Quotes of the Day

“The fact that we got almost 6 (percent) is an incredible success. Right now our problem is just trying to get so much enthusiasm and activists organized into something that can be effective.”

– Oklahoma Libertarian party chairwoman Tina Kelly, on relatively high turnout for her party’s presidential candidate in Oklahoma. As a result, the party will be able to remain a recognized political party until at least the 2018 statewide elections (Source) 

“Dear Oklahoma, I moved away from you once. Looking for bright lights and big city action. I lasted barely a year before scurrying back as quickly as I could. I missed your sunsets and thunderstorms. I missed your wide open plains of beauty. I missed your welcoming faces in every city. I missed the feeling of knowing my roots and being grounded to a place that would always be ‘home.’ I missed QuikTrip and Taco Bueno. I missed my family. I missed my state. Today, I’m about to break up with you.”

– A post on the Facebook page of Oklahoma Parents and Educators for Public Education by Lea Nance, a kindergarten teacher and mother of three who says she’s planning to search for education jobs in bordering states because SQ 779 failed (Source)

“We have a very serious problem when we continue to rank last among all the 50 states in the union on what we spend to educate our students. We cannot allow this result to stand. We cannot be last in the nation on what we spend on our children and education. We cannot secure our future by ignorance.”

-University of Oklahoma President David Boren, who led the campaign to pass SQ 779, the sales tax for education (Source). Read our statement on the failure of SQ 779 here.

“Three magnitude 5s in one year is unprecedented in California, let alone Oklahoma — and Alaska for that matter. It’s just an incredible number of moderate magnitude-5-sized earthquakes. Especially given that the next previous one (in Oklahoma) was in 2011 and before that the 1950s.”

-Daniel McNamara, a research geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center (Source)

“This is a debate that’s been long running throughout the country. It’s the value of using rules to make decisions versus discretion. I think what you’re seeing is a response saying the people supporting these are not appreciative of the discretionary decisions that Legislature has made in the past.”

-Mickey Hepner, dean of the business college at the University of Central Oklahoma, speaking about Oklahoma ballot initiatives that require certain funding for specific programs in education and criminal justice (Source).

“It’s not fun for people to wait that long, but it’s also a good sign of a healthy democracy. If you’re willing to wait in line for tickets to the next Star Wars movie or the latest iPhone, let’s be willing to wait in line to express our civic duty to vote. In some ways, it’s a good problem to have.” 

-Oklahoma Election Board Secretary Bryan Dean, on lines that had some voters waiting up to two hours on the first day of early voting in Oklahoma City (Source)

“What I hear from community members, who are the ones that are investing in this work, is they want what’s going to work. They want to support efforts that are going to make a difference for our community and for our children. What is really strong about the recommendation we’ve made to the council, is that it is one that has really strong national research behind it.”

-Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist, on a proposal aimed at improving teacher retention that will provide $1.4 million per year for professional development for teachers (Source)

“The thing about these reforms is, when we pass them, it will allow individuals affected by addiction to have success. We’re expecting these people to contribute to society, but we’re not giving them the necessary tools to do so. Addiction doesn’t always come with recovery on the first try.” 

-Megan Gaddis, a graduate of the Remerge program in Oklahoma City, on why she supports SQ 780 and SQ 781 (Source). See OK Policy’s fact sheet on SQ 780 and SQ 781 here, and read why we’re supporting the two questions here.

“I need to know what is happening in my state in order to be fully informed at the polls and to fulfill my civic responsibilities. When our state government refuses to caption their proceedings, they are choosing to exclude deaf people like me from civic life.”

-Johnny Reininger, Jr., a deaf Oklahoman who filed a lawsuit against the State of Oklahoma for failing to provide captions for legislative hearings (Source)

“Could it take four days for us to respond instead of three? Yes. Could it take five days instead of three? Yes. Could people be concerned that Adult Protective Services wasn’t there on day one? Yes.”

Gail Wettstein, director of Adult Protective Services for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, speaking about state budget cuts that have forced the agency to cut staff and reduce their physical presence to just 50 of the state’s 77 counties (Source).