S6:E19 (Sean Cummings - 2022 Election Results and Voter Apathy in Oklahoma)

[Music] hi and welcome to Across the desk this week we have Sean Cummings with us again and it has become quite a tradition here to have you on my last show because of the last six seasons I've had this is the end of season six you've been at the end of three of them God isn't that crazy well you know I think you and I are pretty good at closing it out and doing the uh the autopsy on the election yeah so that's this week on across the desk my interview is Sean coming awesome [Music] always great to have you you're always welcome here man and I'm sorry I haven't had you on all season but I had so many interviews with some great candidates with good people yeah good people good solid quality candidates and that's what we're going to talk about today why did nobody show up to the election so as as the rest of the country seems to be tiring of the trumpian phase of our of our history we are still embracing it here and even for jobs that you really don't want that involved in like a school superintendent so here's here's what I would say so there were 75 percent of the races this time were uncontested yeah that's why people don't show up there's nobody representing them in their area why would they bother to come out and I looked into that and a lot of that has to do with gerrymandering oh man because like like for instance Doms and I've talked about this on this show before Dom's District who isn't there anymore but you couldn't get a Democrat to run there because it's it's five to eight Democrats Republican a Democrat goes I'm on a run they put together an exploratory committee then they find out there's no funding and they quickly shut down and then Nathan Dom gets to walk into another scene so that's exactly what we have there with that so yeah I think part of it probably is to Jerry so um you know my wife got gerrymandered she was the mayor of the village and they literally took the village away from her wrote about in my book right yeah I did actually it was actually and that was an excellent portrayal of it the um they took the village Nichols Hills and part of Quail Creek which would be about 5 000 votes if she had that 5 000 votes she would have actually won yeah but there's she knew she knew it was gerrymander and decided to stay in the race and do one of these instead of people who did it to her yeah and uh but now we literally this morning she goes well God I'm going to see what I'm going to do next and and Democrats are so small now you can win in Oklahoma City we can win in Tulsa and the surrounding areas yeah that's it that's about it the rest of it's over I mean I I always believed and I still believe 12 years later that the rural Oklahomans will come around but they don't like what we're selling and they don't like I I'll be totally honest I don't know what we stand for yeah and if I don't know how can I explain that to somebody else but there's some specific races that were really challenging Joy Hoffman strike known for 12 years yeah she's actually a wonderful human being so there were Republicans that wouldn't vote for her because she switched parties and there were Democrats that wouldn't vote for her because she switched there you go that's a big problem I mean well that's always going to be an issue no matter what we're not engaged we are literally not in game things and of the two choices for governor she was by far the best yeah now if we If Connie Johnson would have come through and she had the funding that Joy Hofmeister had could she have done better maybe maybe I don't know but I don't know again she she likes to focus a lot on the urban issues right and nobody in the rural areas cares yeah they really don't is that really the problem because when we look at turnout like hey man 47 percent of Republicans showed up and they go oh that's not really great that's a midterm I understand but really it's like 38 39 percent of Democrats showed up so yeah there's a disconnect there isn't I mean we're not connecting they don't like what we're selling we're not like what we're selling and and sooner or later we have got to we've got to deal with that um look this time around man I'm top slate was all female all smart um great candidate right they had some money you know not not as much as you need but top of the ticket um you know people go back and forth about how that worked and look they talk about dark money and you go look we had money so what if it's dark or not so it's illegal it's legal here's the deal with thanks to conservatives it's legal right so don't well they're complaining now because we're you know we're doing it lesson number one like you know likes to Dish it just can't just can't take it right the the challenge with dark money is when you're buying commercials if I'm a packet I pay five times the price that you pay as a candidate okay so you don't get the same return okay so when people go there's 25 million in dark money that's the same as 5 million Canada money yeah isn't that crazy wow but you don't know that yeah neither did I actually found that out so so it's it's different and and uh and so what happens is somebody comes in and they go hey we've got all these people that are willing to put this much money in a pack for this candidate you go yeah but we have this other candidate and they go yeah other than what I said I have all these people will put up this money for this candidate so then everybody gets mad when that candidate gets moved forward and you go they have funding the other one doesn't now that is not a democratic issue that's a candidate issue and so people have to believe that Canada is going to win or we're writing checks and wasting money you're right does that make sense yeah absolutely so we ran into some of that um could Connie have done better hey it's it's it's the question of the day if the Democrats go all the way to the left and get an activist candidate um a Bernie style person with a more Oklahoma personality let's say an oil field worker yeah are they able to go in like the fetterman guy from Michigan Pennsylvania and wear a hoodie and go to events where