What do you think?
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Contact:
Brittany M. Novotny
Candidate for House District 84
P.O. Box 374
Bethany, OK 73008
405-420-5890

Rep. Kern Votes for More Government Involvement in Medical Decisions

Oklahoma City, OK – March 2, 2010

According to the website of Rep. Sally Kern, she “believes in limited government” and “the U.S. Constitution.” This session, however, Rep. Kern has taken positions that run counter to these stated beliefs, instead pushing for more government involvement in the private lives of Oklahomans.

Rep. Kern’s opponent in the upcoming November election, Brittany Novotny states:

“This session, Rep. Kern has shown that ‘limited government’ is nothing more than a political buzzword for her campaign. She introduced HB 2279, which ‘would eliminate the incompatibility grounds when there are living minor children in the marriage, the parties have been married 10 years or longer, or if either party files a written objection to the divorce.’ Somehow, in Rep. Kern’s world, adding more government restrictions into the lives of Oklahomans is ‘limited government.’”

Just today, Rep. Kern voted to add more restrictions into the private medical decisions of Oklahoma women, requiring that women obtain an ultrasound before procuring an otherwise legal medical service. “You can’t be for limited government and pass legislation that adds more government interference into the lives of Oklahomans,” said Novotny.

Proponents of the bill believe it would help Oklahoma attract more diverse grocery shopping options, and would allow the people in the state’s two largest cities to decide whether this was a worthwhile endeavor. Opponents of the bill are concerned about the impact it would have on liquor stores in Oklahoma. What do you think?
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

A measure authored by Rep. Wesselhoft (R-Moore) and co-authored by Rep. Kern, HB 2569, would prohibit the State of Oklahoma from embedding radio frequency identification tags in state issued driver’s licenses or ID cards. Read more here.

Tickets to this event are just $30, and include food from Gopuram’s wonderful, fresh buffet and beverages. Not only will you be helping Brittany celebrate her 30th birthday, you’ll also be supporting her campaign for the state legislature this November!

So come enjoy the best Indian food in HD 84 with the next State Rep. for HD 84, and help Brittany share our common values and vision of a brighter future as we work to attain victory over Rep. Sally Kern in 2010!

Please RSVP to be put on the guest list no later than March 1, 2010, as space is limited!!!

RSVP here on facebook, or contact Lisa Price at 405-305-2089 or l_m_price@hotmail.com!
Start Time: 18:00
Date: 2010-03-06
End Time: 20:00

Enjoy pancakes, bacon, coffee, and OJ with friends and supporters of Brittany! This event is sponsored by Dana Orwig. Minimum suggested contribution of $10 to enter.

Please RSVP either via facebook or call Emily Allen at 942-2559. Please RSVP no later than February 17, 2010!

Get your pancake on!!!
Start Time: 08:30
Date: 2010-02-20
End Time: 10:30

Due to the ice storm, we are postponing this Saturday’s pancake breakfast. It will be rescheduled at a later date. Sorry for any inconvenience! Please feel free to contribute on the web at www.brittany4hd84.com in the meantime!

Please be careful, try to stay off of icy roads, and be there for your neighbors and family if emergency situations arise.

Thank you all for helping to share our common values and vision for a brighter future for Oklahoma as we work to achieve victory for the people of Oklahoma in 2010.

Brittany Novotny

No matter how we choose to celebrate and remember Dr. King, we should keep in mind that it is up to each of us as individuals to choose peace over violence, to choose community over division, and to choose understanding over fear. Dr. King spoke of this in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech:

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

We cannot walk alone. Yet, in order to walk together, we must choose community over division. When we work together, there are no limits to what we can accomplish as Oklahomans, as Americans, and as human beings. Whether it’s a teacher who has dedicated his life to improving the lives of the children in the community where he grew up, or a police officer who puts her life on the line to protect the people of her city. Whether it’s a nurse who dedicates herself to taking care of the ill, or a construction worker building the roads and railways that will take us where we want to go. It takes all of us working together, all of us choosing peace over violence, community over division, and understanding over fear to live in a world that we can pass on to our children, and our children’s children, better than we found it.

