Mike Mazzei thinks you're dumb enough to vote for him. Don't be.
“Thank you, Mr. Mazzei … You have changed your mind about the [Inola aluminum smelter] project. You were against it, but shortly before getting President Trump’s endorsement, you decided to back it …
“So, a question specifically for you. What do you say to the people who are worried about the impacts on their families and on businesses in the area.”
“First, thanks for joining us tonight. I’m so pleased I get to share with you my plan for growth by making Oklahoma a no-income tax state, abolishing property taxes for seniors and veterans, launching a massive statewide reading program and enforcing Oklahoma’s constitution, which forbids the foreign ownership of land.
“Now, this plan is why President Trump has endorsed me to be Oklahoma’s next governor. You’ve already heard some lies, and you will hear many more lies about me, the president, this aluminum plant tonight, but don’t be surprised. President Trump has called my opponent a Republican in name only, and that’s because …
Oh, brother.
“As for the aluminum plant. I have a plan to make sure that it will be 100 percent in compliance with the Clean Air Act, and we will bring in a third-party independent evaluator to make sure the air and water is safe for the people, the cattle, and the hay.”
So it began for Mike Mazzei in Tulsa Monday night, where he and Gentner Drummond debated, each hoping to become Oklahoma’s next Republican candidate for governor.
With it, both the die, and dye, were cast.
Drummond mostly answered the questions given to him and, not only that, also explained why he answered the question the way he answered it.
Mazzei?
Are you kidding?
Answering as Drummond answered would have required knowing what Drummond knows, which he didn’t and doesn’t.
But that’s Mazzei’s game.
Two or three talking points — income tax, property tax, literacy — repeated ad nauseam, counting on voters to be as dumb as he’s chosen to be.
Then, finally making a run at a real answer, he failed, as he does.
Because, sure, we should believe another unexplained “plan” will make the project abide by the Clean Air Act, and because he’ll “bring in a third-party independent evaluator,” aka some guy who’ll give it all a green light, we should believe everything else will be just fine, too.
Who knew a couple of well-placed bureaucrats could hedge off all malfeasance in a project so large — one of high interest to the always (never) rule conscious Trump Administration — co-owned by the royalty ruling the United Arab Emirates?
Of course, they can’t.
That, though, was not the drama in the debate room. The drama was how many more times the moderators — KOTV’s Craig Day and KWTV’s Amanda Taylor — would go back to the well demanding Mazzei explain why he changed his mind on the project just as he received Trump’s endorsement.
The answer was two more times, after which Mazzei refused to acknowledge his change of heart, or even that he’d had one. Instead, he sold economic impact, hoping Day and Taylor wouldn’t cancel the remainder of the evening due to his refusal to answer, which they didn’t.
One hopes viewers looking to make a choice understood what Mazzei was doing.
Yes, he’s running for governor, and yeah, this was a debate, but that didn’t mean he was there to answer questions. It meant he was there to offer the same old pablum, believing there to be enough simple, dumb and incurious Oklahomans to vote him into the governor’s mansion.
It’s embarrassing is what it is.
Mazzei began his campaign at the curb and has yet to reach the grass.
So it went.
The candidates were asked about the possibility of a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, a gift the U.S. Department of Energy might grant our state if we’re willing to take it and can beat out Louisiana, Tennessee, Utah and Idaho for it.
Drummond was all about it.
“I think it would be remarkable for Oklahoma to get that project, as long as we have local control, they pay for their power and we conserve water,” he said.
Mazzei had no clue.
“I prefer to focus on the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma, and one of the reasons my plan to make Oklahoma a no-income tax state is so important …”
For Christ’s sake.
Change the broken record.
Drummond’s most dense moment — dense as in heavy, detail-oriented, researched — came when he deconstructed Mazzei’s “plan.”
“It’s a gimmick,” Drummond said. “You’re going to have to restore grocery taxes. You’re going to have to eliminate sales exemption taxes. Farmers and ranchers, get ready. Churches, civic groups, museums, you’re going to lose your exemptions.
“He’s going to have to adopt a Tennessee plan where everybody’s consumption is taxed. When you go to your barber, beautician, car repairman, accountant, you’re going to be paying a tax. Corporate tax will have to go up from four and a half to 6 percent. And to my friends in the oil and gas industry, get ready. Gross production tax will go through the ceiling …
“You do all of that and we’re still $1.6 billion short.”
Imagine the gift Drummond offered, giving Mazzei the opportunity to debunk Drummond’s critique. Because who should know Mazzei’s plan more than the man himself.
Mazzei was ready.
Not.
“He lied about the tax plan,” Mazzei said, as the moderators tried moving on.
Later, he returned to the topic.
“In spite of the lies you hear from Gentner Drummond, my income tax plan will lower the income tax rate from 4.5 percent,” Mazzei said. “And one big drop as a three-part strategy to have a revenue-neutral approach to tax reform, and despite the lies of Mr. Drummond, this will never touch the sales tax exemption for manufacturing or agriculture.”
Sorry, but I don’t see a plan.
From 4.5 percent to what?
Which exemptions will be touched?
Who wants consumption taxes running amok?
Nobody.
And isn’t it interesting how Mazzei’s quick to explain who his plan won’t affect, but not who it will? Or that it took Drummond hammering his plan to get Mazzei to say anything, anything, beyond merely his having “a plan.”
Because his real plan is to not reveal his plan, just to say enough to be elected by dumb and unthinking Oklahomans he’s confident will remain dumb and unthinking, the way they were when they stuck with Mary Fallin and Kevin Stitt and elected Ryan Walters.
So embarrassing.
Surely it won’t work.
Not this time.
Right?