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By Charlie Meadows
I was recently questioned as to why I suggested in my Charlie’s Picks that J.D. Johnston should never hold office again based on his performance as Bethany Mayor. Following are some of the reasons. Bethany is a small city which struggles to accomplish providing it’s vital city functions, even with a high 4% city sales tax tacked on to the 4.5% taken by the state. Johnston’s TV commercials promote him as a conservative. However, his past performance strongly suggests otherwise.
A few years ago while serving as Mayor, J.D. Johnston was behind a plan to have the taxpayers provide health insurance for the Mayor and council. That measure required unanimous approval from the Mayor and Council members to take effect. Even though then Councilman Richard Engle was self employed and would have benefitted greatly from that action, he was opposed to putting that burden on the taxpayers. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand Engle was the conservative and Johnston the big spending liberal in that situation. Recently Johnston proclaimed on Mark Shannon’s program that Oklahoma County needed to quit spending the money on themselves and spend it on the people? Do you think he has had a change of heart now that he is running for office? I seriously doubt it.
Sometime after that the Mayor proposed the city float a bond issue and repay it with a property tax increase. The needs were valid, new roof on city hall, new police station and a new animal shelter. However, Bethany had available in a special fund, twice the money necessary for the improvements which resulted from the sale of their hospital. Again
it was Richard Engle forming an organization “Citizens For a Better Bethany,” who with the help of others, printed and distributed literature to inform the citizens of J.D.’s unnecessary tax increase proposal. Properly informed, the citizens strongly defeated the property tax proposal and then the city did what it should have done in the first place. That was to make the improvements with the monies on hand. Again it was Richard Engle watching out for the taxpayers and Johnston was again the big spending liberal.
I am told the reason they didn’t want to use the money on hand was so they could use it for economic development (corporate welfare) programs. Bethany has lost or tied up hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer monies on several failed programs. Another problem I have with Mr. Johnston is that he built a new home in OKC, but continued as Mayor of Bethany, though the city charter required he live in Bethany. He claimed he was still living in his old home. If you believe that, you will believe he must have just wanted to build that new home to look at and admire rather than to live in.
A little over two and a half years ago he announced at a council meeting that he was going to resign as mayor to devote more time to his business. One councilman told me, “I couldn’t believe he said that as I knew along with many others that he was planning on running for a state house seat.” Sure enough, shortly after he resigned, rather than devoting more time to his business he ran for a legislative seat. Thank goodness Charles Key defeated him in the primary run-off by the whopping majority of about 40 votes.
All I can say is, J.D. Johnston is not a conservative and if you want someone to speak straight with you, don’t elect J.D. Johnston for County Commissioner. Personally, I like Brian Maughn, but I am not sure he will be able to stand up to the “court house gang.” If he doesn’t, I fear they will destroy him or he will learn to go along to get along. I would vote for Brian Maughn in a heartbeat over the liberal Republican RINO, J.D. Johnston.
The Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC) meets for lunch every Wednesday, 12 noon at Italiano’s Restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC.
The confusion and chaos in the J.D. Johnston Oklahoma County Commissioner District 2 campaign exploded to the surface Thursday, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Brian Maughan came close to winning the three-way Republican race with 47% of the vote. Johnston finished second and made the runoff, but had only 32%, and most political observers say the lead is next to impossible to overcome, especially since Johnston has virtually no political organization on the ground and Maughan sports a formidable grassroots operation.
On Thursday, as the reports of Johnston firing his second group of campaign advisors circulated, rumors began to surface that Johnston has hired yet another set of operatives. These sources say that if true, Johnston is bringing on board some campaign ‘experts’ who seldom win yet are versed in the art of the dirty trick, including one who was deeply involved in management of Randy Terrill’s primary opponent.
Also on Thursday, Johnston circulated an e-mail that appeared to, among other strange items, exploit his wife’s cancer in an effort to attract support, ala Elizabeth Edwards. It was simply sad and pathetic, and combined with the day’s other news, appears to indicate the Johnston campaign has gone completely off the tracks, and trains running off the tracks can do a lot of damage. He’s publicly pledged to run an upbeat, positive campaign emphasizing his business and government experience, but if Johnston has chosen to go silly/stupid negative, and it appears he’s loaded up on consultants whose only talents are for sleaze, his reputation will be ruined. As we’ve pointed out before, bad consultants get you bad results.
Political observers say the runoff campaign for the Oklahoma County Commissioner District 2 Republican nomination is picking up where it left off: with leader Brian Maughan returning to old-fashioned retail politics and runner-up J.D. Johnston back with paid media.
As promised: Based upon the returns, and combined with the campaign expenditures as reported in the media through July 14th, Maughan raised approximately $58,000, or $13.71 per vote; and Johnston approximately $180,000, or $64.10 per vote. These are not precise numbers, and the cost per vote will increase when the final figures are in, but it does demonstrate a stark difference in how the campaigns were managed.
