Independent Tea Party Candidate running for Congress in OK

CONSTITUTIONAL CONSERVATIVE PLANS TO TAKE SECOND DISTRICT BY STORM

Interview by Sharon Rondeau

(Mar. 6, 2010) — Miki Booth was “the most apolitical person you could ever meet”  until the 2008 presidential election.  She has lived in Japan as well as Massachusetts, Hawaii and for the last 15 years in Oklahoma, and is now a candidate for Congress from that state’s Second District.  An experienced equestrian, gardener, businesswoman, wife and mother, Miki’s candidacy sprouted from her formation of the Route 66 Tea Party group early last year.

SHARON:  I’m told that you were born in Japan to an American military dad.  You’re not running for President, but does that make you an Article II “natural born Citizen”?

MIKI:  That’s a good question.  I’m not sure of the answer, but I think, technically, no, according to my birth certificate, which is actually a “Report of Birth, Child Born Abroad of American Parent or Parents” issued two years after I was born when my parents were married at the American Consular Service in Japan. Two years earlier my parents were married in a Japanese ceremony, but the Foreign Service did not recognize that. So, at the time of my birth, I was not born on American soil and my mother was a foreign national. I would post my “Report Of Birth” online like we did my husband’s and my son’s birth certificates, but my document is a federal/military report and I know better than to mess with the feds. Besides, there is a lot more sensitive and personal information about my parents than you’d find in the average long-form birth certificate.

SHARON:  When did you come to live in the U.S.?

MIKI:  I was two years old when I came to live in the States.

SHARON:  When did you officially launch your campaign for Congress for the Second District of Oklahoma, and what ground have you gained since then?

MIKI:  I officially launched on January 6 of this year.  That’s the date I filed with the FEC and that’s when folks close to me realized I was serious and rallied to help where they could. Words of support, donations and volunteers started rushing in. I attended the first national TEA Party Conference early in February and from there, gained national attention when C-Span aired my minute or so at the microphone showing the different Hawaiian birth certificates. I think people were really appreciative of finally seeing what everyone has been talking about.

SHARON:  I read an article at Logistics Monster which says that you came out of the Tea Party movement last year. Were you politically active before that?

No. I was the most apolitical person you could ever meet. Growing up in Hawaii, I got the sense that the people running the state were part of an elite network schooled in the science of politics. The federal government was, too, for that matter. But as far as I was concerned, it was a closed society and you should vote for the less corrupt of those running. The same thing goes for today, but that’s going to change this year. I only became political when BO came onto the scene running for the highest office of our country.

SHARON: What happened at that point?

MIKI: My intuition screamed, “Something is not right here. Why can’t people see that?” The more I learned, the more frightened I got and the more emails I sent warning people of what I thought was happening.  I was alarmed about his Arab friendships, his hidden records, contacts and agenda. I really felt our country was in dire danger and that eventually Sharia law could replace the law of our land, the Constitution.

Before the TEA parties, I was one of thousands of people outraged about the bailouts and screamed at the TV in protest. My friends and email contacts had been getting more and more vocal about the actions of Congress for the year or two previous to the 2008 elections. When I saw the first TEA parties on the news, I thought that was a great expression of our outrage for this out-of-control and arrogant government. I keep hearing that it was Rick Santelli who called for the TEA parties, but in my case it was the YouTube video of Thomas Paine, aka Bob Basso, calling for a Second American Revolution that got me involved. He’s been the greatest inspiration for me and a lot of people I know.

I started the Route 66 TEA Party in my area, and we had 225 people or so show up on April 15th.  We have rallies for the FairTax and GOOOH. There’s a core group continuing the TEA party effort here, and I’ve moved on to promoting the causes along with my own campaign on a larger scale.

SHARON:  When did you reside in Hawaii, and for how long?

MIKI:  When my Dad relocated back to the States, we lived in MA near his family for a few years before going to Hawaii.  I was around six when we moved there and stayed until 1995, with the exception of a few years  of my adult life when I lived on the Mainland.

SHARON:  How did you obtain the long-form birth certificates that you held up on February 6 at the Tea Party convention? Do you also have short forms derived from the originals? Anything called a “Certification of Live Birth”?

