Hotel tax fails; Rep. Thomsen retains seat

Randy Mitchell Staff Writer

Unofficial results are in and the United States of America has a new President-elect.

For the first time in history, America has an African-American president. Democrat Barack Obama won with 349 electoral votes to Republican John McCain’s 173, with North Carolina still too close to call. Obama only needed 270 electoral votes.

Local unofficial results show District 25 State Rep. Todd Thomsen retained his position with 52.6 percent of the vote. Thomsen, the Republican incumbent, received 7,186 votes to Democratic challenger Gary Starns’ 6,473. In Pontotoc County, Thomsen received 6,795 votes to Starns’ 6,104.

Ada voters shot down the controversial five percent hotel tax with 3,628 against and 2,355 for the measure. The proposition would have used the tax for construction, maintenance and operation of parks and recreational facilities and for enhancing and promoting tourism development.

In Roff, voters passed a proposition to add a sales tax of one half of one percent for the purpose of making improvements to the Roff Volunteer Fire Department. The yes votes were 147 while 122 voted no.

District 4 U.S. Rep. Tom Cole defeated Democratic challenger Blake Cummings with 63 percent of the vote. In Pontotoc County, Cole received 66.3 percent of the vote with 8,799 to Cummings’ 3,897.

U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe won his third full term in the Senate by getting 57 percent of the vote to 39 percent for Rice and 4 percent for independent Stephen Wallace.

The 73-year-old incumbent won most of the state’s 77 counties, rolling up big margins in rural areas, including counties in southeastern Oklahoma, once Democratic strongholds. Rice ran strongest in urban areas.

Voting for Inhofe and Rice in Pontotoc County reflected statewide voting with 7,440 voting for Inhofe compared to 5,261 for Rice.

On the state level, in a particularly nasty race, Republican Dana Murphy won a seat on the Corporation Commission defeating Democratic Incumbent Jim Roth. Pontotoc County voters gave Roth 52.13 percent of the vote with 7,182, while Murphy received 47.87 percent with 6,596.

In the other race for a seat on the Corporation Commission, Republican Jeff Cloud easily captured a second term on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

Cloud captured 60 percent of the vote to defeat former Democratic state lawmaker Charles Gray of Oklahoma City. Cloud received 7,577 votes in Pontotoc County compared to 6,159 for Gray.

Voters easily approved all four state questions on Tuesday’s ballot by double-digit margins, including questions on hunting and fishing and property tax exemptions. Oklahoma voters also approved S.Q. 742, which adds a new section to the Oklahoma Constitution declaring that all Oklahomans have the right to “hunt, trap and fish” subject to reasonable regulation. The proposal passed with nearly 80 percent of the vote.

The measure allows the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission to approve methods and procedures for hunting, trapping and fishing.

S.Q. 735, giving a household personal property tax exemption to veterans and their spouses if the veteran is 100 percent disabled because of an injury that occurred during military action or through a disease contracted while in active service. The measure takes effect Jan. 1, 2009. Disabled veterans already are exempt from property taxes, and this measure would expand the exemption to include a dozen or more counties that also tax household personal property. The proposal passed with nearly 85 percent of the vote.

S.Q. 741, requiring a person or business to file an application with the county assessor to get an exemption from property taxes, which now is not always required. Oklahoma County Assessor Leonard Sullivan said the proposal is a housecleaning proposition that closes a loophole that would allow individuals or businesses to retroactively seek property tax exemptions. The proposal passed with nearly 70 percent of the vote.

Obama received 4,511 votes in Pontotoc County while McCain took 9,749 votes. Also of note, for the first time in history, the Republican Party controls the Oklahoma State Senate. Officials said about 65 percent of the 22,106 registered voters in Pontoc County voted in Tuesday’s election.