PikeOffOTA

Three New Substack Articles That Simply Must Be Read!

Sadly, I rarely have time anymore to do the research and writing I once had time to do. If you’re interested in writing and/or reasearching, for God sakes DO NOT START A PODCAST! It’s shocking how much time a twice-weekly show can take up!

Instead, let me make sure you have links to three MUST READ articles for this weekend, but also the links to numerous Substacks that you simply MUST put on your list to check out daily. Substack is great in that you can follow authors and when they release an article, it pops up in your app. Yes, I suggest you download the Substack app, but you can also be notified of new articles via email – which is great, if like me – you feel your phone filling up beyond manageable proportions with apps!

Please read V1SUT’s newest piece Past Speaker McCall Puts Gov Ambitions Over Kids: Grand Jury Petitioner Arrested Twice after Naming McCall & Others. Charles McCall is running for Governor. This is very important information regarding someone who speaks campaign rhetoric about protecting children and families. You need to follow V1SUT on Substack and on our podcast, where Katy will be subbing for me again – this time during my knee replacement – the 22nd to October 3 (or so!)!

Highway Robbery: How the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Exploits Drivers and Squanders Millions is the latest from Amy Cerato’s substack. Amy is a professor of Engineering at OU. She has also been forefront (along with our friends and frequent podcast guests Whitney Mullica and Kelly Wilson) in the PikeOffOTA group, writing and researching about the Oklahoma Transportation Authority. This particular article is a must-read, but it is also a necessity that you sign up for Amy’s Substack, as she regularly produces excellent, timely and well-researched information all Oklahoman’s should know.

Amy has another Substack article coming out on the 8th, that you won’t want to miss that promises to show where the ‘extra’ toll funds are going. I don’t think any of us want to miss those revelations – as long as we have trash cans nearby in the event we have to be sick…

Ramblings of a Domesticated Warrior is another Substack to which you should subscribe. Here again, excellent writing combined with truth and news you definitely won’t hear on the drive-by-fake Media. Their newest post is The Chamber’s Puppets: Exposing Oklahoma’s So-Called Republicans. This article has a questionnaire you can give to prospective candidates for office in 2026, that is short and sweet, but gets right down to the nitty-gritty, exposing whether or not they are tyrannists, or Constitutionalists, group thinkers/one world government fans, or individualists. So many candidate questionnaires tire out – not only the candidate – but the person reading. This is awesome. Please download the survey and give it to ALL the candidates you’re able to!

Here are a few other OKLAHOMA Substack authors I suggest:

The Sooner Sentinel – for the libertarians/small government lovers in all of us.

Straight Up – by Tulsa reporter David Arnett, has lots of good information about Tulsa, but also Oklahoma in general.

The Oklahoma Lion – another really great Substack with local, political news.

The Oklahoma State Capitol – a Substack written by former Oklahoma State Representative Jason Murphey, The Oklahoma State Capitol covers exactly what it says it does – the people and legislation coming out of our Capitol. It’s a MUST read for the real scoop on what’s going on where Oklahoma laws are imposed upon We The People.

I also follow a Substack written by a Democrat, called GenXpletives. She writes about politics and important topics with a liberal bend, but she is an exceedingly honest writer that doesn’t hiss, or name call, or act like a leftist. She and I have had some really excellent conversations based on some of her articles because we definitely intersect on thoughts and topics. If you want to read what an honest liberal thinks, I suggest GenXpletives. And remember – we don’t have to give up our core belief system to agree with someone who doesn’t think exactly like us. In fact, the more we converse, the more we find out we have in common and it’s the common ground that is important. Don’t refuse to read something just because the person you’re reading doesn’t have your political bend.

And so, there you are. I know a lot of people who say to me that they would read more, but they don’t know what to read. Now you know! Go get your Substack app fired up, or click through the links I’ve provided here and sign up! 2026 will be a VERY IMPORTANT year here in Oklahoma. Make sure you find a way to keep up with Oklahoma politics!

September 5, 2025 0

PikeOffOTA (aka Citizens for Responsible Transportation) Request Bills For 2025

Bills requested to help curb the power, influence and transparency of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority. Please contact your legislators and ask them to watch for these bills.

