Wind Group Spent big in Tax Fight—-Step Up Oklahoma Won’t Admit its Spending

In the wake of the failure of the civic and business group Step Up Oklahoma to get its state budget plan approved, the group is keeping secret how much money it spent on its advertising campaign.

Other groups are open about their spending including OK Wind Power which claims it spent more than $220,000 on a public education campaign in recent weeks according to a report by Oklahoma Watch.

A spokeswoman for the PR firm that handled the OK Wind Power effort indicated most was spent on TV and print ads.

“These ads are part of a comprehensive public education campaign to showcase the economic benefits of the wind industry to rural communities, school districts and landowners,” said Sheila Curley with sixPR.

Oklahoma Watch reported the group called No New Oklahoma Taxes spent nearly $51,000 on ESPN and Fox News Channel in he Oklahoma City and Tulsa cable TV markets. About $10,000 was spent on radio ads.

The group’s John Collison, who once worked with the Oklahoma Farm Bureau did not disclose the funding sources.

As for Step Up Oklahoma, the group avoided revealing its funding expenses and sources through a loop in state ethics laws. When groups organize to try and influence voters for or against candidates, they have to file financial campaign reports. But when groups try to wage a campaign for or against legislation, they are not required to reveal the source of their money.

Only the money spent on radio and TV advertisements was disclosed and that was through the local stations, per the regulations of  the Federal Communications Commission. Oklahoma Watch managed to identify $27,000 in advertising on three TV stations and four radio stations.

Spokeswoman Crystal Coon at the Gooden Group in Edmond said initially a paid advertising campaign was not planned.

“It became necessary in order to respond to well-funded opposition about the Step Up plan,” she said.