yeah I'd be like well we did have Joe doorman yeah and he was kind of that salt of the earth ruled eye he really didn't it was good he he got really close yeah but there's no prize for second place no so close doesn't count anymore um this is a combination of a bunch of different things it causes this voter apathy we got the gerrymandering which deflates people go man why should I can try yeah you got the message we're selling that just isn't resonating with certain people okay what is our message yeah literally and I mean this for you in the audience write it write it down comment section you know what are we for you know besides you know abortion rights and contractors right but so we didn't really use them did we we didn't I mean think about it tell me tell me what campaign that was used in well they're thinking it's Oklahoma No One's Gonna go for that but I I disagree Kansas if you look at Kansas or even Kentucky yeah no man people people yeah that's an issue we didn't we didn't capitalize them so we don't even sell that Democrats are for people and the reason Republicans have money is because they're for business and business gives them money yeah and again you're involved in the social justice movement right right that's another Urban issue it's not a rule but they don't care they don't care about it and they think they think people need to get locked up to do stuff yeah see that's not a real issue Oklahoma County Jail even though it sucks I don't care it's not a rule issue what Kathy found in Edmonds and everybody's concerned with roads and so she just dealt with roads from there on out the the the thing that I would say to everybody and this time I got a different look a microcosm of Suburbia okay hey they like their lives they don't want us disturbing their lives disturbing it that's the deal is status ask hey man look my life's going I don't want you they like their neighborhood the way the people look in their neighborhood there you go and here's another thing I'll say for Edmond it is shockingly diverse I always yeah I'm as bad as everybody else you're like it's a whole bunch of white people out there no it's not no no I mean I went to UCO for college and yeah there was quite a bit of foreign students that came in and they stayed in Denver yeah they stayed at meant right so I don't I don't know how we get to Rebrand look the I don't know and there are people who you know come here in Oklahoma especially as we're talking about because nationally hey Democrats did really well they did phenomenal for what we for for having a president not real popular you know he's not as possible he's more popular than Trump was right he's more popular than Barack Obama was at certain times in his presidency so that's kind of he's a nice guy do we want him to run again I think one biggest deal yeah and and there's no ageist but he's too old he's too old I'd say the same thing Nancy Pelosi you're too old you're 82 go sit down it needs to be a younger person's game yeah um so what else Statewide so no other Statewide people did well at all Gina Nelson and Gina Nelson I am still I don't know plus another great candidate okay so here's the deal having been all over the state with Kathy when she ran for lieutenant governor what I will tell you is people would ask her where she goes to church every small town we are in that's what you discuss first is religion and she would go oh you know I go to Christ the King or whatever the church is this is why I don't run for public office they didn't know this is but because this is why I have a show I know this because I'm not a religious person hey man if you're not you will not win well anyway you will not win it doesn't really it's really hard for anybody who's agnostic or atheist or even banging or anything else I'm a Christian and I know Larry Stein I was like Larry dude you know what I'm I would love maybe Ottawa because I would stand firmly on that yeah I don't believe in it it it just doesn't matter I don't think it will work I don't think it will sell so Kathy and I let me tell you this weird story Kathy I'm here in Shawnee Oklahoma uh Mary fallin's Hometown and uh she introduces herself to these two men and they're mean like mean nasty shitty mean to her which she's the nicest person you will ever meet and she was really kind of taken back and they were like well honey you see these two Steeples that one here and that one there and uh you need to be out of here by Sundown and literally like an old Sun downtown deal and I don't know what they thought she was and and she just laughed I mean literally because all you can do is laugh yeah and they go and you're probably Catholic too and she goes yes I am they go we don't like you people either and so I don't know what the initial reference was but I I'm assuming they thought she was another race or something but that's everywhere in rural Oklahoma that we went into religion was an issue race is an issue so if you're Gina Nelson and you're running in these smaller areas um you got to bring up the fact that the Catholic Church runs runs more schools in America than any other private entity they have two million students they're the ones that can expand here yeah and to the local preachers you have to use this as a wedge issue it's not nice it's mean and it's lousy you want to win because this is what it takes to win as you go to local preachers and go you know Catholic church has got to come in here and open up some some schools and another church and then there will be taught Catholic religion in school because people that want that type of education and then you're kind of out of business yeah that's that's politics yeah and people don't want to admit that's politics yeah that's politics well you know what like I say at a show where I was talking about the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin which I suggest every liberal read and in there he talks about his agnostic stance I'm agnostic I don't believe I'm not a Christian Jesus didn't walk on water but I'll believe in a higher power but in his book he even says I couldn't come out as an atheist because even during that enlightened time which is