Podcast Ep. 64 | 2019 Predict-O-Rama

Summary

We're joined by Krystal Yoseph to discuss Governor Stitt's first Executive Orders and cast our predictions for the 2019 Oklahoma legislative session. 

Announcements

• Feb 4: State of the State address + start of legislative session

• Feb 10: The West Wing Watch Party: Double Feature

• Feb 21: Let’s Fix This Capitol Day!

News Articles

• Executive orders target lobbyists, planes, hiring freeze and Cabinet (Journal Record)

• Hope and Fear: Classen SAS move to NE sparks both (NonDoc)

• Bill would make it harder to sue officers for excessive force (The Frontier)

Take-aways

• OK Policy Annual Budget Summit:

  • State will have more money to spend, but most of it is already allocated.

  • Lots of discussion about expanding Medicaid, even from Republicans

• 2019 Legislative Predictions & what bills we’re watching

  • HB2328 - deals with use of excessive force by law enforcement

  • SB592 - requires protests/rallies at the Capitol to get a $50,000 bond

  • HB2094 - makes it a misdemeanor to disrupt the Legislature

  • HB2214 - Bans teacher walkouts

  • HB1413 - Holds lawmakers responsible if they author laws that are ruled unconstitutional

  • HB2456 - Bans conversion therapy with children

  • HB1269 - Makes SQ780 retroactive

  • SB102 - Raises minimum wage to $10.50/hour

  • HB2597 - allows anyone over the age of 18 to openly carry a firearm without a license

• There will be more listed in our official Predict-O-Rama contest, will be released this week. Sign up for our Newsletter to get the announcement first!

  • UPDATE: Predict-O-Rama is now live!

Podcast Episodes 60-62: All Things Election

We recorded two episodes the week prior to the election that didn’t get posted here, so I’m combining them with our post-election recap for a comprehensive election post!

In episode 60 we revealed that Scott and I have been working on an Oklahoma-only election forecast model, similar (though not nearly as advanced) as the good folks at FiveThirtyEight. We also talked about “voting plans,” what they are and why you need one.

In episode 61 we briefly discussed the races we’d be keeping a close eye on (and why) during election night.

And last but not least, in episode 62 we discussed what happened during the election, why Stitt beat Edmondson, and what this means for the upcoming 2019 legislative session.

The Election Night Show [complete video]

Our inaugural election night watch party & entertainment event was a tremendous success! More than 700 people attended and raised nearly $5,000 for our organization. Huge thanks to all of our guests, sponsors, and volunteers who made the night so great.

If you weren’t able to attend (or if you did but just want to re-watch it, the video of the event is embedded below:

Podcasts Eps. 58 & 59 | Recap of a debate and follow-up with several candidates

This week is a banner week for #LetsPodThis - we posted not one but two episodes! (Okay, yes, we did that once last month as well. What can we say - it’s a busy time of year!)

This week starts with Episode 58, “On the Road Again,” in which we catch up with two candidates who have been travelling the state together during their campaigns - Democratic candidate for Labor Commissioner Fred Dorrell and Democratic candidate for Insurance Commissioner Kimberly Fobbs. 

Next is Episode 59, “CD5 Debate and another Labor Commissioner candidate,” which contains a brief recap of the debate between candidates for US Congress, incumbent Steve Russell (R) and challenger Kendra Horn (D), followed by an interview with the Republican candidate for Labor Commissioner, Leslie Osborn. 

The debate between Russell and Horn was hosted by NonDoc, and we highly recommend you read their full recap of the event. This is a race that is garnering national attention - which is unusual for Oklahoma congressional races for the last decade or so.

Podcast Ep. 57 | 2018 State Questions Guide

Summary

We discuss the pros and cons of each of the five state questions that are on the ballot this year.

Announcements

Reminder that Nov 6th is Election Day - which means you need to vote. And then, in the evening following, you’re all invited to join us for The Election Night Show!

Links & Articles Discussed

• The video clip of The West Wing used as the opening to this episode.

• Health Department faces employee lawsuit (Journal Record)

• Pulling back from partisanship (our blog post from late 2017)

Take-Aways

We discussed the five state questions that appear on the ballot this November. We’ll publish our own voter guide later this week, but until then, here are two excellent guides that we highly recommend:

• Oklahoma Policy Institute

• League of Women Voters of Oklahoma

Podcast Ep. 56 | Everybody likes sandwiches

Announcements

• Ballot review meet-ups on Nov 3rd (specific times & locations TBD)

• The Election Night Show on Nov 6th

Articles & Links Discussed

• Medical marijuana by the numbers: Current patient-to-dispensary ratio is 12:1 as health department gets $5 million in licensing fees.

