Weekly Opinion/Editorial

MISSED OPPORTUNITY
by Steve Fair

On Friday, the 2010 Oklahoma legislature adjourned sine die, which means, “without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing.” This was a challenging session for the legislature because of revenue shortfalls, and it was thought a special session might be necessary to deal with the budget, but the Republican led legislature did reach a budget agreement with Democrat Governor Henry before the close of the session.
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Just hours after the 2010 session was gaveled closed, outgoing/term limited Speaker of the House Chris Benge, (R-Tulsa) evaluated the session and gave it an “A.” Benge said, “I would give it an A considering everything we had to deal with, both the budget and the policy measures. We have positioned the state to grow in the future.”
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Outgoing/term limited Governor Henry gave the 2010 legislative session a B-, saying he thought the legislature spent too much time on idealogy issues like abortion and did not devote enough time to the budget. Saying he was wistful about his last legislative session, Henry said, “We(First lady Kim Henry) are at peace with ourselves about how we moved the state forward.”
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While Governor Henry gave the 2010 session a “B-” grade, outgoing/term limited Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, (R-OKC) assigned a straight “B.” In response to critics who said the Republican leaders focused too much on ideology and not enough time on the budget, Coffee said, “Some of the things we dealt with might seem like extracurricular issues to outsiders, but those issues are important to voters, and voters elect us. We represent them. Getting the budget done on time, and devoting time to the budget, does not change the issues or the views voters have about the importance of those other issues.” One reporter said the last week of session looked like ‘total chaos.’ Coffee responded by saying, “I would disagree. I remember other years when we were waiting on the 'deal' in the last day or two of session, not getting into it over the last couple of weeks when there was still time to really consider the details. This year I thought we had a good process.”
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In my opinion, the legislature earned a B. Here are the areas of failure:
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Once again, they failed to get the attorneys out of the Oklahoma Workers Comp system, even though everyone knows doing that will save employers money and increase awards to injured workers. They made significant progress on Workers Comp, but we are still just nibbling around the edges of the issue until we get the lawyers out of the system. Another missed opportunity.
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The second major goof was Speaker Binge not allowing a Joint Resolution to be heard on the House side. The Resolution by Senator Jim Reynolds, (R-Moore) would have placed a state question on the ballot in November to reduce the increases in property tax. Benge knew the J.R. would pass if it were voted on, so he didn’t allow it a vote. That is inexcusable and the type of leadership that will not be missed. Reynolds proposal just slowed down the growth of property taxes, it did not reduce them. A missed opportunity.
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The legislature passed a $6.7 billion dollar state budget- still over a billion less than what was requested by state government. A large part of the budget is federal stimulus money. Next year, the federal money will not be available and even deeper cuts may have to be made if revenue doesn’t pick up. Instead of making surgecial cuts in government, the 2010 legislature took the easy way out and did ‘across the board’ cut. They should have used these ‘hard times’ to have state agencies justify every dollar they asked for, but instead they took the path of least resistance. A missed opportunity.
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Speaker Benge, President Pro-Tem Coffee and Governor Henry are all three term limited. None can seek re-election in November. It will likely be years before this same dynamic(all three of the state’s top leaders are termed out at the same time) happens again. The trio had the unique opportunity to work together in a non-partisan way to move Oklahoma forward this session. They could have made history by carving waste out of government, creating a better business environment in the Sooner state, and by making the tough calls that need to be made in Oklahoma- a missed opportunity.

