OU OIL Alum Wins Oklahoma House Primary
On Tuesday June 28th, Forrest Bennett officially secured the Democratic Party's nomination for the Oklahoma House of Representatives 92nd District.
Having captured 395 votes, and roughly 54% of the total votes cast, Forrest defeated primary opponents Jess Eddy, and Wilfredo Santos Rivera. During his time in OU OIL, Forrest also served in an elected position as the Delegation's Member-At-Large. He is the forth OU OIL alum to become a party's candidate for elected office, joining a list comprised of Mike Synar, Cleta Deatherage Mitchell, and Benjamin Odom. The 2016 general election will be held on Tuesday, November 8th. |
OU Delegate Wins Best Freshman Representative
This session, OU delegate Najee Bissoon took home the award for Best Freshman Representative. This is the first time in eight sessions that an OU delegate has won the award.
On top of OIL, Najee is also a student athlete at OU, playing running back on the football team. Capturing the award means that Najee will be the Chair of the House of Representatives for the Freshman Bill during the Fall 2016 Session. Najee is the first OU delegate to win the award since Mitchell Bryant won it during his first session in the Fall of 2012. Bryant went on to become OIL Speaker of the House following the Spring 2014 Session, and served as Speaker until the end of the Spring 2015 Session. |
OU Delegate Wins Best Senate Legislation
This session, OU delegate Gordon Pignato took home the award for Best Senate Legislation. The award is voted on by members of the Senate Rules Committee, and is awarded based on how well a bill is written, whether the bill is relevant to Oklahoma or not, how much research the author put in, how well the author is able to answer questions, and how did the body react to it. Gordon also placed as Second Runner-Up for the category of Best Freshman Senator.
The basic premise of Senator Pignato's bill was to eliminate the Oklahoma Lottery on the grounds that it unfairly targeted the poorest in society. Fifty percent of the money saved by the state would be transferred into a fund for Oklahoma K-12 education, with the remaining fifty percent going towards establishing tuition grants and scholarships. The bill passed the Senate, but failed the House. When asked about Senator Pignato's bill, and his performance as a first year senator, O.I.L. President Pro tempore emeritus Derek Wietelman, had this to say, "Senator Gordon Pignato was an absolutely wonderful addition to the O.I.L. Senate this past Spring. In addition to placing as Second Runner-Up Best Freshman, his lottery elimination bill was one of the best that I personally have seen in O.I.L. in quite some time. It was a novel idea, carefully researched, and sought to address an issue (education funding) that is a crucial one in our state currently... His win of Best Senate Legislation was well-deserved, and as a new alumnus of the organization I look forward to the release of the bill packet in future sessions in anticipation of Senator Pignato’s future outstanding work." |
OIL House of Representatives |
The State Organization |
OIL Senate |