County Republican Chairman Alleges Violation of Constitution

Feb 01 2010 Published by Dr. Havel under Good government, Oklahoma Politics

Cleveland County Republican Party Chairman Bobby Cleveland is accusing state legislators of violating a Constitutional prohibition against giving public funds to private organizations.

On his blog, That’s Just Bob, Cleveland alleges that Republican leaders in the State Legislature are wrongly circumventing the law by appropriating state dollars to ACOG, which then takes that money and gives it to private companies and organizations such as the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas and the Jim Thorpe Association.  If the state were to give these organizations the money directly, it would violate the state constitution.  Cleveland believes their actions are similar to money laundering and asks why legislators are trying to hide the transactions through a third-party group.

Cleveland further alleges that certain legislators told him that Speaker Chris Benge threatened their committee assignments if they voted against the appropriations.

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House Republicans Report 2009 Accomplishments

Jun 10 2009 Published by admin under State Legislature

The Republican State House Committee (RSHC) sent the following report out today touting the 61-member strong caucus’ accomplishments this past legislative session.

Oklahoma’s 2009 legislative session ends: House Republicans continue wave of conservative reform

On Wednesday, May 27, the 2009 Oklahoma legislative session came to an end. This was the first session in state history in which both the House and Senate were led by Republicans, giving us a united front in the fight for conservative change.

Here are some key reforms that came out of Oklahoma’s Republican Legislature this year:

A Balanced Budget without a Tax Increase- Despite the economic downturn, House Speaker Chris Benge (R-Tulsa) and Budget Chairman Ken Miller (R-Edmond) helped compose a balanced state budget that leaves funding intact for critical services – roads, bridges, education, health care, public safety – without a tax increase or a rollback of the recent tax cuts!

Lawsuit Reform – This year’s historic lawsuit reform package, crafted in part by Rep. Dan Sullivan (R-Tulsa), limits the ability of trial attorneys to make frivolous claims and file class-action lawsuits, which result in job losses. It also eases the medical malpractice insurance burden on physicians, many of whom have left Oklahoma because of the financial strain.

Energy- With gas prices in flux, the energy reform package pushed by Speaker Chris Benge (R-Tulsa) provides numerous tax incentives for both citizens and business owners to use alternative energy sources. These include natural gas energy for cars, geothermal energy for homes, and wind energy for businesses.

Health Care- Once again, House Republicans used free-market solutions in this year’s health care reform package, authored by House Speaker Pro Tempore Kris Steele (R-Shawnee). The plan offers greater incentives for employers to provide health care insurance coverage for employees, as well as for individuals to pay for it themselves.

Pro-Life Reform – Since Republicans took the state House in 2004, Oklahoma has enacted pro-life reforms each year, and 2009 was no exception. Reps. Dan Sullivan (R-Tulsa), Pam Peterson (R-Tulsa) and others led the effort to outlaw abortions based on gender and to require better record-keeping for abortions in Oklahoma.

As they have for the past five years, House Republicans worked in 2009 to modernize Oklahoma’s state government, make efficient use of taxpayer dollars and cut out the waste.  Bringing common sense to state government isn’t easy – especially when it previously had not been the norm. But we are seeing true progress at our Oklahoma Capitol. With your help, we can keep it going.

The Republican State House Committeeis the main political arm of the Republican caucus of the House of Representatives.

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Session is Out, Let the Races Begin!

May 25 2009 Published by admin under Oklahoma Politics, State Legislature

election2010

With the end of session, several legislators have set their sights on higher offices.  Here’s a quick look at the announced candidates for various state offices that will be on the ballot in 2010 as well as the race for the next Republican leaders in the House and Senate.

Senator Randy Brogdon of Owasso is the only legislator to enter the Governors race so far.  Brogdon, who is widely considered to be the most conservative member of the Senate, has a solid voting record, including authoring this year’s resolution declaring the state’s sovereign immunity under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  But Brogdon’s ultra-conservatism also has put him at odds with the business community making it difficult for him to raise the campaign warchest necessary to be a competitve candidate against Mary Fallin.

On the Democratic side, former House member and current Lt. Governor Jari Askins has already begun her campaign for Governor, and current Attorney General Drew Edmondson (who has already raised nearly $500,000 and has not even announced his intentions yet) is rumored to be running.