• Symbolism

Take-Aways

• As the Oklahoma legislature grapples with how to implement medical marijuana, there are a number of concerns being voiced from nearly every profession.

• This week, the #okleg Joint Working Group (yes really) heard from the banking community. Since marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, banks are hesitant to work with anyone in the marijuana industry. That means businesses must use cash and may be forced to hold on to large amounts of it. It also means the state must collect sales tax in cash…which poses big issues for how that happens as well.

• However, other states seem to be handling it just fine, so maybe things will work out in Oklahoma.

• Our guest for this episode, Mark Myles, is running for Attorney General. During the interview, Mr. Myles speaks broadly about his background as an attorney (as both a prosecutor and defense attorney) and his perspective on the role of the Oklahoma AG both now and in the future.

Podcast Ep. 55 | Commissioner Candidates Chat

In this episode, we sit down with two candidates running for statewide office - Kimberly Fobbs, who is running for Insurance Commissioner, and Fred Dorrell, who is running for Labor Commissioner. #Votelahoma

Podcast Ep. 54 | Gubernatorial Debate Recap

First, watch the debate:

Then listen to us:

Podcast Ep. 53 | Someone should poll our dogs

News RoundUp

• Education Leaders See Few Benefits of in Ballot Measure to Give Schools More Financial Stability

• Oklahoma Hospital Tries GoFundMe to Keep Its Doors Open

• New Census Data Shows That Oklahoma Fell Further Behind the US on Poverty and Uninsured Rate for Second Year

• The Strawberry Capital of the World is the Early Death Capital of the US

• #OKLeg Freshman Class Size to be Almost Unprecedented

• Dark Money Spending Hits Record in Oklahoma, With Surge to Come

• On The Sidelines of Democracy: Exploring why so Many Americans Don’t Vote

• Most States Lack the Reserves to Weather the Next Recession

Take-aways

• Everyone is campaigning, so most of the updates are in the form of articles this week.

• Voter turnout is key to making change in our state.

• All politics is local. The more local the race, the more of a direct impact it has on your day-to-day life.

• There’s going to be a ton of new legislators going into next year, so it is imperative that we as voters & advocates begin getting to know them soon. They’re going to have a lot to learn about how things work at the Capitol…and we need to ensure they learn the right things.

Episode Sponsors

• Roast Scout

• Brewers’ Union

Podcast Ep. 52 | Capitol Reporters, Vol. 1 (with Grant Hermes and Sean Murphy)

In this episode we visit with two of Oklahoma's intrepid journalists, Grant Hermes (News9) and Sean Murphy (Associated Press) to get an inside look into what it's like to cover the State Capitol and politics in general in today's political climate.

NOTE: As you’ll hear at the beginning of the episode, we had an issue with the initial audio export and thus had to cut out the first five minutes of the original recording. So, we jump in near the beginning of our discussion of the second news article listed below.

News Round-up

• New Election Board service allows voters to change registration information online (State Election Board)

• GOP nominee for Oklahoma Senate flipped between parties during campaign (NewsOK)

• Investigator at Oklahoma Health Department disciplined for affair with supervisor who emailed fake threats to herself (NewsOK)

• Editorial: Health Department should honor open records requests (NonDoc)

• “Overkill,” Town Board guts draft ordinance on Medical Marijuana (Luther Register)

• Democrats Don’t Care About Policy Compromise Anymore — Just Like Republicans (FiveThirtyEight)

• Live From the Battleground Districts: Polls of the Key Races for House Control (NY Times The Upshot)

Take-Aways

For all of us who have jobs and cannot be at the Capitol all day, every day, the journalists that comprise the Capitol press corp are our eyes and ears inside the building. However, they are merely observers of the process, not active participants. Because of that, they have a unique insight and perspective into what goes on there, and we thought it would be interesting to hear from them directly.

Journalists have come under fire during the last couple years, largely without warrant. Both Grant and Sean do a great job explaining how the see their role in politics today and the process that goes into investigating, researching, vetting, and writing the news. These are not cable news talking heads - these are local people reporting on local things, working their tails off to ensure that they get it right. They also share the most challenging aspects of their jobs as well as their favorite Oklahoma political stories from the past couple of years.

We included “Vol. 1” in the title because we will be doing additional interviews with other reporters at the State Capitol for future episodes down the line. Stay tuned!