OKC mayor washes hands of North American Union
OKC mayor washes hands of North American Union
'It was a pretty stupid thing to get involved with'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 26, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has repudiated his signing in 2004 of a document described as "The Declaration of North American Integration."
"I do not favor the North American Union," Cornett he told WND in a telephone interview yesterday. "It was a pretty stupid thing to get involved with three years ago. I don't necessarily remember what I was thinking at the time, but I can speak for now and I do not favor a North American Union."
WND has reported that the document was presented at the May 2004 summit meeting of the North American International Trade Corridor Partnership, or NAITCP. According to an Internet-archived summary report of the meeting, held in Kansas City, Mo., the document was signed by 90 people.
WND asked Cornett if he remembered signing the declaration.
"No," Cornett answered. "I was certainly at the meeting, but it was a long time ago and I've learned a lot in the last few years."
Cornett told WND that Oklahoma City was not taking any steps to integrate with Mexico and Canada and that Oklahoma City has not declared itself an "inland port" targeted for warehousing containers from international trade coming in through Mexican ports on the Pacific Ocean, as has Kansas City to the north and San Antonio to the south of Oklahoma City.
"Oklahoma City is not an inland port for containers coming from China," Cornett stressed. "I am opposed to the extension of the Trans-Texas Corridor into Oklahoma if the whole point is to make it cheaper to transport containers from China coming through Mexican ports."
Cornett said new highway construction between Oklahoma and Texas only would be justified if the point were to relieve any growing gridlock between Dallas and Oklahoma City, not to facilitate international trade.
A check of the Federal Highway Administration website shows that Oklahoma is not one of the 21 states that have passed public-private partnership enabling legislation that includes the 28 key elements the FHWA considers essential to allow private investment consortia to lease existing toll roads or build new toll roads in a state.
WND asked Cornett if he agreed with Oklahoma Republican state Senator Randy Brogdon that Oklahoma ought to withdraw from the North American SuperCorridor Coalition.
"I don't know enough about NASCO to comment," Cornett told WND.
Brogdon told WND in a telephone interview that, "I am extremely pleased to know that Mayor Cornett is opposed to the North American Union and the NAFTA superhighway. Cornett is the mayor of Oklahoma City and the NAFTA Superhighway is designed to come right through the middle of Oklahoma City."
WND asked Brogdon if he plans now to call on Cornett to help him oppose in the Oklahoma legislature the North American Union, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, and the NAFTA Superhighway.
"Yes," Brogdon responded. "I hope Mayor Cornett will be a voice to help me in the legislature to curb and to change the opinions of a lot of people that want the NAFTA Superhighway to come through Oklahoma. Now that I know Mayor Cornett has repudiated this declaration, I will call on him to support me with future legislation."
"I would encourage Mayor Cornett to find out more about NASCO," Brogdon stressed. "Hopefully Mayor Cornett will be a voice to encourage the legislature to drop out of NASCO."
Adam Rott, founder of Oklahoma Corridor Watch, was cautiously positive to learn that Cornett had repudiated signing the 2004 declaration.
"I am very pleased to learn that Mayor Cornett has repudiated signing this document," Rott told WND in a telephone interview. "I'm just wondering to what extent Cornett's decision was just politically expedient."
"I knew Oklahomans would be very upset when they saw what Mayor Cornett was doing outside the limelight," Rott added. "It doesn't surprise me that he so quickly repudiated his action because he is also on video calling in no uncertain terms for North American integration."
WND has reported that Cornett called for economic integration of North America in a video interview given at the Conference of Mayors in Boston in 2004.
Rott told WND that he had contacted Cornett's office when his blog first broke the story on July 9 that Cornett signed the declaration in 2004.
"Back then, Mayor Cornett didn't answer my phone calls," Rott said, "but I would like to see what actual steps Cornett is going to take to solidify his repudiation of this declaration. He signed a document that was billed as 'The Declaration of North American Integration.' I would like to see him sign a document specifically saying that he believes North American integration represents a significant threat to our sovereignty."
Rott added that he would like to see Cornett directly take steps to oppose the NAFTA Superhighway coming through Oklahoma.
"If Cornett would like to go on record with his repudiation and sign another document that disavows North American integration, I would be very pleased," Rott continued.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=56848