what he says I wouldn't it would be political suicide so and he needed to be politically Savvy even though he was that smart he needed to be politically savvy so you exhausted if you're a boxer you go into the ring with specific rules and you have to follow the rules yeah you also need to you also need to have studied your enemy you're kickboxing or Taekwondo which one are you Taekwondo you go in there you're not going in with somebody you don't know how they move because yeah you can get injured pretty quick so you study it oh yeah you always how can I how can I defeat my opponent know yourself know your opponent never in a thousand battles will you perish right right so how did how did no one see Ryan Walters this bigoted racist Nazi that wants to be in charge of schools and you got to go punch you gotta Sucker Punch that guy yeah and beat him at his own game because being nice and bringing Community together doesn't work in Oklahoma it doesn't work here but that's actually part of the winning process is building a coalition so Coalition is fine what I'm saying is when you go in and go hey I'm Gonna Save All of You we're all going to come together and sit down they don't want to yeah they literally don't want to and it's not a cut down yeah most Oklahomans on the surface are pretty friendly um I mean it's post-trumpyism yeah and we're still stuck in it yeah I know we are well that's Oklahoma right we're always behind everybody else right so they're still stuck and everyone else is moving on and everybody else is moving on in this uh country except Oklahoma Alabama I believe was the only state that had more unchallenged seats than us in the whole United States really yeah that's because of the gerrymander because you can't get any Democrat to run in these districts because there's no funding for them when they started if you can't win there's not going to be any fun you've got to have yeah you can't run without funding it takes money to run a campaign and and if you're 60 and you're running how many years do you have left in your life and how many do you want to spend on a race you're not going to win yeah so there's a stuff that the Democratic party can do if if they come around and they could actually pay for you to sign up yeah give you a packet yeah of stuff to run on and that way it's not a complete loss if you were gonna get people to run you get to become a community leader and it didn't cost you anything but besides the gerrymandering right yep okay seriously when you have 47 48 of Republicans showing up if you could just get 60 percent of Democrats that's just the registered ones you win you win right you win so but we couldn't do that Oklahoma County literally should have been swept by democrats definitely should have should and so so yeah yeah what what is the the disconnect right that's the question right here isn't it there was money there was negative ads there were attack ads everything in the world to throw at everybody and Democrats still stayed home so why are they are they Democrats yeah or are they just uninvolved people that didn't want to write something that's the deal right me and you were really involved right we're in the game and that's not most citizens in Oklahoma is it some of these people that are yeah they're working they've got families that's what they're concentrating man I got your family memories I got this job I'm working I got my my mother who's you know on Social Security and Medicaid I got to take care of I'm not worried about the sausage being made at the Capitol so how do you reach those people I I mean they're gonna have to take a big enough hit yeah and I think Ryan Walters may I don't know yeah I was thinking maybe it may not look good but you look at the corruption and you look at what Ryan Walters wants to yeah you know when you look at the abortion issue you would think that would fire up some and it did nationally just do it here privatization of schools yeah look I I worked a second job to send my kids through private school um because I just didn't like public schools and become a political football they're not schools anymore now they're somebody's advantage or disadvantage politically um and I mean you know if you really want your kids to do well in school you have to read to them and you have to watch their studies and they need to be in a study group yeah that really magically they'll do great yeah and so I said that out to people and they were like you really want me to make my kid be in a study group they got football and they go well do you want them to have an education or football I mean because you have to decide yeah sooner or later we have to decide that we're going to prize education or not yeah it doesn't but you look at the races and go dude there was something said this time around that we need to hear which is these folks don't want what we're selling on schools either yeah so when we talk we're always sailing on school I don't know we were selling status quo not letting epic take all of our money I mean that that Scandal should have had everybody look at it and go no but you know we're 43rd in education or 48th depending on who you talk yeah we're low still and you go okay so I guess the status quo really isn't working and if that's what we're selling someone's gonna buy that right is that what we were saying we don't even know we don't know we don't even know that's what I'm saying if we if we don't really have a plan then we're sticking with the status quo oh man we keep it like it is which isn't working we were showing that the other person is bad yeah and um but he is he's horrible he's horrible Dreadful human yeah but that doesn't that doesn't that doesn't doesn't help us right now it doesn't help us right now that he'll be indicted in 10 years with something skeezy and stuff well man I'm just wondering if he'll be if they'll do anything he probably will but maybe that letter that he sent out to the public that was totally full of lies and totally inaccurate how he can't be pulled up before the board say hey man there's nobody maligning a professional nobody cares no one cares I mean I think that's the struggle I'm probably