PHOTO: Oklahoma Dept. of Education https://www.flickr.com/photos/osde/48943504343
In Oklahoma, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and former Republican, Joy Hofmeister swapped parties to run as a Democrat against current Governor Kevin Stitt.
One of the big reasons Stitt is Governor is his support for taxpayers. He has advocated for reducing the state income tax, and ran in 2018 in opposition to recent tax hikes enacted under the prior governor, saying, “We can’t just keep raising taxes on hardworking Oklahomans.”
That 2018 series of tax hikes was the largest in state history, including a massive $477 million tax hike bill. In an ironic twist, Hofmeister spurred the tax hikes.
It was Joy Hofmeister’s budget proposal that kicked off the process – and Hofmeister actively used her position to lobby legislators to pass the tax hike.
She even cheered the failure of a citizen petition aimed at repealing the massive tax increase.
This tax hike cost numerous Republicans their seats (and even a few Democrats), according to a tally from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.
“During the 2018 election cycle, seven lawmakers who supported tax increases were voted out of office, including Reps. Greg Babinec, R-Cushing; Scooter Park, R-Devol; Steve Vaughan, R-Ponca City; Donnie Condit, D-McAlester; Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs; Karen Gaddis, D-Tulsa, and Sen. Ervin Yen, R-Oklahoma City. (The three Democrats provided crucial support to ensure passage of the Republican-authored tax hikes.)”
Which legislators will lose reelection if Hofmeister becomes governor and starts advancing blue state left-wing policies?
While Hofmeister wants more expensive education, she does not want Oklahoma families to have any say in how their kids are taught, or where they are educated.
Hofmeister remains fervently opposed to school choice measures that would empower parents to decide where their children go to school, freeing them from failing public schools. That means more expensive, but less effective education for taxpayers – as Oklahoma’s national ranking have declined under Hofmeister, despite all her tax hikes.
She’s claimed education savings accounts, which give parents access to already appropriated tax dollars to use at the school of their choice, would “kill” rural schools. Which ignores the reality that this could only happen if parents took their kids out of that school, not if they liked the school.
The former superintendent proposed a school shutdown plan based on area COVID cases that would have resulted in widespread school closures in Oklahoma.
Hofmeister has also lobbed desperate attacks over crime rates. Which don’t make sense coming from someone who joined the Democratic party after the party adopted “defund the police,” and bail policies where violent offenders could not be held. The crime rate is now going down in Oklahoma, following the pandemic spike we’ve seen across the country.