Let’s build a brighter future for Oklahoma in 2010 by working together and “conducting our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” In this time of great economic fear and uncertainty, let’s walk together and live up to the ideals of our state flag, whose “symbols of peace unite all people.” Let’s come together around our shared vision and shared values to claim victory for the people of Oklahoma in 2010.

Who’s in?

-Brittany Novotny

I want to talk to you all today about three V’s. I know we’re not celebrating V-Day, but bear with me today, because I want to talk to you a little bit about who I am and the values I believe we share as Oklahomans, the vision many Oklahomans share for the future, and why I believe good Oklahoma Democrats can achieve victory in 2010. The three V’s: Values, Vision, and Victory.

I was born in Chickasha, OK on March 6, 1980. I grew up in south Oklahoma City, where I graduated from Westmoore High School. I earned a BA in Sociology at USAO in Chickasha, before leaving Oklahoma for the opportunity to attend a top tier law school, the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. While I was away from Oklahoma, though, I began to think a lot more about why I really loved Oklahoma. I mean, at the time I left I had an urge to experience something new and different, but after a few years there, I realized that my heart was in Oklahoma. Sometimes it takes leaving a place to truly appreciate it. When I’m in Oklahoma, I just feel a sense of family and connectedness.

How many folks in here have traveled by airplane a few times? Have you ever noticed how talkative people are on flights to Oklahoma City? Seriously, every other city I’ve flown into, maybe a few people are having conversations, but it’s mostly quiet. But the second you find yourself on a flight to Oklahoma City, complete strangers are talking about some mutual connection they have, or how they came from the same hometown but somehow never met before the flight. It’s just a great feeling I get every time I fly home.
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I believe that Oklahomans really do have good values. I grew up here, and I believe I share with my fellow Oklahomans the values of hard work, generosity, and treating others like I want to be treated. I believe that we as Oklahomans rise and fall together. Our flag is decorated with a shield, olive branch, and peace pipe. These symbols, OUR symbols, embody the Oklahoma values of peace and community. Who here knows our state flag salute?

I salute the flag of the State of Oklahoma, its symbols of peace unite all people.

Our flag, our symbols, represent our shared values of peace and community.

Next, I want to discuss our vision for Oklahoma’s future. In just a couple of weeks, we’ll be ringing in the year 2010. People used to have big dreams about where we would be technologically in the year 2010. We’re not wearing space gear, nor do we have flying cars.

What we are facing, though, is rising unemployment and budget cuts because state revenue is down—impacting everything our state government does, from providing meals to seniors, programs such as Medicaid, and even the Department of Corrections.

And because of the impact on our environment and national security, we have a need to transition to a new energy future. For at least the past two years, “military and intelligence experts have been issuing studies warning that climate change could put American military personnel and national security at risk. Increasingly violent storms, pandemics, drought and large-scale refugee problems, they say, will destabilize regions and encourage terrorism.” Despite claims of a few nay-sayers, the scientific community is united, and even many in the faith community now agree, that we absolutely need to reduce carbon emissions in our atmosphere in order to protect, and maybe save, God’s creation.

This is not a partisan issue. It transcends labels of Republican and Democrat. I believe Oklahoma is poised to be a big part of the new energy future for the United States. Our state’s abundance of wind and clean burning natural gas provide us an opportunity to lead the way to energy independence and a cleaner environment.

I’m very excited about the Department of Transportation’s plans to move forward on providing high speed rail service between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Investment in projects like these will create good jobs now, and provide a vital transportation link for Oklahomans in the future. Rail travel can help commerce, especially small businesses that pop up around the stations and entrepreneurs who travel the state, as well as reducing strain on our highways and improving our carbon footprint. I’ll support projects like these to help get Oklahomans moving, while also protecting our planet.

