Ron Black -"The 400lb Gorilla" - opines on his "Daily Rant" today - on last year's Oklahoma District Attorney's race between incumbent Wes Lane and challenger David Prater: "I've received a number of emails from readers/former listeners to the program asking, "Where's Wes?" Frankly, I have no idea. Rumor has it that on the south side of Oklahoma City, you'll find a few small Lamar billboards with Wes' face saying, "Thank you." I haven't seen them myself, but that's what I've been told. Personally, I can't imagine former District Attorney Wes Lane NOT getting back into the political game at some later date because he rather enjoyed te (sic) spotlight of being an elected official. But after losing to his former employee, David Prater, it's got to be pretty tough to get back in the saddle again. The McCarville Report had a story/analysis of the race some time ago, but one thing that was missed in the analysis/polling data was the fact that Prater just ran a superior campaign (and he didn't use negative attack automated calls either)." We are reposting below an editorial response we received from the tip line regarding a September article Black wrote about the race: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, September 08, 2006 BREAKING - OKPNS received the following editorial in response to an article posted by Oklahoma’s 400lb Gorilla, Ron Black, consultant to both Republican nominee for Auditor and former state Republican party chairman Gary Jones and Corporation Commissioner and former congressional candidate Denise Bode. “Why is Ron Black stumping for David Prater? Is the latest marketing technique among so-called consultants to flack for the opposition to create a need for your services? Does Ron Black think that by pointing out David Prater’s campaign plans on his website that District Attorney Wes Lane will drop his current team and hire him? After Ron Black spent $1.3 million of Denise Bode’s money and still lost to Mick Cornett’s $250,000 it doesn’t seem likely. Black says he doesn’t understand why Wes Lane is prosecuting Brian Bates. Can we buy Ron Black a dictionary so he can look up the word ‘pandering'? Foot, meet mouth, Ron. This sort of thing is fine for radio shock-jocks who aren’t accountable for what they say, but for campaign consultants who speak on behalf of Republican nominees? Let me put it this way, no one will be stealing the title of “the Great Communicator” from Ronald Reagan and bestowing it on Ron Black any time soon. Today, on his blog, Black writes: “I am still trying to wrap my head around why our District Attorney, Wes Lane, is going after [Brian Bates] so aggressively. Charges were filed, then dropped. Then a Grand Jury was convened and charges filed, now dropped. But now charges are again being filed on a County level against Bates and his wife. The charges are for ‘pandering’. According to the dictionary, to “pander” is to “furnish clients for a prostitute or supply persons for illicit sexual intercourse.” Bates has been charged with paying prostitutes to have sex with men: hence, it would appear he committed pandering. Case closed? Enough for us. "Everyone knows Wes Lane is a Republican and everyone knows David Prater switched to the Democrat Party to run against Wes, so why is Ron Black telling his friends and readers about the support Prater is receiving?” asked an insider close to Party Chairman Tom Daxon. As a Republican consultant, Ron should start acting like a spokesman for his party, if indeed he has one. And if he doesn’t have a true party affiliation, then Republican candidates should know this up front.” Oklahoma Political News Service will continue to monitor this developing story. Posted at 1/19/2007 12:13:00 PM