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PIQUE POLITICS Knee-Jerk, Off-With-Their-Heads Approach to Governance Sets State Back a Generation

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PIQUE POLITICS Knee-Jerk, Off-With-Their-Heads Approach to Governance Sets State Back a Generation • An Independent JournAl of CommentAry • DECEMBER 2017 • VOLUME 49 NUMBER 12 • $5.00 PIQUE POLITICS Knee-Jerk, Off-With-Their-Heads Approach To Governance Sets State Back A Generation – Cover story begins on page 6 Observations www.okobserver.org Thinning Patience VOLUME 49, NO. 12 Even though Gov. Mary Fallin vows to give lawmakers a second extra- PUBLISHER Beverly Hamilton session chance to fix the state budget’s structural woes, there is little reason to think they will seize the opportunity. EDITOR Arnold Hamilton In fact, given the carbon baron’s stranglehold on statehouse leader- DIGITAL EDITOR MaryAnn Martin ship, it seems increasingly likely the best hope for reversing the na- tion’s deepest education cuts, bolstering vital healthcare services and ADVISORY BOARD rebuilding transportation infrastructure is with a statewide ballot initia- Marvin Chiles, Andrew Hamilton, tive. Matthew Hamilton, Scott J. Hamilton, Trevor James, Ryan Kiesel, A newly formed coalition, Restore Oklahoma Now Inc., wants to give George Krumme, Gayla Machell, voters a chance next year to return the gross production tax on all oil Bruce Prescott, Robyn Lemon Sellers, and gas wells to its historic 7% rate and create a permanent funding Kyle Williams source to bolster teacher salaries. OUR MOTTO Oklahomans already are on board – even if legislative leadership isn’t. To Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the According to a Global Strategy Group poll of 400 registered voters Comfortable. Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 67% wanted lawmakers in special session to enact a comprehensive revenue plan “that avoids further budget cuts and allows OUR CREDO So then to all their chance, to all their for a teacher pay raise and other investments in critical state services.” shining golden opportunity. To all the The survey, commissioned by the Oklahoma Policy Institute, also right to love, to live, to work, to be found 55% of respondents supported restoring the gross production tax themselves, and to become whatever to 7%. thing their vision and humanity can combine to make them. This seeker, Taking matters into our own hands is part of our state’s DNA. When is the promise of America. we joined the union in 1907, the Progressive movement was strong and - Adapted from Thomas Wolfe suspicions of deep-pocketed special interests high. As a result, Oklaho- ma became the nation’s first state to include initiative and referendum FOUNDING PUBLISHER Helen B. Troy [1932-2007] in its original constitution. The tool, of course, has produced both good and bad, depending on FOUNDING EDITOR your perspective. Voters endorsed liquor by the drink and pari-mutuel Frosty Troy [1933-2017] gambling on horse races despite religious opposition. They also im- posed term limits on legislators and a supermajority requirement in or- [ISSN 0030-1795] The Oklahoma Observer [USPS 865-720] der to raise taxes – both major contributors to the quagmire at NE 23rd is published on the first Wednesday of each month by AHB Enterprises LLC, 13912 Plym- CONTINUED ON PAGE 43 outh Crossing, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Periodicals postage paid at Edmond, OK and additional entry of- fice. Phone: 405.478.8700. POSTMASTER Send address changes to The Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. SUBSCRIPTIONS 1-Year [12 issues] $50. Send check to The Yes! Please send me a one-year subscription for only $50. Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, This special offer includes my certificate for a free book courtesy Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Online: Visit of Full Circle Bookstore [a $20 value]. See page 41 for details. www.okobserver.net to use a credit card. UPDATE ADDRESSES Please notify us at least two weeks before your move to ensure uninterrupted service. E-mail address changes to subscriptions@ okobserver.net or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. LETTERS TO EDITOR E-mail to [email protected] or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113- 0275. 