Votes Finally In

Are you in favor of lowering Grand Lake from 744’ to 741’ elevation BEFORE LABOR DAY WEEKEND? It seemed like such a simple no brainer question, but oh my, what an eye opener! I had a hard time getting some people to vote. I extended the deadline and sent out a total of 3 notices to each individual I requested a vote from. No one can claim they missed the ballot in the mail. The vote is in and it tells us a lot. You can see the results for yourself listed below. This is the long and the short of what it says.

The composite total of the ballots received back, including GRDA officials, elected officials, and the general public is 554 votes. And how did they vote?

554 say NO, they are not in favor of lowering the lake, and 5 say they are in favor of the draw down!

That’s 99.1% who say they are not in favor of lowering Grand Lake before Labor Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!!

Now let’s dissect this and get the real story from elected officials and those running for office. You can see how they individually voted and as a group.

10 say NO, and 1 voted YES, resulting in a 90% win for the NO’s!!!!

AND 5 didn’t respond! That’s 50% who did not respond and you can see who elected not to answer this simple question. The did not responds are made up mostly of mayors except for the Oklahoma Governor, Brad Henry, and our State Senator, Charles Wyrick.

This next category is the most interesting of all and includes GRDA Chief Executive Officer Kevin Easley and the entire GRDA board of directors. That is the governing body of the lake. The Chief Executive officer declined to vote.

In a letter, he sent to me his reason for not voting was this, “ It is important, however, for me to clarify that as head of the public utility responsible for enforcing the provisions of the FERC license for operations of Grand Lake, I do not think it would be appropriate for me to vote on issues related to current license requirements.”

It is beyond me why he can’t have an opinion on this matter. The complete letter is in my office for anyone who would like to see it. As far as the seven-member GRDA board that makes the rules and governs GRDA and Grand Lake…..

2 voted NO, 0 voted YES, and 5, DID NOT RESPOND!!!!!!!!

Another way to put it; 100% that voted, are not in favor of lowering Grand Lake before Labor Day Weekend. Thanks to board members Terry Frost and Brent Lagere! However, 70% of the GRDA board and the Chief Executive Officer DID NOT RESPOND TO THE QUESTION!!!!!!!!!! INTERESTING??????????

So where does all this leave us and where do we go from here? At least we know who is on our side. Those who are in favor of lowering the lake before Labor Day Weekend and are in opposition to making this change, remain a mystery to me? Who is it going to harm to NOT lower Grand Lake till after Labor Day??????? Objectively, I believe NO ONE. Who does it benefit, the list is endless.

Both United States Senators and our Congressman are opposed to lowering the lake before Labor Day weekend. That is 100% of all the federally elected officials representing Grand Lake. It would seem we have that base covered. Although our current Governor did not respond, both gubernatorial candidates for Governor DID and voted they are not in favor of lowering Grand Lake before Labor weekend.

Our State Representative, Dr. Doug Cox, also is against lowering Grand Lake. That only leaves State Senator Charles Wyrick who did not respond. Two of these people, Congressman Dan Boren and U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe, have pledged to arrange a meeting with FERC, GRDA, myself and other officials, to explore correcting this problem.

STAY TUNED, we have won a battle, not the war. I am not going anywhere for now, but I will move to New Mexico if we can’t win this lake level issue. WE ARE 99.1% IN FAVOR OF NOT LOWERING GRAND LAKE BEFORE LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

Sincerely,

Joe Harwood