OKGRASSROOTS Presents Resolutions to be Considered for Introduction at Precinct Meetings

February 3, 2012
Oklahoma Grassroots will have an opportunity to impact the precinct meetings occurring all over the state in late early February with the stated Republican party date being February 6th. Many have complained about parties, but the only way to impact them is by participating. Can it truly be said that large numbers of people of principle have participated over a sustained period, starting at the precinct level? You have to attend to participate, or at least that is the best way to do so! We know that you want to impact the process in a positive way. To that end, we are recommending the introduction of resolutions at those precinct meetings. In my personal experience, such an effort provides an opportunity to engage in a discussion and debate over principles, issues, and even can effect the legislative process. Attached are some recommended resolutions, addressing some of the key issues of the day, for your consideration. Please share them with your network(s) as you deem appropriate, perhaps even adding your own to the mix. Please reference the state party site - OKGOP, your county party site if there is one, and OK Grassroots network for more information. Keep in mind that what you enter at the precinct level and discuss with your neighbors is going to change and be 'tweaked' as it moves through the party process. Should there be adequate support for any one or more of the resolutions, that internal party support can translate itself into action in the legislative process, and ultimately become law. Through this process we can engage in dialogue, debate, the education of our friends, and yes, ourselves, on the important matters of our day. Three sample resolutions for your consideration are attached as follows in an expanded version (remember when submitting to a precinct meeting to present them in triplicate if at all possible): * Just say NO to Bartlesville School Bond Election (February 14th, 2012) Resolution (this one is specific for Washington County) * Exposing Health Care Reform Resolution * Keystone XL Pipeline Concerns Resolution Special thanks to all who helped in the formulation of resolutions for your consideration! Here is a link to the resolutions that were recommended in 2011 for reference: Oklahoma Grassroots Presents Resolutions to be Considered for Introduction at Statewide Precinct Meetings in 2011 As you consider attending and presenting resolutions at your precinct meetings, please be ready to serve as a precinct chairman, vice chairman, or secretary. Our willingness to serve in these positions will ensure that we keep building the party from the bottom up. If we lay a firm foundation and insist on wise leadership and constitutional principles, our communities and our nation will be blessed in the process. Thank you for serving wisely and promoting people of principle as you go. For Life and Liberty, Sandra Crosnoe for OKgrassroots

Some suggestions for sharing: Each resolution should be presented in triplicate at meetings ideally. There is also a page of additional links and graphics for each resolution for you in case you want to make two sided flyers or have additional information separate from the resolution itself.

This entire document may be found online here: OKGrassroots Sample Resolutions for Precinct Meetings Debate and Educate!|Grassroots in Oklahoma It is also available on Scribd for easy sharing and downloading: Grassroots in Oklahoma (a collection of documents)

Just say NO to Bartlesville School Bond Election (February 14th, 2012) Resolution WHEREAS Oklahoma taxpayers, along with taxpayers around the country, have experienced the effects of the economic downturn begun in 2008 and all Oklahomans have seen increased cost of living expenses caused by that downturn and inflation caused by exponentially increasing government intervention into the economy, and; WHEREAS the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Education Jobs Act of 2010 provided significant sums to the Bartlesville Independent School District for the purposes of ameliorating the effects of the economic downturn and were of known limited-time duration, and; WHEREAS BISD officials have the responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer monies, BISD have had ample opportunity, funding, and time to recognize the need for reducing spending to avoid placing additional burdens on Bartlesville taxpayers or to expect additional infusions of outside emergency funding due to the exponentially increasing and unsustainable federal deficit, and; WHEREAS the Republican Party of Oklahoma states in its 2011 Platform Statement of Principles (Item #7) Taxes collected at all levels of government should be used only for legitimate government functions and those functions carried out efficiently so that tax rates may be kept as low as possible. WHEREAS in Bartlesville Independent School District (BISD) recently closed an existing school and bused students elsewhere, and; WHEREAS the BISD bond plans up for vote on February 14, 2012 includes provisions that are at best, of highly questionable benefit to students, and; WHEREAS citizens need to limit spending and indebtedness at all levels of government. THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED THAT the citizens recommend that the Bartlesville Independent School District Board reconsider more ways to live within current property tax revenue streams. We recommend considering reduced overhead and less spending rather than more so that we do not cause future generations to be forced to pay for things that ill advised at present in light of uncertain city growth patterns. We further recommend optimizing existing assets, before any recommendation to build new structures. FURTHER, we recommend that the BISD Board go back to the drawing board to reconsider its plans to realign and consolidate students in ways that are potentially detrimental to students and to consider previously proposed plans that are likely to benefit the students of the District without increasing bonded indebtedness.

