Sign the Anti-Corruption Petition

Jay Williams, the executive director of Cleanup Oklahoma gave a presentation to the board of Edmond Democratic Women to tell us the status of the Anti-Corruption campaign. Oklahoma is 1 of 3-4 states that have exempted themselves of Open Records Act, which results in bid contracts being awarded to friends of the Governor and Legislators, e.g. Swadley’s BBQ. The primary goal of the anti-corruption pledge is the following:

• Prevent politicians, their staff, and donors from profiting at the taxpayer’s expense.
• Strengthen open records laws to stop secret deals and gifts from special interests.
• Stop the rigging of our elections and return power to voters.

They are asking every state candidate to sign the anti-corruption pledge to ensure voters know who is and who is not, because a politician who can’t or won’t sign the pledge isn’t a politician worth having. 

This all seems reasonable to me and that I see no reason for a candidate to not want to sign it, as it holds them accountable. Cleanup Oklahoma is going around the state to increase awareness of the campaign and get voters to sign the Public Voter Pledge and participate in a convoy. Jay is asking EDW to do these 2 things.

1. Use this link to go to Cleanup Oklahoma webpage, and sign the public voter pledge. The goal is 1 million voters to sign. After I signed, I went through the candidate list to see who has already signed and who has not. I made a list of the candidates I have supported through donations and I will be calling or texting them to ask why and if they don’t sign it I won’t vote for them. Some, I had supported with a donation before Candidate filing and they still haven’t signed, so I may have even more leverage.
2. Join us as we load up in our cars and caravan with the Clean It Up Truck in Edmond. We’ll then canvas for a short time with the truck leading the way through a Edmond neighborhood. Date to be determined.

If you want to remind the politicians who it is they are supposed to work for, get some attention, and have some fun at the same time, then join us for this important action!

New polling data shows what we’ve been saying for a while here: Oklahomans overwhelmingly support our campaign. Voters want the mess in state government cleaned up, and they want candidates who are committed to fixing the corruption.

When asked specifically about Clean Up Oklahoma’s anti-corruption pledge, 81% of Oklahoma voters say they’ll vote for someone else if a candidate refuses to sign it.

Have They Signed or Not?

Our view is simple. If a candidate can’t sign an Anti-Corruption Pledge, they’re not worth having — regardless of party. We need leaders who will help us clean this mess up.