Public service remains in their blood.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Although the legislative terms of four former members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives ended years ago, that hasn’t extinguished their desire for public service.
Two of them, Danny Williams and Mike Sullivan, are seeking re-election in November to offices in the Legislature that they held decades ago. Two others, Bob Weaver and Ed Crocker, are active in community affairs. Three of the four switched political parties.
Danny Williams, who turns 71 Friday and lives on “a few acres a few miles outside of Seminole,” is seeking election as a Republican in state House District 28, a legislative seat he last held 26 years ago when he was a registered Democrat.
On his Facebook page Williams, who studied religion and philosophy at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, says he opposes abortion and pledges to “defend our rights to worship,” “promote parental rights,” “defend the traditional family from attacks by the media and the left,” “stop socialism at every turn,” “limit the government” and “create jobs for rural Oklahoma through increased access to broadband.”
The latter is an issue with which Williams is intimately familiar. He’s been in the wireless internet business since 2000 and owns Statewide Communications, a small business that provides high-speed internet service to rural Oklahomans. He said he got involved in the business when he served in the Legislature in 1989-94; an interim legislative study on a statewide educational ap- plication evolved into what became OneNet.
Williams left the House of Representatives in 1994 to run for Governor on the Democratic ticket but placed third in a four-way primary contest won by Jack Mildren, who in turn was defeated by Republican Frank Keating.
In 2014 Williams ran for the state Senate District 28 seat and placed second in a field of five GOP candidates.
He said he switched his political affiliation seven or eight years ago. “I have always been pro-life and pro-gun,” he said. “I’m a Christian guy and my life has been built on the Ten Commandments.” The Democratic Party “walked away from that,” Williams said. “I wasn’t welcome in the Democratic Party, so I became a Republican.”
If he’s re-elected to the House, Williams could serve eight more years in the Legislature. Constitutional term limits (State Question 632) went into effect in 1991. “I would come back to the Capitol with experience,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of wisdom now.”
Mike Sullivan, 81, of Poteau, is a Democrat seeking re-election in state House District 3, which he last represented 48 years ago, in 1969-72. He said he was defeated in his bid for re-election to a third term because of a particular bill he sponsored. His measure raised the state’s gross production tax rate from 5% to 7% and earmarked the increased proceeds for the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System “because they were about to go bankrupt.”
Sullivan said he “worked six hours to get the final vote on that bill,” and a desperate measure was required. Rep. Jim Kardokus “was lying in a hospital bed at the time,” said Sullivan, who was then the first assistant majority leader in the House of Representatives under Speaker Rex Privett. “I sent an ambulance to get Jim from the hospital and bring him to the Capitol to vote on the bill’s emergency clause,” Sullivan recalled. “It finally passed.”
Oil and gas producers were outraged “and spent $100,000 to beat me,” he said. Nevertheless, “I don’t regret any of it.”
Sullivan said he’s seeking re-election to a legislative seat he held almost five de- cades ago because, “We’ve got some road problems and some education problems that are not getting attended to.” He planned to run for the House of Representatives four years ago, he said, “but I had an auto accident in Texas.”
An attorney, Sullivan was in private practice until 1981, then served two four-year terms as district attorney. He also served on the state Ethics Commission for three years.
Despite his age, “I’m in good physical shape and my mind is in good shape.” In fact, Sullivan said, “My age will be an asset.”
House District 3 was in Democratic hands for at least 50 years but flipped to Republican in 2017. Nevertheless, Sullivan is opti- mistic; his chances “look real good,” he said Monday.
Bob Weaver, 66, of Shawnee, served 12 years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives (1989-2000), and earlier this year was elected to a second term on the Shawnee City Commission.
He also worked as a field representatives in southeastern Oklahoma for Henry Bellmon and for Dewey Bartlett when both former Governors were U.S. Senators. Weaver also worked in the 1974 gubernatorial campaign of the late Denzil Garrison.
Weaver was first elected to the Legislature as a Republican but switched parties after five years, in the middle of his third term. He said he caught grief from colleagues in the House Republican Caucus who contended that he didn’t support GOP issues strongly enough. “I left because the Party drove me crazy,” he said.
After his departure from the Legislature, Weaver launched a new career as manager of marketing and economic development for the Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative. That job “allowed me to be involved in the community,” he said. For example, he served on the Pottawatomie County Election Board for 10 years. He retired from the CVEC in 2017.
Weaver formerly was a lay member of the State Banking Board; his term in expired in 2012. As the owner of Weaver Rentals, he had 23 rental properties but has since sold the majority of that real estate.
The lifelong Shawnee resident was appointed in 2003 to fill a vacancy on the City Commission, and the next year was elected to complete the two years remaining on the term. He ran for the commission again this year because, “I just felt like I could make a difference,” and was elected June 30 to a full four-year term.
His six campaigns for the Legislature were dominated by walking neighborhoods and knocking on doors. This political campaign was highlighted by social media – and the coronavirus. “Times change,” he said.
Ed Crocker, 72, of Norman, previously served on the Norman City Council. He was elected in 1989 but resigned in the second year of his term to seek the state House District 45 seat, which he won in 1990.
He served three terms in the Legislature (1991-96) as a Democrat, then left to run for the 4th District congressional seat but lost to Republican J.C. Watts in the 1996 general election.
Afterward he founded a financial planning company, but sold it 15 years later.
Crocker switched his political allegiance from Democrat to Republican in 2008. “At the time, I believed the era of big government was just getting started and we had gone too far in centralizing power in this country,” he said. His switch to the GOP announced his embrace of conservative principles, he said.
A decade later he filed for the Senate District 16 post. He won the GOP primary but withdrew prior to the runoff, contending Republican support in the district wasn’t strong enough to ensure election.
Today Crocker uses his Facebook page to express his opinions – which leave no doubt about his stance on whatever might be the issue of the day.
In a Norman bond issue campaign last year, Crocker argued forcefully in favor of bonds for transportation infrastructure improvements, and adamantly against two stormwater infrastructure proposals. The former passed with two- thirds approval; the latter two issues were rejected in well over half of the ballots cast.
Today he’s “in solid support of a spontaneous, community-based movement to recall the mayor and four city council members” because of their vote to “defund” the Norman Police Department. One of those council members announced her resignation last week. “One down, four to go,” Crocker said.