Candidate’s claim questioned

Candidate’s medal claim questioned by servicemen

By M. Scott Carter
The Norman Transcript

A Cleveland County legislative candidate’s claim that he earned a Meritorious Service Medal while serving in the Oklahoma Air National Guard is drawing complaints from some of his fellow servicemen.

However, Aaron Stiles — who is seeking the GOP nomination for the House District 45 race — says the whole matter is a misunderstanding and that he simply referred to the wrong medal in his campaign Web site.
Stiles is involved in a heated four-way race for the Republican nomination for House District 45. Stiles faces Republicans Les White, David Hopper and Ron Henderson in the primary, set for Tuesday.

A runoff, if needed, will be Aug. 26. The eventual winner will face incumbent Democrat Wallace Collins in the Nov. 4 general election.
Earlier this month, Stiles’ campaign Web site said the 28-year-old “served our nation for eight years — earning a Meritorious Service Medal, a Humanitarian Service Medal and Served in Operation Noble Eagle after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.”

That statement drew the wrath of Stiles’ former boss, Matthew Dukes.
Dukes, a chief master sergeant in the state’s Air Guard, said Stiles falsified his military service by saying he earned the award. “I cannot and will not stand by and allow him to discredit the brave men and women of the Oklahoma Air National Guard who have served without complaint since Sept. 11,” he said.

Dukes, a Midwest City police officer, said Stiles never received the Meritorious Service Medal.

“I served with Stiles, as a matter of fact, I was his boss,” he said. “He never received the MSM; and I would know because the paperwork would have gone through me.”

Stiles said the issue is simply a mistake.

“Honestly, I didn’t know the difference between the two,” Stiles said during an interview at The Transcript office this week. “It was simply a typo, it wasn’t like I was claiming to have won the Bronze Star.”

As proof, Stiles displayed an Air Force Meritorious Achievement Service Medal, the medal, he says, he actually received.

“It was my mistake,” he said. “But I wasn’t trying to mislead anyone. It was a simple mistake.”

Since then, Stiles said he’s changed his campaign Web site to reflect the accurate name of the medal. “The site has been changed. I wanted to make sure the right medal is listed,” he said.

Dukes, however, said there were “other issues” with Stiles’ service.
“He is misrepresenting his military service,” Dukes said. “And there are too many Air National Guardsmen that have served for him to do that; he is not one of them.”

Dukes said Stiles — on two separate occasions — sought conscientious objector status so he would not have to be deployed overseas.

“Right after Sept. 11, things settled down and deployments were starting to come down,” he said. “We had received a requirement to send a team to Kuwait and all of a sudden Aaron submits a conscientious objector packet. I believe it was a subterfuge to keep from going to the desert, ’cause he was on the list.”
Not true, Stiles countered.

While Stiles confirmed he did seek the CO status, he said it was because he had “real issues” with the fact that he “might be asked to kill someone.”
“Yes, I did seek CO status,” he said. “I also did everything I was asked to do and went everywhere I was asked to go. I sought the CO status mainly because of my Christian principles.”

But it’s not true, he said, that he was trying to avoid going overseas.
“I was faced with the possibility of killing someone,” he said. “And I had serious questions about whether or not I could take someone’s life.”
Still, Duke said, the application for the CO status kept Stiles from being deployed.

“You’re not deployed while the request is being acted on,” Duke said. “So until it’s either approved or disapproved (the CO application) he was saying he can’t pick up a weapon to defend this country. He sat in an administrative role at Will Rogers while other people filled in for him and went to the desert.”

Eventually, the application was denied, Stiles said.

“Honestly, it never really entered my mind when I signed up for the service that I might have to take another person’s life. That’s why it was such a tough decision. I did it to protect the guys I was with.”

Additionally, Duke said he investigated Stiles for fraud during his tenure in the Air Guard.

“I investigated Mr. Stiles for fraud,” he said. “I did a brief investigation, found out what he was doing, and submitted the information to the Judge Advocate General (JAG).”

The investigation, Duke said, centered on whether Stiles was paying for his meals.

“When you’re in a certain status you have to pay for your meals,” he said. “But he was going over and eating and not paying for his meals, which constitutes fraud.”

Stiles said Duke has a grudge against him and that the issue was blown out of proportion.