I met and married Fred in 1980 and Alan was born a year later. They were both born in Kapiolani Hospital 30 years apart. Their long-form certificates that were generated in the hospital are titled “Certification Of Live Birth.” That’s the same title that the short form has. They are both COLB’s, but the differences in content are quite striking. The more I and others investigate this cluster, the clearer it becomes that the Hawaii Department of Health and their Vital Statistics Office are quite inept. I can’t help wondering if it’s intentional, especially in light of discussions concerning COHBs.  That stands for “Certificate of Hawaiian Birth,” and we also have one of those to present so folks will see what that’s about. This third Hawaiian birth certificate is Fred’s dad, who’s deceased, but had Hawaiian blood.

To answer your question:  no, we don’t have any short-form certificates, and the only ones we’ve ever seen are for kids who were not born in Hawaii but their folks are Hawaii residents. So the short-form COLB only certifies that a live baby was born, but not necessarily in Hawaii.

I resent being labeled a “birther” which, according to some, means I don’t believe he was born in Hawaii. I’m not saying that because, really, who knows for sure? I’m saying if he’s going to claim he was born in Kapiolani like Fred and Alan, then we want to see proof. Just because he says so doesn’t mean it’s true. Why are all of his records sealed? He’s obviously hiding stuff. Come on.

SHARON:  When did you move to Oklahoma, and what made you decide to do so?

MIKI:  We moved to Oklahoma in ’95 when Alan finished up 8th grade. We’d talked about making the move for a couple of years before we actually did it and even took a couple of vacation trips for Alan and Fred to really get a feel for the area. I’d lived in Oklahoma and the Grand Lake area a few years in my 20’s and made some friends and gotten a sense of how friendly and really decent people are here. I say that because living in Hawaii, being a litigious society, you always had in the back of your mind, “Gee, maybe I shouldn’t do that, I could get sued.”  It was something like letting someone ride my horse and they got hurt, or loaning someone your truck so they can haul rubbish and they get in a fender bender or worse, letting a relative use it to take friends and their surfboards to the beach and something happened.

SHARON: Why was it like that in Hawaii?

MIKI: Because there are more lawyers there than any other profession.

SHARON: Did that have something to do with why you left?

MIKI: Yes.  I remember these thoughts and especially the friends whose financial lives were ruined because they were involved in a traffic fatality even though it wasn’t their fault. If you can afford the best lawyers you can effect the best outcome. Do you get the sense I don’t like lawyers? I’ve only met one that I like and he happens to be in Oklahoma. Our friends and neighbors here would give the shirts off their backs for us without ever thinking there could possibly be consequences, and we would do the same for them. That’s a huuuuuge difference. It’s also a matter of selfishness and giving, and of overpopulation and subsequent government controls.

But the biggest reason we moved was that we were financially strapped even though Fred had a full-time job as a private investigator and his police pension. I worked full-time at what people would call a “dream job” in the tourism industry and even had a part-time job at Christmastime to make extra money.

However, that word “unsustainable” explains everything. Alan had been in private schools since second grade. Because he was our only child, we tried to enroll him in the best schools. In the district we lived in on the Big Island, the public school he would have attended has the highest teenage pregnancy in the nation, and other area schools had problems with gangs, drugs and violence.

Anyway, tuition continued to go up and the cost of pasturage or stabling for our two horses continue to climb. We were missing the two things that mattered most to us because we were never home to enjoy them. Fred lived and worked in Honolulu and I was traveling to the Mainland frequently to call on my tour company clients. My mom lived with us to take care of Alan while we tried to maintain our horses and keep Alan in private school, but land is just too precious in Hawaii to make horse ownership for the average person affordable. When realization hit that I’d have to give up my horses, my heart was broken.

That set the move in motion. We bribed Alan with the promise of a waverunner if he would move to Grand Lake. That worked. It’s taken several years to get our land and house, but it’s all been good. Alan thrived in high school and college here. We have four horses now. We rescued some, and a couple have gone on to greener pastures. My mom lived here with us until she passed away a few years ago. We still have her chickens, ducks and “Lucy,” her goose, and they are my labor of love every day as well as part of my daily chores since I don’t work any more. So we were living our dream until two years ago when BO [Barack Obama] appeared on the scene.

SHARON: What was the reaction at the Tea Party convention after you held up the birth certificates and called Obama’s COLB “a piece of junk”?

MIKI:  People came up to me afterward exclaiming, “So that’s what they’re talking about!”  They hadn’t realized the major differences between the two documents.  While most people knew that there was an issue with the document Obama put out on the internet, they hadn’t known the level of detail presented on a long-form Hawaiian birth certificate.