Submitted and Adopted by Precinct #______, _____________ County, Oklahoma, Congressional District #____, on _________________(date).

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Just say NO to Bartlesville School Bond Election (February 14th, 2012) Resolution Additional Links and Information

For more information: Washington County: Lets Say No to Proposed School Bond on Feb 14th and Send Board Back to the Drawing Boards Finding Gems & Sharing Them http://www.bartlesville.k12.ok.us/news/releases/05may/op%20closing.html http://www.bartlesville.k12.ok.us/news/releases/04apr/possible%20oak%20park %20closing.html http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/bartlesvillelive/Copy_of_b%27ville-school-district-receives-state,federal-funding1301953519468 http://www.edmoney.org/stimulus/secondary-awards/12200/ http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2009/09/ ed_dept_names_4_states_as_pote.html http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d091016.pdf http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/state_aid/?iid=EL http://www.educationjobsfund.gov/where-money-going/Pages/gis-map.aspx?State=OK

Exposing Health Care Reform Resolution (page1) WHEREAS in November 2010, Oklahomans said Yes by 64% to the Oklahoma Health Care Freedom Amendment (State Question 756), thereby adding a provision to the State Constitution which allows citizens to not participate in a government-mandated and run health care system, and through which, the voters of Oklahomans made a strong statement that they were opposed to government-run healthcare and supported the provision and purchase of health care services and insurance products through a private, free market, and; WHEREAS Oklahoma is one of the 27 states which are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit Florida v. Health and Human Services, challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and; WHEREAS the State Legislature passed SB 1373, which established the Oklahoma Health Information Exchange Trust (OHIET), in direct contravention to the will of Oklahoma voters, and that provides a key mechanism through which the State of Oklahoma would implement the the federal governments standards and requirements as stated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), commonly known as the Stimulus bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) , and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA); known commonly collectively as health care reform law, would link Oklahomas health care infrastructure systems, both public and private, to a national network and insurance programs; collect and share citizens personal medical data; and would make those systems interoperable with global systems, and; WHEREAS the OHIET, as passed, is doing an end-run around liberty, privacy, and is in direct contravention to the fundamental rights as provided in the Constitution of the United States and the State of Oklahoma, including those which provide protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, subvert the stated requirement for probable cause, and provide security in citizens persons, houses, papers, and effects, and; WHEREAS the State of Oklahoma has applied for and received federal government grants to study the setup of a state-run health insurance exchange system, which is another key mechanism through which the State of Oklahoma would implement the federal governments standards and requirements as stated in ARRA, PPACA, and HCERA, and; WHEREAS, the OHIET and the setup of a state-run health insurance exchange system are mechanisms through which government would directly interfere in the historically inviolate and sacrosanct private relationship between doctors and patients, inject government bureaucrats in the provision of medical care through the review of doctor and other medical providers actions, set up elements and penalty systems by which health care provision would be rationed, including the Office of the Director of Health Care Information Technology and a Comparative Effectiveness Research Council, and; WHEREAS health care provisions in ARRA, and PPACA and HCERA are already causing steep increases in the cost both of health care insurance and the provision of medical care services and are provably guaranteed to skyrocket such costs for individual citizens, employers, and governments in the State of Oklahoma, into the future and; WHEREAS there is a stated provision in PPACA for states who implement the elements of ARRA, PPACA, and HCERA to convert to a single-payer system in 2017, which is a buried provision revealing the true purposes of the three separate acts is to transform the American health care economy to a government-run system, and; WHEREAS the elements of ARRA and provisions in PPACA and HCERA were structured and designed to be implemented incrementally beginning in 2010, with key deadlines for state government action in each subsequent year through 2014, including provisions that each state is required under the 2009 and 2010 Acts to undergo a certification process laid forth by the Federal Department of Health and Human and Services pertaining to the setup of a state-run health insurance exchange, with a deadline of January 1, 2013, and;