“It was a small deal,” he said. “It was over one meal. And he placed me in cuffs and said he was charging me with fraud. People were shocked, they were completely surprised.”

In the end, Stiles said, he was never charged and only received a written reprimand. “And I didn’t even want to sign that,” he said.
However, Kenneth Ericson, who is serving in Iraq, said Duke’s information is accurate.

“I served with Mr. Stiles,” Ericson said in an e-mailed statement to The Transcript. “He was involuntarily mobilized and deployed stateside under Operation Noble Eagle, which was only stateside. I was deployed with him at this time. While deployed he did everything he could think of to get home after he found that there was a chance we could be forward deployed overseas.”

Stiles, Ericson said, was investigated for fraud because he repeatedly didn’t pay for meals.

“He was required to pay for meals he ate at the Base dining facility,” Ericson said. “He was investigated and it was found that even after being told this, he still ate there without paying for (those) meals.”

Other servicemen, however, support Stiles’ claim.

Jack Clark, an Air Guard member who says he served with Stiles, said Duke was out to wreck Stiles’ career.

“That base is a joke,” he said. “Aaron didn’t do anything wrong; he did what I did: He used the Guard to go to OU. Duke didn’t like him and would do whatever he could to wreck Stiles’ career. This is absolutely wrong, Duke has his own demons.”

Former Air Guard Chief Master Sergeant Bob Spinks praised Stiles’ record.

“Aaron is led by strong Christian values and a duty to serve others,” Spinks said. “His heart is in service to his country, not to himself. I would proudly serve with Aaron Stiles again.”

Still, Stiles said he can’t explain why Dukes and others would have issues with his campaign.

“I don’t want to speculate,” he said. “He (Dukes) and I used to be friends, but something happened and since that time we haven’t gotten along. But I can tell you this: I will be filing a defamation suit against him.”

Omnibus Specialty Tag Bill Clears House

Legislation dealing with a wide range of specialty license tags was approved by the Oklahoma House of Representatives today.

House Bill 3353, by state Rep. Randy Terrill, creates and
modifies several state specialty car tags. The provisions of the bill were created by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

"For efficiency reasons, we took several individual specialty tag bills and rolled them into one measure," said Terrill, a Moore Republican who chairs the House Revenue and Taxation Subcommittee.

"After an exhaustive examination, we felt these were
the best proposals submitted this year and worthy of
further consideration. I appreciate the hard work and
cooperation of all the legislators involved."

The legislation creates several new specialty tags,
including the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation
Enduring Freedom Veteran License Plates that would
be available to any honorably discharged or current
member of the United States Armed Forces who served
in those conflicts.

That provision was authored by state Reps. Randy
McDaniel (R-Edmond), John Auffet (D-Stilwell) and
Wallace Collins (a Norman Democrat whose district
includes the Veterans Center).

"We should support and encourage all the brave young
men and women who make great sacrifices to serve
our country overseas during a time of war," McDaniel
said.

"All American soldiers who put themselves in harm's
way deserve recognition for their sacrifice and service."

McDaniel, who served in the Oklahoma Army National
Guard for 11 years, noted the state already issues
special military tags for veterans of other wars.

House Bill 3353 also creates the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation License Plate. The bill requires
that $20 of the $35 generated from license fees for
each diabetes plate be deposited in the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation License Plate
Revolving Fund to pay for treatment research efforts.

State Rep. Lucky Lamons, a Tulsa Democrat and
former police officer, is author of the diabetes plate
provision as well as language creating a Tulsa Police
Department Memorial License Plate. The bill requires
that $20 of the tag fee for the police plate be deposited
in the Tulsa Police Department Memorial License Plate
Revolving Fund.

A provision authored by state Rep. Eric Proctor would
create In God We Trust License Plates that will be
designed in consultation with the Oklahoma Family
Policy Council.

"Our nation was founded on the principles of
religious freedom and this plate will give
Oklahomans the opportunity to acknowledge
the historical foundations of our country,"
said Proctor, D-Tulsa.

A provision authored by Terrill will create a
Department of Corrections License Plate that
earmarks $20 from each plate fee for the
Oklahoma Correctional Employees Memorial
Foundation.