Several legislators are eyeing the Lieutenant Governor’s seat, left open because of Jari Askins’s decision to run for Governor.  On the Democratic side are term-limited State Senator Kenneth Corn from LeFlore County (already announced he’s in) and State Representative John Carey from Durant.  Carey has indicated he’s going to run, but will make a formal announcement very soon.

On the Republican side, the field is already more crowded.  This past week term limited State Representative John Wright of Broken Arrow announced he’s a candidate.  Both State Senator Todd Lamb of Edmond and State Representative Colby Schwartz of Yukon are probably going to run and both have said they will make formal announcements this summer.  Given how close he came to winning in 2006, former House Speaker Todd Hiett of Kellyville, must not be counted out.  Other than helping the Oklahoma Republican Party and the Mary Fallin for Governor campaign raise money, Hiett has kept a pretty low profile, but should he enter the race, he would instantly become a front runner for the GOP nomination.

All other statewide offices (except one of the three Corporation Commissioners) will be on the ballot next year.  Among the Republican names being discussed for those seats are: Speaker Chris Benge, former Chickasha State Representative Susan Winchester, and former State Senator Owen Laughlin of Woodward for State Treasurer; former House staff attorney Jason Reese (he has already kicked off his campaign) and Mark Wayne Mullin, owner of Mullin Plumbing, (who has already begun raising money) in the race for Labor Commissioner, and Dr. Janet Baressi, former Co-Chair of the Achieving Classroom Excellence (ACE) Task Force that was created in 2007, for State Superintendent.

The Attorney General’srace seems to be drawing a lot of early interest on both sides.  On the Republican side are Sheldon Sperling, the current (though outgoing) U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District.  Sperling is the man who took down Gene Stipe and prosecuted him; Senate Pro-Tempore Glenn Coffee, State Senator Jonathan Nichols of Norman, Oklahoma City attorney Ryan Leonard  (who has already kicked off his campaign) and former Broken Arrow State Senator Scott Pruitt.

Democratic State Senator Tom Adelson of Tulsa is considering a run for Attorney General should Edmondson not seek reelection.  And there’s speculation that Treasurer Scott Meacham, who is a close friend of Governor Henry and has done a good job of appearing to be a “pro-business Democrat” is looking at this race.  Okiepundit.com has learned that Meacham’s political team has been doing work for Edmondson’s campaign, a good indication that he will run for Edmondson’s vacated position.

In the race for the 5th Congressional District, State Representative Mike Thompson of Oklahoma City and former State Representative Kevin Calvey have both already kicked off their campaigns.  Other Republicans rumored to be looking at that race are State Senator Clark Jolley of Edmond, Corporation Commissioner Jeff Cloud, and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who lost to Mary Fallin in the 2006 Primary run-off.

There are also two big races inside the Capitol – the race to be the next Senate President Pro-Tempore and Speaker of the House.  Both men who hold those positions right now, Glenn Coffee and Chris Benge, are term limited in 2010.

The Speaker’s race, much to the chagrin of some in the Republican caucus, has already begun with members Kris Steele and Ken Miller both seeking to be the next Speaker.  House caucus rules say that the election cannot be held until sometime between September and December this year – an attempt to keep the internal politicking from interrupting the unity of the caucus – but Rep. Kris Steele and his supporters were passing around pledge cards during this session.  Rep. Ken Miller has taken a different approach, focusing on his duties as Chariman of the Appropriations and Budget Committee during this session and waiting until the interim to begin gathering his support.  Both Steele and Miller are leaders within the caucus and that race will probably be as close as previous races for Speaker have been in the recent past.

Over in the Senate, no real race has begun yet as perhaps Republican Senators are waiting to see who in their caucus ends up running for state wide and Congressional positions. Should Todd Lamb opt not to run for Lt. Governor, he may be considered a strong choice to replace Coffee as President Pro-Tempore.  Lamb currently has the number 2 postion in the Senate – Floor Leader.  Other potential candidates are Senator Brian Bingman of Sapulpa and Senator Clark Jolley of Edmond.

There is still a lot of time left before November 2010 and there will surely be many additions and maybe some subtractions to the list of candidates above.

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Legislative Report Card for 2009 Session

May 24 2009 Published by admin under State Legislature

The 2009 Legislative Session is over and its time to issue the report card.

