WE♥CARE

I’m sure most, if not all, of you have heard the news about Judge Steidley’s decision regarding our petition yesterday. I have a few comments to share with you:

• There was neither a winner nor a loser yesterday. We did not lose, they did not win. What the court has said is that the majority of people who think Mr. McCord should go, though overwhelming for our small community, is not overwhelming enough. The court is requiring the DA’s number of 693. The facts of our allegations against Mr. McCord were not investigated. Mr. McCord certainly was not exonerated.
• Although I, too, have some concerns about why our District Attorney waited very late in the game to give his input, this is not about, and never has been about, Mr. Haynes. Please remember our goal is for Mr. McCord to step down from the Welch Board of Education. The reason we have to go through this entire process is because our state has no procedure in place allowing for the recall of a school board member. We encourage you to make this an issue in the current campaign. Call your state representatives and senators–and their opponents–and demand a reasonable and fair solution that does not require the convening of a county grand jury to deal with errant school board members in small school districts. In Welch, your state elected officials are Senator Wyrick and Representative Hoskin. Share your concerns with them. Their information is listed below.
• Finally, I want to thank each person who has helped with this process. If you made a donation, signed the petition, or helped gather signatures, your support is greatly appreciated. Each of you is an important part of this process. This was never an individual campaign. Without you, this cause would never have begun.

At this point we have two choices. We can refile the petition with the court and start over at zero, gathering the required 693 signatures in 45 days, or we can drop the whole thing and wait for Mr. McCord’s term to end in 2010. It’s really that simple. Please take the weekend to consider your preference. If the community wants to start over, Daniel Giraldi (our attorney) is committed to helping us again. For the record, Daniel has accepted full responsibility for the error calculating the required number of signatures and is very apologetic. We respect that and hope that each of you will, too. I am willing to continue to do the leg work and keep this cause moving forward, if that is what each of you wants.

The direction of this cause is in your hands. Enjoy the holiday weekend, and we will make a decision next week on what we are going to do. When you have formed your opinion of how we should proceed, email me at trudy@savewelchschools.org.

Thanks again,

Trudy

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Rep. Chuck Hoskin
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 510-B
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7319
Email: chuck.hoskin@okhouse.gov

Sen. Charles Wyrick
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 530
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 521-5561
Email: wyrick@oksenate.gov

For those interested in the hearing but unable to attend, we will attempt (without objection by the court and considering good cell phone reception) to liveblog during the course of the hearing. How do you access the liveblog? Simply visit this page and the liveblog viewer box below will automatically refresh with the latest news throughout the hearing. It’s pretty cool, so join us here for the latest news and immediate results of the hearing. In case there is a problem with the liveblog during the hearing, we will update this space immediately following the hearing.

The signature sufficiency hearing is scheduled for today at 1:30 PM. There are several issues that will be addressed today.

1. Whether the 14 additional signatures identified by WE CARE as valid should be added to the 488 previously certified by the Craig County Election Board. We obviously believe they should. This is the reason we requested the hearing. There is now an issues as to the total number of signatures required for seating a grand jury in Craig County (see 3, below); however, regardless of whether these 14 persons push us past the goal, they have a right to participate in the process, their voice should be heard, and their vote should be counted. We are confident that after today’s hearing, the total number of signers will be determined to be 502.
2. Two persons have filed requests to have their names removed from the petition. It is everyone’s right to ask to have their name removed from a petition, but the state statutes require that this be done before the Election Board has certified the signatures. The statute states, in pertinent part: “If such request is filed after the election board has certified the number of signatures of said petition, such request shall be void.” In that these requests came after the Election Board’s certification, they should (and likely will) be ruled void and the names will remain on the petition. Click here to see 38 O.S. § 105.
3. The district attorney filed a motion asking the judge to quash today’s hearing because the number of signers required to impanel the grand jury is much higher than we allege. The D.A. made his case in a motion filed last Friday. Our understanding of the calculation of the required number of signatures is different, and we are filing a response to the D.A.’s motion this morning (the Craig County courthouse was closed Tuesday and Wednesday this week). The judge may agree with the D.A. or with us. We’ll just have to see.