Exposing Health Care Reform Resolution (page2) WHEREAS the Governor and the State Legislature have undertaken the aforementioned various actions which move the State of Oklahoma towards implementing health care provisions in ARRA, PPACA and HCERA, and such actions undermine the States stated opposition to the implementation of PPACA and HCERA in Florida v. HHS, as have other plaintiff states in the case, and; WHEREAS the fact that Oklahoma and other plaintiff states undermining of their position as stated in the case was referenced by Federal Justice Roger Vinson in a March 3, 2011 ruling granting a stay to the federal government, thereby undermining the credibility of the plaintiffs in the case, leaving the ultimate outcome in considerable doubt, and; WHEREAS the appellate process in the U.S. court system is by its nature and increasingly narrow one, the issues of PPACA and HCERA upon which the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in March, 2012 about Florida v. HHS, and ultimately rule as projected in the fall of 2012 will necessarily be correspondingly narrow, and; WHEREAS the defendants in Florida v. HHS, the federal government, have recently reversed their position regarding the severability of various issues in the law and intend to argue that even if the individual mandate provision is ruled as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court that other provisions of the law may still be implemented, and; WHEREAS in addition to the other key mechanisms of implementation, health care elements of ARRA, and PPACA and HCERA are to be implemented through the Medicaid program and that Medicaid is a voluntary program in which the State of Oklahoma is not mandated by federal law to participate in, and; WHEREAS the only guaranteed way by which the State of Oklahoma can ensure the preservation of the fundamental liberties of the citizens of Oklahoma, prevent the guaranteed catastrophic effects to the health, safety, and welfare of the States citizens, and the economic stability and viability of Oklahoma in future is to avoid the implementation of the health care provisions in ARRA and the entirety of PPACA and HCERA; THEREFORE, LET IT BE RESOLVED That the State of Oklahoma should formally and fully withdraw from participation in the Medicaid program, repeal all previous provisions existing in Oklahoma law, including the creation of the OHIET, to return all federal grants associated with health insurance and information exchanges, and immediately move to restructure Oklahomas budget and statutory provisions to incentivize a private free-market health care economy within the State, to incentivize the provision of any safety net for indigent and low-income Oklahomans health care services as much as possible through private charity, so as to reduce both the burdens to Oklahomas taxpayers, to remove as many elements of provable cost-inflation in the health care economy caused by the intervention of governments, which will actually reduce the cost of health care services for all Oklahomans, ensure improvements and innovations in health care, and make Oklahoma an attractive alternative state in which to conduct business and to reside.

Submitted and Adopted by Precinct #______, _____________ County, Oklahoma, Congressional District #____, on _________________(date). =============================================

Exposing Health Care Reform Resolution Additional Links and Information

Health Care Reform Finding Gems & Sharing Them

Exposing Health Care Reform

OK-SAFE, Inc. PPT Joint Committee on Health Care Reform Law

Keystone XL Pipeline Concerns Resolution (page1)

WHEREAS the United States of America is a sovereign nation, and its, not of those foreign nations, should be the priority of the duly elected and appointed officials within federal and state governments; WHEREAS the Declaration of Independence acknowledges that men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, it is the first object of government to protect those rights; WHEREAS The Father of the Constitution James Madison wrote in 1792, If the United States mean to obtain or deserve the full praise due to wise and just governments, they will equally respect the rights of property, and the property in rights; WHEREAS it is in the interests of the United States to be free from dependence on foreign nations, AND it is not in the interests of the United States to enter into treaties or trade agreements which are to the advantage of a foreign nation or its citizens; AND FURTHER, no treaty or trade agreement should be either to the detriment or disadvantage of the American people and their fundamental rights, nor should any such agreement benefit special interest groups; WHEREAS the protection of the fundamental right to property should include the liberty to make use of that property free from encroachments through government prohibitions or regulations; WHEREAS government, mostly through the federal executive branch and its bureaucracies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, have prohibited and restricted the ability of Americans to fully exploit and distribute the available natural resources, including petroleum, within the United States which are plentiful, nationwide distribution networks, and THEREFORE, have historically been accessible by Americans of all incomes; WHEREAS government has adopted policies which have falsely elevated the price of petroleum and a dependence on foreign sources and to subsidize alternative and sustainable energy sources which are not ready for broad distribution at economical prices;

Keystone XL Pipeline Concerns Resolution (page2)

WHEREAS the Keystone XL Pipeline is a project designed by a foreign company, TransCanada Corporation, which documents on file with the government of Canada state the purpose for which is to provide a means for: redirecting Canadian oil producers products from the oversupplied Midwestern PADD district, which is currently paying discounted prices, in future to change the distribution of Canadian crude types based on market conditions, to introduce Canadian crude into the Gulf Coast PADD district, and to direct Canadian crude products to refineries in Texas, including the foreign trade zone of Port Arthur; WHEREAS industry analysts have projected the market manipulation ability provided by the Keystone XL pipeline will benefit all Canadian oil producers and raise the cost of gasoline $.10 $.20 per gallon in fifteen Midwestern states, including Oklahoma; WHEREAS the Keystone XL pipeline project will introduce a foreign competitor into the Gulf Coast area; WHEREAS the TransCanada Corporation and other companies with significant Canadian oil interests who stand to benefit from the increased prices afforded by the Keystone XL pipeline have exerted considerable efforts and expended considerable sums to influence state government officials, members of Congress, and public opinion; WHEREAS the subject of the Keystone XL Pipeline project has become entirely polarized along false environment versus jobs partisan lines and the facts are neither being discussed nor disclosed; THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the rights including those regarding property and interests of Oklahomans and all Americans, would be better protected and served by elected officials and Republican Party representatives who would direct their advocacy efforts towards ensuring that American infrastructure, including any petroleum distribution pipelines, remain under the ownership and control of Americans, and FURTHER, that any efforts regarding energy should be directed not towards increasing dependence on foreign energy sources, but towards lifting government restrictions on extracting and distributing American natural resources, including the production and distribution of petroleum products from sources within the sovereign United States. Submitted and Adopted by Precinct #_____, ___________ County, Oklahoma, Congressional District #____, on _____________(date). ==========================================