in at this point as I go I mean are people so broke that all they can focus on is paying their rent not getting their gas shut off that's what they're worried about the economy was a big issue right what are they coming out of code none of us have ever come out of coven before we've still got half the people that don't think it existed yeah we still have half the people that think Donald Trump won yeah I mean that's fading we are moving out of a lot of stuff so yeah um I would go back to what you and I talked about last year at the same time and go City and County elections yeah those are that needs to be all of our focus it really does Statewide they don't want us sooner or later we have to admit the whole girlfriend doesn't want yeah why and we need to figure out find a new girlfriend yeah yeah well and if we can't find out why let's focus on some wins we've got to get some wins yeah I mean is this a depression show right now yeah well no this is an analyst this is an analytic show where we're trying to analyze what the heck happened why didn't they show up I mean we had all these issues that are really they seem like you know issues that you would care about abortion you know privatization of schools corruption you figure that that would spur people but I'll give you a weird example I'm Catholic so my family are all pro-life but I don't think I should dictate what my religion says to you yeah every Square image shouldn't be dedicated to Jesus that's right that's the most disturbing thing I know that was too whatever whatever Kevin did say that I was like what what about what about the Jewish Community what about care what about well like Buddhist temple we brought all of these people from Afghanistan yeah what about what about that they're now going to be citizens and you just dedicated every square inch to Jesus well and that's kind of a weird word or something and look man I'm good for him that he was able to come back from being down and win I wish he was a better person but it's not look Mick Corona showed us what he was yeah and Edmondson showed us what he was and for some reason or in other people overwhelmingly voted for him yeah two times two times so you don't get the that he's corrupt when you either chose to vote for him by not voting yeah or chose to vote for him by voting yeah so School teachers new school teachers that voted straight Republican and you go God you know your job's on the line thing nobody believes that their jobs are going yeah I know yeah they just don't believe it so yeah um I always look at it and go I'm going to be 60 next year so I'm looking at going how many more years can I mess with this if it's not going to come together you know I mean Democrats backstab each other because we're like rats in the bottom of a barrel we're vegetarian by trade but if there's nothing else to eat we're going to take a bite of each other which is what we do and uh so we've got we've had I mean we win our gerrymandered seats and then the the other people in all of the other Seas so so what do we do collectively marijuana's next yeah okay so yeah and if that was on the ballot that might have had a difference which is that scumbag they're dropping that thing up yeah he owns Super Poles so he does everybody's polling and all of that magically came out on time but none of it matched up yeah I did a I did a show about him yeah you know the shepherd right Bill Shepherd yeah what a guy's a political hat he excuse it on part you can even read at least I'm not lying to you we skew this to Republicans we we we pull always twice as many Republicans as we do Democrats well and there is uh a deal like shift I if you and I are running against each other and I feel like I'm gonna lose I will put out a poll that shows you up by 15 points so your people don't think they need to go there you go and so every gubernatorial race comes really close at the end and then a bunch of money's pumped into this I love the way he's always got to come out he always has to come out and defend himself oh my pole is he's always got the you know no other poll does that why do you have to defend yourself so bad but he couldn't get himself together enough to get the marijuana stuff done when they had almost 200 000 extra signatures I'm calling I'm calling yeah no kidding anyways to wrap this up you got another cookbook out right I do so so hey it's right on time for for what's coming right here so weirdly enough and I didn't do this because I knew the vote was coming because I truthfully didn't when I wrote it so um this is an infusion cookbook all of the recipes are excellent if you don't like weed yeah just make the just make the recipes yeah but these are for anybody that's got an aging parent eggs pains if you're over 55 years old you wake up hurting every day and this shows you how to make sounds everything else to put on it if you want to do infusion stuff it's all on there as well so next election hopefully I'll be the spokesperson for legal weed thank you for the book some of these recipes we we make and we eat so we will we will definitely enjoy this so thanks for the plug yeah no no problem anytime Sean I hope we worked today this isn't your only cookbook you got I got Sean Cummings Irish Pub cookbook in this one and I've got something else I'm starting to work on but it's I'm a little I'm a little apprehensive at this time to put anything else on the market Irish Pub cookbook did great this is done well I just you know we got to see where we go see what happens yeah excellent Sean it's good thank you for being on this show books your book's awesome oh thank you that was really cool easy read usually political books are not uneasy yeah look it up and check that out I think you broke it down pretty well Sean I'm glad you enjoyed it oh this is across the desk and we won't be seeing you next week because hey we're at the end of season six but we'll be back for season seven in the middle of January after the holidays when all the crazy bills comes out because we want to miss any of that anyway this is across the desk with Sean Cummings thanks for having me thank you everybody we'll see you later foreign [Music]