An Edmond Memorial High School English teacher has pledged to support strengthening the letter and spirit of Oklahoma’s Open Meeting and Open Records laws if elected to the state Senate District 41 seat. In signing FOI Oklahoma’s Open Government Pledge for legislative candidates, Democrat Kevin McDonald also promised “to support at every opportunity" the state's public policy that "the people are vested with the inherent right to know and be fully informed about their government so that they can efficiently and intelligently exercise their inherent political power.”

In an email, McDonald thanked FOI Oklahoma "for the opportunity to commit to a more open and transparent government in Oklahoma."

McDonald was the 2015-16 Edmond Teacher of the Year and the Guthrie Public Schools  Teacher of the Year for 2003-2004. He served three years as president of the Edmond Association of Classroom Teachers.

His wife, Leah, teaches at Heritage Elementary School in Edmond and was the district's Teacher of the Year in 2004.

McDonald will face Republican Adam Pugh and Libertarian Richard Prawdzienski in the general election on Nov. 8. The Republican incumbent, Clark Jolley, was term-limited.

Senate District 41 extends from Waterloo Road southward to Northeast 122nd Street and from Broadway Lane and North Santa Fe Avenue eastward to North Indian Meridian Road.

FOI Oklahoma invites all candidates for state, local and legislative seats to sign its Open Government Pledge. Instructions and lists of signers can be found on FOI Oklahoma’s website.

Nearly 170 candidates have signed the pledge -- with 86, or 50 percent, being elected at least once --since FOI Oklahoma began it in 2008.

Joey Senat, Ph.D. Associate Professor OSU School of Media & Strategic Communications Mass Communication Law in Oklahoma

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the commentators and do not necessarily represent the position of FOI Oklahoma Inc., its staff, its board of directors or the commentator’s employer. Differing interpretations of open government law and policy are welcome.