Earlier this week, Shane Jett – the guy challenging incumbent State Senator Ron Sharp in a contentious runoff for SD 17 – made the news after he sued his ex-boss in tribal court, alleging he was fired from his job with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation after he came out as an anti-masker during a Shawnee City Council meeting.
I've read the lawsuit, and it's pretty weak and baseless. That, along with the fact that it was filed just two weeks before the runoff election, lets you know it's nothing more than a publicity stunt by Jett designed to accomplish three things:
1. Identify as a patriotic, and likely paranoid, anti-masker. The Qanons, militiamen, and tough-guy Republican voters in his district will love that.
2. Portray himself as victim of the liberal mob cancel culture – an innocent man who was fired from his job for simply "exercising his rights to free speech."
3. Help people forget that he once had one of the dumbest ideas in Oklahoma legislative history.
I present you with this OETA News Report from way back in 2008:
Back when I waited tables, we'd haze new servers by telling them to do things like drain the hot water out of coffee maker (even though it was endless), or take down the Bennigan's flag in the parking lot (even though there wasn't one). I wonder if that's what happened to Shane on this? Maybe he was the new kid at the capitol, and some older lawmakers pranked him by sending him on TV to pitch building a 1,100-foot tall stainless-steel ensconced tower spanning the Oklahoma river. That's the only logical explanation, right?
Seriously, there are bad ideas, and then there are really bad ideas – you know, like the OKC Street Car or White Water Rapids. This one is in its own category! In fact, it's such a bad idea that I'm scared Governor Kevin Stitt or Lt. Governor Pinnell may hear about it and resurrect it.
"Did you know our steel ensconced oil derrick is taller than the Eiffel Tower? Imagine that!"
Anyway, there are probably lots of reasons to not vote for Shane Jett in his runoff against State Sen. Sharp. He's an abortion abolitionist, dopey anti-masker and is allegedly getting a lot of his funding from Epic Charter schools, but this one takes the cake. When there's one monumentally stupid idea floating around a person's head, there's usually another.
