Canadian County GOP Going Rogue On Spending Proposal

The Canadian County Republican party is going rogue, speaking out against the state party and asking legislators to take a more conservative stance on spending. 

Canadian County GOP Chair Andrew Lopez hand delivered letters to Republican legislators asking for:

• Consolidation of School Districts
• Elimination of all unnecessary licenses and licensing agencies
• Elimination of property tax
• Elimination of all tax credits
• Abolishing Abortion

Lopez says this is the same platform the state GOP should be taking, but sin’t. 

“There very clearly has been dissent for a while. There are people in the party who want to uphold the platform and people who want to ignore it," said Lopez.

State GOP Chair Pam Pollard released a statement that says, in part,  “The comments made by the Chairman of Canadian County do not reflect those of the State Party and the over one million members of the Republican Party.”

“She's saying she supports government as it stands and funding it as it stands," said Lopez. “What I'm saying is, I think there's things that are wrong in government and  the purpose has been corrupted and so we need to correct those problems we have so government doesn't violate the rights of citizens."

Education leaders doubt the Canadian County GOP’s suggestions will get any traction.

"No, not sweating this. It's that time of year. We have new bills coming out," said Shawn Hime of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. "Thousands of ideas from different constituents will come out. That's the ugly side of making the sausage.  At the end of the day I'm confident that we're going to have great legislation."

But the letter is drawing the ire of some in the GOP. 

"They've been nothing else but a social club from what I've seen, and a cheerleader club from what I've seen. So, we're taking a different route and actually promoting the principals of the party," Lopez said.