"Our corrections employees endure a harsh and often
dangerous work environment for relatively little pay,"
Terrill said. "It is appropriate that the state create a
funding mechanism to memorialize DOC employees
who have been injured or killed in the line of duty."

State Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, authored a
provision creating an Armed Forces Veterans
Motorcycle License Plate. The plates will be issued
to any current member or honorably discharged
member of the United States Armed Forces.

Duncan is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army National
Guard and Battalion Commander of the 2/189th
Regiment, a Regional Training Institute in Oklahoma
City.

In addition to creating new license plates, House Bill
3353 also amends law affecting several existing specialty plates.

For example, the bill abolishes the Northern Cherokee
Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory License Plate.

"The Northern Cherokee Nation plate was creating a
lot of confusion because its design is similar to
legitimate tribal tags and because there is no official
federally recognized tribe by that name," said state
Rep. Ben Sherrer, D-Pryor Creek. "It was time to get
rid of it."

The bill also restricts the issuance of Civil Emergency
Management License Plates to only individuals
providing proof of their involvement in the state civil
emergency management system.

"There have been cases in recent years where people
have impersonated emergency responders at the scene
of a tragedy," said state Rep. Ken Luttrell, a Ponca City
Democrat who authored that provision.

"That's unacceptable and we hope to reduce that
activity by ensuring only true emergency responders
can obtain one of these specialty plates."

House Bill 3353 also expands the issuance of Gold
Star License Plates to include the spouses of members
of the United States Armed Forces killed during a war.
State Rep. George Faught, a Muskogee Republican who
authored that provision, noted that the Gold Star plate
is currently issued only to parents of a soldier killed in
action.

Another provision authored by state Rep. Jerry
Shoemake, D-Morris, would allow university police
officers to obtain Police Officer License Plates.

House Bill 3353 passed the Oklahoma House of
Representatives today and now proceeds to the state
Senate.

AFP Grassroots workshop planned

Americans for Prosperity Foundation will offer a grassroots training workshop for Cleveland County residents 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Santa Fe Cattle Co. in Norman.

The free seminar will include state Rep. Wallace Collins and House District 45 candidate Aaron Stiles. There also will be question and answer time for both candidates following the dinner.

The workshop follows AFPF's recent town hall meeting with Congressman John Sullivan in Tulsa and the national Defending the American Dream Summit in Washington, D.C. in October.

Big issues for 2008 legislative session From Cleveland County lawmakers

Immigration, infrastructure 

likely to be big issues for 

2008 legislative session, 

Cleveland County lawmakers say

Transcript Staff Writer

Published: January 06, 2008 12:00 am

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Call it the problem of "what they need to be doing versus what they'll get to do."

With just over five weeks left before lawmakers return to the state capitol, the list of issues needing legislative action grows almost daily -- education funding, teacher pay, health care, transportation, corrections and, of course, the budget all "desperately need attention."

But many legislators -- including some from Cleveland County -- are concerned those issues will take a back seat to one which has dominated the state's political landscape for more than a year: immigration.

And some worry the issue -- like Frankenstein's monster -- just won't go away.

With Moore Rep. Randy Terrill's recent announcement that he plans to file the "son of" his previous immigration bill, House Bill 1804, some state lawmakers worry Terrill's newest bill could divert attention from many other pressing issues.

"Immigration, it's an issue that shouldn't be No. 1, but it is," said state Rep. Bill Nations, a Norman Democrat. "We ought to be talking about education and health care and other things, but Rep. Terrill has us talking about immigration."

And that debate, Nations says, is a distraction.

"They should be dealing with it in Washington, D.C," he said. "The bill that Randy wrote is causing economic hardships. It's going to distract us from dealing with more important things. But you can rest assured there will be a lot of press and immigration will be a front page issue."

Instead, Nations said, lawmakers should be working on issues such as health care.

"We need to look at some type of universal health care for children," he said. "I don't know if we are where it can happen, but there is a moral obligation to see if we can cover all the children in Oklahoma."

And while Nations says lawmakers and policy experts haven't solved the health care problem yet, he believes there is hope.

"State Insurance Commissioner (Kim) Holland's task force isn't quite finished with its study," he said. "She and I have talked and I may be pushing their timing, but I believe there is a need to keep the conversation in people's mind. We have a need and responsibility to do that."

