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An opponent of State Question 779 threw another chip on the table Friday.

Jonathan Small of the Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs told a local Republican gathering the 1 percent education sales-tax proposal is a political ploy calculated to give the state’s GOP leadership a “black eye” and send the state “back to the Dark Ages of Oklahoma.”

He attributed this alleged scheme to University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator and an outspoken supporter of the state question. He also vaguely suggested a connection to the gubernatorial aspirations of Boren’s son Dan, a former congressman now working for the Chickasaw Nation.

Dan Boren has said he might be interested in running for governor in 2018; he has not been involved in the SQ 779 campaign.

“There is more to the ‘Boren tax’ than just teachers’ salaries,” Small said. “If you listen to the message of David Boren and you listen to the message of the left, their message is that Republicans have cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut so much that there’s not enough money available for government.”