Gossip Boy Special Investigative Report
Sally Kern’s Campaign Spending

Raises Serious Ethics Concerns 

October 12, 2008
By James Miko

Gossip Boy’s research into Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern’s campaign finances has revealed some highly questionable spending activities, revelations about the special interests that are funding her re-election bid, and the District 84 representative’s ties to an extremist Christian cult where some worshippers believe sex with children purifies their souls and others call for the public execution of homosexuals.

Kern’s campaign, Citizen’s for Sally Kern 2008, is headquartered at 6800 SW 125 St in Oklahoma City, which is in the home of her treasurer Nancy K. Sullivan. Normally, a state legislator’s campaign headquarters would be located in the district actually being served, but Kern has opted to have hers far removed from her constituents.  An outside location for the HQ may suit her, as the majority of donations supporting her run for office are not even coming from her district. 

State Rep. Sally Kern leaving a "Rally for Sally" event in April. Over 1000 people showed
up at the Oklahoma State Capitol to support Kern after a video was released showing her
making numerous anti-gay remarks and claiming that gays are worse than terrorists.   

In late July and early August, Rep. Kern attended an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference in Chicago, which was paid for by campaign contributions given to Citizens for Sally Kern 2008. According to records at the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, Kern used $1836.52 of donations given to her campaign to attend the annual event of an organization that is being targeted by watch groups as a clearinghouse for corporate interests to bribe state legislators.

ALEC is a membership group of state legislators from across America, who gather and draft legislation that the members are then sent back home to get passed in their own states. Critics of the group and its members claim their agenda is based on who will purchase their influence.

Entities who have become highly critical of ALEC’s agenda claim that the policies being supported are bought and paid for by corporate sponsors. In a 2007 report it was discovered that ALEC was being paid by the oil industry to deny that global warming is a problem and by pharmaceutical companies to fight prescription drug regulation. Sally Kern’s campaign website shows an issue of hers is to seek the deregulation of the healthcare industry in Oklahoma. Her stance remains even after the excessive deregulation of other industries has led to economic chaos across the nation. Kern supports allowing the healthcare industry to make its own rules, which others claim will greatly disadvantage the consumer.   

Kern’s largest in-state contributions are from Tony Tatum, a physician in Sulphur, OK, and Ralph Harvey, president of Marlin Oil Company in Oklahoma City, who both gave Kern $5000.  Harvey has also made substantial contributions to Senator Jim Inhofe, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, and Congressman Sam Graves of Missouri. In a story published by Gossip Boy last week, those three elected officials were shown to be leading anti-gay agendas across the country and tied to a fundamentalist apocalytic branch of Christian extremism called Dominionism.

In July Oklahoma Rep. Mike Reynolds was forced to return $5,000 to Harvey after the ethics panel found the oil man had given the representative twice the legal contribution allowed by law for an election cycle. Harvey has further been implicated in a scandal involving openly gay candidate Jim Roth’s challenger in the corporation commission race. Republican candidate Dana Murphy, who had already received $5,000 from Harvey, who serves as her campaign manager, was given office space at Marlin Oil at a greatly reduced price of only $50 per month. Rep. Trebor Worthen, R-Oklahoma City called it a “sweet heart deal” and claimed such an action requires fair market value pricing. Murphy failed to report the in-kind contributions on her financial disclosure forms.

ALEC is a strong advocate of tobacco interests. Both federal and state inquiries have shown that the tobacco companies Philip Morris and R. J. Reynolds have used ALEC members to promote their interests in state houses. Sally Kern’s only out-of-state personal contributors are Dee Wampler and James Stetson  both of Springfield, MO. Wampler, an attorney, is known for financing the campaigns of politicians who will do favors for the tobacco industry. He is closely tied to Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, whose wife is a lobbyist for Philip Morris. Blunt has scored zero on gay rights issues according to the Human Rights Campaign. Attorney Wampler specializes in white collar criminal offenses and as a Christian Dominionist has authored the book “The Myth of Separation Between Church and State”.  As is being revealed, Dominionism is quite prevalent in Kern’s life and in those of her associates and campaign financers.

