Nunya

Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins and Attorney General Drew Edmondson have the qualifications, experience and vision to serve the state as governor.

Both Democratic gubernatorial candidates would bring a more critically needed balance to state government than the announced Republican candidates, U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin and state Sen. Randy Brogdon, who would obviously consolidate and extend the current GOP ascendency in the state.

And the 2010 general election is a long ways off . . .

But given the importance of the governor’s race for Democrats, who are now the minority party in the legislature, there is little room for campaign gaffes that give the GOP an opening to attack and ridicule.

So will “nunya” stick?

Nunya, slang for none of your business, was listed on an Askins’ campaign expense report made available to the public through the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, according to a NewsOK.com report. A recent rule change requires candidates to specifically report expenditures of $1,000 or more with campaign money. The rule went into effect July 1, but candidates had to put something in the expenditure column on their electronic reports to comply with the Ethics Commission software.

For the second quarter, April 1 to June 30, before the new rule went into effect, Askins' campaign listed approximately $30,000 in expenses paid to Nunya, 123 Main Street, Duncan, OK, 73533, according to the news report, which was written by Michael McNutt.

Obviously, the Askins campaign was in compliance with Ethic Commission rules and an Askins spokesperson said the information was an “internal placeholder” never meant to become public, according to the report. This information can be easily corrected on the electronic report. But the word nunya is a sarcastic word, in this context, that sends the wrong signal about openness in campaign funding and government.

Let’s be clear: It is very much everyone’s business how political campaigns are funded and how they spend money. Democrats should be leading the way on this issue.

The NewsOK.com report notes that Fallin and Brogdon reported specific people and businesses on their expenditure reports for the first two quarters of this year, and that Edmondson reported specific expenditures for the second quarter and listed his campaign headquarters for the first quarter.

This is a minor issue, for sure, and, in political parlance, it probably doesn’t have legs, but there is little room for error in such an important race. A Republican governor, along with a Republican legislative majority, could validate GOP extremists, such as state Rep. Sally Kern.

Democrats should demand their candidates take campaign contribution and expenditure reports seriously. No more inside jokes about the money. It drags all Democrats down, and that’s unfortunate.