SHARON: Was the Tea Party Convention a sort of springboard for your congressional run?

MIKI: After the convention, yes, I started getting donations from all over the U.S. from other tea party and “9-12” groups.  People in my district still don’t know a lot about me, but they’re going to find out!

SHARON: What is your campaign schedule shaping up to be for the next couple of months?

MIKI: I’ve already spoken at quite a few tea parties, and I’ll be speaking at the one in Ada later this month.  Once people find out about me I think they’re going to like me.  Throughout March, I plan to visit every sheriff in my county, all 25 of them, and give them a signed copy of Sheriff Mack‘s The County Sheriff:  America’s Last Hope.

SHARON: I’ve heard of Sheriff Mack, and The Post & Email has reported about him previously, particularly in regard to his interview with Oathkeepers about state sovereignty.  Do you think most of the sheriffs in your county understand the power they actually have?

MIKI: No, I don’t.  In fact, my district is a Democrat-leaning area, and I don’t think many sheriffs here have even heard of Sheriff Mack.  They don’t realize the power they have right here in their own county.  As I see it, the role of sheriffs is to lead and protect as the last line of defense against heavy-handed federal government intrusion.  When Sheriff Mack came to give a talk on February 19, 2010, at the Oklahoma Liberty Conference in Oklahoma City, only one sheriff from my district,  Eddie Rice, came to hear him speak.

SHARON: How large is your congressional district?

MIKI: There are 25 counties in District 2 in Oklahoma. They line the complete eastern state borders of Missouri and Arkansas and run all the way from Kansas to Texas. It’s a really huge area since much of it is rural.  Muskogee is the largest city in my district.

Coming from a business background, I have some unique ideas about campaigning.  My horse, Cheyenne, will be coming with me to the county fairs and events in my district. Even people who don’t know me will love Cheyenne. She’s a quarter horse and has all the wonderful qualities that make the breed America’s favorite horse.  People will get to have their picture taken with Cheyenne, and that way they’ll have a memento of both my horse and me come election time.

SHARON:  Your website mentions that you advocate smaller government. As a congresswoman, what are some actions you will take to make that happen?

MIKI:  I’m Community Coordinator for FairTax District 2 in Oklahoma. Charlie “Strangle” has a “rangle-hold” on the bill, HR25/S296. His corrupt dealings are finally starting to catch up with him. He’s on the hot seat right now and we need to continue to put pressure on the House leader to remove him from his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. I want that position. Do you realize that if the FairTax is passed and punitive taxes are replaced with a sensible and transparent system that the monies hidden offshore and foreign investments of $11-13 trillion would come home practically overnight?

For anyone thinking I’m naive or too simplistic, I say, “Go to the Thomas library and look up the bill.” Smaller government starts with shredding that monstrous 60,000+ page tax code that no one understands and tax lawyers and politicians, for the sake of being redundant, “game” to their benefit while punishing the average American and especially small businesses. Dismantling the IRS and restructuring as a federal revenue collection office streamlines and makes transparent their one function. So what happens to the annual billions-of-dollars industry of tax preparers, lawyers and accountants when April 15th becomes just another day? I say, “Who cares!”

Seriously, though, we the people will have more and keep more of our own money to spend and invest. We can sure use some good investment advice. The main thing is, though, that government gets smaller.

Another area where government can be reined in is dismantling many federal departments. If it isn’t one of the enumerated powers, it has to go. The Department of Education has no place in telling the states what to do. Basically, if it isn’t for the protection of we the people, it has to be scrutinized. Why are we funding entities like ACORN and the ACLU when their activities are downright anti-American? We need to get Col. [Allen] West and others like us into Congress. Then, utilizing Article I, Section 5, clause 2 of the Constitution, the Congress could expel a member. So if that Pelosi woman gets re-elected we can send her packing and have San Francisco send us someone we like. Of course we need two-thirds to do it and I am hopeful the TEA party movement will help us get there.

SHARON: Speaking of Charlie Rangel, what is your reaction to the news that he has stepped down from chairing the House Ways & Means Committee?

MIKI: My first reaction was that Charlie Strangle just relinquished his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee over his mounting scandals. Oh, but wait a minute. There you go:  Charlie, being Charlie, asked the Speaker for a leave of absence.  There is no way he’s going to give up his chairmanship until he’s dragged away in handcuffs. Maybe even with the Speaker…I can only dream!

