By Charles Betzler
The Creek County Democratic Party was represented at the Oklahoma Congressional District I Convention held at the Local #798 Union Hall in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
Delegates attending from Creek County were Stan Johnson, who also acted as proxy for Jeremiah Robinson, Charles Betzler, Dewayne Scaife, Leo Wiley, Shawn Betzler, and Brenda Scaife who was the proxy for Lenora Counter.
First order of business was the Pledge of Allegiance led by Dennis Baker, interim Vice-Chair of CD1. Following the Pledge of Allegiance was a moment of silence.
Interim Chair Animi Nadres asked that those present remember the meeting was being held on the land of the Muscogee Nation.
The speaker for the event was Eric Proctor, former Democratic member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, representing District 77 from 2006 to 2018.
He began his speech with:
“Good morning Democrats, it’s good to be with you. There is a scripture that says ‘forsake not yourselves to gather together,’ and that is for a good reason. It is good to be with people who uplift your spirits, it is good to be with people who remind you you are not alone, It is good to be with people that share the same values and fight the same fights that you fight. It is easy in Oklahoma to feel like you are alone, a hermit.”
Proctor then read a passage from To Kill A Mockingbird:
“One thing that does not abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience. Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started, it is no reason for us not to try to win.”
After reciting the passage, Proctor said Atticus Finch reminded him of his grandfather who instilled in him certain values.
The former State Representative spoke about being a Democrat in a Red State: “Being a blue dot in a sea of red is, as we all know, not easy. But, it is one of the most vital duties of defending our democracy.”
He continued with the topic of defending democracy: “We are descendants of Americans who took on the British Empire. We are descendants of Americans who braved oceans to find a better life and fought for freedom. We are descendants of Americans who defeated Fascism on the shores of Europe and on the islands of the South pacific. We have their blood running through our veins. It is our moral duty that we are preserving those more blessings of liberty that we were born into.”
When speaking about people who say one can not be a democrat and be a person of he said that if they looked a little further, “They would see that full mercy and grace still matter to Oklahoma Democrats… We believe that love is love, we believe that tribes are sovereign, and we believe that our daughters deserve the same pay as our sons for doing the same jobs. We believe our daughters deserve to have access to medical care that is the choice between their God and their doctor.”
Proctor concluded by stating: “We are the party that fights for underdogs, we are voices for the voices, we are the light in dark places. We are the party that believes our veterans deserve to be honored, and we are the party that believe that Medicare and Social Security for our senior citizens are sacred and unbreakable American promises. We are the party that believes in protecting our environment to honor our creator… We believe that our teachers are heroes.”
Election of officers followed the speech.
The new slate of Congressional District One (CD1) Democratic Party Officers
(aka CD1 Central Committee Officers) is as follows:
Chair Naomi Andrews- Vice Chair-Demetrius Bereolos; Secretary-Emily Gamel; Affirmative Action Officer-Dr. Shehzad Batiwala; Affirmative Action Officer-Michelle Simmons.