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Thomas Edison was right when he said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

GREATLY EXAGGERATED!
by Steve Fair

Are Oklahoma Democrats an endangered species? In a National Review online article entitled, ‘The Coming Extinction of Oklahoma Democrats,’ http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/55887/coming-extinction-oklahoma-democrats Jim Geraghty raises the issue of Democrat policies being out of touch with Oklahoma voters and the recent growth in the number of Republicans in Oklahoma. Geraghty uses Representative Dan Boren, (D-Oklahoma), the lone Democrat in the Oklahoma federal delegation as an example. Boren, who is often labeled a DINO (Democrat in name only) by liberals and sits on the board of the NRA is a proud member of the Blue Dog Democrats. Boren attempts to ‘brand’ himself a conservative, but that may not be enough in 2010. In November, the three term Congressman will face one of five Republicans fighting it out in the GOP primary.
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The Republican House Committee has listed Boren’s seat as a ‘targeted’ race, but realistically it’s a long shot for Republicans to pick up the seat. Boren represents ‘Little Dixie’- aka SE Oklahoma. What got the national GOP interested was the district voted overwhelmingly for McCain over Obama in 2008(two to one). But Boren has good political instincts. Even though his father and grandfather endorsed then candidate Obama, Boren did not publicly. In June of 2008, Boren said, “I still remain very concerned about the (Obama) voting record being the most liberal of the United States Senate.” But Boren went on to say, “Having said that, I am voting for Democrats this year.” Since Obama was the only Democrat running for President in November, it’s clear Boren voted for him. His ‘non-endorsement’ was for political expediency only.

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Boren’s conservative press release doesn’t match his voting record. Boren’s lifetime Conservative Index http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=46182 ranks him at 23%, meaning that 77% of the time, he is on the wrong side of the issue. But the only vote that voters may be interested in is the one Boren cast for Speaker of the House. In spite of Boren’s conservative talk, he toed the party line and voted for Nancy Pelosi. Boren can’t press release that vote away and it will cost him in November. Will Boren go down in November? Based on the anti-incumbent climate, this could be the year.
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Is Geraghty right- are Oklahoma Democrats endangered? Oklahoma Democrats have traditionally been more conservative than the national party, but when party leaders adopted a more liberal state platform in 2006, they proved they were out of touch with the average Oklahoma voter. The Dems have steadily lost the registration war and conservative Democrats are changing party affiliation in droves. But I wouldn’t schedule a memorial service quite yet.
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Remember when Republicans gained control of the U.S. House in 1994 after more than forty years of Democrat rule? Conservatives promptly declared the Democrat Party dead. Democrat elected officials wanting to save their political careers changed parties. It was a time of rejoicing and celebration in the GOP. That was until November 2006. That election day the Democrats regained control of both chambers and promptly proclaimed the old GOP dead. It seemed they might be right because in 2008, the GOP lost the White House. Some Republican elected officials in order to save their political careers changed parties. The Dems were overcome with joy- they had decimated the Republicans. But, like George W on the deck of the carrier, they declared victory a little early. It appears 2010 will be a big Republican year, so the pendulum will have swung the other direction again.
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But Geraghty was talking specifically about Oklahoma. Are Democrats losing ground in Oklahoma? According to the Oklahoma State Election Boardhttp://www.ok.gov/elections/Voter_Registration/Voter_Registration_Reports/index.html, the latest registration numbers show Democrats are below 50% in registration and Republicans are over 40% for the first time in state history. According to Sooner Polls, more than two thirds of Oklahomans identify themselves with the Republican Party. Democrats are likely to lose seats in the legislature in the 2010 elections and are polling behind in statewide races, partially because of the drag of the national party. When you consider that just six years ago, Democrats controlled both chambers of the Oklahoma legislature and had for almost a century, that is a striking trend. But don’t start dancing on the Oklahoma Dems grave just yet. As the national Republicans have proven, if Oklahoma Republicans don’t act like Republicans, the people will go another direction.
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When reading Geraghty’s article, I’m reminded of when Mark Twain’s obituary was mistakenly published in the New York Times, Twain sent a cable from London stating, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Weekly Opinion/Editorial

ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL

by Steve Fair

Oklahoma state government faces over a billion-dollar budget shortfall in fiscal year 2011. Democrats blame the revenue shortage on the personal income tax cuts implemented after Republicans took control of the House in 2004. Democrats and at least one Republican blame tax credits for the lack of money flowing to state government.