OTA SPECIFIC

HB1188 – Title 69, Section 1707 – Abutting property owner rights along turnpikes, including compensation for damages, devaluation of property or at the request of the property owner, acquisition of property plus all relocation costs incurred by owner. (Rick West) **MIRROR BILL TO SB969

HB1781 – Title 69, Section 1914 (NEW LAW) – Restricting how and where the OTA can advertise. (Shaw)

HB1939 – Title 69, Section 1705 – Sunset location authorizations if the OTA has not commenced physical construction in earnest within five years. (Sterling)

HB2090 – Title 74, Section 213 – State Auditor and Inspector to perform a special audit providing a determination of the revenue required to repay the original cost of existing turnpikes, provide an assessment of risk within the agency, conduct a 15 year look back and 10 year projection of maintenance reserved fund balances, deposits, expenditures and explanation of cross pledging refinancing practices, provide explanation of gap between required reserve maintenance fund deposits and actual reserve maintenance funds, provide an explanation of financial impact of cost overruns on the driving forward program. (Menz)

HB2093 – Title 69, Section 1709 – Establishing a bond debt ceiling on the OTA. (Menz) **MIRROR BILL TO SB963

HB2097 – Title 69, Section 1711 – – NEW LAW – Requiring legislative approval via a joint resolution for toll increases. (Menz) **MIRROR BILL TO SB964

SB963 – Title 69, Section 1709 – Establishing a bond debt ceiling on the OTA. (Standridge) **MIRROR BILL TO HB2093

SB983 – Title 69, Section 1705 – Audit by the State Auditor and Inspector prior to Bond Sales. Auditor can request any information necessary for the determination of the feasibility and economic soundness of any turnpike projects or parts thereof listed in 1705(e) which are to be financed with revenue bonds. (Standridge)

SB966 – Title 69, Section 1703 – Creation of a Turnpike Legislative Oversight Board. OTA must annually provide a copy of its most recent annual report to the members of the Turnpike Legislative Oversight Board, in addition to any information requested by such body. (Standridge)

SB969 – Title 69, Section 1707 – Abutting property owner rights along turnpikes, including compensation for damages, devaluation of property or at the request of the property owner, acquisition of property plus all relocation costs incurred by owner. (Standridge) **MIRROR BILL TO HB1188

SB 964 – Title 69, Section 1711 – NEW LAW – Requiring legislative approval via a joint resolution for toll increases. (Standridge) **MIRROR BILL TO HB2097

Open Records Act

HB2095 – Title 51, Section 24A.5 – Requiring state agencies to reply to open record requests within 30 days.

February 3, 2025 0

Tassie Katherine Hirschfeld of PikeOffOTA; OTA is Soviet-Style Centralized Planning

Friday, January 31st, our guest on the podcast was Tassie Katherine Hirschfeld of PikeOffOTA, the group that is pushing back against the Oklahoma Transportation Authority and their continued need to displace Oklahoma residents for completely unneeded toll roads for which taxpayers pay multiple times.

The whole discussion was worthwhile and you can see that in full on our Rumble and YouTube channels, though you can find it with public comment on YouTube and on our Facebook page. Seeing the comments is almost as good as the discussion.

One of the most important parts of the interview I think, was when Tassie – who spent quite some time in Cuba doing her Ph.D. research – compared OTA with Cuba’s soviet-style central planning. This is important. America is a Republic in administration and a Democracy in action, wherein the people who make up the citizenry are able to interact with their government officials and – ideally – direct how they are governed. This is NOT how the OTA functions, however, Tassie makes that very clear.

Unfortunately, the problems with OTA are not simple. In the video below, Tassie describes last year’s court case against the OTA in which PikeOff accused them of not following the Oklahoma Open Meeting law. The District Judge agreed that the OTA was not being forthcoming with information and transparent about the ways in which they were doing business and told OTA to stop work on their ACCESS program, but OTA just chose not to and the Judge didn’t make them. Therefore, it was like nothing had ever happened – OTA wasn’t taken to court, PikeOff didn’t win a lawsuit and OTA just went right along as they had before. Where else does this happen in life? I wouldn’t imagine I would be able to get away with not following a judge’s ruling, but OTA did.

