Oh Great...I now Have Something in Common with Hellkat One!

One of the real joys of living in Oklahoma again is watching what the governor’s daughter, Hellkat One, hereafter H.O., will do next. Or, maybe I’m giving her too much credit.  Perhaps my persistent joy comes from seeing what the media deems important enough to cover of her exploits next.

I mean, I know it must be very tough to grow up under the scrutiny of the fourth estate. Wait, how old is she? Oh, 28. Okay, so I’m sure it’s tough to wind your way through your twenties under the scrutiny of the fourth and (now) the fifth estates.

The good news is, she appears to be a bit more selective as to the wattage of the spotlight that the media casts upon her.

Let’s see, back in the spring there was trailergate – uncovered when a pesky KFOR-TV traffic helicopter made a pass over the Governor’s Mansion and discovered a travel trailer hidden in the back.

A quick investigation turned up H.O. living in the trailer behind Mom’s mansion. Way to go, Oklahoma media, way to go!

I won’t dwell on trailergate too much – after all we covered that extensively here at CCB.  And, as I reported on Monday, Cousin Fred is now enjoying the spoils of that adventure.  It’s good to have him out of the house and in his own abode.  He’s still close enough that we can work together on our projects, but far enough away that the wife is happy…or maybe that’s just the Jack Daniel’s and cigarettes (sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference).

I thought surely that would be the last we heard of H.O. in 2015…eh, not so much.

Numerous outlets in OKC reported earlier this week about H.O. being “back in the news…again.” I just happened to be watching as KFOR broke the story.  Seriously, did you see the smug look on Linda Cavanaugh’s face when she announced that? It seems that this time she’s filing suit against her employer who allegedly failed to pay her the wages owed her for the job she performed.

As we sat through broadcast news segment, we discover that H.O. was allegedly working for an alleged janitorial company.

I said to Cousin Fred as we listened to the report, “Poor Hellkat One has surely hit rock bottom. She’s now scrubbing toilets and buffing floors late at night.”

And then, the divine Ms. Cavanaugh informs us that H.O. was making $6,000 a month working as a janitor.

Ay Carumba!  That’s a damn fine wage for an Oklahoma janitor. Of course, the News Four media waited to reveal that H.O. was actually doing marketing and business development for the entrepreneur who owned the janitorial company. BUT, it was that moment of hesitation…the story teetering on the edge of revealing that H.O. is not scrubbing toilets or buffing floors…that I saw a glint in the eye of Cavanaugh and then the raised brow before she dropped the rest of the story on us.

Turns out that the woman that stiffed H.O. on her $6,000 a year gig has already declared bankruptcy and is now the target of Okalhoma City prosecutors for some bogus check charges. So, it seems unlikely that H.O. will be able to collect much if any of the $$$$ she says she’s owed. 

What made this particularly fascinating is that H.O.’s attorney tried his best to keep a lid on the lawsuit, which was filed in Federal court.  U.S. District Court judge TIM LEONARD denied the motion and consequently, we know all about it.  Thank you, TIM LEONARD, your Excellency, sir.

Boy, seeing that name brought up some weird memories.

Back in the very early ‘70’s before I had even heard of the New York Dolls or dreamed of a career in Glam-Punk, I was a scrawny, pimple-faced troll of a kid living in Woodward, OK.  My mother, who at the time, was a wheel in the Woodward County and Oklahoma Republican Party (believe she was state co-chair of the Republican Party at one time and even Woodward’s first female city commissioner - though that was later, after I discovered my true calling – to lead a band in a shrieking rendition of “48 Crash”) at the time.  Tim Leonard was running for U.S. Senate and came to Woodward for a campaign stop. 

At the time, my mother was doing her best to get me involved in a group (and not a glam-punk group) called TARs (teenage Republicans – excuse me, I think I just threw up in my mouth).  All of the TARs were meeting with the Candidate Leonard at the Fairgrounds.  I was among the youngest in the room…not sure I was even 13 at the time.  I spotted someone I knew from school, we’ll call him Jack H., sitting there.  He was my age, so I gravitated over the seat next to him as things got underway.

I couldn’t tell you anything the Candidate Leonard said that night. Jack H. was engaged though.  I recall he kept looking over at me and nodding assent to just about anything Candidate Leonard said.

Finally comes the Q & A session (thank God, it was starting to wrap up). Jack H. asked a very poignant question about penal reform (see nothing every changes!). The Candidate Leonard commented what a good question Jack H. had asked and launches into an answer that I’m pretty certain dodged the actual question (as candidates are wont to do). 

Jack H., being the magnanimous #@!* that he is, leaned over and told me to ask the Candidate Leonard where he stands on the issue of abortion.  Fish that I am, I raise my hand and ask the question.  The Candidate Leonard does kind of a double take and then says, “Ummm, well usually I get asked that question by an adult and it’s usually a woman.”

Now everyone in the room is laughing at me.  I can hear my mother say something like, “That’s my son.” I’m sinking lower in my chair and Jack H. leans over and says, “Sorry, man.”

Sorry, indeed, Jack H…sorry, indeed.