In a year when coventional wisdom would say that the budget should dominate the headlines, the Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate did a masterful job at diverting attention away from the budget (and the cuts) and keeping the focus on Republican agenda items like voter ID and tort reform.

Legislative budget leaders Rep. Ken Miller and Sen. Mike Johnson get high marks for putting together a budget that avoided dipping into the Rainy Day Fund and didn’t rely on fee increaes or raising taxes.

This was the year of the “R” – R for Republican leadership in the Seante for the first time in state history.  And R for Referendum, as Republicans repeatedly made an end run around Governor Henry’s veto pen by sending at least 5 high profile measures to a state-wide voter referendum.  Those include: limiting the terms of statewide elected officials, making English the state’s official language, voter ID requirements, requiring Senate confirmation of workers’ compensation judges, and declaring the state’s sovereign immunity under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The question left to be resolved is what impact will these referendums have on the other 2010 ballot items.  Most believe that they could really help the GOP, however, there is a legitimate concern that at least one or more of the referendums could lead to out of state, liberal special intetrest groups pouring money and resources in Oklahoma in 2010 to defeat them and in the process hurt Republicans that are on the ballot.

Reform was also on the agenda this session.  Major reforms were advanced in the areas of civil justice (lawsuits) and primary/secondary education.  These reforms were not easily passed, witha compromise reached on lawsuit or tort reform in the final days of session.  House Bill 1603, a comprehensive lawsuit reform passed with bi-partisan support and brings to an end years of battling bewtween the trial bar and the chambers of commerce and medical profession. The other major legal reform was the resolution previously mentioned sending to a vote of the people a requirement of Senate confirmation of workers’ compensation judges.

Republicans also passed reforms in the state’s education system.  Representative Jeff Hickman authored a new law allowing schools to calculate a school year in hours instead of days.   Hickman’s bill make its easier for schools to make up days students miss for bad weather – and avoid situations like the one we face this week where students return for two more days of school after Memorial Day.  Another education reform bill, Senate Bill 222 written by Senator Clark Jolley and Rep. Tad jones, provides transparency and accountability in the testing and ranking of student achievement.  It is a compromise bill to SB 1111, which was vetoed by Governor Henry. SB 222 establishes a task force which will compare Oklahoma’s standards with those of higher performing states and improve the rigor of higher performing students.

Speaker Chris Benge and House leaders ran a tight ship – normally the House has been the more volatile of the 2 chambers, but other than constant whining from House liberals on alledged House Rules infractions, the House was pretty tame compared to the Senate, where the Democrats got to experience for the first time in state history what life is like to be the minority party.

The Senate Democrats did not take being out of power too kindly and their frustration culminated on what was supposed to be the last day of Session when they tied up Senate Bill 980 (creating a Chief Information Officer to increase efficiency and better secure citizens’ private data from theft)for 4 hours and forced the Senate to come back the next week for a $12,000 extra day of session.

Pro-TemporeGlenn Coffee is to be commended for taking the heat from the opposition and charging ahead with his party’s agenda.  He spent a considerable amount of political capital, and in at least one case his captial came up short -his Resolution sending to a vote of the people a cap on attorney fees failed when 3 Republicans joined all Democrats in opposition to the bill, effectively killing it at least until after 2010.
“Needs Improvement”- House Republicans took the bait and let the Governor and the Flaming Lips get the better of them after the House failed to approve a resolution recognizing “Do You Realize” by the Lips as the state’s official rock song.  Some Republicans were upset that one of the band members wore a Communist hammer and sickle t-shirt to the Capitol and by the band’s lead singer dropping the “F-bomb” at a public ceremony naming an alley in Bricktown after them. So they didn’t pass the bill.   Anyone who knows the Lips could have seen what was coming. Governor Henry promptly signed an executive order recognizing the Flaming Lips’s song as the official rock song and signed it at a big ceremony at the Oklahoma History Center where all the state’s drive by media joined a hundred or so rock fans for a festivity/finger pointing at those “closed minded” Republicans. For a group that thrives on controversy and quirkiness, the Flaming Lips could not have asked for a better set up.

Final Comments - Normally the “off-year” sees less controversy than the election year session.  But this “off-year” was different.  There were plenty of fireworks and fodder for politicos and casual observers alike.  And hardly any of it involved the budget (perhaps that will change next year as the budget picture may worsen).  It leaves okiepundit.com to wonder, what will the Legislature do to top it next year?

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