System working as designed

Gov. Kevin Stitt will soon interview three people for the Oklahoma Supreme Court District 1 vacancy created when John R. Reif retired this year. The three names were provided to Stitt by the state's Judicial Nominating Commission, which vetted seven applicants.

Voters approved creation of the JNC in 1967 after a bribery scandal involving some justices, who at the time were elected. The 15-person JNC includes six members who are elected by the Oklahoma Bar Association, six nonlawyers appointed by the governor, and three nonlawyers appointed by legislative leadership and the commission.

Some Republican lawmakers have criticized the JNC in recent years, particularly after Supreme Court rulings with which they disagreed. Occasional calls to change the nominating process have been unsuccessful.

In this case, six of the seven District 1 applicants, and two of the three finalists, are registered Republicans. So are at least six of the seven applicants for the District 2 vacancy created when Justice Patrick Wyrick became a federal judge in Oklahoma City (no information was available about the seventh applicant).

Thus Stitt, also a Republican, will in a matter of months select more Supreme Court justices than his predecessor, Mary Fallin, did in her eight years in office. And he'll do so using a system that by and large has worked as designed, despite occasional complaints from critics.

Perhaps jail time can save ex-lawmaker

In 2014, then-state Sen. Bryce Marlatt, R-Woodward, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor after being found asleep in his parked pickup, smelling of alcohol. In 2017, Marlatt was charged with sexual battery, a felony, in Oklahoma County after an Uber driver said he made sexual advances and kissed her during a ride. Marlatt resigned from the Senate and sought counseling for alcohol issues, and on March 8 of this year he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and was placed on 90 days' probation. Just two weeks later, Marlatt, 42, was charged in Woodward County with a misdemeanor DUI after wrecking his pickup. As a result, a judge this week revoked Marlatt's probation and sentenced him to 90 days in the Oklahoma County jail. In seeking community sentencing, his attorney said Marlatt recognized the latest incident as a wake-up call. Perhaps spending three months behind bars will truly provide Marlatt, a husband and father, the impetus needed to turn his life around.

Investments are paying dividends in OKC

Grants that pay for additional police presence in high-crime neighborhoods are working as intended in Oklahoma City. The grants, from the state attorney general's office, cover the cost of overtime pay that allows police to more thoroughly infiltrate targeted areas. One southside neighborhood saw a 39 percent reduction in crime in the first two quarters of 2019. In a northeast-side neighborhood, felony assaults, robberies and reported rapes all declined. In addition, police have been able to interact with more citizens and thus improve community relations. Ward 7 councilwoman Nikki Nice said these efforts help to “create a new atmosphere and change the culture, not only for police officers but it also changes the cultures for the communities and the neighbors.” That's important. Here's to continued success in all aspects of these programs.

Former radio newsman made a difference

Former longtime radio newsman Keith Swezey died this week at age 67. Locals will remember Swezey for his reporting from the Capitol and elsewhere for KOMA and WKY. From there he spent many years teaching students the craft, as head of Academic Broadcasting Services at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he became chairman of the communications department. But Swezey also made a difference in the realm of public policy. After their daughter Erin was killed in 2009 by a drunken driver going the wrong way on the Kilpatrick Turnpike, Swezey and his wife, Dixie, worked to make first-time DUI offenders use ignition interlock devices in their vehicles. Previously the law required the devices only after a second offense. The Erin Elizabeth Swezey Act was signed into law in 2011. “This new law represents an effort to get serious about drunken driving in Oklahoma,” Swezey said at the time. RIP.

Democrats on the move against Citizens United

From the time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in 2010, that the government can't limit political campaign spending by companies, unions and nonprofits, Democrats have been bent on undoing it. This week, Senate Democrats took the latest step by introducing a constitutional amendment to scuttle the Citizens United decision. Its prospects for success are remote. Still, some of the arguments against it are amusing. A primary one is that big money is destroying the democratic process, and that limits are needed on how much can be raised. Meanwhile, the same folks making that case are glad to accept enormous sums of money. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for example, has raised $18 million for his 2020 campaign, according to opensecrets. org.

Sharpton's record seemingly doesn't matter

Amid the uproar over President Trump's criticism of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and the city of Baltimore, Al Sharpton weighed in — no surprise, as he's made a career of accusing others of racial animus. Yet Sharpton has a long record of the same, as Philip Klein noted this week in the Washington Examiner. In the 1980s, Sharpton said black teenager Tawana Brawley had been abducted and raped by several whites and that law enforcement engaged in a racist cover-up. Brawley's story was a hoax. In 1991, after a professor at City College blasted “rich Jews” for financing the slave trade and controlling Hollywood, Sharpton defended him. After a Jewish man accidentally ran over and killed a 7-year-old black boy in Brooklyn, a riot broke out in which a Jew was stabbed to death. Sharpton, Klein writes, led marches “that included chants of `No Justice, No Peace!' and `Kill the Jews.'” The list goes on. Yet several Democratic presidential candidates are only too happy to embrace Sharpton. Why?