I have stood by the rest of the Council once the majority had voted to implement and extend it.” A claim that is laughable, if not utterly absurd, considering he was the one who authored the ordinance to begin with.
Considering the OKC mask mandate was just recently extended, it’s apparent that the overwhelming success of grass-roots candidates in the February primaries and county GOP elections is the driving force behind this sudden about-face. Even the Edmond City Council agreed on Monday to allow their mask mandate to expire at midnight today. The Establishment, of which Stonecipher is staunchly entrenched, sees the writing on the wall and is doing everything possible to save face.
This is tantamount to the Council saying, “Since you’ve all been good little subjects, we, the elites on the Council who know better than you, will grant you your liberty back.” If they think for a moment that the liberty-loving citizens of OKC will forget the tyrannical manner in which they stole our freedoms in the first place, they are sadly mistaken. The very fact that they think they can take away and return our liberties at the slightest whim is the mark of a tyrant who is no longer deserving of an office of public trust.
As Ignite Liberty’s President Bryan Armstrong forcefully reminded them at the council meeting where the ordinance was originally passed, they never once named a single clause in the Oklahoma Constitution or Oklahoma Statutes that gave them the authority to pass the damnable ordinance to begin with…because no such clause existed. Even when presented with those facts, they chose to completely ignore them and pass the ordinance anyway. That fact should never be lost on the residents of Oklahoma City when it comes time for Stonecipher’s re-election.
It certainly will not be lost on this organization.
Note: The original post of this article inadvertently gave the wrong first name for Councilman Stone. Thank you to our loyal readers for pointing out the error. It has been corrected.
– Copyright, Ignite Liberty, 2021