Things are getting weird for the Oklahoma elite.
Earlier this week, The Oklahoman – which as we all know is a shill for the energy industry – produced an investigative report about the questionable campaign spending and fundraising practices of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt – which as we all know is another shill for the energy industry.
Knowing The Oklahoman's proud, storied history of protecting its friends and mercilessly going after its enemies, the investigative report raised some eyebrows locally, and left many concerned politicos, Chamber of Commerce leaders and even Devon Energy's own Derek Albro scratching their heads and thinking "What the hell is happening here?"
Via a Chris Casteel report on NewsOK.com:
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and his campaign team have spent nearly $657,000 since the beginning of 2015, even though Pruitt can't run for re-election and hasn't announced his intent to run for another office.
An average of $36,000 a month has been disbursed from three different election- related committees connected to Pruitt, with most of the privately donated money going to consultants and travel.
Two of the committees were created last year under federal election rules; the other is the state campaign account Pruitt has used since first running for attorney general in 2010.
In most ways, the committees operate like similar ones associated with many other officeholders: they tap wealthy donors and special interest groups to pay for travel, fundraising parties and a cadre of political consultants.
The biggest difference is that Pruitt's committees spend very little money on elections. Election laws are loose enough to allow the spending, disconnected as it is from a specific race or even multiple races.
Wow. That's insane. Usually when The Oklahoman covers Scott Pruitt they are trying to advance his agenda or defend him against national stories that call into question his ethics, priorities and general abuse of power. Attacking him for simply taking full advantage of complicated campaign finance laws for his own personal benefit is weak sauce.
Seriously, we need to gather up the evil white men in dimly-lit boardrooms who decide what goes in The Oklahoman and find out what's happening here. Is this a practical joke? Are they pretending to actually give a shit now? Knowing what we know about the paper, that can't be it. Perhaps Scott Pruitt finally broke down and canceled his Oklahoman print subscription...
"Sir, I have some bad news."
"What's that?"
"Scott Pruitt just called. He's cancelling his newspaper subscriptions."
"WHAT?! CANCEL??? BOTH OF THEM???"
"Yes sir. Both of them. We only have 13 subscribers left!"
"Get me Chris Casteel, Rick Green and Nolan Clay on line one! We're going after this motherfucker."
Yeah, something like that wouldn't surprise me. Why else would The Oklahoman violate their own style guide and call into question the ethics and priorities of a proud and popular Oklahoma Republican? That's the equivalent of pissing on E.K. Gaylord's grave.
Anyway, you can read the rest of The Oklahoman's report here. I'd hurry up and do it while it's still online. You never know what they may take down.
