Oklahoma’s war of independence from BlackRock

Patriots in Oklahoma are engaged in an epic struggle for their independence, facing off against a modern empire and its mercenaries — a struggle with striking similarities to the American War of Independence.

Today, the empire is BlackRock. This gargantuan corporation’s tentacles spread across the word, with 89 offices in 38 countries including the United States, Japan, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and South Africa.

Oklahoma must choose which path to take. Will they give in to the lobbying and corruption, or will they fight back and break free from their grip?

BlackRock is no ordinary corporation. It produces nothing useful. Instead, the firm gets rich by managing other people’s money — lots of it. BlackRock now has effective control of $10.5 trillion worth of other people’s assets. And with that control comes enormous power, which BlackRock uses to push environmental, social, and governance standards — the leftist framework for imposing its agenda on the American people via economic coercion.

The people of Oklahoma want none of this. They have no interest in their state’s investments being controlled by an international corporation and used to push leftist policies contrary to their values and interests.

As research by the American Accountability Foundation revealed, BlackRock leveraged Oklahomans’ pension funds 54 times since 2022 to back shareholder proposals supporting policies such as racial equity audits, gender pay gap reports, radical climate policy, and efforts to defund conservative candidates and pro-business trade associations.

And so, led by Gov. Kevin Stitt and State Treasurer Todd Russ, Sooners fought back. In 2022, the state legislature passed, and the governor signed the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act, banning ESG-pushing corporations from managing the state’s investments. On May 3, 2023, State Treasurer Russ published a blacklist of firms that could not do business with Oklahoma pension funds, including, most significantly, BlackRock.

But the empire refused to stand by and let the people of Oklahoma break free from its grip. Immediately, BlackRock and its allies dispatched an army of lobbyists, spineless politicians, and corrupt academics to undo what the people of Oklahoma voted for. Here are just a few examples.

Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready

Records obtained by the American Accountability Foundation show that two days before the widely anticipated list dropped, BlackRock lobbyist Pat McFerron met with Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready just days before Mulready voted to exempt BlackRock from the Oklahoma treasurer’s blacklist.

McFerron and Mulready go way back. Not only do the records obtained by AAF show them directly texting each other like old pals, McFerron’s lobbying firm, CMA Strategies, literally bragged on X (Twitter) about helping Mulready become insurance commissioner.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond

Emails show Oklahoma Attorney General Drummond praising and working closely with BlackRock, revealing extensive communications with BlackRock official Mark McCombe and the aforementioned Pat McFerron.

Most significantly, on May 12, 2023, Drummond told those BlackRock representatives, “I would like to continue our productive corporate-state partnership.” This was at a time when it was widely anticipated there would be a lawsuit attacking this blacklist and that the attorney general would be at the center of it.

Dr. Travis Roach

Records reveal that the Oklahoma Rural Association, a shady lobbying group, paid about $6,800 to Travis Roach, an associate professor and chairman of the economics department at the University of Central Oklahoma, to manufacture a “study” showing that the law banning BlackRock and other ESG firms was harmful.

But in a private email, Roach admitted he “knows almost nothing” about ESG. Yet, his “study,” legitimized by his supposed expertise, was cited in dozens of articles bashing anti-ESG laws.

What’s strange is that the Oklahoma Rural Association has reported almost no revenue since 2020. How then did the group have the funds to hire shill academics?

Clearly, the Oklahoma Rural Association is an astroturf operation being funded by someone who opposes the blacklist law. Who is funding it?

What we do know is that Oklahoma Rural Association supports the campaign of Rep. Tom Cole, whose political team includes none other than BlackRock lobbyist Pat McFerron’s CMA Strategies.

Though faced by an enemy with seemingly endless resources and power, our founders were undaunted. Though they were small and relatively weak, in the end, they prevailed. Today, faced with another powerful enemy, Oklahomans must choose which path to take. Will they give in to the lobbying and corruption, or will they fight back and break free from their grip? Let’s hope they make the right choice.