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Posted on 01/25/2014 6:53:43 AM PST by LD Jackson

Ah, the sweet and sour smell of a political race shaping up. Tom Coburn's announcement that he will be resigning his seat in the United States Senate has the GOP and conservatives (the two groups are not necessarily the same) scrambling to find the right candidate to take his place. James Lankford has already declared he will run. Jim Bridenstine and T.W. Shannon are both thinking about the race. I've already stated in a previous post that the timing may not be right for Shannon to make a run. But, that's for him to decide and I would consider supporting him, should he choose to throw his hat into the ring. My first inclination is to see Bridenstine move to the Senate. He seems to be more closely aligned to the causes championed by Tom Coburn and he is certainly not an establishment lackey.

Frank Keating's announcement that he is considering running for the Senate came as a surprise to me. I remember when he was Governor of Oklahoma, but that was during my formative political years. I have always been a conservative, but I wasn't really paying attention to politics during that time. I'm not saying Keating was a bad Governor, but it has been decades since he was in office. His life after the Governor's Mansion gives me some pause for concern.

To start with, Frank Keating and his wife are residents of Virginia who happen to vote in Oklahoma. To anyone who would seriously consider supporting Frank Keating for the United States Senate, I would ask you one question. But first, here is more information about Keating's life after his tenure as Governor of Oklahoma. I have left the links included in the Batesline post intact for your perusal.

Batesline - Beginning shortly after his departure from the Governor's office, Frank Keating served for nearly eight years as president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers, moving to the American Bankers Association in November 2010. Throughout his post-gubernatorial career, he has been a registered Federal lobbyist. (Here is the most recent report from the American Bankers Association, for 4th Quarter of 2013. Here is the form adding Keating's name to the ABA's lobbyist registration, dated January 19, 2011. Keating's name appears on the American Council of Life Insurance's lobbying reports as early as the 2003 mid-year report, filed on August 7, 2003. Here is the 4th quarter 2010 report from the ACLI listing Keating as a "previously reported individual who is no longer expected to act as a lobbyist for the client.") According to his bio on the ACLI website (snapshot from March 2007), "Frank and his wife Cathy live in McLean, Virginia. They have three children and five grandchildren." (The June 2009 snapshot has the same statement with two more grandkids.) The same statement again was found in his bio on the American Bankers Association website, dated August 2011. (They had nine grandkids at that time.) As of today, the bio has moved to a different page on the ABA website, still listing residence as McLean, Va., but now with 10 grandchildren. (Mazel tov!)

FEC contributor records and property records bear out the Keatings' long term residency in Fairfax County, Virginia. Someone by that name purchased the home at 1111 Crest Lane in McLean, Va., on March 20, 2003. The property was transferred to KEATING FRANK TR -- presumably his trust -- on January 2, 2013. The 5,736 sq. ft. home at that address has, according to the Fairfax County assessor, 5 bedrooms, 8 full baths, and 2 half baths. The most recent assessed value of the home and land combined is $2,326,230.

Please understand this. I am not trying to be a downer on Frank Keating and the job he did as Governor of Oklahoma. I believe he showed himself to be an honest and honorable man during his time on the board that was established to monitor the Catholic Church's compliance with the anti-abuse policies set forth by the bishops after the sexual abuse scandals surfaced in the church. I just do not believe he is the man to succeed Tom Coburn in the United States Senate.

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