Guest Columnist: In Defense of Dahm – Part Three
Tonight I should be watching President Trump defeat Joe Biden in his debate. I should be excited about our prospects to restore this country to liberty, the Rule of Law, strong borders, sound money, and the rest of the Platform we espouse as Republicans. Instead, my attention is turned to a coup in the Oklahoma Republican Party.
You can see Part One and Part Two of my point-by-point rebuttal of the published complaints of some who would call themselves ‘grassroots’. I have seen many groups claim this title, usually in opposition to ‘the establishment’. Sometimes it is valid – there have been times when ‘the tall building crowd’ controlled the GOP (in Oklahoma, and in many other places). That is currently not the case, which makes it hard for a group hell-bent on obtaining power to justify their actions.
Nathan Dahm created enemies from (some) friends when he was asked to run for State Chairman, and accepted, then won. Some history is in order regarding who the ‘players’ were in this race (in 2023). It can also help explain some of the conflict that has resulted.
The previous Chairman was a long-time figure in the Party as Legal Counsel, A.J. Ferate. Chairman Ferate was not elected by the State Convention – he was elected by the State Committee when Chairman John Bennett stepped down to run for Congress. Chairman Ferate would historically be labelled as ‘establishment’, Chairman Bennett as an outsider or ‘grassroots’. Also running in 2023 was former State Representative Sean Roberts, who many would consider an outsider or also ‘grassroots’. I don’t know Roberts (or Bennett) and have no opinion of him (or Bennett), other than he has a 79% cumulative voting record so he is relatively conservative (Oklahoma Constitution newspaper, which I have used as a ‘base’ guide for many years now). Bennett is also considered a conservative. State Senator Nathan Dahm is also an outsider/grassroots guy, who has many times been alone in the Senate, arguing his principles which align with our Platform. He is most certainly a conservative as well – I would say the most conservative person in that race.
After the Ferate was defeated on the first ballot in 2023, he endorsed Dahm. This led many to imply or outright claim – falsely – that Ferate was behind Dahm all along, or convinced him to run. The truth is that activists who were very concerned about the direction of the Party wanted a different choice. They picked the most conservative guy they knew, who they trusted – and he won. At this point, the Party should have unified behind the new Chairman and supported possibly the most conservative person to ever be Chairman of the Republican Party in Oklahoma.
Clearly this did not happen.
I will refrain from detailing an email I (and many others) received titled ‘A Peek Behind the Curtain’ dated May 3rd,2024 on the eve of the following (2024) State Convention, but it claims to be (and I have no reason to doubt it is) from Representative Roberts. It deserves to be mentioned. He describes some very troubling things regarding the current Vice Chair (Wayne Hill) and his actions in office, secret groups including a ‘Shadow Faction’ chat – it’s an interesting email. The over-arching point of the email was to endorse Terry Evans for National Committeeman while withdrawing his own candidacy, but the underlying paragraphs describe Representative Roberts’ feelings of deep betrayal by Vice Chairman Hill. Although I don’t know him, I feel very bad for him – what he outlines is the sacrifice of friendship for political gain by Wayne Hill. I appreciate the ‘memorandum’, however, as it clarifies some of what is going on.
The Rules of the Oklahoma Republican Party state the Vice Chairman “shall aid and assist the State Chairman in all of said duties” (Rule 10 subsection g, in part). It is crystal clear to me – and anyone who is honest about what has been occurring at meetings and conventions this year – that Vice Chairman Hill and his acolytes have been actively working against Chairman Dahm. One need only consider the event held in competition with the ‘Gala’ fundraiser on the first night of our State Convention. Objectively, he should be removed for his actions. It should be no surprise that Chairman Dahm has limited his reach and access to resources when those resources are used to undermine the Chairman he is supposed to ‘aid and assist’. Chairman Dahm has this authority. The WORST violation of Hill’s office, however, is detailed here (bold for emphasis, in the article scroll down to ‘Dec 2023’):
After discussion among some of the BC (BC I translate as Budget Committee) members, they contacted the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Misreporting donations is a felony and something was amiss. Considering the Budget Committee was still denied access to the bank statements, credit card statements and financials, even after numerous requests, they alerted the FEC of a possible issue. However, before the investigation launched, someone made an amendment to the page and the strange donations vanished in the second month of reporting. When the next FEC report came out, it was stated that this was an error and was amended. If that is so, why the ongoing refusal to produce bank statements and other financial reports? Those donations came from somewhere and went somewhere.
Read that again. As I detailed in ‘Part One’ of my Defense of Dahm, a clerical error was made and an amended report was filed with the FEC within a month – but this group (or Shadow Faction to borrow from Rep Roberts) decided to report the Oklahoma Republican Party to the Federal Election Commission prior to checking with the Treasurer.
Let me say this – ANYONE WHO HOLDS OFFICE IN THE GOP THAT WAS INVOLVED IN THIS IMPROPER FEC COMPLAINT SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THEIR POSITION AND PUBLICLY SHAMED.
THAT is what you call ‘grounds for removal’. Just so we’re clear, here are the grounds (Rule 19, subsection H, numbers 1-4):
Misappropriation of funds under the Rules of the Republican Party;
Failure to follow the Rules of the Oklahoma Republican Party;
Conviction of a felony, and;
Publicly supporting or endorsing an opponent of candidates of the Republican Party.
The question you should ask is WHO FILED THE COMPLAINT WITH THE FEC?
The next question you should ask is WHO ELSE WAS INVOLVED?
The answer to these questions will identify who should be removed from office.
The answer to these questions identifies some of those causing conflict in the party.
If you are backing the parties responsible for filing an FEC report against their own party, you should be ashamed of yourself.
START ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.
I am not on the State Committee – but I sincerely hope those who are attending at 1:30 this Saturday in Oklahoma City. Analyze who is causing the dissention, and who is trying to support the Party. I hope they will consider the actual Rules, and who is actually violating their duty, and ignore attempts to twist the Party into a pretzel for the sake of fabricating a reason to remove a good man, whose reputation has been under attack since he took office.
It is time to stand behind Chairman Dahm and offer him the support he deserves.
I leave it to you if you think it is time to remove Vice Chairman Hill. I think you can guess my opinion on that.
PS – the timing of this action Saturday is clearly intended to remove Chairman Dahm prior to the National Convention, which would put the Vice Chairman into the role of Acting Chairman for that event. I’d call that a ‘coup’.
Steve Dickson
Precinct 405 Chairman, Oklahoma County
2024 Oklahoma County Executive Committee
2024 Oklahoma County and State Convention Rules Chairman
2024 State Ad Hoc Resolutions Committee Chairman
