POSTED BY ARNOLD HAMILTON
So much for Speaker Chris Benge's more open, collegial House.
The wingnut wing of the Republican caucus is firmly in control once again, stifling debate with impunity and force-feeding its far-out legislative agenda with parliamentary trickery.
The kinder, gentler House that Benge promised collapsed in a Democratic walkout today, all 44 minority-party members showing their disgust with Republican heavy-handedness that House Minority Leader Danny Morgan said "borders on a dictatorship."
Somewhere, former GOP Speakers Todd Hiett and Lance Cargill must be smiling.
The walkout came the morning after two contentious committee meetings. Without allowing discussion, Republicans in the House Judiciary and Public Safety Committee substituted a 133-page "tort reform" package for a four-page rural hospital bill and rejected a measure in the House Economic Development and Financial Services Commitee that would have required insurance companies to cover costs related to autism.
It also came one week after Rep. Guy Liebmann, R-OKC, chairman of the General Government and Transportation Committee, refused to allow Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith to speak in opposition to the wingnuts' English-only initiative.
House Democrats have two beefs, both legitimate.
First, not only is the general public -- at the whim of the committee chair -- being denied the right to speak in "public" committee hearings, but legislators themselves are being silenced, thwarted from asking questions or debating issues. Bottom line: Duly elected representatives are being prevented -- by fiat -- from carrying out their official duties.
Second, House rules are set up so that GOP chairs are now the sole arbiters of whether amendments are germane to specific legislation. House rules are supposed to prohibit rolling separate and discrete subjects into a single piece of legislation. When an amendment is submitted on the House floor, lawmakers can challenge whether it is germane. If the speaker rules it is, a lawmaker -- with the support of 15 others -- can demand the entire House vote on the matter. If an amendment is submitted in committee, however, the chair decides whether it is germane -- a ruling that cannot be appealed in committee or later on the House floor.
In the Judiciary Committee, Chairman Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, ruled the tort reform language was germane to the rural hospital bill. Never mind that civil procedure is found in an entirely different section of Oklahoma law. Tort reform -- essentially locking the courthouse door to ordinary Oklahomans who have been wronged -- is a Holy Grail for the reactionary right. Duncan marched in lockstep, basically ruling it was germane because he said so.
Don't be misled into thinking this is just so much inside baseball, a typical parliamentary skirmish between partisans. What is taking place in some House committees meets the definition of fascism.
House Democratic leaders met with Benge to discuss the matter, asking for specific rules changes to ensure democracy is not stifled. Benge promised an answer by Monday.
Don't hold your breath that anything will change. Benge is a captive of the House's reactionary right, the old Hiett-Cargill cabal that is so convinced of the righteousness of their cause that they're willing to steamroll anybody or anything in their path, including children with autism.
The sad thing is, Benge is a nice guy. A conservative, yes. But not mean-spirited. He's always been willing to let opponents be heard. And unlike some of his wingnut colleagues, he doesn't think he's smarter than everybody else or that he's on a religious crusade to remake Oklahoma in what he considers to be God's image.
Benge, though, is on the hot seat. He's trying to hold together a fractured caucus, currently driven by about three-dozen of the loudest, most extreme rightwingers in recent memory.
Most House speakers rule with an iron fist. The committee chairs do what the speaker commands -- or else. Benge meekly demurs to his committee chairs, saying repeatedly they're given "certain discretion" in conducting committee business.
How Benge handles this crisis will determine whether he's a token, caretaker speaker -- or a speaker to remember.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Religious Bigotry At Its Worst
BY JAMES L. STOVALL
State Rep. Sally Kern recently received some unwanted attention for herself when a recording of an anti-gay speech she gave was posted on YouTube.
Among a wide range of ridiculous statements she made, she stated that homosexuality is a greater threat to our nation than terrorism. She also stated that our nation will never survive if we continue to display tolerance toward gay people.
