Alpha Delirium

How long will the OKGOP tolerate Randy Brogdon?

Even before Randy Brogdon was named Oklahoma Republican Party chairman, his public statements were often bellicose, heartless and simultaneously arrogant and ignorant. As chair, his recent statements on women’s issues, poverty and the Constitution make me think he’s traveling through Alpha Delirium and expensing the trip. I’ve written about him before—his moralizing and paranoia—but this needs to stop. And he needs to go.

A state senator from Owasso from 2002-2011, Brogdon tried a few weeks ago to overturn Roe v. Wade in Oklahoma and equated fertilized eggs swimming up the fallopian tube with infants cooing in their cribs:

“Just because they have an opinion on a particular issue does not make it law and there’s no possible way the rogue justices can come to Oklahoma and make us kill babies,” Brogdon said after he was asked about the Roe v. Wade decision.

We pause for a moment to ponder the size of this divot.

First, he doesn’t actually think justices do this—personally come to states and make people do things—does he? If so, he knows as much about how government works as does the red-legged Peruvian Tinamou. Secondly, abortion is a personal, sometimes heart-wrenching decision—not just for women who are raped, not just for victims of incest, but for those who just have the fantastical notion that what happens in their bodies is their call and not up to a former air-conditioning wholesaler. So lighten up, hoss, on the hyperbole. And thirdly—really the point here—when the Supreme Court decides a case, it is the law, and its opinions cannot simply be ignored because the chair of one party in one state is outraged. And, like it or not, abortion is still legal. To allow him (or the state) to pick and choose what laws it will follow (Attorney General Scott Pruitt, got a minute?) is to unravel the whole shebang. Calling SCOTUS “rogue” does nothing but stoke the worst instincts of those who lose sleep over Jade Helm and believe Phil Robertson is a modern-day Apostle Paul.

And then there was this gem.

“Is a state militia a good idea? It probably is. Because it, again, it would just reinforce the, the attitude and the belief that you and I have the right to keep and bear arms and to provide and protect our families from an overreaching federal government. I think it’s a great idea.”

Nice, huh? That was Brogdon in 2010—and, of course, he then walked those statements back, but that’s how these things go with people like Brogdon. Say something insane and dangerous, get caught saying it, and then demonize the people who reported on you saying it. At the time, he was running for the GOP governor’s nomination against Mary Fallin, who to her credit said that anyone so inclined to agree with Brogdon could just go join the Oklahoma National Guard. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make Mary Fallin the moderate in a race? 

Here was Attorney General Drew Edmonson, who was also running for governor at the time. 

“… The idea that the Legislature would craft a statute that would allow citizens to take action against the federal government by force of arms is a bit scary to me.”

A bit scarier to me is Brogdon’s peculiar loyalty to TC Ryan, whom Brogdon named executive director of the party after Ryan pleaded guilty to not one but two charges related to domestic abuse. Brogdon eventually asked Ryan to vacate his post and act as political director instead—because that’s how you hold people accountable: give them another job in the organization—but not before he said this of his redeemed friend:

“TC is a good friend of mine and is a good example of how God’s grace and redeeming power can change lives. I have traveled and worked with him on campaigns over the last few years. I hired him to be on my team because of his experience, knowledge and excitement that he brings to the party. We are working hard to grow and unite the OKGOP and are looking forward rather than dwelling on the past.”

Okay, so sometimes he batters women, but, c’mon, gals, he’s uniting the party. 

And when the Oklahoma Republican women’s legislative caucus tried to express its displeasure with both Brogdon and Ryan, Brogdon let the ladies know their place.

“You women think you run the Republican Party, but you don’t.”

(Ryan eventually resigned after Gov. Fallin said it was—hold it, I think she was putting her foot down—“not appropriate” for him to serve the party.)

Most recently, on Facebook, Brogdon compared feeding the poor—including many of those babies he so wants to protect—to leaving nuts and berries for wild animals for fear they will come around the campsite too often.

“Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us ‘Please Do Not Feed the Animals.’ Their stated reason for the policy is because ‘The animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.’ Thus ends today’s lesson in irony …”

As if that flourish at the end wasn’t enough to make you smash a Shop-Vac against your head (he even signed the note Randy to let us know how cheeky he thinks he is), the next day, Brogdon issued the worst mea culpa since Othello tried to explain himself to Desdemona after strangling her.

“I offer my apologies for those who were offended — that was not my intention.”

Not your intention to offend anyone? Please. It was calculated to humiliate people who need help while yucking it up with those who view them with indifference, contempt and superiority.  

Here’s a guy who lost, as mentioned, his race against Fallin for the GOP nomination in 2010. Challenging Fallin again in 2014, he lost in the primary to James Lankford and T.W. Shannon. He then parlayed this string of ignominious defeats and was elected GOP state party chair.

But let’s take his advice and not dwell on the past and, instead, wonder why no member of the state’s GOP leadership doesn’t call for this yutz to resign? Gov. Fallin, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, Speaker of the House Jeff Hickman, Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman—what gives? How does this guy still have his job? You’re the leaders of your party, and if Brogdon’s mocking the poor, ignoring the Constitution and calling for Oklahomans to arm themselves against the federal government (while embarrassing the state on a nightly basis) doesn’t offend you, doesn’t make you recoil at what he’s doing to the Republican brand, what are we to conclude about the DNA of the state GOP? Brogdon is a siren, a dog whistle to the worst elements in your party. You should be embarrassed to call him one of your own. In fact, you shouldn’t. You should have called for his resignation yesterday.

For more from Barry, read his articles on state fiscal policy and the Ten Commandments monument on State Capitol grounds.