It looks like our pal Sherrie Conley – the book-banning, culture war-fighting, Bumpit-wearing State Rep. from Newcastle – is in the news again!
This time around, it has nothing to do with the stupid things Sherrie says – like comparing librarians to cockroaches, referring to her family as a “Klan,” or warning the public about gay rainbows making their way into children's books about grumpy unicorns.
Nope, now Sherrie’s in the news for more traditional corrupt Oklahoma politician reasons, like using her clout and position as an Oklahoma lawmaker to quickly profit from the OTA’s controversial turnpike expansion plans, all while her constituents attempt to rally and fight against it.
Via a Pierre Lackmeyer column in The “New and Improved” Oklahoman:
A Newcastle lawmaker whose house is in the potential pathway of a new toll road was the first to sell her property to the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, was paid $103,460 above the appraised value, was given nearly $26,000 in moving expenses and is now living in that home rent free for up to a year.
Rep. Sherrie Conley, R-Newcastle, who sits on the state house transportation committee, contacted the government liaison for the turnpike authority and met with the deputy director less than 48 hours after the agency unveiled the map of proposed new toll roads as part of the 15-year, $5 billion ACCESS Oklahoma toll road expansion plan.
Appraisers visited her house on March 1, 2022, just one week after ACCESS Oklahoma was unveiled and after Conley and her husband, Paden, discovered their property was located within the area the turnpike authority hopes to acquire to build its east-west connector toll road...
Conley’s interactions, detailed in interviews with turnpike officials and records obtained by The Oklahoman, occurred as her constituents were challenging the legality of ACCESS Oklahoma and what a judge later ruled was a willful effort to begin work without following the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act.
Yikes! What is Sherrie doing?