It’s going to be very important for EVERY Oklahoman (because this won’t stop and someday this could be YOUR home) to pay attention to legislation this year regarding OTA has REQUESTED. PikeOff has provided that information and I’ve pasted it in below. Please let your senator and representative BOTH know that you want to see these laws PASSED this year! Thanks so much to Amy Cerato of PikeOff, for the information!

OTA SPECIFIC

HB1781 – Title 69, Section 1914 (NEW LAW) – Restricting how and where the OTA can advertise. (Shaw)

HB1939 – Title 69, Section 1705 – Sunset location authorizations if the OTA has not commenced physical construction in earnest within five years. (Sterling)

HB2093 – Title 69, Section 1709 – Establishing a bond debt ceiling on the OTA. (Menz) **MIRROR BILL TO SB963

HB2097 – Title 69, Section 1711 – – NEW LAW – Requiring legislative approval via a joint resolution for toll increases. (Menz) **MIRROR BILL TO SB964

SB963 – Title 69, Section 1709 – Establishing a bond debt ceiling on the OTA. (Standridge) **MIRROR BILL TO HB2093

SB 964 – Title 69, Section 1711 – NEW LAW – Requiring legislative approval via a joint resolution for toll increases. (Standridge) **MIRROR BILL TO HB2097

Open Records Act

HB2095 – Title 51, Section 24A.5 – Requiring state agencies to reply to open record requests within 30 days.

February 3, 2025 1

Association of Central Oklahoma Governments Creates Liberty-Sucking New ‘Safety’ Plan

Friday, 12.20.24, ROPE Report Live published a previously-recorded video with our friends Whitney Mullica and Kelly Wilson discussing ACOG’s new Regional Safety Action Plan created for all regional municipal governments to adopt.

As the Town of Luther’s former Mayor (2017-2021), I sat on ACOG‘s Board. According to the “About Us” section of its webpage, it is comprised of one elected municipal official (and up to two alternates) from every city/town in central Oklahoma. This is not the way it was when I served on the Board. During that time, the number of elected officials who sat on the Board was determined by the number of residents of the city/town – for example, my little town had under 3000 citizens so only one person was allowed to serve on the Board. Oklahoma City had four (I think).

Nevertheless, It is presided over by municipal planners and government-grant locators/distributors who disperse federal monies and create studies that help to create plans like the Regional Safety Action Plan so they can feel as though they’re doing something for their multi-million dollar yearly budget. Originally, ACOG was to be a passthrough for federal highway transportation funds. But now look at them…my how they’ve grown! Because bureaucrats never cease to desire to spend other people’s money.

At any rate, I’m one of those people who are on the mailing list for our Town’s monthly meeting agendas and I scan them every month. In December, the Town had an agenda item to approve the ACOG Regional Safety Action Plan. Despising ACOG the way I do – I took it as my job to be the only “NO” vote on the Board as often as possible – I immediately read the plan, called as many neighbors as I could to explain the issue and ask for them to attend the meeting to express our displeasure in the fact that our Town would even conceive of considering such nonsense. I mean, our Town comprises less than 3000 citizens. What is the necessity of signing on to ANY plan from a large bureaucratic agency?

Three of us attended the meeting and gave specific reasons why we didn’t want to adopt the plan. The Mayor seemed stunned – he is listed as a member of the “Planning Team” – and, even after hearing our complaints, moved to Table the motion to adopt until January’s meeting so he could study the plan further (although he was on the planning team…).

Realizing the folly of adopting this mess, but stuck waiting until January to address the issue again, it seemed reasonable that Michael and I discuss the plan with two people very adept at planning mechanisms – Whitney Mullica and Kelly Wilson of PikeOffOTA.

Both ladies read over the plan and we convened via StreamYard recording to discuss the issues surrounding adoption of the plan – the basis of which comes from a Swedish effort called, Vision Zero, to “eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries”. Hopefully, you’re thinking, “How’s THAT going to happen?”. Well, obviously it’s not.

