ODP Chair apologizes, explains party’s 2016 priority

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

On March 14, The Gayly reported on an email sent by Democratic Party of Oklahoma Chair Mark Hammons in an article titled “OK Dem Chair attempts censorship of party leaders.” The article said that he had directed party leaders to not focus on sexual orientation bills, abortion, Planned Parenthood, gun control and other topics like the legalization of marijuana.

To get a perspective beyond the February 3 email, The Gayly talked to the Chair on Tuesday. Hammons said that, “We wanted to sit down with the house and the senate leadership to ensure we knew what was going on and identify areas where we could help our elected leaders bring their agenda forward.

“By the time the meeting took place it was pretty obvious that the dominating issue for the legislature was going to be the budget shortfall and then revenue failures that were surfacing.”

Pointing out that revenue and budget issues have a particular effect on educational shortfalls and healthcare, he said, “It was felt that in order for us to have a clear and consistent message, that we had to focus on those issues. We have one media director, a one-person staff. What we put out as a party we want to be accurate, we want it to be relevant and to achieve both of those things, the simple fact of the matter is that we can’t address everything that comes through.

“Frankly, you look at the Republican agenda and there are probably a hundred bills that we could identify that have detrimental effects on various aspects of the citizenry of this state. But if we talked about a hundred different things, essentially we are not talking about anything. You don’t have a clear message.”

Hammons said the purpose of bills that are controversial to Republicans and their base – bills dealing with sexual orientation, abortion, gun control, marijuana and the death penalty, among others – is to focus attention on those issues instead of the primary issue the legislature needs to deal with – the revenue shortfall, and next year’s budget.

Part of the February 3 issue talked about the Republican effort to nationalize local races. “The problem is on those issues, whichever side of the aisle you are on, if you are honest, those are all federal issues. The state has very little potential to make a difference with regards to those issues where those issues are fought federally,” said Hammons.

Of the Republican effort at nationalizing the election, he said, “All of that is playing to demagoguery. You can’t do anything on either side of it.”

Many in the LGBT community believed that the Party’s silence on the anti-LGBT bills meant that the party was turning its back on them. Hammons responded, “It’s easy to say we want to speak out on everything but you have to be willing to discipline yourself and focus yourself with the goal of speaking and focusing our limited resources where we can be most effective. And right now, that’s the budget.”

Focusing on the email, Hammons said, “The biggest problem I think that a lot of people had is that they were told that this was a gag order. It’s not. We have a website, and a Facebook page and a media director. For that reason we are focusing on the budget, and the instruction to the staff was we are going to focus on the budget, that is because if you don’t then there is no way to address all of the other things.

“That [the email] is not a direction to anybody else, anyone, any of our party leadership at any level can take any position that they believe is the appropriate position and advocate for that. Any of our elected officials can take any position that they think is appropriate and beneficial to their community and should do that. We want them to do that. But we can’t do all that, we can’t figure out the issues in 101 house districts, and try to effectively communicate it.

“I know that’s hard for people to understand, and they think that ‘you don’t support us,’” he said. The failure to speak out on the anti-LGBT bills, he explained by saying, “That along with a number of other issues are painful because you really want to say something. But here’s what it boiled down to. By the time that came through, we knew the status of most of those bills, and knew that they were not going to be viable legislative bills, and that they were not going to pass.”

Pressed on that point, since the email came out on February 3, the third day of the legislative session, when the bills had just come to public attention, he reiterated that, “The House and Senate leadership had a good idea that those bills were not going anywhere.”

Asked again about the impression that he and the party had turned its back on the LGBT community, Hammons pointed out that when he was running for the Chair position, there was a question about whether he would consider LGBT people as a minority for appointment to the Party’s Affirmative Action committee. He made a particular point that he did consider LGBT people as eligible for appointment, and that he would appoint LGBT people to the committee. And that if people didn’t like that, they shouldn’t vote for him.

He expressed his long dedication to diversity in the party, and to the LGBT community, and apologized that the negative impression had been given. “I apologize for that,” said the Chairman. “LGBT people are important to me, and to the party, because they are people.” And, he said, taking care of people is a main focus of the Oklahoma Democratic Party.

The original story on the February 3 email is available at www.gayly.com/ok-dem-chair-attempts-censorship-party-leaders.

The Gayly – March 15, 2016 @ 7:35 p.m.