Logrolling and Steamrolling

POSTED BY ARNOLD HAMILTON

Who would have guessed it?

The House’s mad scientist, Rep. Mike Reynolds, was right.

All session, the south Oklahoma City Republican warned that a tiny cabal would end up crafting the state budget – leaving the vast majority of lawmakers with a single, up or down vote on a nearly $7 billion spending blueprint.

No input. No give and take. It would be take it or leave it – period.

That’s what happened.

Only 54 hours after the package was first made public, a sharply-divided state House voted Wednesday to send the general appropriations bill to the governor, completing a warp-speed legislative “review” of the closed-door agreement.

The Senate went first – and quietly. On Tuesday, it voted in lockstep – all 24 Democrats and all 24 Republicans – to endorse the package.

Some House Democrats weren’t so compliant. They raised hell for three hours Wednesday, knowing all the while it was a fait accompli. The final vote was 84-16.

Even Reynolds rolled over and voted for it. He’s become such a pariah among his GOP colleagues he didn’t even bother to join them in caucus just moments before the bill was taken up.

It was a brilliant Republican budget strategy: Roll everything into one measure. Dare unhappy Democrats to vote against a package that included a sorely-needed $60 million supplemental appropriation for education, as well as pay raises for teachers, state employees and highway patrol troopers.

They all but taunted the Democrats during debate: House Appropriations Committee Chairman Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, and Rep. John Wright, R-Broken Arrow, offered thinly-veiled threats that “no” votes would be used to browbeat offending Democrats at election time.

Of course, Benge insisted he was doing no such thing: “I don’t put this in the form of a political threat.” He also said with a straight face – honest – that “this is the most open process I’ve ever been a part of.”

It’s fair to say this is not the first time in Oklahoma legislative history that the majority party rolled over its minority counterparts on a budget package [which, of course, means it was Democrats doing the “rolling” since they controlled the Legislature most of the 20th Century].

It’s also fair to point out that new House Speaker Lance Cargill launched this session promising that – unlike his hard-headed predecessor, Todd Hiett – both sides would at least be heard.

With the budget hijinks, he missed a golden opportunity to usher in a new day. He ended up with hard-feelings reminiscent of the short-lived Hiett regime. Was it hubris? Was it an overpowering desire to pay back Democrats for past disrespect? Was it a misplayed hand that will come back to haunt?

Cargill no doubt will argue that Democratic voices were at the table. And indeed they were. But they were voices from the Senate, where the 24-24 tie resulted in a power-sharing agreement this session.

The 44 House Democrats – representing about 1.5 million Oklahomans – were shut out.

Of course, so were most House Republicans.

When an emotional Rep. Jerry McPeak, D-Warner, asked for a show of hands from those who felt they had real input in the process, only about a half-dozen were raised – all Republicans.

“In my three years,” McPeak said, “this is by far the most closed I’ve seen it.” And “unfortunately,” he added, “the most adversarial I’ve seen it.”

Most Democrats who rose to speak against the package argued it would be more open and more transparent to separate the supplemental – or emergency – appropriations into separate bills, so lawmakers and the public could know more precisely how the money was being spent.

“At the outset we were promised open government – a brand new day,” said Rep. Al Lindley, D-Oklahoma City. “Either we were misinformed. We were not told the truth. I misinterpreted what was said. Or I missed the second memo.”

Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, sarcastically welcomed freshman lawmakers to the Oklahoma House, where “stuff [like the nearly $7 billion budget] just kind of falls out of the sky and lands on your desk.”

“It’s supposed to be open government,” he said, “but back door deals were made once again. It’s disappointing.”

There were two key votes on the budget package.

The first – on the Senate amendment that encompassed the spending blueprint – passed 60-40. All 40 “no” votes were Democrats. Four Democrats joined lock-step Republicans in voting for it – Rep. Wallace Collins of Norman, Rep. Scott Inman of Del City, Rep. Eric Proctor of Tulsa and Rep. Purcy Walker of Elk City.

The second – final passage of the budget – was approved 84-16. The warnings about how the vote could be “interpreted” during the next campaign were clearly heeded, as 24 Democrats peeled off and voted for it.

The 16 who opposed the closed-door process to the bitter end were: Rep. Scott BigHorse of Pawhuska, Rep. Ed Cannaday of Whitefield, Rep. Rebecca Hamilton of Oklahoma City, Rep. Ryan Kiesel of Seminole, Rep. Al Lindley of Oklahoma City, Rep. Jeannie McDaniel of Tulsa, Rep. Ryan McMullen of Burns Flat, Rep. Jerry McPeak of Warner, Rep. Danny Morgan of Prague, Rep. Richard Morrissette of Oklahoma City, Rep. Bill Nations of Norman, Rep. Anastasia Pittman of Oklahoma City, Rep. Brian Renegar of Hartshorne, Rep. Mike Shelton of Oklahoma City, Rep. Jabar Shumate of Tulsa and Rep. Dale Turner of Holdenville.