Whatever side you are on in the whole 7th Amendment debate, Senator Sykes' behavior today was truly disgusting...
James Dunn, Oklahoma National Committeeman for the GOP, just forwarded me an email he sent to Matt Pinnell, the Oklahoma State GOP Chair.
Matt,
I have been at the capital most of yesterday working on this very issue. The Senate Judiciary passed today five bills that in essence destroy the peoples constitutional right to a jury trial. My heart is so heavy to know that leadership through Senator Sykes, the chair of the committee, would not even call me when I personally went to his office and left my phone number. I remember being significant to him when I wrote him a $1000.00 check a few months ago and personally brought him an additional $3,000.00 that I raised for him.
However, it is not the case now just like it wasn't in committee today when he refused to allow one of his constituents to speak on these very serious issues. The committee, through a motion by Senator Crain, unanimously voted against Senator Sykes allowing the constituent to be briefly heard. It truly is a sad day for Oklahoma when the people are not given a chance to be heard by its elected officials. There is blood on the ground today of innocent victims who have been left behind by Oklahoma GOP leadership. I mourn for them and for all the future innocent victims who will suffer further because our current leadership does not care to hear the truth about the need to protect victims rights and our Constitution. It is clear that Oklahoma's GOP leadership is more worried about politics as usual instead of truly following the constitution and our long history of upholding the rights of "we the people".
Sincerely,
James E. Dunn
Oklahoma National Committeeman.
So let's recap. If you're donating money to Senator Sykes, he'll take your call... otherwise, he avoids you like the plague. And if you are one of Senator Sykes' constituents and you want to exercise your 1st Amendment right to petition the government to express your concerns, Senator Sykes will do everything he can to make sure you can't be heard if it goes against what the State Chamber wants passed.
If you are a constituent of Senator Sykes, I hope you will contact him today at (405) 521-5569 and let him know that you expect your voice to be heard, even if it's not what Senator Sykes and the State Chamber want to hear.
For everyone else, please call Senator Breechen at (405) 521-5675 and ask him to reconsider co-authoring this bill. Sen. Breechen ran on being a Tea Party conservative yet he has aligned himself against the Constitution and with the State Chamber on SB 863.
Also, since the bill passed the committee (in record time, I must say), we need you to call your State Senator and tell them to vote NO on SB 863. You can find out the name and number of your Senator by clicking here.