SHARON: How badly do you think your prospective constituents want smaller government? What has the Oklahoma legislature said about that subject, if anything? Where does Oklahoma stand on the Tenth Amendment?

MIKI:  I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone that’s happy with government, and many of us are pretty fed up with Governor Henry running our state. There have been some embarrassing situations too, involving the AG, judges and Governor Henry MIA during the flak. I’m sure there are many who appreciate the TARP funds Governor Henry bragged about getting for our state, but I don’t know a soul who hangs out in that camp.  Members of this liberal Congress don’t understand this simple business concept:  when revenues are down, you cut spending.

Oklahomans want government to leave us alone. We don’t think government is the solution to problems. We think government IS the problem. The TEA Party movement in Oklahoma supports Randy Brogdon for our next governor. He is a Constitutionalist, which means small government, and he is polling way past the former frontrunner, Mary Fallin, RINO.

SHARON: What do you think of the current health care debate?

MIKI: Well, for example, there’s a VA hospital located in Muskogee. I know from personal experience that many veterans endure a particular hardship having to travel long distances for medical care, and cut-rate care at that. I believe that if ObamaCare passes we will have government-run medical dispensing like other government entities: inefficient, inept and bankrupt in no time.

Hawaii has the best health care in the nation with the most coverage, and it’s employer-based. Pretty much if you have a job, it includes health insurance. In fact, Fred and I are covered through the the biggest provider, HMSA (Hawaii Medical Service Association), or Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Hawaii. Fred retired from the Police Department, so we are covered though that retirement system.

Hawaii has been very quiet over BO’s health care scam, as it is exempt from any health care legislation that might be passed. They don’t want attention brought to them for fear of people finding out they are exempt from any legislation forced on the other 49 states.  Most people don’t know this.  The “good ole boy” network or “Hui” is alive and well in Hawaii, home of Inouye, the “porkulous” king, and Neal Abercrombie, aging  hippie agitator whom you’ve heard recently quit his cushy job on the Hill and went back home to run for governor.

The lamestream media in Hawaii won’t say the things I’m saying, but there is a rapidly-growing number of TEA Party patriots who need to have a voice, and they’re getting louder. It takes a special boldness to step out there and speak the truth. Like the other states, Hawaii has too many apathetic people, but because of the TEA parties they are starting to wake up and question what is happening in their state government as well as why we are headed down a socialist and communist path with the forcing of this health care scam.

If Hawaii were under threat of having its health care changed, you would have heard the biggest hue and cry from the citizens who have the best health care in the nation and highest rate of persons covered.  BO is beholden to Inouye, Abercrombie and the like. They said, “Hands off my health care,” and BO backs off. But we’re saying it by the millions, and they ignore us.  And by the way, the state of Hawaii had instituted a socialized health insurance program for every child back in 2007 which went bankrupt in 2008 after only eight months of operation.  So they should know.

SHARON:  Switching topics, if you have any spare time these days, how do you spend it?

MIKI:  I ride my horses on the trails in the neighboring properties. All three of my dogs follow along, and they just love it. I think if you asked them they would say it’s their favorite thing to do.  And it’s mine, too. I garden. I’m cleaning out the veggie beds right now and will plant tomatoes, green beans and bell peppers and especially, my mom’s favorite, eggplant. I quit working in 2004 and had three quality-time years with my mom before she died. I began planting trees in an area of the horses’ pasture which grew and grew in area as I fenced it off. I would move the hot wire fence so the horses couldn’t get to it, and now, six years later, it’s a beautiful park and a memorial for Mom with her favorite trees.

Fred would get irritated with me every time I moved the fence line because that gave him more area to mow. But he loves the park even though he mowed over my blueberry plants last year. Now I only plant really large stuff so he can’t run them over when he’s feeling lazy. My mom used to make plates of food for each chicken and duck twice a day. She  included cooked Ramen noodles, corn, spinach and lettuce in addition to their scratch feed. I feed the birds now, and I get about six eggs a day, but during spring and summer I get 8-10. We give them to neighbors and friends.

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Please be sure to check back for Part II of the interview with Miki Booth in which The Post & Email will reveal what happened when Miki challenged her Democrat rival, Don Boren, to a marksmanship match as well as the results of her son’s request for a certified copy of his birth certificate from the Hawaii Department of Health.