John L. Westbrook
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Johnny Lee (John) Westbrook (born July 10, 1980) is an American politician who was a Republican nominee for the Tulsa, Oklahoma city council in 2000 and 2002. He is also a self-confessed follower of the Left Hand Path.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Westbrook attended elementary school at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School from 1984 through 1994 and then went on to attend Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He unexpectedly withdrew from Bishop Kelley in 1997. According to Oklahoma State records, he obtained a G.E.D. diploma within 2 months after leaving Bishop Kelley. Little is known about his activities from 1997 through 2000. Rumors have abound that he became heavily involved in Satanism around that time, rumors which Westbrook initially denied.
In January of 2000 he filed his declaration of candidacy for the Tulsa City Council race. Westbrook placed third in the Republican primary for District 3, finishing with 109 votes. Despite his loss, Westbrook was initially embraced by the Tulsa County Republican Party who perceived him to be "a very intelligent and attractive young conservative who might be able to draw crossover voters in a heavily Democratic district." Westbrook became active in the local GOP and served two terms on the Tulsa County Rules Committee, first in 2000 after his Council defeat and again in 2001. Between 2000 and 2002, Westbrook was arrested numerous times for alcohol and drug charges which he managed to keep a secret from the local Republican leadership. According to Oklahoma Court records, he pleaded guilty to one count of assault and battery and one count of DUI in September of 2000. He received one-year suspended sentences for both counts. In 2002, Westbrook again sought the Republican nomination for the same seat he lost in 2000, only this time with the blessing of the local party leaders.
Westbrook was unopposed in the primary and immediately moved on to the general election. During his campaign, Westbrook promised to "work hard to protect neighborhoods from crime" and "promote economic growth." He also participated in several locally-televised debates in which he touted himself as a "man of conservative, Christian values." In February of that year, one month before the general election, the Tulsa World began running a series of articles scrutinizing Westbrook's criminal history; apparently he had gotten himself another DUI, this time filed as a felony. Coincidently, Tulsa prosecutors filed the felony count exactly one year from the day that they had filed the last DUI. The Tulsa World also accused Westbrook of being involved in Satanism as well as being a racist for a remark he supposedly made to a black police officer during his first DUI arrest in 2000. The local GOP was quick to denounce Westbrook's candidacy in the wake of this shocking news. Rich Gradel, who was acting chairman of the Tulsa GOP at that time, denounced his candidacy as being "irresponible for concealing his double-lifestyle from our party and running for office while he knew that he had a pending felony." The local GOP demanded that he withdraw. Westbrook's defense attorney also asked him to withdraw and on the following week, Westbrook withdrew from the race.
Westbrook went on the record as saying that he was the victim of a Zionist plot. He never fully elaborated on that except to say that the reporter that covered his stories and the editor of her department were both a "couple of typical, sensationalist media-Jews." On election night Westbrook received 1,067 votes. His opponent, Democrat David Patrick, defeated him by over 2,000 votes.
Later that year Westbrook pleaded guilty to one count of felony DUI and was handed a three-year probation. In July of 2002, Westbrook was involved in an altercation with a probation official in which he allegedly made several racially-charged threats, resulting in his probation being revoked and his subsequent confinement in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. He was released within a year, having completely discharged all of his sentence under Oklahoma's "one-third" rule. According to a Penthouse interview from early 2004, Johnny Westbrook is now attending college in Tulsa though he would not specify at which institution. In that same interview he also admitted that he was a "follower of the Left-Hand Path," which is often associated with occult practices and Satanism. He also claimed to be the self-appointed "Grandmaster" of the Order of Mars, which he describes as some sort of neo-satanic occult fraternity. Westbrook is still active in politics but only as a commentator. Westbrook will not be eligible for election to any office in Oklahoma until the year 2017.
