Let's give Oklahoma voters some credit. They're great at repeating past mistakes.
In case you were wondering why so many campaign signs popped up at busy intersections this past weekend, Oklahoma voters over the age of 75 went to the polls yesterday to vote in our state's primary elections. The results were mixed. On a positive note, three incumbent lawmakers who helped create our state's dire economic and financial crisis were voted out of office. On a not so positive note, 25 incumbents won, and now get to live to fight another campaign in November, which they'll probably win because our voters suck.
Out of the three incumbents who were defeated, two have them have been lucky enough to make The Lost Ogle. The losers are...
Dennis Johnson
As you first saw on TLO, Dennis made the news in 2013 when during a debate on the house floor he talked about how some of his customers tried to "Jew him down" on prices. After being alerted to his gaffe, Johnson proceeded to "apologize to the Jews" and complimented them on being good small businessmen. The apology and compliments must have backfired. Republican voters in House District 50 "jewed him down" on the vote, and chose the chipmunky owner of Distinctive-Decor.com by a 58% - 42% margin.
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Ken Walker
Ken made TLO in 2013 when he introduced pandering legislation that would protect the rights of Oklahoma children to say "Merry Christmas" to classmates and teachers, because you know, that's a totally legitimate concern. Here's what he said:
“The purpose of this Oklahoma Merry Christmas bill is to put a beacon of light, a safe harbor if you will, in the pages of the statutes so that our children, our parents and our teachers can run to a lighthouse whose light shines boldly from the pages of our state’s law books,” Walker said. “It will declare that we have a right to express our core beliefs and celebrate winter traditions without fear of lawsuit, retribution or reprisal.”
I don't know about you, but I think it would be nice for his former legislative staff and campaign supporters to give Ken a nice ceramic lighthouse – a safe harbor if you will – as a parting gift and recognition for all the hard work he did for oppressed Oklahoma children who had their rights to say "Merry Christmas" cruelly taken away by no one.
The other incumbent who was voted out yesterday was the very smiley Corey D. Brooks, who looks like the love child of Scott Pruitt and Brent Skarky:
I don't know anything about Corey, but it's hard not to feel sorry for the guy. His Twitter account is filled with sad RTs and @replies about his defeat:
That's sad. You can tell the defeat has got him feeling bluer than The Blue House. On a positive note, at least he'll be able to find a good job as a lobbyist or with a state agency. Maybe he can hit up TSET and offer to take Patrice Douglas' job at half the price?
Once again, those were the only three incumbents to lose yesterday. That is a good thing, but it's kind of scary to see who actually won their primary races. People like this guy, this guy and even this guy all won by comfortable margins. Although I assume more incumbents will be voted out in November, I have this scary feeling that things are going to get worse in this state before they get better. We have our voters to thank for that.