By Steve Byas

Certain words came quickly to mind when I heard of the April 2 passing of former state Representative Bill Graves. He was 87. One was dear friend. Other words were patriot, Christian, and scholar. He is survived by his wife, Connie, their six children, sixteen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

In the early years of the Oklahoma Constitution newspaper, Bill Graves was a fresh new state representative, and we quickly came to depend on him in compiling our annual Top Conservative rating Index. He kept notes not only on every bill, but every vote that might conceivably be used for the Index.

With almost every other legislator that I have known over the years, we had to occasionally explain why a vote was conservative or liberal. It was shocking to me that so many legislators had no political philosophy to speak of when they got elected. Most had never read the constitutions of the state of Oklahoma or of the United States, although they had taken oaths to uphold both.

One legislator even asked my partner on the newspaper, Ron, “Just what is conservative?” Ron would often tell new legislators, “If you can’t figure it out, just vote the same as Bill Graves.”

Bill Graves did not have to ask, and we certainly did not have to tell him. He knew. He not only read the state and federal constitutions, he studied them. He read the writings of the Founding Fathers, men like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.

Because Bill Graves scored 100% on the Oklahoma Conservative Index year after year, many legislators mistakenly believed that he actually compiled the Index. What they did not understand was that it would not have mattered which vote we used, Bill was going to vote the right way.

Bill Graves knew what a conservative was and he knew what a constitutionalist was. One thing I well remember is that Bill would advance conservative causes by offering amendments to other bills. This caused him to be dubbed “the great amender” by his colleagues.

We named Bill one of the great “heroes” of the Twentieth Century, and I wrote then, “Bill has set the standard by which all other legislators can be judged. No truer friend of the taxpayer exists in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. More than just a conservative vote, Bill Graves has stood up to the forces of liberalism when many other lawmakers are quaking under their desks. It would be hard to imagine the Oklahoma House, and indeed our state, without him. He is irreplaceable.”

He also knew what being a Christian was. He was a devout Christian man, and a Bible scholar. His faith informed his beliefs and his actions.

A graduate of Putnam City Schools, he went to the University of Oklahoma on a track scholarship as a quarter-miler, where he lettered and became a member of the Varsity O Club. He served in the Oklahoma National Guard and when the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated school prayer, he was inspired to go to law school.

It was Bill Graves, and another attorney, Tim Green, who challenged the Oklahoma law which made the Democratic Party first on the ballot. Not the majority party, as the Democratic Party was at the time, but the Democratic Party. That had been the case throughout most of statehood, but Graves was able, by legal reasoning and research into election statistics, to demonstrate that this provision was simply a ploy to give the Democratic Party an advantage in elections. Because of Bill Graves, a political party’s position on the ballot is now determined by a drawing.

An accomplished writer and artist, Bill wrote articles and books, which he illustrated himself, explaining the concepts of limited government, individual liberty, and fidelity to the written Constitution of the United States. It was Graves’ legislation that requires the written Constitution to be taught in the schools in Oklahoma.

After serving eight years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Bill opted to give up his seat to run for attorney general. He would have been a great attorney general, and he ran first in the primary, but lost the runoff to another Republican who outspent him many times over. Bill returned to his law practice, and then ran for the House again in 1988. No one else filed, and he was off on another long run in the Legislature. He served until he was term-limited (which is an argument against term limits, but that is for a different column).

After serving in the legislative branch of government, Graves was elected a judge in Oklahoma County, in 2006, and served until 2018. He took this responsibility very seriously and made every effort to properly interpret and apply the law as it was written. He was seen as a fair and thoughtful judge, one who carefully examined the facts and the law of each case before him.

In 1992, I ran for state representative and held a fund-raising dinner. The person who was to be the speaker was not able to make it, and at the last minute, Bill Graves volunteered to take his place. Without any preparation, he delivered a tremendous speech, lauding me far beyond what I deserved.

During the speech, he recalled when he was first running for a legislative position. A man was working in his yard, and when Bill said to him, “I’m Bill Graves, and I am running for state representative.” The man looked puzzled, and said, “I don’t think I am quite ready for that.” Bill repeated that he was running for state representative, and the man responded, “I’m sorry, I thought you said you build graves.”

I can say for certain that I am not ready for the loss of my dear friend, a great patriot, a great family man, and a fellow follower of Jesus Christ – Bill Graves.

Steve Byas is Editor of the Oklahoma Constitution and author of several magazine articles and books, including History’s Greatest Libels. He may be contacted at byassteve@yahoo.com