Cleta Mitchell Battles Obama Over NRA Ads

Former Oklahoma House member Cleta (Deatherage) Mitchell is in the middle of a battle between Barack Obama and radio and television stations airing anti-Obama commercials placed by the National Rifle Association.

Mitchell, who as a Norman Democrat in the State House once chaired the powerful appropriations committee, moved to Washington to practice law years ago. She now represents the NRA and is on the organization's board of directors.

The Obama campaign has written radio and television stations in Pennsylvania and Ohio, pressing them to refuse to air the NRA commercial.

"This advertisement knowingly misleads your viewing audience about Senator Obama's position on the Second Amendment," says the letter from Obama general counsel Bob Bauer. "For the sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest, your station should refuse to continue to air this advertisement."

The ad, "Hunter," compares Obama's anti-gun stances of the 1990s with his current, more pro-gun, stand, and was chided for inaccuracy in The Washington Post (which has long criticized and belittled the NRA), an item to which Bauer's letter refers.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam, who provided the letter, said it shows clear evidence that the ads are "hurting him," and stood by their substance. He also provided a copy of the NRA's own letter to the stations from Mitchell and a memo disputing The Post story. He also said the radio ad is running only in Pennsylvania at the moment.

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Dan Boren Nominated For NRA Board Of Directors

Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren has been nominated for membership on the National Rifle Association's Board of Directors.

Boren is one of 34 nominees, from which 26 will be elected in balloting later this year.

Oklahomans now serving on the NRA Board include Joe Allbaugh of Blackwell and Washington; Cleta Mitchell, former Oklahoma legislator now a Washington attorney; John Burtt of Shawnee; and Bill Brewster, former congressman now a Washington lobbyist.

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Cleta Mitchell Joins Allbaugh, Brewster, Burtt On National Rifle Association's Board Of Directors

Former Oklahoma legislative leader Cleta (Deatherage) Mitchell has been elected to the board of directors of the National Rifle Association.

Mitchell, an attorney and conservative legal activist in Washington, joins former FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh, former Democratic Congressman Bill Brewster and Shawnee businessman John Burtt on the group's governing body.

Mitchell served in the Oklahoma House from 1976 to 1984. At the time a liberal Democrat, she was chair of the powerful Appropriations and Budget Committee. Since leaving Oklahoma in the early 1990s, Mitchell has represented numerous conservative entities, including the NRA and several national Republican associations, in legal actions.

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