Gerhart
Al Gerhart was charged Tuesday with two felonies involving an email that threatened a state senator to pass a bill…A co-founder of the Sooner Tea Party was charged Tuesday with blackmail over an email that he admits sending to a state senator.
Both counts are felonies…
Gerhart sent the email March 26 to Sen. Cliff Branan, promising to make the senator a laughing stock unless the Senate Energy and Environment Committee passed a bill dealing with a United Nations plan.
Branan, R-Oklahoma City, is chairman of the committee. The senator turned the email over to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Misspelling one word, Gerhart wrote: “Branan, Get that bill heard or I will make sure you regret not doing it. I will make you the laughing stock of the Senate if I don’t hear that this bill will be heard and passed. We will dig into your past, yoru family, your associates and once we start on you there will be no end to it. This is a promise…”
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater commended Branan for reporting the email.
“I believe he was very courageous in the way he handled this knowing there could be further repercussions to him or to his family,” Prater said Tuesday. “The manner in which Sen. Branan has handled this situation will hopefully prevent this … from happening in the future.”
Apparently some Tea Party nutballs consider extortion and blackmail protected by constitutional rights – and no longer are crimes.
Not suprising why only losers and dicks get into politics.
Good people don’t want to put up with their own supporters. It’s not the other side that makes them say forget it. Its all the kooks and nut jobs they meet on their own side.
I promise that this dick voted for Branan if he is in his district.
Is little dick douchebag eidard still censoring any non left wing comments on dvorak “uncensored”?
Your comment is abusive. What’s the matter with you?
I’ve never been censored and I’ve posted very offensive scathing anti-left (and anti-right) attacks several times.
While neither “party” or “wing” has a monopoly on gutterkin, the Republicans did pull off an amazing feat in 2012.
First you had Akins in Missouri destroy his own Senate campaign with his “legitimate rape” Neanderthal thoughts. No — don’t bring Jesus into this, Jesus was face-palming too and wanted to slap him with a Bible.
Then with all the media blitz, you’d think every “I learned biology at the Church” dumbass would be on red alert “keep foot out of mouth” defcon 1.
Then Murdock in Indiana wins a political Darwin award — having just watched Akins shoot himself in the nuts — decides to share his thoughts on how if rape happens “it was part of God’s plan” — setting a new bar for “stupid”.
No — the idea that a lot of Republicans are in a league of their own in the idiots-department has merit.
A medical assistant told a jury Tuesday that she snipped the spines of at least 10 babies during unorthodox abortions at a West Philadelphia clinic, at the direction of the clinic’s owner.
Somehow it doesn’t get the same media attention as Todd Akin.
Prey, was she running for public office?
Do you have a source for this?
If not, I don’t believe it.
Real answer:
The babies were African American and abortion widespread in the African American community — virtually used in place of birth control.
If there isn’t outrage in Philadelphia about this, why should the rest of the US care? If you see my point.
For reasons I do not fully understand, these kinds of things are accepted as normal in the black community. It is quite a shame, but no one has any solutions either.
Even Obama doesn’t bother coming up with ideas and Clarence Thomas just laments these kind of things but doesn’t have ideas either …
Very sad to see Teapubs mercilessly hating America so much while making claims that they love America.
Wow, that is one true believing, dedicated, fierce and determined Teapub RePuke!
Even if he is an evil idiot, you have to admire the drive to “git er done”.
I hope prison doesn’t destroy the zeal, the zest, the oomph for one’s false beliefs!
American’s luv people true to themselves!
Reminds me of a religion where people hold snakes and whatever is they do. These people are hilarious! Crazy too but hilarious.
I was all set to hate me some Teapublicans…. but if this is what he did alone: ““Branan, Get that bill heard or I will make sure you regret not doing it. I will make you the laughing stock of the Senate if I don’t hear that this bill will be heard and passed. We will dig into your past, yoru family, your associates and once we start on you there will be no end to it. This is a promise…” /// THAT just seems like bread and butter politics they way it should be? What else is Politics?
what else did he do?
……………………………………………. Oh, well, that was it.
Seriously==I don’t like Conservatives, Republicans, TeaDuds, anyone freely living in Oklahoma or any of the surrounding States, etc==but really, whats wrong with what the Dude Promised? Its what all those A-Holes should be subjected to.
The crime is in NOT DOING what this guy promised.
Thats always the way in Politics. The world is upside down.