Besides investing in clean energy and cleaner modes of transportation for the 21st century, we also must invest in education to provide our children the skills they will need to navigate the world economy of the 21st century, and allow them to take part in it from right here at home. We need to make sure our starting teacher pay is not the lowest in the region, so we can attract the best and brightest young teachers, rather than letting them leave to surrounding states after receiving a great education at one of our great public universities.

Despite tough economic times, voters in Oklahoma City this week showed that they are willing to support investment in the future. When MAPS 3 passed this week, it did so with broad support from moderate Republicans and progressive Democrats alike. I know many folks in this room had misgivings about various aspects of the proposals, but whether you were for it or against it, we know that there were progressives on both sides of this debate. Those opposed to MAPS 3 believed that the best interests of the working people of the city would be served by going back to the drawing board and coming up with a different set of projects. Those in support believed that this set of projects would keep OKC’s momentum going in a positive direction, creating jobs and developing the infrastructure we need to be an attractive city for people to live in and start businesses in. Progressives on both sides share a common purpose in looking out for the long term interests of OKC, and we will continue to work together to help build a brighter future for Oklahoma.

Those first two V’s, Values and Vision, are, I believe, integral in reaching the third V, Victory. For a lot of us running as Democrats in Oklahoma, where a majority of people lately, regardless of registration, identify as Republican or independent, we will not attain victory if we cannot put labels aside and speak to people in terms of our shared values and our shared vision. There are a lot of Oklahomans out there who consider themselves Republican or independent, but also share our values of peace and community. There are a lot of Oklahomans out there who consider themselves Republican or independent, and share our vision of Oklahoma leading the way in green energy, helping Oklahoma attract more good jobs, and improving education, so our kids are prepared to be a part of the high tech economy.

My background in studying law, has led me to a great respect for the way we govern ourselves, and our constitutional democratic principles. Our laws and system of governance, with checks and balances, is a necessary structure to balance the competing, and equally compelling, interests of the individual and society. So to me, the labels of Democrat, Republican, and independent matter less than shared values in peace and community and a shared vision for our future. It is unproductive to refuse to work with folks just because we have different political beliefs. If we share a similar vision and have found common ground, then we must be willing to work together—and sometimes even compromise. Values, Vision, and Victory. The three V’s. God bless Oklahoma, America, and the world. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody!

I share the concerns of many who are hesitant to support or just outright oppose MAPS 3 because of our community’s need to maintain public safety. There are also legitimate questions about whether this is an investment we can afford right now, because of the lingering national recession.

Oklahoma City has recently received a lot of attention in national business press as a city that has withstood the recession better than most others, and a city that offers the best opportunity for new small businesses. This is in no small part due to the investment made by city residents in the original MAPS project, as well as MAPS for Kids. These investments have helped Oklahoma City become a major economic player in the region and the nation.

Part of the brighter future that we are looking to build includes investment in our transportation infrastructure to give our citizens safer roads and more alternatives, such as rail. MAPS 3 includes an investment in a modern streetcar for the downtown Oklahoma City area, which is a critical piece of a new rail future for central Oklahoma. Commuter rail from Midwest City, Edmond, Norman, and Moore will be useless if there is not a streetcar downtown that passengers can transfer to in order to reach their destinations.

Our new transportation future can be fueled in part by natural gas from right here in Oklahoma, which is good for our economy. Plus, rail projects in other cities have proven to spur investment in neighborhoods along the rail corridor. Other cities in the region, such as Dallas, Austin, Little Rock, Kansas City and Albuquerque have all begun investing in rail and are seeing great success. Now is not the time for Oklahoma City to stop the progress that got us this far.

Some of the proposed projects may not be ideal projects for every constituency in Oklahoma City, but overall the projects will benefit the entire region and continue to improve the quality of life in central Oklahoma. As someone who believes in the axiom that we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, I am supporting MAPS 3 and will vote “Yes” on December 8 to help build a brighter future for Oklahoma.