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State Representative David Dank, (R-OKC) believes the ‘transferable’ type tax credits that can be bought and sold like commodities, have been abused. Dank cited a couple of examples. "In 2001, our Legislature gave approximately $18 million in transferable tax credits to developers of a proposed spaceport at Burns Flat," Dank said. The company, Rocketplane Holdings, sold the credits for $15 million and made $3 million dollars. Back in 2006, Dank says the state was trying to increase coal production and granted $4 million in ‘transferable’ credits to the coal industry. Instead of more coal being produced and more miners, Dank says the credits were sold to companies not in the coal industry. These remarks were made during an interview with http://capitalbeatok.com/

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The tax credits the Democrats want to reduce or eliminate are corporate tax credits for rural venture capital companies and small businesses. They also want to reduce the corporate tax credits for venture capital, income tax credit for investment in small business and the states Quality Jobs program.
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“We believe we should be looking at these and many other tax credits and incentives that were put into place with the best of intentions, but which we can ill afford in the current situation,” said Democratic Leader Danny Morgan of Prague. “Another thing we could modify is the vendor discount on sales tax, which allows big companies to retain as much as $3,000 per store out of the sales tax they collect each year. “ Rep. Morgan added.
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Over half the states with a sales tax offer a discount to the retailers collecting the sales tax. In Oklahoma it can be as much as 2.25% of the amount they collect up to a maximum of $3,300 annually. The Oklahoma Tax Commission says the discounts cost the state $25.9 million last year. Morgan must think businesses that receive the discount don’t pass it along to the consumer and just take it to their bottom line. If so, he is woefully ignorant of the competitive retail marketplace. Dank is on the right track- Morgan is not.
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Here is how the Oklahoma State government deficit(or any deficit) should be addressed in order of priority:
First, cut spending. When facing a deficit, the first thing to do is cut spending. As Bill Earle says, “If your outgo exceeds your income, then your upkeep will be your downfall.” The legislature should identify wasteful and unnecessary spending and use this ‘hard time’ to make some tough decisions. One size doesn’t fit all.

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Second, implement zero-based budgeting. Across the board cuts at every state agency is not the right solution. Oklahomans must have vital, essential services like police protection, prisons, and inflasture the state government provides. But there are other services that are not so essential. Every state agency should be required to present a comphensive itemized budget every year that justifies every dollar they are requesting (zero based budgeting). One size doesn’t fit all.

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Third, modernize/consolidate government. Millions of dollars could be saved if Oklahoma government did what the private sector has done for the past thirty years- consolidate. The largest employer in Oklahoma is the State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma has seventy seven counties and we could easily cut that number by one third- maybe more. Millions could be saved if Oklahoma education would simply share administrative services. Our cost per student on administrative costs is much higher than other states in the region. Politicians don’t like the ‘C’ word, but at some point some tough decisions will have to be made if Oklahoma is to compete in the modern marketplace. If legislators vote to just do ‘across the board’ budget cuts, then they are missing an excellent opportunity to make longterm, significant changes to Oklahoma government. One size doesn’t fit all.

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Fourth, empower the private sector. The long term solution to any budget deficit is to either grow the number of taxpayers or help the current taxpayer base to grow their income. We can’t just tax business and blindly believe they will absorb increases. Business is not a sponge, it’s like a pipe, providing a conduit for revenue to flow through.

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Ronald Reagan once said, “We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success- only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progress and free.”

Straw Poll Results

from the 6th annual Stephens County Fish Fry

Polling sample included 364 total ballots and attendees at the Fish Fry could only vote once.

GOVERNOR

Fallin: 48.3%

Brogdon- 47.2%

Hubbard-1.1%

Jackson- 0

Undecided- 3.4%

LT. GOVERNOR

Todd Lamb-46.2%

John Wright- 25.2%

Undecided- 28.6%

STATE TREASURER

Owen Laughlin- 44.7%

Ken Miller- 21.8%

Undecided- 33.5%

LABOR COMMISSIONER

Costello- 49.4%

Reese- 20%

Undecided- 30.6%

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Leonard- 39.1%

Pruitt- 35.3%

Undecided- 25.6%

4TH DISTRICT CONGRESS

Cole- 70.1%

Harris- 17.3%

Pritchard- 1.6%

Diaz- 0

Undecided- 11%

2012 PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE POLL

Participants in the poll selected their top three preferences.

