Library Audio Book Scandal Rocks The Mick Cornett Campaign!

4:03 PM EST on February 20, 2014

The ball of goober pictured above is State Senator David Holt. When he's not trying to get bridges named after bad presidents or letting Maggie Gyllenhaal shape his education policy, he manages the reelection campaign for Mayor Mick Cornett.

Holt has come under fire this week after the Red Dirt Report released a four-part series documenting his involvement in... a library audio book scandal.

Yes, you read that right, a four-part series about the recording of an audio book for blind people. That sounds about as boring as actually listening to an audio book.

From the Red Dirt Report:

Did a Republican state senator and current campaign manager for the “Re-elect Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett” campaign use state resources – audio equipment and employee expertise – to record an audio version of his book so he could then profit from sales via his personal website?
It is a question Red Dirt Report has been trying to answer for several weeks now, and the author of the book – David Holt, who represents Oklahoma Senate District 30 – is not talking...
Why would this be a potential headache for Holt? Our team has talked to two state legislators – one current and one former – who both agree that if everything we think may be true is in fact true, that it could “be a real problem for Holt.”

So if everything they think is true may be true, Holt could be in real trouble. How's that for journalism!

You can read the entire four-part series at the Red Dirt Report website. It really doesn't prove anything or come to a concrete conclusion. Ultimately, it just made me feel sorry for the Ed Shadid campaign. Seriously, not only has Ed been under constant attack from the The Oklahoman, Chamber of Commerce and other powerful groups, but the only thing he can do as a counter attack is to get a libertarian blogger to investigate the recording of an audio book that was made for the blind. If that's the only scandal you get out there, you might as well leave it in the bag.

The only thing I really learned about the report is that the Red Dirt Report really likes Ed Shadid. They're about as pro-Ed Shadid as the The Oklahoman or The Okie is pro-cornett. Just check out this poll on the website:

It would have been funny if the Red Dirt Report included answers like "Snorting Coke With A Male Prostitute" or "Giving Larry Nichols a Hand Job." If you're going to publish absurd answers, at least have fun with it.

Anyway, the correct answer to the poll, which isn't listed, is "Mick Cornett has a significant lead in the polls and agreeing to a debate will only help his opponents." I know that statement will piss off Moles in the Shadid campaign, but it's the truth. If the roles were reversed, I bet Ed would take a similar stance. Right now, the only thing the Cornett campaign is concerned about is voter turnout. They know Shadid has a very loyal and passionate following (the same group who was against the previous MAPS projects) with the power to sway an election.

That being said, the closest we may get to an actual debate is on this blog. Each campaign has recently agreed to answer the same set of 20 questions about local issues and culture. It will be similar in tone to the ones we did with Mary Fallin and Jari Askins in 2010. We'll find out what they think about Maps III, and which cold pop they'd like to have with Sweet Brown. Both Q&A's will be published on Thursday. Be sure to check them out. If we're lucky, maybe we can get the candidates to record audio versions for the blind. That would be awesome.