With Maughan failing to reach a runoff by only a few percentage points, it’s no wonder he’s returned to the tried and true retail approach. But it’s puzzling why Johnston, a highly-qualified and experienced candidate, would return to an expensive and thus far ineffective method. Some are pointing to the former Mayor’s a large payroll of ineffective consultants, pollsters and paid workers as the main culprit for his expensive and poor showing at the polls.
It goes without saying that the former Bethany Mayor, who is now touting his extensive business experience, should show the Republican voters how he would manage county government: operate a lean and efficient operation, and rid the rolls of those who bring nothing but increased costs to the table.
You think his campaign advisers would see the irony in that message?
Watch for OKPNS to post the ‘dollars per vote’ analysis between Maughan and Johnston in this primary. Developing…
Related:
It’s official, 100% of 2234 precincts have reported.
Will Brian Maughan face J. D. Johnston in a run-off for the Oklahoma County Commissioner, District 2? The only sure thing at this hour is that incumbent Rinehart and his cartoon antics were sent packing by voters.
One must wonder if Rinehart will soon become a full time cartoonist. After all, it is his greatest accomplishment as noted by Glenn Church of the Foolocracy Blog.
Excerpt :
Throughout the comic, Rinehart says he has stood up to the “liberal good ol’ boys”. County Assessor Leonard Sullivan, a fellow Republican, said he does not know who the “liberal good ol’ boys” are. “I’ve really encouraged him on more than one occasion to get professional help. He really needs it,” said Sullivan.
Maughan Rises Above Rinehart
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department’s Fraternal Order of Police has given a no confidence vote in county Commissioner Brent Rinehart.
The vote comes after Rinehart lampooned Sheriff John Whetsel in a campaign comic book that also criticized Attorney General Drew Edmondson and gays.
FOP President Larry Grant says deputies have been frustrated with Rinehart for years and the comic book is “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Rinehart is also facing felony campaign corruption charges, a recent poll suggests his re-election campaign is in trouble and his fund-raising is slow.
The KWTV-9 poll of 440 likely voters found former county employee Brian Maughan with 35 percent support and Rinehart with about 20 percent. Former Bethany Mayor J.D. Johnston was just behind Rinehart and 28 percent were undecided.
The poll was conducted July 18th through 20th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.
OKPNS Editor’s Note: Scan and send your Rinehart mailers to okpns_editor@hotmail.com for posting.
“SoonerPoll provides opinion research and voter identification services to clients other than TvPoll.com. Bill Shapard’s SoonerPoll is the most accurate and trusted public opinion research firm in Oklahoma.” – TVPoll.com website
An investigation by OKPNS shows that SoonerPoll.com’s motto of being the “most accurate and trusted public opinion research firm in Oklahoma” is more a slogan than grounded in actual fact. Oklahoma County Commissioner poll results released on KWTV-Channel 9 and The McCarville Report Online yesterday showed Brian Maughan receiving 34.7 percent, incumbent Brent Rinehart 19.5 percent, and J.D. Johnston 18.1 percent. About 28 percent said they were undecided.
According to the below chart from Survey USA – a very respected polling firm in its own right- Soonerpoll.com is ranked an abysmal 33rd out of 41 polling firms surveyed for accuracy, just above CBS News. (Remember Dan Rather anyone?) Soonerpoll.com has a whopping median error rate of 9.0!
Don’t know if it will help, but Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart got lots and lots of national press over the weekend regarding his cartoon book.
Many of the major television networks and even freaky Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton devoted time to Rinehart’s effort. While local press and media spent most of their reporting about public reaction to the book, national media actually let Rinehart have his say. Surprisingly, CNN was one of those outlets that gave Rinehart time to discuss in detail the current commissioner’s agenda.
Rinehart faces a tough primary July 29th against Brian Maughan and J.D. Johnston.
Insiders say the political heavyweights are moving toward the political candidacy of Brian Maughan as he and others seek to unseat current District 2 Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart.
Former U.S. Attorney and Republican Gubernatorial Nominee Bill Price, AT&T Oklahoma President Don Cain and Republican Party Icon Al Snipes are hosting the event at Price’s Oklahoma City home on May 29th.
“It’s an indication that the smart money is starting to coalesce” around Maughan, a former AT&T consultant and long-time party activist. Snipes and Price are leaders of the conservative wing of the Republican Party in Oklahoma, and Cain is Chairman of the statewide chamber of commerce.
Maughan and former Bethany Mayor J.D. Johnston are the only Republicans challenging Rinehart in that party’s primary thus far. Rinehart faces several felony charges in a trial scheduled for September, and observers are watching intently to see who will emerge as Rinehart’s main challenger in the July 29th primary.