(1) Mike Huckabee-17.5%

(2) Sarah Pallin-15.9%

(3) J.C. Watts-15.6%

(4) Mitt Romney-13.7%

(5) Newt Gingrich-9.9%

(6) Bobby Jindal-8.6%

(7) Ron Paul-5.5%

(8) Paul Ryan-5.5%

(9) Jeb Bush-4.1%

(10) Tim Pawlenty-3.6%

Weekly Opinion/Editorial

ONE AT A TIME PLEASE!
by Steve Fair

Article 5, Section 57 of the Oklahoma State Constitution, states, ‘Every act of the legislature shall express but one subject, which shall clearly be expressed in its title.’ The provision is commonly called ‘the single subject rule.’ The provision’s stated purpose is to insure the citizens of Oklahoma are not confused by legislation. For example at the federal level, often times an ‘Omnibus bill’ is passed that has something in it totally unrelated to the title of the bill. The ‘single subject’ rule was enacted to prohibit such deceit and the practice known as ‘logrolling.’
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When Democrats were in control of the Oklahoma legislature- 1907-2004- they regularly passed legislation that had multiple subjects and whose title did not accurately reflect the actual legislation. During that time, state courts largely ignored the ‘single subject’ rule. That is why is so puzzling Oklahoma courts have just recently started to enforce the ‘single subject’ rule since Republicans gained control of the state legislature in 2004.
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In 2008, the legislature passed a pro-life bill (Freedom of Conscience Act) that had several different provisions. Bear in mind, all the legislation was related and was pro-life, but it covered a variety of different areas. The state supreme court said it violated the ‘single subject’ rule and struck it down. One has to think it more than mere coincidence this happened on a pro-life bill. This year, the State legislature spilt the bill into two bills and passed them overwhelmingly. One bill, written by Senator Anthony Sykes, (R-Moore) would require women to undergo an ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the fetus before they undergo an abortion. Several other states have similar ultrasound pro-life laws, so this is not unique legislation.
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Governor Henry vetoed both bills as expected, but the legislature overwhelmingly voted to override the Governor’s veto. Because the measure had an ‘emergency’ clause, it was required to get ¾ of the legislature, not the normal 2/3 to vote to override the Governor’s veto. Several conservative pro-life Democrats joined with Republicans to override the veto- a true bi-partisan effort.

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Within hours, the courts had placed a restraining order on implementation of the new laws. A hearing is scheduled in July. Unlike the last delay in implementation, this lawsuit was not filed based on the single subject rule. Filed by an abortion provider, the suit claims the ultrasound measure is unconstitutionally vague, violates women's and abortion practitioner's constitutional speech rights, is an impermissible special law, and "impermissibly burdens the fundamental rights of plaintiffs' patients to terminate a pregnancy and avoid unwanted speech in a private setting."

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What about the rights of the unborn child? Shouldn’t they have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Now back to the single subject rule.

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Senate Pro Tem Senator Glenn Coffee, (R-OKC) has authored Senate Bill 213, which requires every bill to contain a separate provision that clearly expresses the subject of the bill. That means future legislative bill titles will be longer and will have subtitles outlining specifically what that each tenet in the bill is about.

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Pro Tem Coffee explained that SB 213 resulted from the court ruling that found the Freedom of Conscience Act, was unconstitutional because it violated the single subject rule. As a result, SB 213 now requires a court to provide written findings detailing each of the multiple subjects in a bill if the court finds the measure to violate the one subject rule.

