Weekly Opinion Editorial
RELIABLE INHOFE RETIRES!
by Steve Fair
On Friday,
Senator James Mountain Inhofe announced his resignation from the United States
Senate effective the end of the 117th Congress (1/3/2023). Inhofe, 87, has served in the upper chamber
since 1994. Prior to that, he served
three terms in the U.S. House. All told,
Inhofe has served 35 years in Washington.
Prior to that, he served as mayor of Tulsa for six years and prior to those
ten years in the Oklahoma legislature. In
total, Inhofe has spent over 50 years in elective office.
During his
time in the Senate, Inhofe served as Chairman of the Committee on Environment
and Public Works and the powerful Armed Services Committee. He first came to national attention in 1993, while
in the House when Inhofe led the effort to reform the discharge petition rule. House leadership used the process to bottle up bills in committee
and keep them from getting a floor vote.
Inhofe has been a vocal critic of those who believe in man-made climate
change and global warming. He wrote a
book entitled, “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy
Threatens Your Future.”
Like Senators
Boren, Nickles and Coburn,
Inhofe by resigning before March 1st saved Oklahomans from a special
election. The special election to fill
the remaining four years in Inhofe’s term will be held as the same time as this
year’s general election. Both of Oklahoma’s U.S. Senate seats will be
up in November. Expect the Republican
field to replace Inhofe to be crowded.
In an
interview, Inhofe endorsed his chief of staff, Luke Holland, to replace
him. He said he would campaign for
Holland before the GOP primary, which is June 28th. Holland is a fourth generation Oklahoman who
grew up in Bartlesville and already has a website. Former Oklahoma Speaker of the House T.W.
Shannon and Congressmen Kevin Hern and Mark Wayne Mullin are also potential
candidates. Three thoughts about Senator
Inhofe:
First, Senator
Inhofe is conservative. He has been
consistently ranked as one of the most conservative members of the Senate. He is unapologetically pro-life and pro
second amendment. He is a strong and reliable
supporter of the military. The military
will miss him and his staunch loyalty.
Second, Senator
Inhofe is trying to pass the baton. His
endorsement of Holland is meant to keep his agenda and political views
alive. It remains to be seen if that
works in 2022. It didn’t work in 2003,
when Senator Don Nickles resigned.
Senator Inhofe endorsed and campaigned for then OKC Mayor Kirk Humphries. When former Congressman Tom Coburn got in the
race, it spoiled Inhofe’s plan. Coburn easily
won the Republican primary.
Third, Inhofe
wasn’t afraid to disagree. In 2010, when
earmarks were banned in the Senate, Coburn called earmarks nothing more than
re-election tokens. Inhofe said elimination
of earmarks was a phony issue. Coburn
said earmarks were the gateway drug to overspending. The GOP
Senate voted to eliminate earmarks in 2010(Remember the ‘bridge to nowhere’).
In February 2021, the Democrat controlled U.S.
House voted to bring back earmarks. In April
2021, the Senate followed their lead.
Inhofe and several other Republican Senators voted to bring earmarks
back. Coburn’s successor, Senator Lankford
said: “The problem is earmarks are one of the worse of the worst ways that
Congress spends taxpayer dollars. They
are often a misuse of funds and become a way to buy votes from other
legislators on bills they normally wouldn’t vote for.” Lankford voted no, Inhofe yes on bringing
them back.
The issue
of earmarks is a heavily debated topic by Republicans. Former President Trump favors earmarks. Most fiscal conservative Republicans oppose earmarks
for the reasons listed above.
Senator Inhofe will be missed. He was a stable, consistent, reliable voice for Oklahoma in Washington for 35 years. British statesman Benjamin Disraeli said, “the secret of success is constancy of purpose.” Jim Inhofe knew and remained focused on his purpose. Oklahomans were blessed to have Senator Inhofe represent them.
First of all, Steve, this is cute: "Holland is a fourth generation Oklahoman who grew up in Bartlesville and already has a website."
ReplyDeleteI, for one, was not one of the Oklahlmans who felt "blessed" to have Inhofe represent my state. Inhofe made himself a buffoon by bringing to the Capitol a sample of snow to seemingly disprove climate change. That is not a blessing to our state or its people. It's an embarrassment, and it falls in line with his other notions that climate change is a hoax. I can't believe I have to say this, but burning carbon via fossil fuels that release tons and tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere does in fact have a measurable effect on global climate. Decades of scientific research has come to this conclusion, and the ever disagreeable Inhofe bringing a small amount of snow to the Capitol does not invalidate any of that.
But hear me out. Self-awareness is not lost on me as I type this. I know that men of your age who are so adhered to their political beliefs aren't going to be persuaded to change their views based solely on a comment on a blog. There isn't a combination of words in the English language I can type out that will change your opinion on climate change in even the smallest degree, and I'd wager you take pride in that fact.
And this brings me to my real point, which is that old, set-in-their-ways people like you, Steve, don't see the world with as much political elasticity as the younger generations. People like you and Inhofe do not shape the country for future generations, but rather themselves. It's this short-sighted mindset that has encroached our political landscape and halted the potential progress we could be making today for the will of citizens who grew up in a different time.
In short, I'm glad to know that another old geezer is retiring from governing a country much younger than him.