Open Letter to Joe Lester

Dear Joe Lester,

I am writing to tell you I will not be voting for you. I will be recommending to any Cleveland County voter I encounter that they do not, either. Please let me explain why.

Early in the primary race, I met you and heard you speak at the Frontier Country Republican Women’s meeting. During your speech, you mentioned that your most recent “law enforcement” experience was that of 12 years of involvement in Campus Security at the University of Oklahoma.

Being the only female at the meeting having attended college within the last decade, that piece of information was deeply troubling to me. As a recent college graduate, I know first-hand that the term “Campus Security” is an oxymoron. As omniscient as campus security officers are about parking violations, never once in either of the campuses I attended was a campus security officer personally involved in protecting a student, though students’ cars were broken into, students were held up on campus, and there was even a girl randomly and brutally attacked in her dorm, which Security didn’t respond to for hours.

This is why I am a strong advocate of Students’ Right to Carry. Aside from the fact it is clearly a Constitutional right, without it, students like me – unarmed female college students - are what’s known as “prey” on college campuses. Even at OU, unless she is lucky enough to be assaulted while already using a callbox, a female student’s chances of walking away from an encounter unscathed are basically nil. So, I’m sorry, but no one who has ever been involved in “Campus Security” has any business being anywhere near real-life law enforcement.

Secondly, you made a point of emphasizing that you were being supported and endorsed by David Boren. That’s right – that David Boren. Oklahoma’s most liberal Governor in the last 30 years, maybe more. Now, I realize you have no control over who donates to your campaign or makes a statement of support. And I also realize that you have a good personal relationship with David Boren through OU. But the fact that you would stand in the middle of a room of Conservative Republicans and proudly state that he is behind you concerns me. This gives me cause to doubt your own stated Conservative principles.

Both of these reasons are why I did not vote for you in the primaries. And honestly, that would have been enough to turn me away at the run-off vote. But, you’ve made the decision even easier with your recent campaign behavior.

Back several years ago, Mark Hamm was involved in a car accident. He was cited at fault, and received a ticket. His insurance company was supposed to pay off the ticket prior to the date he was to appear in court. The insurance company did not act in time, but did not notify Hamm of their lapse. Therefore, he was not aware he still needed to appear in court. Years later, someone noticed the ticket hadn’t been paid and issued a warrant. Once notified, Hamm paid the ticket.

But is that how you represent the story, Joe? No, it isn’t. I know, because I have gotten your mailer regarding it. And just the other night, I received a phone call from a supposedly “bipartisan” polling place trying to retell your distorted version of this story, implying that Mark Hamm had been issued a warrant for a deliberate, recent conflict with the law. This is false.

As a candidate running against another Republican, negative campaigning is unacceptable. Ronald Reagan told us to never speak evil against another Republican. After the particularly nasty primary races that I and many other Cleveland County Republicans were involved in that involved similar gross smear attempts, mailers and phone calls of this nature leave a particularly bad taste in my mouth and in the mouths of many other voters.

Joe, as a Christian who emphasizes his missions background, openly engaging in smear campaigning by deliberately misrepresenting another Christian’s background to other Christian voters is not only damaging to the Republican party but to the Body of Christ. I realize now, after the primary races, that not all Christians take that seriously. But I do. And many others do. And you should.

Now, I realize that I’m not a very important person, and my opinion doesn’t matter any more than any other person’s opinion. But I am a voter. And I will not be voting for you tomorrow.