During a campaign forum this past Thursday sponsored by the Northwest Chamber of Commerce in Bethany, Kern continued her attacks on gays. The controversial figure claimed her views represented a majority of the voters in her district, however, the majority of her campaign contributions comes from outside the area she serves. Of the $23,194.21 in monetary contributions she raised through August 11, 2008, only a scant $2800 came from those living within District 84. Nearly 90% of the money being used to fund her campaign is coming from the outside. In special interest and in-kind contributions every penny she has received comes from outside Kern’s district. From January 1 to August 11, 2008, neither Kern’s husband or children made financial contributions to her fund.  

When it comes to financial support, Kern is having to find it outside her service area, whereas challenger Ron Marlett has received the vast majority of his support from within the district.

When the moderator asked Kern what the greatest threat to the U.S. was, she read from a prepared statement and said, “Homosexuality. While terrorism has killed more than 3,000 people in America, uh, in the continental 48 states. In the last 15 years homosexual behavior has killed over 100,000. It’s a danger to life. It’s a danger to health.”      

Gossip Boy has been unable to find any legitimate source about the 100,000 deaths she mentioned. Kern made no mention of the 440,000 deaths per year caused by the tobacco industry that has supplied her with campaign funds and been so heavily promoted by ALEC.

During the event a man attempted to question Kern about the two times she carried a firearm into the capitol building in violation of state law. The man, who was later identified as local gay activist James Nimmo, was escorted out by a police officer. 

In a telephone interview with Bill Berkowitz of the group Media Transparency, Gossip Boy asked for a basic description of an ALEC member, like Sally Kern. He said, “ALEC takes money from corporate interests and pays it out to state legislators, who then go introduce legislation in their state to assist their donors. It’s legal bribery. State Legislator X gets a wad of cash to forget about their constituents and go to work for their new employer, be it Exxon or another influence peddler. ALEC legislator members are bought and sold.”

ALEC was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, who in 1979 co-founded the Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell. It was Weyrich, who coined the term Moral Majority. In 1997 he led a Christian boycott of the United States Armed Forces demanding that Wiccans were unfit for military service and Christians should not be forced to serve with them. Theocracy Watch and the Anti-Defamation League both claim that Weyrich is heavily involved with the Christian Dominionism movement in America; though at times Weyrich has attempted to deny any affiliation. Dominionists believe that the U.S. government should become a Christian theocracy with the Constitution replaced by Old Testament biblical code and all citizens would have to convert or be placed into re-education camps. Conversion by torture is a method they advocate. The sect believes in killing non-believers and homosexuals. Senator Jim Inhofe and Steve and Sally Kern are followers of Dominionism, which teaches homosexuality cannot be tolerated. Both Inhofe and Kern are well-known in Oklahoma for their efforts in battling gay rights.

In the video below, you’ll see a clip where Weyrich's deputy Dean Wycoff says, “I believe in capitol punishment.  And I believe that homosexuality is one of those that can be coupled with murder and other sins. It would be the government that sits upon this land who would be executing the homosexuals.”

Lawmakers like Sally Kern and Jim Inhofe, followers of Weyrich, believe that Dominionism should be the government that “sits upon this land.” In their Christian pledge of allegiance they believe in ”life and liberty for those who believe”. For those who don’t believe, they believe in the opposite. The Biblical literalists’ rallying cry is "Seize your armor, gird it on/Now the battle will be won/Soon, your enemies all slain/Crowns of glory you shall gain."

Doministists are “End Times” Christians who want to bring about Armageddon, as quickly as possible and must prepare the earth for it, by creating a central world government and religion that will launch Crusades on non-believers and sinners like homosexuals.  Going under names like Joel’s Army they are preparing an apocalyptic military force to launch their intended control of the world. Joel’s Army is a metaphor for the avenging locusts God sends to plague non-believers. They endorse the public execution by stoning of homosexuals in line with their devotion to Old Testament biblical code.

[Editors Note: In recent weeks, Gossip Boy has done substantial reporting on subjects like Inhofe, Kern, Anita Bryant, and Falwell. Readers should take note how all these figures come from the same roots. Gossip Boy has also linked the Kerns as being supporters of Hand Up Ministries, which is headed by fellow Dominionist David Nichols of Choctaw. Nichols is under indictment in Oklahoma for violations of the sex offender registry for amassing over one hundred high-risk sex offenders, mostly child molesters, in a trailer park in south OKC.  He has been found to be a former associate of Tony Alamo, an Arkansas cult leader and Dominionist, who was recently arrested by the FBI for child sex charges. There are those within the Dominionist movement that believe sex with children purifies the soul, which will allow the adult a more sacred union with Jesus. A story on these events will be published next week.]        

