Okla. Politician Uses Anti-Gay Comic Book as Campaign Tool

An Oklahoma newspaper The Oklahoman reported a bizarre story about a local candidate for re-election putting out an anti-gay comic book.

The embattled politician has struck back at legal authorities who have charged him with illegal campaign funding practices. His weapon of choice? A comic book depicting Satan and his minions--a gaggle of gays--as his enemies. God appears with his angels as allies in the fight to keep Oklahoma from the forces of darkness.

Brent Rinehart, who holds the office of Oklahoma County Commissioner, is the hero of the comic, which was created by Rinehart's campaign for re-election, reports the Oklahoman.

From the description of the comic provided in the article, the comic is reminiscent of Jack T. Chick tracts, palm-sized comic books as notable for their meticulous drawing style as for their content, which some would say demonstrates a simplistic understanding of theology: cowled demons circle unwary humans, tempting them into lives of sin and hoping to claim their souls for Satan, while benevolent angels work tirelessly to rescue those whose sinful lives leave them in peril.

The best part, for a Jack T. Chick fan, is the typical payoff: the rescued soul flies off to Heaven while the disappointed demons curse, filling word balloons with discreet, but unmistakable, hash marks and other punctuation symbols that stand in for profanity.

In the case of Reinhart's opus, the climax of the story sees an angel cheering on a Reinhart win at the ballot box.

In the Rinehart comic, reports the Oklahoman, gays are depicted as conspiring with "good old boys" (liberals, in this case, unlike in most stereotypical renditions) to persecute him, while Satan looks on approvingly; in one scene, an angel appears to assure Rinehart that God is on his side.

Rinehart sees the comic as a means to reach out for voter support, but also says that it tells the tale of his tenure in office.

Said Rinehart, "It's more or less a story of my experiences of the last four years of being the county commissioner of District 2."

The Oklahoman quoted Rinehart as saying of the comic, "It makes it interesting and something that people will actually look at and understand."

Rinehart said that the comic was set to be mailed out to voters, The Oklahoman reported.

But to the targets of the comic book, including Drew Edmondson, the OK attorney general, and Sheriff John Whetsel, the comic isn't innocuous or even informative; it's a defiant, if somewhat strange, last gasp.

Said Edmondson, who brought charges against Rinehart in 2007 for illegal campaign funding that allegedly took place during Rinehart's 2004 election run, "A drowning man tends to thrash about."

Added Edmondson, "Nothing Rinehart says is worthy of comment or rebuttal."

A trial is scheduled to take place in the matter in September, The Oklahoman reported.

Sheriff Whetsel, meantime, said that the comic was "extremely pathetic and very bigoted."

Whetsel is caricatured in the comic as a taxpayer-funded gadgeteer lusting for "more, more and more toys!"

Said Whetsel, "I was taken back that in 2008, a candidate would use that type of inflammatory material and do it under the name of being a Christian."

Whetsel is depicted on two pages. In one, a sequence alleging jailer abuse of inmates at the county jail is followed by Whetsel demanding taxpayer money so he can buy "more, more and more toys!"

Gays are a target in the comic as well, reports The Oklahoman; they are shown wearing togas and being used as pawns of Satan, who ruminates at one point, "If I can get the kids to believe homosexuality is normal!"

To this, the angel fires back, "Hey Satan, not with Brent around you won't!"

Openly gay Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth is referenced in the comic, which shows a group of gay men with a sign that reads, "Jim Roth is our leader."

Said Roth, "It's typical Brent Rinehart subterfuge to distract from his bad job performance and likely criminal misdeeds," The Oklahoman reported.

Leonard Sullivan, the County Assessor, has, like Roth, had disagreements with Rinehart in the past. Sullivan does not appear in the comic, but Sullivan says that Rinehart is in need of "professional help."

"He really needs it," the article quoted Sullivan, a Republican, as saying.

Said University of Oklahoma political science professor Keith Gaddie, "This is one of the strangest things I've ever seen."

Continued Gaddie, "I've never seen a comic book with the phrase 'anal sodomy' in it before. That was a new one for me."

The article cited Gaddie as saying that, though they are not commonly used as political propaganda for candidates today, in decades past comics did sometimes play a role in putting out a candidate's message, playing up his own virtues and putting down his rivals.

Added Gaddie, "He's pretty much grinding every ax he's got from his days in the county commission."

Gaddie opined, "In a way, it's a sophisticated piece."

In one sequence, Satan says: "If I can get the kids to believe homosexuality is normal!"

The angel replies: "Hey Satan, not with Brent around you won't!"

Rinehart defended the comic's anti-gay stance, saying, "The history of my office is that I do expose the homosexual agenda, and that it does exist in the state of Oklahoma, and my history also would show that I am very much opposed to the homosexual agenda."

Rinehart himself served as writer, while a friend undertook artwork duties on the comic, which shows Satan supporting Rinehart's opponents in the upcoming primary.

The angel, of course, plugs for Rinehart.

The primary is scheduled to take place July 29.