But health care isn't Nations' only concern.

A slow down in growth has the five-term Representative cautious.

"Our budget will be fairly quiet," he said. "It's not so bad a revenue picture that we'll have to make drastic cuts."

That is, cuts in spending or cuts in the tax rate.

"I certainly hope we don't try any more tax cuts," he said. "I agree with (OU President) Boren and the State Chamber of Commerce. We can't afford any more tax cuts at this point. We already have incredibly low taxes and, by any way you want to slice it, we need to hold off on any future ones."

An idea that some of Nation's more conservative colleagues support.

"I think we'll probably have to assess our situation," said Moore Republican Paul Wesselhoft. "We don't know how important additional tax cuts will be until we can see what our needs are and know how much money is available."

Wesselhoft, who says "he's not against tax cuts" said lawmakers should "exercise some caution" with future reductions in state revenue. "I read what President Boren had to say," he said. "You've got to see the whole picture and see what the needs are."

For Wesselhoft, those needs include repairing the state's ailing roads and bridges and reducing the number of inmates in the state's corrections system.

"The most important issues are roads and bridges and the corrections system," he said. "We're going to have a tighter budget than we did last year and getting our roads and bridges repaired and answering the problems with the corrections department, those issues should be our focus."

To do that, Wesselhoft said he wants to earmark all the state's growth revenue -- about $32 million -- for road and bridge repair.

"That means it won't go to teaches salaries," he said. "But infrastructure is not a sexy topic. It doesn't lend itself to political rhetoric and gamesmanship. It's not a ribbon cutting kind of policy."

The state's bridges, he said, are crumbling.

"Chunks are falling through windows and killing our citizens. That should send a chilling message to lawmakers. It's a concrete example of why we should invest in infrastructure."

Wesselhoft also wants to reduce the number of inmates in state prisons by expanding the use of community based sentencing programs, alternative forms of incarceration and drug courts.

"We have an overcrowded prison system," he said. "We need to give more thought to putting those incarcerated for drugs into different programs. We are going to have to develop an alternative system, such as community sentencing for these people."

State Sen. John Sparks, a Democrat, agreed.

"We should look at the reasons for incarceration," he said. "We should decide if we can use alternative sentencing more."

The issue, Sparks said, comes down to money. "Without over simplifying the deal it comes down to this: How much do we want to pay to keep people in jail?"

Sparks says he would rather earmark state revenue for education.

"We need to get a handle on our higher education system," he said. "I think everyone would agree that higher education benefits the state. The numbers don't lie. If you don't have a healthy, well educated work force, economic development isn't going to happen."

Sparks said the state "needs to step up" and make higher education a priority. "It's important to understand, this isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. It's a commitment, a long term commitment. We're not going to fix the problem in one year. It's going to be an 'every year' issue that is going to take an 'every year' commitment."

For state Rep. Scott Martin, a Norman Republican, the focus will be on transportation issues.

"We're going to look at removing the trigger and the cap on transportation spending," he said. "So I'm sure that will be something that's heavily debated and discussed."

Two years ago, Martin said lawmakers passed legislation which had a 3 percent growth trigger. "If growth hit 3 percent, there would be additional funding to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation," he said. "If it didn't there would be extra funding, but not as much."

And while growth didn't reach the 3 percent threshold during last year's legislative session, Martin said it hit the mark after the session, but lawmakers "weren't able to go back and appropriate additional funds for roads and bridges."

"I'd like to review that," he said, adding that he also wants to reapportion fuel taxes which should be going for transportation issues but currently are not.

Like Martin, state Rep. Wallace Collins agrees that lawmakers should focus on transportation. But unlike Martin, Collins, a Democrat from Norman, said that discussion will probably be on light rail.

"We should be looking at transportation issues," he said. "And we'll probably be dealing with rail, it will get some attention. But I don't think ethanol as an alternative fuel is going to solve much of anything. I think it's a distraction."

Education and mental health, he said, along with the state's prison system and pay raises for state employees "all need to be dealt with."

"It's vital that we deal with them," Collins said. "I just hope we won't get bogged down with immigration and more tax cuts."

