Oklahomans for Responsible Economic Development filed a brief Tuesday requesting the Oklahoma Supreme Court hear their appeal of a ruling in favor of a challenge to the group’s referendum petition to turn the Rock Creek Entertainment District to a public vote.

On Feb. 21, Cleveland County Judge Jeff Virgin ruled that the gist of the petition was insufficient. Virgin said the petition did not comply with an Oklahoma statute mandating referendum petitions provide a clear summary of the proposed public referendum. 

In ORED’s request for the Oklahoma Supreme Court to hear the case, ORED attorney Rob Norman wrote the court’s ruling would affect the public and have widespread impacts.

“This appeal involves the people’s fundamental right to direct democracy through a Referendum Petition,” Norman wrote.

In a petition in error filing, Norman directly challenged Virgin’s ruling, writing that the gist “was free from the taint of fraud, deceit, corruption, or misleading terms, and it fairly informed signers of what the Project Plan intended to do.”

“Nevertheless, contrary to precedent and the Oklahoma Constitution, the trial court concluded that the gist was legally insufficient,” Norman wrote.

While leading a group of at least 25 ORED supporters to the court clerk’s office, Norman told the group that Oklahomans have a fundamental constitutional right to direct democracy.

“The United States Constitution starts with ‘We the People.’ The Oklahoma Bill of Rights starts with a declaration that all political power is inherent in the people. Not the few, not the government, not those that would seek to impose their will upon the people,” Norman said. “That constitutional right is enshrined in the sacred, precious and fundamental right to referendum and initiative petition.”

Russell Rice, ORED member and co-owner of Norman Care-A-Vans, told OU Daily that the Oklahoma Supreme Court could take anywhere from days to months to decide if they’ll hear ORED’s appeal. 

According to Rice, if the Oklahoma Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal, ORED will appeal Virgin’s decision to the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals.

At the March OU Board of Regents meeting, Harroz told OU Daily the university felt positive about the legal outcome and that the entertainment district is a piece of OU’s long-term goal.

“If you look at the long arc, the goal is not just getting students here, but keeping them in our community,” Harroz said. “We think it’s a big draw, so it’s a big thing to us.”

Background

On Sept. 20, three Norman residents filed a petition to force a public vote on the entertainment district. In October, less than a month later, petitioners submitted 11,602 signatures, exceeding the required 6,098. City Clerk Brenda Hall certified 10,689 of the 11,602 signatures. 

In November, four Norman business leaders, Kyle Allison, director of Allison’s FUN Inc., Vernon McKown, CEO of Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods, David Nimmo, former president and CEO of Chickasaw Nation Industries and Dan Quinn, former Ward 8 councilmember, filed a lawsuit challenging the gist, or summary, of the public vote proposed by the petition. 

This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure and Ana Barboza.