2 • DECEMBER 2017 Observerscope Our friend Tamya Cox reports OK GOP Rep. Steve Russell “refused to take a picture of us” last month in DC “because we were Planned Parenthood and he was afraid the opposition would use it against him.” Dart: To Speaker Charles McCall and his Mini-Me, Rep. Josh Cock- roft, subpoenaing three Fallin Administration insiders over the state Health Department scandal – a juvenile shot-across-the-bow for her budget veto. They later with- drew the subpoenas. Speaking of Health Department chaos, the attorney general, state auditor and a grand jury are inves- tigating the alleged fiscal malfea- sance that led to longtime Director Terry Cline’s resignation. We mourn the passing of Doro- Need last-minute stocking Democrats lost two of three spe- thy Messenger, a devoted Observer stuffers? Nothing beats a one-year cial elections last month, but the reader since 1979. Our condolenc- Observer subscription [see back win was huge: Allison Ikley-Free- es to daughter Myrna Ranney and cover] or a classic Observer t-shirt man flipping a GOP Senate seat family. [page 7]. in uber conservative west Tulsa to become the county’s first openly Next time we grieve over a mass The uber Right is yucking it LGBTQ legislator. shooting, remember this: Ameri- up over gubernatorial wannabe cans are 4.4% of the world’s pop- Gary Richardson’s derision of Lt. Dart: To the nation’s Bigot-in- ulation but own 42% of its guns. Gov. Todd Lamb as “Mary’s Little Chief, spoiling a ceremony honor- Moreover, 31% of gunmen in mass Lamb.” Clever. ing Navajo code talkers by again shootings from 1966-2012 were besmirching Sen. Elizabeth War- American. – Professor Adam Lank- Dart: To OK Sen. James Lank- ren as “Pocahontas.” Even GOP ford, University of Alabama ford, voting for GOP tax package Rep. Tom Cole is imploring Trump that not only would enrich the to knock it off. More evidence of Oklahoma car- wealthy and explode the deficit, bon barons’ sway with the presi- but also destroy separation of Oklahoma lost another jewel dent: New state Justice Patrick church and state. Jesus wept. with recent passing of Duncan’s Wyrick added to Trump’s short- Bill Buxton, former prosecutor list for future SCOTUS vacancy. Gov. Mary Fallin promises to an- and judge who established Ste- Wyrick served as solicitor general nounce early next year the date for phens County Drug Court. He also under state AG-turned-EPA Chief statewide vote on medical marijua- was a supporter of Legal Aid and a Scott Pruitt – Harold Hamm’s lead- na [SQ 788] – either June primary longtime Observer reader. ing sycophant. or November general election. Laurel: To Gov. Mary Fallin, Nearly a year into Trump’s Reign Laurel: To University of Central dropping the veto hammer on the of Error, we are reminded of Vol- Oklahoma, No. 10 on the Military Legislature’s venal budget rewrite taire’s words of warning: “Any one Times’ 2018 list of best four-year – great news for rank-and-file Okla- who has the power to make you be- colleges and universities for vet- homans sold out by House leader- lieve absurdities has the power to eran and active-duty students – up ship. Now we await word on date make you commit injustices.” 11 spots from a year ago. for a second special session. CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 THE OKLAHOMA OBSERVER • 3 Letters his heirs, and his billionaire bud- dies. And in order to pay for the economic favors granted to them, money will be taken from Medic- aid, Medicare, and tax exemptions depended on by the middle class. A headline in the Nov. 19 Dallas Morning News says it all: “Rich get richer under both GOP overhaul plans.” As one small example of the tax- exemptions losses that are pro- posed, look what would happen to public school teachers. Because some public-school students can- not afford to buy school supplies, their teachers often buy these from their own pockets. Presently, teachers can deduct up to $250 a year for school supplies they pur- chase for their students. That de- duction would be totally eliminat- ed under the Senate plan. Do we really believe public- Editor, The Observer: crimination used against all man- school teachers have too much Trump placed Al [Franken] under ner of minorities, be it sexual ori- money, so we have to take that de- attack entation, gender, or skin color. duction away from them in order Now who’s calling the kettle Their use of religion as an of- to let billionaires like Trump keep black? fensive weapon not only defames more of their money? Between the goose and the gan- their founder’s intentions, it also Fair is fair, but fairness is no der becomes a political sledgehammer part of the Republicans’ tax “re- There’s variance of candor to break down common decency form” plans. Instead, we see the The results are mostly abstract. and morals in order to impose a re- same old “trickle down” approach: Tom Birbilis pugnant societal order to advance giving tax breaks to the wealthy Tulsa a personal ignorance that blocks and promising that that money rational thinking and retards sci- will somehow trickle down to the Editor, The Observer: entific progress that has made all non-wealthy who really need tax When I was at November’s Okla- our lives better. breaks. homa Observer Newsmakers event, James Nimmo “Trickle down” has never I heard former Gov. David Walters Oklahoma City worked, and never will. We tried relate a remark made to him by the it in the 1980s, and the deficit ex- late House Speaker Carl Albert: Editor, The Observer: ploded.
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