Editor's note: Despite repeated attempts, The Transcript could not reach state Rep. Randy Terrill, Sen. Jonathan Nichols or Sen. Anthony Sykes for this story. Their views on the session will be included in future stories.

http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_297002442.html

Published: October 24, 2007 12:24 am

Martin, other lawmakers refuse copies of Quran
By M. Scott Carter

Transcript Staff Writer


OKLAHOMA CITY — Saying he had no “spiritual or scholarly need” for it, Norman state Rep. Scott Martin confirmed Tuesday that he refused a copy of the Quran, the Muslim world’s holy book.

On Monday, a “Centennial” copy of the Quran was offered to all members of the Oklahoma Legislature from the Governor’s Ethnic American Advisory Council. And while many lawmakers accepted the book, at least eight legislators refused the gift, citing religious reasons.

Martin, a Republican, joined at least five other state representatives and two state senators — David Derby of Owasso, Guy Liebmann of Oklahoma City, Mark McCullough of Sapulpa, Mike Reynolds of Oklahoma City, Susan Winchester of Chickasha, Rex Duncan of Sand Springs and Senators Randy Brogdon of Owasso and David Myers of Ponca City — who refused to accept copies of the Quran.

“They (the Governor’s task force) sent us an e-mail, asking if we wanted a copy,” Martin said. “And since it wasn’t something that I needed, I kindly declined the offer.”

Martin said he turned down the book for religious reasons.

“I’m a Christian,” he said. “And there’s lots of other religious documents that I don’t have a copy of. But I appreciated them giving us more of a choice.”

State Rep. Rex Duncan, who announced his refusal publicly, said he turned down a copy of the Quran because it advocated killing women and children.

“Most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. Duncan said he objected “to the use of the state Centennial Seal and the state Seal all in an effort to further their (Muslims’) religion.”

However, one religious scholar said the action could be viewed as an insult to the Muslim community.

University of Oklahoma religious studies professor David Vishanoff, who specializes in Islamic studies, said lawmakers were making a “quick judgment” about the Islamic faith and probably haven’t read the book.

“I think they are making the mistake of identifying what they perceive as some Muslims’ belief as what’s in the Quran,” he said. “I don’t think they can find it advocating ‘killing innocent women and children.’”

The Quran, Vishanoff said, condemns infanticide, has a system of rules about the taking of life and urges restraint and forgiveness. And while some parts of the Quran are “hair raising,” Vishanoff said they are subject to interpretation. “It’s a Seventh Century Arabian book. You can say the same thing about the Bible … it’s all in there.”

By refusing the offer, Vishanoff said lawmakers were sending a negative message to the Muslim community.

“If I were in their shoes, I think I would get the message that we don’t really want Islam in our community,” Vishanoff said. “And that’s what they are trying to overcome.”

Oklahoma Muslims have “been making a real effort” to have a visible relationship with Oklahoma’s business and community leaders, he said. “They are an integral and respected part of the Oklahoma community. They are voters and supporters. And they matter.”

But while a few lawmakers passed on their copy of the Quran, at least one Cleveland County lawmaker said he accepted his copy.

Norman Democrat Bill Nations said he, too, was offered a copy of the Quran and he accepted it.

“I did receive a copy,” Nations said. “I fact I already had one.”

Nations said he wasn’t offended by the book, adding that he owned a copy of the Book of Mormon and “about 20” Bibles.

“It’s a matter of an intellectual exercise,” he said. “And understanding what’s going on the world. All Muslims are not our enemies, just some radical ones, which are the problems.”

While he said he had not received the e-mail about the Quran, state Rep. Wallace Collins, D-Norman, said he would accept a copy if offered. “I didn’t see an e-mail about it, but I would accept one if offered,” Collins said. “I have several friends who are Muslim.”

The controversy comes on the heels of a recent Ramadan dinner hosted by Gov. Brad Henry at the governor’s mansion.

Henry’s spokesman, Paul Sund, said the governor had hosted the dinner for several years. “Like President Bush, he’s hosted a Ramandan dinner for many years.”

At this year’s dinner Henry was presented with a copy of the Quran, Sund said. “No, he didn’t refuse it,” he said. “He accepted it warmly.”

M. Scott Carter366-3545scarter@normantranscript.com