Stoopid Hoomans.
What this guy did was no different than what happens everywhere else.
He was just unlucky enough to get caught (and stupid enough to put it in print).
And then went on TV to admit he was the author and say
““Political pain and embarrassment will be necessary if the citizens expect to regain control of this Senate down here from the state chamber of commerce and special interests,” he said. “The time for ‘nice’ behavior is over with.”
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation collected a videotape of the April 2 news conference as evidence.”
I have no doubt that’s how you view the “business environment”. Shame shame shame
“Under Oklahoma law, blackmail can involve a written communication that threatens to expose information about someone “which would in any way subject such person to the ridicule or contempt of society.”
Under the law, blackmail occurs if the intent of the communication is “to extort or gain any thing of value from another or to compel another to do an act against his or her will.”
My guess is if he had waited an hour to cool off and then edited his e-mail, he would not be facing charges.
Such a law “should be” struck down as a violation of the First Amendment FREEEEEEEEEEEDOM OF SPEECH.
Our most important right–after assuming the benefits of all the others……. ha, ha.
Telling the Truth should never be a crime. Even Manning becomes a close call in my book.
The truth shall set you free, just as lies will enslave you.
Just look.
So blackmail is just free speech then.
More the reverse Mickey===freespeech, especially any truthful statement regarding politicians, or the threat to make truthful statements IS NOT BLACKMAIL.
It is indeed what SHOULD BE DONE by our media…..but they are but cheer leaders.
What is the truth worth?
All blackmail is threatening to make a true statement about a person.
Whoopty Doo.
Sounds like politics as usual by all parties. People do this to each other all the time and they do follow through whenever possible. Every member of the Senate and the House has this done to them on a regular bases. Support my project or I’m going to get you unelected. It’s what they hear every time they talk to their constitutes unless they are bragging about something they just did for that group of supporters or they are promising to do.
Not sure where this is actually going though.
Teabaggers are a pretty stupid bunch. Add a a little Oklahoma to the mix and you’ve got flat out idiocy.
There is no difference between this trumped-up, delusional, nut-job, wacko thug and the one in Best Korea.
Can you imagine the explosion (literally the nuclear conflagration) if this crack-pot was ever in a position of power where it came down to a pissing contest between these two psychopaths?
BOOM!!!
They’re all unfit for ruling over an area of land larger than an office desk.
He looks like Steve Ballmer?
Nah. I got nothing. Next.
You can’t fix stupid.
So he threatened to do what everyone else already does. The media practically doubled the population of Alaska with their investigative reporters in 2008.
That guy looks like the #2 bad cop on Prison Break.
http://imdb.com/name/nm0213664/
“Branan, Get that bill heard or I will make sure you regret not doing it. I will make you the laughing stock of the Senate if I don’t hear that this bill will be heard and passed. We will dig into your past, yoru family, your associates and once we start on you there will be no end to it. This is a promise…”
Really? This is a crime? Come on! I’m a liberal, don’t much like tea party types, but really… OK, here’s the law from the article:
Under Oklahoma law, blackmail can involve a written communication that threatens to expose information about someone “which would in any way subject such person to the ridicule or contempt of society.”
What a crappy law. Suppose they were uncovering true things about the person that subjected them to the ridicule or contempt of society?
I think this guy got railroaded by a bad law. Looks like he was blustering and blowing off steam like any number of political operators.
The douchebag was using blackmail to get a law passed.
That is not democracy.
If the douchebag exposed information about the senator without expecting something in return, then it would not be blackmail.
Threatening someone with unspecified harm hardly seems like blackmail. Isn’t that part of political wheeling and dealing? I disagree with his politics, but I think it’s a crappy law to charge someone with blackmail for this kind of unspecified bluster.
If I threaten to harm your family, your associates, and yourself in some unspecified manner, how does it become any less of a threat?
Um, he threatened to “make [him] the laughing stock of the Senate”. That’s it. Threatened to make people laugh at him. Didn’t threaten his life, his job, his family, his home, any of that. For this threat he’s charged with a crime? Absurd.
Yes, I see that the OK law says “which would in any way subject such person to the ridicule or contempt of society.” And as I said, that’s a ridiculous reason to charge someone with a crime, for making people laugh at someone. Boo hoo!
Reading all this -including comments- reinforces my opinion: People are full of shit.
You sound constipated!
What, you don’t have indoor plumbing yet, too bad!