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“Senate Bill 213 creates a legislative record that a particular piece of legislation has been debated and defended, in committee and on the floor, regarding its single subject,” said Coffee. “Regardless of what subject matter a bill deals with, this legislation will create a way for courts to give us guidance in how to improve legislation, by citing specific areas we did not comply with Oklahoma law.”

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Senate Bill 213 now goes to the House of Representatives where it is expected to pass. Who knows if Governor Henry will sign or veto it. Henry has become progressively more liberal as he winds down his two terms as Governor. Thanks to Senator Coffee for authoring legislation that will address the ‘single subject’ provision. Keeping courts out of ‘lawmaking’ and/or legislating from the bench is a good thing. We have enough of that at the Federal level.

Weekly Opinion/Editorial

OPTING OUT IS THE RIGHT OPTION!
by Steve Fair

House Joint Resolution #1054 passed the Oklahoma State House last week by a vote of 71-27 and now heads to the Senate. If it passes the Senate, Oklahomans will be voting in November to amend the state constitution to allow Oklahomans to opt-out of the recently passed federal health care system aka ObamaCare.
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"This legislation will give Congress and President Barack Obama pause to see this strong show of opposition to the federal legislation," Representative Mike Ritze, (R-Broken Arrow), the House author of the resolution said. Ritz, a physician and a surgeon said. "In Oklahoma, there is great opposition to mandating that everyone buy expensive health insurance. The federal system represents a radical change towards socialized medicine and could easily hurt rural Oklahoma’s access to quality care. That’s why we are going to do our best to fight it."

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House Joint Resolution 1054 would protect any person, employer or health care provider in Oklahoma from being compelled (forced) to participate in any health care system. It also prevents Oklahomans from being financially penalized (fined) if they choose not to purchase insurance mandated by the federal health care plan, and doctors would still be allowed to accept direct payment without fear of financial penalty.

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The Resolution also gave the legislature the authority to sue the federal government over the health care bill. Because Attorney General Drew Edmondson refused to join other states in suing the feds over the behemoth health care bill, the legislature had to take matters into their own hands.

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A couple of thoughts on the health care mandate passed by Congress and why Oklahomans should have the option of saying, ‘no thanks’ to ObamaCare:

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First, nowhere in the United States Constitution does it say health care is a federal granted ‘right.’ Sure, it’s nice to have good health care when you are sick. The fact is most Americans enjoy excellent health care. According to the Congressional Budget Office, America is spending 16-18 percent of the GDP on health care. But access to good health care is not a constitutionally guaranteed right- it is a privilege. Health care wasn’t included in the ‘bill of rights,’ but in our entitlement society, some believe anything they ‘want’ is a right.

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What’s the difference between a right and privilege? A right is "something that is due to a person by law, tradition, or nature. A privilege is "a special benefit given to a person.” Our Creator does not endow us with the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and good health care. Good health care may make us happier and help us live longer, but it is not a right in spite of what some say.

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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, (I-Vermont) would disagree. Sanders, a liberal who caucuses with the Democrats, believes health care is a civil right. Sanders says, “at the end of the day, as difficult as it may be, the fight for a national health care program will prevail. Like the civil rights movement, the struggle for women's rights and other grass-roots efforts, justice in this country is often delayed - but it will not be denied. We shall overcome! “ Sanders’ argument has many problems, not the least of which is- ‘who will pay for it?’ The answer is the taxpayers and the bill will be expensive. If you think health care was expensive before the government got involved, wait until the government is running it.

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Second, the misconception the ‘Commerce Clause’ of the Constitution grants the power to the federal government to promote a particular business is asinine. The Commerce Clause was added to allow states to conduct ‘interstate’ business anyway they wanted and therefore promote capitalism. Health insurance didn’t even exist at that time. Obamacare requires all individuals to purchase health insurance and the government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.

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Experts believe there is a better than odds on chance the federal health care bill will be overturned by the courts for violating the U.S. Constitution. But, in the meantime, the Oklahoma legislature did the right thing by giving Oklahomans the option to opt out.