Red to the Roots

A conservative answer to a century of liberal local policies

by Richard Engle
  Would it surprise you to hear that only 45% of partisan elected officials in Oklahoma are Republicans?

Upcoming Dates Thurs, Jan 28,  7 PM  Rogers County 416 Brady, Claremore Sat, JAN 30, 1 PM Pushmataha County 500 E Main, Antlers Mon, Feb 1, 6:30pm Cotton County 406 W.Ohio, Walters Thurs, FEB 4, 7 PM Ottawa County County Courthouse Annex Mon FEB 8, 7 PM Garvin County Christian Life Church 820 S Walnut St, Pauls Valley Thurs, FEB 11, 6 PM  Sooner Republican Assembly Earl's Rib Palace  920 SW 25th St, Moore Mon, FEB 15, 7 PM McIntosh County Eufaula Memorial Library 301 1st St, Eufaula Wed, FEB 17, 11 AM Creek County Steak & Eggs 1112 E Taft Ave, Sapulpa Thurs, FEB 18, 6 PM Mayes County JL's Barbeque 5501 S Mill St, Pryor Creek Sat, FEB 20, 9 AM Garfield County 401 N Oakwood, Enid Tue, FEB 23, 8 AM Woodward County Great Plains Tech Center, 3921 34th St, Woodward Sat, FEB 27, 10 AM Canadian County South Yukon church of Christ 11700 NW 10th St, Yukon Mon, FEB 29, 7 PM LeFlore County Simple Simons Pizza 1703 N Broadway St, Poteau Sat, Mar 5, 9am Muskogee County Muskogee Public Library 800 W Okmulgee St Sat, Mar 5, 10:30AM Wagoner County Church of God of Prophecy 123 W Sycamore St, Coweta Thurs, Mar 10, 7pm Pottawattamie County 678 Kickapoo Spur, Shawnee Mon, Mar 14, 6:30pm Cherokee County Armory Municipal Ctr. 100 N Water St, Tahlequah Sat, Mar 19, 2pm Osage County Hominy (location tba) Sat, Apr 16, 9am 5th Dist. Convention Gordon Cooper Tech. 1 John C Bruton Dr, Shawnee

  Despite having 100% of our federal delegation, and our statewide offices, as well as strong supermajorities in our state legislature, most elected officials who run under a party moniker are still Democrats!

This is true because most partisan elected officials in the state are at the county level.

  In December the Oklahoma Republican State Committee was presented with a new strategic initiative called Red to the Roots.  In introducing it, OKGOP Chair Pam Pollard said, “Red to the Roots is not a new program, but a new name and a new energy.”  During the tenure of Matt Pinnell as OKGOP Chair, I launched an initial and limited effort for the state party to overtly aid Republican nominees for county office.  We helped five Republican nominees running for Democrat held seats and won three of them. Red to the Roots is a revived and invigorated version of that effort.

  Upon becoming Oklahoma Republican Chair, Pollard found that some other state party organizations were engaged to assist local Republican candidates.  Tennessee and South Carolina named the outreach work "Red to the Roots." We will use their name and experience and combine it with our previous positive experience to create what we hope will be the strongest increase of Republican victories in county and other local offices.
Conservative ideas work at every level of government, and it's long past time for us to concentrate on the area of government that often has the greatest impact on the daily lives of Oklahomans.

Learn more at https://goo.gl/bP7rfc

  As a former local city councilmember, I am familiar with employing conservative ideas in local government. I'm pleased that Rep. Mike Sanders will serve as Vice Chair. Also on the Red to the Roots committee are Canadian County Commissioner Marc Hader, Cleveland County Commissioner Rod Cleveland, Payne County Clerk Glenna Hall Craig, Republican Third Congressional District Chair Celia Lanham, Tulsa County Vice Chair Joanne Tyree, and Oklahoma City businessman G. Dewayne McAnally.  As Jack Welch said, "The team with the best players, wins." I believe we have the best team to lead this effort.

Only 35% of county elected officials in Oklahoma are Republican. 

  Too many people suggest that these local offices should not be partisan.  They think that they are administrative positions without any conservative vs. liberal dynamic. They could not be more wrong!  If you're spending taxpayer money and hiring people with that money you are making conservative or liberal decisions. Our voters are conservative, our federal delegation, our statewide elected officials and our legislature are overwhelmingly Republican, but we haven’t yet fully made the connection between conservative Republican ideals and the important work being done at the local level.

Richard Engle, in a recent presentation
to the Tulsa County Republicans

  As said by the arch liberal Van Jones, "personnel is policy."  I would suggest that it’s pretty clear that public spending is policy as well.  A conservative Republican will be able to break free from the subtle corruption of long term local habits and reform local government into something that represents a pro-growth, limited government, low tax, individual liberty, rule of law form which Oklahoma voters have long been calling for at the state and federal level.

  Red to the Roots is first an awareness campaign, and then it will move into a funding and assistance mode as the election cycle approaches.  Red to the Roots has a presentation the committee intends to take into every county of the state in 2016.

To invite the Red to the Roots presentation to your Republican party meeting, conservative club or Tea Party meeting, contact:  Richard Engle at Engle@RedToTheRoots.org  or by phone to 405.640.9219.

  Then we will recruit the largest class of highly qualified candidates for these offices and we intend for our nominees to win!  As the voters begin to discover that the liberal tendencies of Democrats extend to local office, I expect that they will eagerly support a change that has been a long time coming.  I also expect that some conservative Democrats in local office will find the courage to switch to the Republican Party as they see that our party reflects their views far better than the Democrat party.