Rep. Gann for OK Speaker of the House
UPDATE 11/15: Call your OK State Representative at 405-521-2711 & ask them to vote for Rep. Gann, for Speaker. The vote is Tuesday, Nov. 19. His average score is 95 over Establishment Hilbert, average score a 58! Rep. Gann takes NO lobbyist money, has fought against Flock Cameras, and been a stalwart defender of our Constitutional Rights.
Supporting Rep. Gann for Speaker of the House will change House rules and bring more representation. But a vote for Rep. Hilbert is a vote to continue the bought and paid for by lobbyists cycle in Oklahoma City.
State Representative Tom Gann has announced that he is running for Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Representative Gann is in his 5th term as a member of the House. First elected in 2016, Gann became the Chairman of the Administrative Rules Committee in 2018 and served until he ran for Speaker in 2022.
Gann has experienced the devastating effects an imperial speakership has had on the caucus and the culture of conformity it created. He has been challenging the current structure ever since and offers these reforms to the rules that govern the republican caucus membership.
- The office of the Speaker should be limited to 2 terms or 4 years. (Unlimited now)
- Restore the motion of “striking of title” back to the individual member.
“Striking Title” is currently allowed only by the Rules Chairman or the Appropriations and Budget Chairman and is considered a hostile motion because it removes the legislator’s ability to have their bill proceed through the legislative process.
- House Political Action Committee donations should be distributed through a committee of caucus members only.
- Speaker elections should occur in the fall after the November election. Pre-election serves no purpose other than to give advantage over other speaker hopefuls by allowing the speaker elect to distribute House PAC donations to House candidates.
- Implement a “vacate the chair” provision in the rules. Allow the motion to be made by any member to remove the speaker.
- Create a committee on committees comprised of random members, based upon odd and even district numbers. Newly elected Freshman legislators would be selected for vice-chairs only.
- Restore the process of a member-driven budget. Allow budget committees to build the budget from the ground up. Example, as the Board of Equalization certifies the amount to spend, subtract a certain amount for tax reduction, divide the rest into subject-matter domains and the let the appropriations sub-committees build it.
The House has lost its ability to be a deliberative body and has become a bill mill for the well-connected.
Please contact your representative and ask them to vote for a speaker whose agenda will change the rules, and push the power back down to the membership.