Want to know why local reporting is so important? Here's why.
When the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority unveiled its map for a controversial turnpike expansion, state Rep. Sherry Conley, R-Newcastle, wasted no time striking a deal to sell her home to the agency, even as her constituents were fighting the project in court.
As a lawmaker who now sits on the House Transportation Committee, she was able to sidestep the normal bureaucracy. She contacted the authority’s government liaison, and then met directly with the agency’s deputy director in her office at the state Capitol.
And what a deal she got: More than $100,000 over the home’s appraised value; a year of free rent; and $26,000 in moving expenses.
Meanwhile, Conley penned an opinion piece in a local newspaper listing the pros and cons of the expansion and urged her constituents to reach out to her with concerns or questions. She didn’t mention that she was already negotiating a deal for her own property.
Conley told The Oklahoman’s Steve Lackmeyer she didn’t just contact the authority to talk about her home. Her concerns were for her constituents.
“My initial thoughts were about how the projects were going to impact the residents and business owners of my district and how I could best support them as they navigate through the process,” she said. “Our conclusion, since my husband and I were being impacted, was to walk through the process of negotiating with OTA.”
Whatever her motives, the details of her transaction might never have come to light if not for Lackmeyer’s diligent reporting. Since the project was first made public last year, he has spent months obtaining records, conducting interviews and following the twists and turns of the authority’s $5 billion Access Oklahoma plan. Not an easy task. A judge has already ruled the agency “willfully” violated the Open Meeting Act.
Stories like this don’t come cheap, and illustrate the value of local reporting. One has only to look at the case of U.S. Rep. George Santos, the Republican congressman from New York who won election despite a biography riddled with lies. Why? One explanation put forward by local journalists is that there weren’t enough of them to discover the truth until it was too late.
Earlier this month, our Ben Felder uncovered efforts by a group of lobbyists and political operatives to make one of Gov. Kevin Stitt’s signature plans to pass vouchers appear “grassroots.”
The group, calling itself the “Oklahoma Education Reform Coalition” Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, a nonprofit recently managed by state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters; and the Walton Family Foundation, a pro-school choice organization funded by the founding family of Walmart. The efforts were coordinated by Saxum, a public relations firm that has millions in state contracts.
“Getting parents of children with dyslexia and Down syndrome to promote school vouchers could be a compelling story, some in the group suggested,” Ben wrote.
“Decoding Dyslexia is not a friendly organization but specific dyslexic parents are," one person said, according to notes from the meeting.
This kind of political strategizing isn’t unusual. Democrats do it. Republicans do it. Advocates, operatives and lobbyists of all stripes do it. But wherever you stand on school vouchers, there is value in unearthing these details and revealing them to the public. The more we know about who the messaging is coming from and why, the more empowered we are as voters, the stronger we are as a democracy.
That’s why we need strong local reporting, and why local reporters need your support.
Of course, that’s not all we do. This is Oklahoma, a state where so many of us are closely guided by our religious and spiritual beliefs. And no one in Oklahoma tells that story better than our Carla Hinton.
Her deeply reported stories on the schism going on in the United Methodist Church, the second-largest faith group in the state, has won praise from even the most informed congregants. Her more recent stories on the new Catholic shrine unveiled this week to the Blessed Stanley Rother, along with the brilliant illustrations from Todd Pendleton, provide a moving portrait of a martyred Oklahoma priest who is on the path to sainthood.
More:The Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine is finally dedicated. What to know
I’m so proud of the work we do here every day and so thankful to you, our subscribers, who have made us one of the fastest-growing newspapers in the USA Today Network for the second year in a row. If you’re not a subscriber but believe in work like this, please consider purchasing a digital subscription. We have great deals going on right now, amounting to pennies a day. You can find more about our offers at https://bit.ly/oklascription. And again, thank you.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Oklahoman brings you vital local journalism. Do you subscribe?
