BJ Baker for OSFA 3rd Vice

06/11/2023

My 2023 run for 3rd Vice President of the Oklahoma State Firefighters Association was not in the cards for me. I appreciate all the support that I received, and all the friends that I made along the way. I’m proud that in the end, Tom Marcum and I ran clean campaigns and respected eachother as Brothers. I wish him, and the board good luck moving forward. Thank you all.

06/09/2023

I’m feeling blessed. A friend saw where I was campaigning for OSFA 3rd Vice and made me this medallion. She gifted it to me today, and the election is tomorrow.

05/27/2023

Disneyland Fire Department endorses BAKER for 3rd Vice!

05/10/2023

150 burgers worth of love to the teachers at Cherokee Elementary for Teacher Appreciation Day.

Shout Out to BJ Baker from TFD, and former Cherokee Brave, for cooking burgers and hotdogs for our staff and 5th graders today!! We appreciate you!

04/30/2023

The Man, The Myth, The Legend . . . “The King” of Oklahoma Football, Barry Switzer is on TEAM BAKER, are you?

04/16/2023

Register now for the Annual OSFA Convention at the link below:

https://osfa.info/events/0NLl5du6iaN1zn6ftATv

04/15/2023

I responded to a structure fire and had a puff paint shirt that my daughter made for me on underneath my suit. So when I changed out to my bunker gear, the guys could see my puff paint and were hacking on me. My daughter’s message was to “Stay Positive”, which really is great advice. Stay humble, be grateful, and count your blessings.

04/13/2023

SERVANT’S HEART
Just as we were all drawn to fire service out of a dedication to community, I am drawn to serve in OSFA out of dedication to our brotherhood and common interests. I would not pursue this endeavor if I did not feel that it was in the best interest of our brotherhood; I humbly ask for your vote, and the opportunity to serve.

04/13/2023

EXPERIENCE IN ADVOCACY AND ANALYSIS:
ADVOCACY
For the last fifteen years I have practiced the art of advocacy. Whether I was negotiating divorce terms, claims settlements, or plea bargains I have had to navigate and understand positional leverage, timing, and the give and take nature of negotiation. It is said that only a fool represents himself. This is because when you advocate for yourself, often times your emotions will blind you. I have argued both sides of every argument based on who my client is at the time, which requires one to operate without emotion. By removing emotion, I am able to analyze laws or issues to arrive at the best possible outcome for whatever my client’s position may be. I am practiced at bending words and framing issues to the benefit of my client, and I would be a zealous advocate for all firefighters.
ANALYSIS
Drafting and understanding law does not come natural and takes lots of practice. At the University of Tulsa, I was the CALI Award Winner for Legal Research and Writing, and I have had the benefit of utilizing those skills in practice for the last 15 years. There is an art to employing the Socratic Method, asking the hard questions while playing devil’s advocate to expose weaknesses in your own position. While I am certainly not a legal analysis expert, I do bring 15 years of real life, high stake practice to the table.

04/13/2023

INTEGRITY
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching. Johnny Cash once said, “But as sure as God made black and white, what’s done in the dark will be brought to the light.”, and as a former 5 year prosecutor and as a criminal defense attorney, I have seen time and again how people’s actions come back to haunt them. My legal license requires integrity; growing up my Dad demanded integrity; and you can count that I will serve OSFA with integrity.

04/13/2023

HONESTY
As an attorney my word is my most valuable asset. I have hard discussions with clients on a daily basis where I can not sugar coat things to tell people what they want to hear, and I will not do that in my capacity as your representative with OSFA. I may not be able to always deliver the news that people want to hear, but you can always count on what I say being 100% truthful and honest.

04/13/2023

Just as every fire department across our State benefits from the different experiences and expertise of it’s members, and uses different members in different capacities depending on their skill sets, the same is true for the body of the Oklahoma State Firefighters Association. My non-firefighting skill set is that I am an attorney. I have a doctorate degree and fifteen years of experience in negotiation, advocating for my client’s position, and analyzing law. These skills that I have honed as an attorney are the exact skills that board members utilize when serving businesses or organizations like OSFA. There is a reason that more U.S. Presidents, that more university presidents, that more bank presidents have law degrees than any other background. My skills as an attorney directly translate to the tasks and responsibilities expected of your next 3rd Vice President of OSFA, and are as follows:
Honesty
Integrity
Experience
A Servant’s Heart