By Charlie Meadows

Sometime in 1991, Tim Green and I began to have lunch together every Wednesday. I suggested we invite some other guys to join us and we soon became the Wednesday lunch bunch. At that time Rush Limbaugh had a TV program which was broadcast in the Oklahoma City area from 11:30 A.M. until noon. We caught the program during lunch and it became the Rush Room. After some time, we realized we were a little more conservative than Rush, so we called ourselves the Right of Rush Bunch. For several more years we continued to meet every Wednesday and eventually became a debating society. That was a lot of fun, but debating societies never accomplish anything, so sometime in 1999, I suggested we form an organization with a purpose and try to make a difference in Oklahoma state politics. Thus was born the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC).

Our mission statement reads: "To promote and support constitutionalists in the state legislature who oppose expansive government, while at the same time promote liberty, free market economics, and Judeo-Christian standards." We had realized there were several true conservatives, mainly in the State House, who needed some more conservative colleagues. We hoped to help add a few more conservatives in the 2000 and 2002 elections and then the 2004 elections would be the first year that term limits would affect every longtime lawmaker in the House. We hoped that following the 2004 elections, perhaps there would be a majority of conservative Republicans in the Republican caucus. That was for the most part the extent of our purposes.

The following is what has transpired. In 2000, we raised the whopping sum of $4,000 and made four $1,000 contributions. Two contributions went to new candidates running for the legislature and two went to the outstanding freshman in the House and Senate. Three out of the four candidates we supported won their races.

For the 2002 election cycle, we raised $8,400 and supported more candidates. More than 50% of those candidates won their elections. For the 2004 election cycle, we raised $24,000 and we continued to stay a little above 50% for our victory margin. Then the 2006 elections came along and we raised about $31,000. Our total won-lost average was exactly 50% with a cumulative of 56 candidates supported, and 28 of them having been elected. For the 2008 elections we changed our by-laws to set aside 20% of everything we raised for our "Conservative Incumbent Protection Fund." We raised $33,000 for the 2008 elections and 13 candidates out of the 23 we supported won their races.

For the 2006 elections we also decided to set aside 10% of everything we raise for Republican candidates our members vote to support for statewide races. In 2004 we also started interviewing and making endorsements for congressional races, though there are no contributions for federal races. I believe it was during the 2002 races that we started a conservative accountability effort. We found that almost all Republicans tell us they are conservative when they want our votes, but once in office, we noticed many governed more like liberal Democrats than conservative Republicans.

We call our accountability effort our RINO program. RINO stands for "Republican In Name Only." The Oklahoma Constitution newspaper publishes the Oklahoma Conservative Index rating the conservatism of the legislators. We help pick the bills used to score the legislators. For our accountability effort, we basically said, if during an election year the lawmaker's combined score for the two most recent years on is a 61 percent or above, that lawmaker is exempt from our RINO list. If however, a lawmaker's two year score is less, that lawmaker will automatically be nominated for our annual RINO award. Each year, following the session, our members vote to determine who will win the RINO of the year award in both the House and Senate. If one of the lawmakers nominated for the RINO award draws a Republican opponent, we are willing to interview the challenger, and if that person appears to be a bonafide conservative, we will support the challenger against the incumbent.

What has been the result of all of these activities? The Republican caucuses in both the House and Senate are much more conservative today, as measured by their Conservative Index scores. This is especially true in the Senate. In fact, for the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, there has only been one Senator, Harry Coates (R-Seminole) with a score low enough to even be nominated.

Please don't misunderstand, I don't want to arrogantly proclaim that the activities of OCPAC are the reason for a more conservative legislature; but, I would suggest we contributed to the conservative shift in the legislature. I believe Oklahomans are electing lawmakers with an ever greater commitment to Christianity. Some of those lawmakers really seek to understand how God's Biblical principles should apply to public policy and we are much better off for that.

OCPAC members have also become a sounding board and a resource for lawmakers writing legislation. We have learned to work with other conservative organizations in the state, to help move Oklahoma to the right. And, we host or support seminars and conferences to educate lawmakers and citizens toward conservative principles. During the 2008 elections, Oklahomans gave Sarah Palin the largest majority of any state in the union. Did I leave something out in that statement? On top of that, we were one of the few states where Republicans made gains in state government, in fact we made more gains than any other state in the union.

In election year to non election year comparisons, OCPAC membership has grown each and every year. We always have more dues paying members during election years. In 2008, we had over 200 dues paying members for the first time. We are now approaching 2,600 people throughout the state who DIRECTLY receive our weekly e-mail. We are also recognized with some frequency in various media outlets.

During the 2008 legislative session, the Oklahoman had a lead editorial crediting the members of OCPAC for contacting the Governor and lawmakers with an urgent request. That resulted in the Governor sending a bill back to lawmakers that had already passed both houses of the legislature and was on the Governor's desk awaiting his signature to become law. Once the objectionable part of the bill was removed, it was sent back to the Governor for his signature.

When it is all said and done, I believe OCPAC has accomplished a great deal in the past ten years, but there is still much that still needs to be done. With everyone working together, we will make Oklahoma an ever more conservative state. I believe that OCPAC will be as, if not more, successful over the next ten years. If you are not currently receiving our weekly e-mail, please let me challenge you to begin receiving it. Send your request to me at:

charliemeadows@peoplepc.com.