In the clip below we talk about the concept of ‘safety’ and whether or not “Vision Zero” is in any way realistic.

Please, take at least a bit of time to scan the plan – much of it is traffic patterns attempting to justify the creation of yet new LAWS/LOCAL ORDINANCES, so there’s not a whole lot there to read. Also, read the goofy What Is Vision Zero web page. Then,

1. Watch the full video on YouTube or Rumble to get our full conversation.

2. Contact your elected municipal representative for ACOG (you can find the list of cities/towns here) and find out if your city/town is considering adoption of this plan (spoiler, they are).

3. Show up to the meeting at which the municipal council/board is considering this plan and tell them to knock off the municipal meddling and VOTE NO.

December 23, 2024 0

Edmond Public Schools Discriminates and the OTA Good Ole Boy System Wins Again

ROPE Report LIVE for Friday, December 6th included our interview with Edmond attorney, Richard Lebarthe, who talked about his lawsuit against Edmond Public schools and a bit about his fight with the Oklahoma Transportation Authority.

December 5th, Richard joined Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation at a meeting of the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight.

Check out this post from ORT “Too Many Red Flags to Approve a 1.5 Billion Dollar OTA Bond Issue Without Due Diligence“, it covers the entire issue! It also has Richard’s letter to the Council at the bottom. Please read it, but I’d like to add the last paragraph here:

Accordingly, Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation and Oklahomans for Transparency in Government request that the Council of Bond Oversight postpone any decision on the proposed OTA bond offering until a full feasibility study and compliance review can be completed by an outside third party. We also request that any future OTA bond offerings be postponed until the State Auditor completes the investigative audit ordered by the Attorney General.

Seriously? Both groups – through their attorney – were only asking for the Council to WAIT A MINUTE WHILE A FEW FACTORS WERE REVIEWED FIRST. Yet the Council voted unanimously to grant the bonds to the OTA. Wow.

Here’s what Richard says about the meeting:

Please, PLEASE, go the the Oklahomans For Responsible Transportation website and follow them on social media. Oklahomans MUST stop the OTA and the Good ‘Ole Boy system propping them up or we’ll get to the point where we can’t afford to travel in Oklahoma, period.

The other topic Michael and I covered with Richard on Friday was a recap of the lawsuit Richard filed for Michael and numerous other parents of Edmond Public Schools, arguing that they had discriminated against their children because of their vaccination status.

If you’ll remember, during the COVID YEARS (eye roll), schools could – and would – arbitrarily tell parents that their kids had to stay home if they ‘contact traced’ them and thought they were at risk of developing COVID. Edmond parents filed suit against EPS because they were discriminating against kids who hadn’t had the vaccine with their policy. So, if you were vaccinated, you were neither contact traced nor sent home, but if you hadn’t been vaccinated, you were contract traced and sent home for 10 days if EPS believed you had been near a COVID positive person within 10 days.

Thanks to Richard, Edmond parents prevailed against EPS in court – demonstrating that EPS’ policy WAS flawed and discriminatory. Hilariously, EPS literally put out a statement to the press after the ruling that they were disappointed with the decision, though the court essentially said what Richard says in his comments below – EPS essentially coerced parents to vaccinate their kids for them to go to school.

It’s a shame parents have to pay an attorney to sue their own schools, but many parents today are having to do just that.

December 8, 2024 0

Norman City Council Vote, Tuesday, 8.27 Could Prevent Council From Representing Citizens In OTA South Extension Construction

Friday, August 24th, Michael and I had Kelly Wilson and Whitney Mullica, our friends from PikeOffOTA (aka Oklahomans For Responsible Transportation) on ROPE Report LIVE to talk about a very important Norman City Council meeting.

If you’ll remember, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority has made plans to create a south extension of turnpike to ostensibly halt I-35 congestion and provide another route over the Canadian River. These plans are in conjunction with the OTA’s “Access” program, which is billed as “all about motorist safety”. But then it would be really hard to say something like, “the OTA’s Access program is all about allowing developers and construction companies to make money by accessing private property though the practice of eminent domain in order to keep the ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ way of doing business intact in Oklahoma”, which is what it’s always looked like to me – and which there’s some evidence to suggest is at least partially correct.