Weyrich operates another conservative group called the Free Congress Foundation, whose leadership classes include the reading of Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Weyrich is known for guiding Eric Heubecks writing The Integration of Theory and Practice, which promotes using deception, divisiveness, and misinformation in order for Christian fundamentalists to gain seats of legislative power. He has also called for the reformation of the House Un-American Activities Committee to investigate members of the news media.

Paraphrased below are the four principles of Weyrich’s  and Heubecks’ beliefs:

1) Falsehoods are not only acceptable, they are a necessity. The corollary is: The masses will accept any lie if it is spoken with vigor, energy and dedication.

2) It is necessary to be cast under the cloak of "goodness" whereas all opponents and their ideas must be cast as "evil."

3) Complete destruction of every opponent must be accomplished through unrelenting personal attacks.

4) The creation of the appearance of overwhelming power and brutality is necessary in order to destroy the will of opponents to launch opposition of any kind.

This month Sally Kern attended a debate between openly gay corporation commissioner Jim Roth and his opponent. At the event Kern pointed at Roth and  said, "The ends justify the means. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that man is not elected." 

Weyrich is a strong advocate for the railroad industry and lobbies aggressively for them. The only out-of-state political action committee to donate to Sally Kern’s current race is the Union Pacific Corp. Fund for Effective Government. Union Pacific Railroad is the largest railroad in North America. In Oklahoma, the PAC has only made large contributions to Republican candidates.

FOOTBALL TICKETS A MAJOR CAMPAIGN EXPENSE

Out of the $23,194.21 in monetary receipts Kern obtained from January 1, 2008 to August 11, 2008, she used $1,269.00 to purchase football tickets on two separate occasions, claiming them as a campaign expense. Kern personally bought the tickets then had her campaign reimburse her.

Gossip Boy spoke with Kern’s campaign treasurer, Nancy K. Sullivan, about the expense claims. Sullivan stated she was unable to recall any details about the expenditures dealing with ALEC or the football tickets even though she is the one who submitted the reports to the state ethics commission. She ended the conversation stating she had to leave town and would get back with us next week.

Repeated calls to Rep. Kern’s home and office have not been returned.

During the inquiry into the campaign finances, Gossip Boy also looked into the contributions made to Kern’s House District 84 opponent Ron Marlett. The reports up to August 11, 2008, show all of Marlett’s expenses were directly relatable to the daily functions of a campaign. He has received no out of state special interest money. The only political action committee donation he received was from the OKC Firefighters PAC Fund. He received one personal contribution from out of state for $150. His headquarters is located within the district he is running for office.

An official with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, who asked not to be named in this report, says that Kern’s football ticket purchase does not violate any state laws. The rules are written generally enough that candidates can claim almost any type of personal expense as a legitimate campaign need. The official commented, “From getting your poodle groomed, to getting a manicure, to buying theater or sporting event tickets, candidates in Oklahoma are allowed to pass on many expenses to their campaign that donors would be outraged over if they knew about them. When people contribute to campaigns, they tend to have the belief that their money is going to go towards running a campaign, buying ads and such, not covering the candidate’s entertainment budget.”

He concluded, “Candidates in Oklahoma tend to find very unique ways to use contributor money. Ways that may pass in Oklahoma, but would land them in prison in some other states.”

Neither the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, nor Kern campaign official Sullivan, could explain what campaign-related activity was being conducted at the football games.

In September 2008, the reopened bankruptcy case of Republican State Representative Randy Terrill saw identical behavior as Kern’s exposed in court. Terrill was shown to have purchased $2341.00 in University of Oklahoma football tickets using contributions made to his campaign. Examiners reopened Terrill’s bankruptcy case after it was disclosed that he had failed to report a substantial amount of reimbursed campaign contributions.

Gossip Boy has been talking to Ron Marlett and will be doing an article about his race against Kern and we will continue to follow-up on this story and attempt to talk to Kern.