From the grassy knoll, we've previously uncovered conspiracy theories in the state Republican Party. At a conference labeled "Clouds Over America" back in February, this publication reported how Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, claimed to have found the actual homosexual agenda, and how others spoke out claiming Islamic terrorism is actually an international communist conspiracy.
But according to Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, another conspiracy is taking place right in the gallery of the state Capitol. It involves a shadowy group that runs television commercials attacking Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, and his tax loan problems.
"They can't win at the ballot box or in the legislative process, so they've resorted to an expensive campaign of character assassination and the politics of personal destruction," Jolley said in a press release. "It's time for someone to call them into account and put an end to their deception."
Deception, indeed. What irked Jolley so much was someone videotaping the ongoings of a Senate session and, according to Jolley, seeming to pay particular attention to Coffee, especially when Coffee was not at his desk in the chamber.
"I fully expect the shadowy group paying this political hit man is planning on using video of an empty desk in a new round of television commercials, certain to be as dishonest and inflammatory as the first rounds were," Jolley continued in his release.
While it is uncertain this is the actual intent of the alleged vigilante videographer, it may be a good guess on Jolley's part. But the thought of a man with a video camera causing such an uproar for a state senator to throw out words like "shadowy group" and "political hit man" is worth noting.
It's always a conspiracy whenever a person comes to a public venue to watch elected officials conducting the people's business with a video camera, right? Heaven forbid the outside public should witness what the men and women they sent to the Capitol are doing.
But the use of cameras in the Senate and House chambers has always been a point of contention with the Legislature. While the chambers are for public viewing, paid for by the public, and in the midst of passing laws effecting the public, legislators have strict rules about roaming around with a camera. Both chambers have glassed-in booths for cameras to stay in like museum exhibits, getting only shots of the back of the heads of the legislators.
They have told the press the reason they want photographers to stay in place is because moving around with a camera is a distraction. Yes, obvious signs of a conspiracy to flashbulb a senator as he is casting a vote and causing him to cast the wrong vote and becoming fodder for campaign commercials.
We see it all now.
