Councilmembers told turnpike opposition would make them criminals.
NORMAN, OK. August 25, 2024. Scheduled to be a City Council study session regarding the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s (OTA) desire to build 59 miles of toll roads through Central Norman, Tuesday’s meeting at City Hall took a shocking turn when Mayor Larry Heikkila told Councilmembers they risked criminal prosecution if they opposed OTA’s turnpike plans.
Mayor Heikkila’s legal conclusions are based on his belief that OTA’s ACCESS Oklahoma turnpike-building plan is a law that has been introduced to and passed by the Oklahoma legislature, and then signed into law by Governor Stitt. As such, the “ACCESS Oklahoma Law” carries the same authority as the Constitution for the United States of America, making it, along with the US Constitution, “the supreme law of the land.”
“The legislative bodies passed the [ACCESS Oklahoma] plan, and Governor Stitt signed it into law,” Mayor Heikkila stated, reading from a prepared statement. “…we as council members swore an oath of office… that oath obligates us to follow laws in the state of Oklahoma. Access Oklahoma is the law, whether we like it or not.”