Dana Murphy upsets Jim Roth in Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner race
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BY JACK MONEY
Published: November 4, 2008
Republican Dana Murphy upset Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth Tuesday in a race to fill the remaining two years of former Commissioner Denise Bode's term.
Despite being significantly outdone in fundraising, Murphy emerged victorious in a race that started as a campaign on affordable energy and experience but turned into one questioning character and ethics. “I feel incredibly grateful to the voters of Oklahoma for selecting me, based on my qualifications and experience,” Murphy said. “I wanted to give Oklahomans somebody to vote for, not to vote against.” During the campaign, Roth went after Murphy, accusing her of ethical lapses, while Murphy accused Roth of pandering to special interests as a county commissioner. Late Tuesday, Murphy led Roth by more than 60,000 votes with about 99 percent of the state's precincts reporting. Precincts still out were mostly rural, and not expected to generate enough movement to change the race's outcome. Roth was appointed by Gov. Brad Henry to fill Bode's seat until Tuesday's election. “We always knew it was going to be a tight race,” Roth said. “We worked very hard.”
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What are you talking about? I didn't mention anything about where his donations came from, my post had nothing to do with the energy issues. My post was about the basic, fundamental promise he made to his constituents that he violated.
I had voted for Mr. Roth as County Commissioner to replace his corrupt predessor. Mr. Roth did an admirable job as County Commissioner and earned my re-election vote.
Shortly after being re-elected as County Commissioner, Mr. Roth decided to break the most basic of promises ANY elected official makes when running for office: the promise to serve for the entire term of the office they have been elected.
Mr. Roth lost my vote when he decided to turn his back on his constituents and accept the Governor's appointment to the Corporation Commission. While it is indeed an honor to have the Governor appoint you, if he was a man of character and ethics, he would have respectfully told the Governor:
"While honored, I have to respectfully decline. I already have a job serving the people of Oklahoma County. By re-electing me to office, they have placed their trust and faith in me and I will not violate that trust."
Unfortunately, Mr. Roth accepted the appointment, violated that trust and is now out of a job.
While Mr. Roth didn't start the chain of events (Corporation Comm. Denise Bode when she violated that same trust, and resigned for a private sector job). He should have paid (out of his own pocket, no campaign funds) the cost of the special election to replace his County Commissioner seat. In turn, Willa Johnson (who after winning re-election to the OKC City Council, violated the trust when she ran for the vacated County Commissioner seat) she too should have had to pay for the special election to replace her as well. After serving on the Council for how many years(?) she claimed she thought someone could just be appointed (tonight's election now allows that to happen); she didn't know her constituents would go without representation and that a special election will have to be called.
The problem with these elected officials isn't if they will be good in the job or not, but if they will stay in the job and do the job as promised. Or will they be there just until something better comes along? Mr. Roth and Ms. Johnson have indicated it will be the later.
And yes, this applies on the national level. Once Senator's Clinton, Obama, McCain, Biden and Gov. Palin announced they were running for a different office, they should have made abject apologies to their constituents and resigned from their current office. Now that the election is over, Sens. Clinton, McCain and Gov Palin are all still employed (at the taxpayer expense of course).
ALL elected officials have made a term defined contract with the voters and it needs to be honored.