Keystone XL Pipeline Concerns Resolution - Additional Links and Information

Is President Obama Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

1. Keystone XL Pipeline Section 52 Application, Section 3: Supply and Markets, National Energy Board of Canada. https:// www.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/livelink.exe/fetch/2000/90464/90552/418396/550305/556487/549220/B-1f__Supply_and_Markets_ (Tab_3)_incl._Appendix_3.1_-_A1I9R7?nodeid=549324&vernum=0&redirect=3 2. Presidential Permit application filed with the Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs, U.S. State Department by TransCanada Corporation, September 19, 2008. http://www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/clientsite/keystonexl.nsf/ presidentialpermitapplication.pdf?OpenFileResource 3. Application for Intervenor Status in Keystone XL Pipeline Application, filed by Flint Hills Resources LP a Koch Industries subsidiary, National Energy Board of Canada, May 19, 2009. Note that the inclusion of this application is not intended to imply that such an application to the NEB constitutes an immediate or direct interest in the Keystone XL Pipeline project or took an active role in the hearings process. It is included because a Koch Industries subsidiary followed the projects application and that company, as a producer and processor of Canadian tar sands oil, stood to benefit if the project was approved. Further, parent company Koch Industries majority owners, David and Charles Koch, are the primary benefactors of Americans For Prosperity, the state chapters of which invested significant funds and resources in pipeline advocacy. https:// www.neb.gc.ca/ ll-eng/Livelink.exe/fetch/2000/90464/90552/418396/550305/556601/557343/557339/C-8-1__Flint_Hills_Resources_Canada_LP_-_Application_for_Intervenor_Status_-_A1J8R7_.pdf? nodeid=557340&vernum=0&redirect=3 4. National Energy Board of Canada, Reasons for Decision, TransCanada Keystone Pipeline GP Ltd., OH-1-2009. See particularly pg. 17, 21. https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/livelink.exe/fetch/ 2000/90464/90552/418396/550305/604643/604441/ A1S1E7_-_OH-1-2009_Reasons_for_Decision.pdf? nodeid=604637&vernum=00 5. See Philip Verleger: If gas prices go up further, blame Canada, StarTribune, March 13, 2011 http://www.startribune.com/ opinion/otherviews/117832183.html Also, quote from UBS Securities Canada Inc. oil and gas analyst Chad Friess, October, 2011. http://www.truth-out.org/kochsubsidiary-told-regulators-it-has-direct-and-substantial-interest-keystone-xl/1317915241 6. Nebraska Unicameral Natural Resources Committee Interim Study LR435, December 2010 http://nebraskalegislature.gov/ bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=11248 7. LR435 Hearing Transcript, December 2010 http://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=11248 8. Congressional Research Service Information on Federal Law Related to Siting and Safety of Oil Pipelines, September 2010. http://www.scribd.com/doc/66792131/CRS-Information-on-Federal-Law-Related-to-Siting-and-Safety-ofOil-Pipelines-Sept-2010 9. GiN is conducting an ongoing research project examining filings with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission for both elected officials and registered PACs; preliminary findings include noting top donating sectors are organized labor, attorneys, banking, finance, and insurance. AFP-NE played a significant role in Nebraskas 2010 election cycle, creating significant controversy. Further, pipeline advocate, Rep. Lee Terrys filings show significant contributions from TransCanada lobbying interests and Koch Industries. http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/09/surge-of-lobbying-fuelskeystone- xl.html and http://lindstromforcongress.blogspot.com/2011/09/press-release-what-lee-terry-doesnt.html 10. See number 3. 11. Castle Coalition, Nebraska http://www.castlecoalition.org/about/1356 12. Obama to make final call on Keystone XL pipeline http://journalstar.com/news/article_35604cb8-ab88-55e1a70d-579c262e3ff1.html#ixzz1cinhDXmN