Friday, Kelly and Whitney showed us all why it’s SUPER IMPORTANT for people to attend the Norman City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 27th (that’s also RUN OFF election day!), where they will be deciding whether or not to sign an agreement with OTA for several considerations explained in the video.

Interestingly, Kelly makes the case that when Oklahoma County signed a similar document with OTA over the Kickapoo Spur, Oklahoma County didn’t come out on the winning end of that deal.

Below is the interview with Kelly and Whitney in its entirety. It’s about an hour, but Kelly’s explanation is SUPER EASY to understand and the time will go by quickly. Please watch and then pass it on to ANYONE you know in the Norman area.

If you’d like to share just the video, you can find it on our YouTube channel HERE.

The City Council needs to VOTE NO on any agreement with the OTA in order to best allow members to do their job of representing the needs of the people of Norman. This video explains exactly the reason why.

August 25, 2024 0

Land Grab Disguised As A Turnpike To Make The Rich Richer

Yes, I’m a registered Republican. No, I’m not changing the title of this blog. Unfortunately, we now live in UPSIDE DOWN WORLD. Maddeningly, our Republican Governor – Kevin Stitt – and the Republican SUPERMAJORITY Oklahoma legislature, is going Big Business for $1000 Alec.

Oklahoma, once considered to be the reddest state in the 50, is now Tyrannyville thanks to the economic development mantra of the group that used to be for ‘the people’; the property owners, those who had worked hard for a living and wanted to protect their investment/s – the Republicans. Nope, not any more.

Friday, May 24th, ROPE Report hosted Whitney Mullica and Kelly Wilson of PikeOffOTA (Citizens For Responsible Transportation) to talk about how the Oklahoma Transportation Authority – the pseudogovernmental agency peopled with unelected bureaucrats unaccountable to the public – work with members of the business development community to develop tolled roads that, not only must the citizens of Oklahoma pay to use, but that removes their property from them using the force of the state.

You can find the full video on our Rumble and YouTube channels. I suggest you watch the whole thing – it is very informative when hearing all the information at once – but until you have the time, watch the very short pieces I’ve clipped from the whole, below.

Though many people do eventually cut a deal with the OTA for the ‘sale’ of their house and property to the Authority, many people refuse. It doesn’t matter, however, because the state kicks them off the property anyway only to wait – in some cases – over A YEAR to have the issue settled by the court. This is OUTRAGEOUS and citizens of Oklahoma simply shouldn’t tolerate this kind of nonsense.

Here, Kelly shows that, while eminent domain is used to remove property owners from their property, the ‘surplus’ land ‘left over’ after the turnpike has been created, is then sold to the public. Many times, the purchasers of the land are people who benefitted in some way through the OTA turnpike process in the first place. While this is not illegal, personally benefitting from the process of removing the property of a citizen using the force of the state is ethically and morally wrong. If people can’t police themselves along moral and ethical lines, why is the state not protecting citizens by preventing this kind of behavior?

Could it be that ‘the state’ would rather have the money afforded it by the rich and powerful – especially when it comes time to be re-elected?

Below is the most important video you’ll see if you really want to know the way citizens are being tyrannized by Oklahoma’s governmental bureaucracy because this video connects all the dots. Suffice it to say, ‘the people’ simply don’t matter in the face of business interests that want to enrich themselves.

Here, Kelly provides THE CIRCLE OF GOVERNMENT INTERESTS – the ways in which the rich just keep getting richer off the backs of those whose property is seized by eminent domain to create roads they’ll be forced to pay to use. Rinse and repeat. It’s like shampooing your hair.

Who’s going to protect the citizen now when all the people whose job it is to PROTECT THE RIGHTS AND PROPERTY OF THE CITIZEN are essentially in on the deal to benefit from government contracts and government planning and government’s support of private business and public/private partnerships…..

We’ll never get our liberty back until we figure out a way to get a tire iron in this wagon wheel right here!

So…PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!! Help us educate all Oklahomans about what’s happening right under their feet!

May 24, 2024 0

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