For every political story, it seems, there is a back story.
Here’s the back story on Al Gerhart’s bizarre attack on Republican Senator Cliff Branan:
Branan is term limited and will end his 12 years of service in District 40 next year. That means the seat will be open. It’s been rumored that Branan’s wife, Connell, will seek to succeed him and there’s speculation today that Gerhart’s attack on Branan directly and his family indirectly is designed to dissuade her from seeking the office. That’s because Gerhart likely has his own candidate.
Gerhart appears to have tipped his hand when he said he will go after Branan and his family if Branan doesn’t do as Gerhart demanded.
Ironically, until Gerhart unleashed his crude attack on her husband over the Agenda 21 issue, Connell Branan apparently had decided not to run.
Now, some are hoping she will though that seems unlikely.
When Gerhart unleashed his crude vitriol on Tuesday, Connell Branan was at the Capitol honoring mothers. She is president of a national nonprofit organization that recognizes mothers of distinction.
Some believe it was no coincidence that Gerhart attacked while she was in the building. Said one Capitol insider: “I think he deliberately picked that time to attack. He knew she was at the Capitol.”
In a 2011 interview with a blogger, Connell Branan was asked about her life: ” I learned very quickly that politics is a contact sport. Over the past nine years, our family has campaigned, knocked doors, waved signs, and watched from the sidelines how the deals get done at the State Capitol. Aside from that balancing act, I am currently the President of the board of directors for a national non-profit, American Mothers, Inc. (AMI). American Mothers is an inter-faith, non-political non-profit organization with over 77 years of rich history. We honor and recognize outstanding mothers across the country. My association with this organization began in 2006, when I was named the National Young Mother of the Year. Since then, it has introduced me to some very special women all across the country who care deeply about children and families. Since both of my children are in school all day, this keeps me busy on and off the streets and has supplied me with an incredible national network of wonderful friends at the same time!”
Gerhart’s modus operandi is to intimidate and target legislators he wants to defeat, rough them up verbally and in his throw-away tabloid. He usually has a candidate lurking in the shadows and there are those who say that’s the case in Branan’s Senate District 40 even though Branan himself is term-limited. So, the thinking goes, Gerhart indirectly targets one he believes is a likely candidate; in this case, Branan’s wife.
The only announced candidate for the District 40 seat is an employee of County Commissioner Brian Maughan, Republican Michael Taylor.
Michael Taylor, his biography states, is a veteran of service in state and county government and is a past Oklahoma state commander of the American Legion. He also worked in the Labor Department. Taylor announced as a candidate for the seat in January.
Said Taylor: “I am not his (Gerhart) candidate.”
Was Gerhart’s real aim to stop this bill? Everything he seems to advocate for turns to dust – the coalition of conservative groups fell apart due to him, from what I have been told by multiple sources – the Ron Paul campaign days before Super Tuesday because of his emails – the Janjoura story and the Sorrels race when he screwed that up and made it about the background of Janjoura and not the facts of the story – there is a lot more. This bill is just the latest in a long line of disasters that follow in his wake.
Ask yourself – if you wanted to kill this bill, how would you do it? He just gave the Senator cover to kill it, and the whole Senate will now do so. Who do his actions benefit – not just this, but all of them? He is certainly not helping conservative, liberty movement, and Constitutional type groups by using threats, libel and/or slander to push issues and candidates. He has also attacked prominent conservatives and activists like Mike McCarville, Charlie Meadows, Kaye Beach, and numerous less well known ones including myself.
Who funds Gerhart? Who benefits by his actions? Is there any doubt his actions are designed to result in the causes he supposedly supports to fail? He has people convinced he is a conservative Constitutionalist, yet all of his actions are detrimental to that philosophy.
Think about it.