These are the issues we expect to be addressed during today’s hearing. We will attempt to liveblog during the hearing.

WE CARE is happy to announce that Judge J. Dwayne Steidley today set a hearing for August 28, 2008, to test the validity of an additional fourteen (14) signatures that WE CARE contends should have been counted in the final vote tally on its petition to impanel a grand jury to investigate Welch school board president, Dennis McCord.

Our petition was filed on time with over 540 signatures, 54 of which were invalidated by the Craig County Election Board, leaving WE CARE twelve (12) signatures short of the 500 needed to seat the grand jury. The addition of these fourteen (14) will exceed the threshold, thus clearing the way for the judge to continue with the grand jury process.

WE CARE spokesperson Trudy Hankins has been out of town on business this week, but WE CARE’s work has continued. Reached in Chicago with the news, Hankins said, “We were confident that when the judge looked at the evidence he would grant our motion. We’re not really sure why the Election Board refused to revise its tally when these fourteen persons are undeniably registered Craig County voters. We’re thrilled with the judge’s order, and we look forward to the hearing so that every person who signed the petition can have his or her voice heard.”

The number of signatures on the petition is almost five times that of the number of persons who voted for McCord when he last drew an opponent for office.

For updates and more information, including detailed documents, please visit us online at www.SaveWelchSchools.org.

The Craig County Election Board will be amending its certification to the court today. An additional five (5) voter signatures have been verified, bringing the total number of certified signatures to 488, just twelve (12) short of the necessary 500. WE♥CARE and its attorneys continue to review the matter, and we will update this site when we have more news. We are confident that there are indeed twelve (12) more valid signatures already gathered and submitted to the court.

The Craig County Election Board today certified to the court that 483 of the 542* signatures submitted by WE CARE are valid Craig County voters. This, obviously, is below the 500 signatures required to impanel the grand jury. While we have always been cognizant of the possibility that a certain number of signatures could be disqualified (that’s why we submitted 542*), we’re surprised there are so many in this case. WE CARE representatives have begun reviewing the disallowed signatures, and we are convinced that there are many signatures from long-time Craig County citizens and voters which should have indeed been counted. If only 17 of the disallowed 59 signatures are found to be valid, we will have met our goal. Our attorneys will carefully be reviewing the disallowed signatures, considering our options, and responding to the court as soon as possible. Check back here for updates.

*There is a discrepancy between the number we submitted (544) and the number acknowledged by the election board (542). We have not yet determined the discrepancy; for the time being will use the election board’s count.

It has been reported, mainly due to statements by Dennis McCord’s attorney, Erik Johnson, that Mr. McCord was” the 1999 state school board member of the year.” That statement is totally false. Inquiries to the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA) reveal that Mr. McCord was, however, elected to the OSSBA’s All-State School Board in 1997. Mr. McCord and his counsel should accurately describe his record.

Additionally, WE♥CARE has not called Mr. McCord’s years of service or past honors into question. Our concern is his recent pattern of behavior. In response to our concerns, Mr. McCord’s attorney has responded that Mr. McCord has a long tenure on the board and that he was 1999 state school board member of the year. Though the statement is false, we find it interesting that Mr. Johnson mentions nothing newer than this 11-year-old honor in his client’s defense.

Just want to set the record straight.

Today’s edition of the Miami News-Record reports the news that our petition has been filed with 544 signatures. Here’s the link.

It is interesting to note that though Mr. McCord’s attorney continues to state that his client has been reelected five times, the number of signatures on our petition (544) is almost double the number of persons who voted in the last Welch board of education election (275*).

The election board will receive certified copies of the signatories from the court clerk. It then has 7 business days to verify the signatures and send a certification back to the judge. If there are over 500 certified voters (we are certain there are), the judge will then determine if all other requirements have been met and impanel the grand jury within 30 days.

*numbers provided via telephone conversation with the Craig County Election Board.

KOAM Channel 7 interviewed WE♥CARE spokesperson, Trudy Hankins, and chief counsel, Jot Hartley, this morning. Be watching KOAM for their report.

Today’s print and online editions of the Tulsa World provide the news of our meeting the signature goal. Here’s the link.