While I respect Rep. Kern’s right to express her opinion, I want to disagree with her in the strongest possible terms.
I also want to call to her attention that words do hurt people. Words spoken in a public setting by an elected representative especially have very real consequences. Words often contribute to a spirit of intolerance that can strengthen institutionalized discrimination and even lead to acts of violence.
MUTUAL RESPECT EQUALS STRENGTH
When we, as a community, learn to respect one another and live with our differences, we become stronger. Tolerance and a spirit of inclusiveness do not threaten our nation one bit.
The fact that gay people are coming out in growing numbers and being honest about their sexual orientation is a very positive development.
The fact that gay people are participating in the political process and asking for the basic human rights [like marriage] that others enjoy is an important step toward freedom and equality in our country.
In her speech, Sally Kern compares gay people to terrorists. We know what the U.S. has done to respond to the threat presented by terrorism. We have gone to war. We have killed suspected terrorists at every opportunity. We have tortured suspects and locked them up for years without benefit of a trial or any legal process or representation.
So what strategies does Rep. Kern suggest about an even greater threat?
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE THREAT?
She describes a small town in Arkansas where gay people have been elected to the city council. You may now gasp in horror. What she doesn’t explain is exactly what difference it has made [other than bringing in tourists]. Have they thrown out the Constitution? Have they organized forced indoctrination sessions among the citizens? What is the threat that she sees?
She says that gay people have violated God’s word. Once again she is wrong. She uses religion to stir up fears and hatred.
Some of my tolerant friends are of the opinion that all religions are good in their own way. Sure everyone’s beliefs are different but does it all really matter in the end. As they say: “Whatever floats your boat.” Various forms of religion seems to work for different people so who am I to judge?
Given the fact that many people have gone to war over trivial differences in dogma, such a view has some credence.
KERN’S COMMENTS HARDLY INNOCENT
I want to suggest that, like Rep Kern’s comments, religion is not is not nearly as innocent as some would suggest.
The world will not come to an end as a result of her comments but if many others express a similar opinion and go unchallenged then the groundwork is laid for ignorant public policy.
Her comments are an example of bad religion. Bad religion is a system of belief that pulls us farther apart instead of puling us together. Bad religion pits “us” against “them.” It often suggests that those who are different from us are bad and those like us are good.
Religion can draw us into an experience of the sacred depths of life or it can lead to a kind of narrow-minded bigotry.
Religion can lead us to a sense of gratitude and wonder for life as it really is or it can make us intolerant of those we don’t understand.
Religion can serve to facilitate an escape from our world [that many believe to be sacred and created by God] or it can lead us to accept others as they are.
Religion may call us to fully embrace and live our own authentic self or it can lead us away from reality.
– The author is ordained in the United Church of Christ and is an Associate Minister at Church of the Open Arms in Oklahoma City
State Rep. Sally Kern recently received some unwanted attention for herself when a recording of an anti-gay speech she gave was posted on YouTube.
Among a wide range of ridiculous statements she made, she stated that homosexuality is a greater threat to our nation than terrorism. She also stated that our nation will never survive if we continue to display tolerance toward gay people.
While I respect Rep. Kern’s right to express her opinion, I want to disagree with her in the strongest possible terms.
I also want to call to her attention that words do hurt people. Words spoken in a public setting by an elected representative especially have very real consequences. Words often contribute to a spirit of intolerance that can strengthen institutionalized discrimination and even lead to acts of violence.
MUTUAL RESPECT EQUALS STRENGTH
When we, as a community, learn to respect one another and live with our differences, we become stronger. Tolerance and a spirit of inclusiveness do not threaten our nation one bit.
The fact that gay people are coming out in growing numbers and being honest about their sexual orientation is a very positive development.
The fact that gay people are participating in the political process and asking for the basic human rights [like marriage] that others enjoy is an important step toward freedom and equality in our country.
In her speech, Sally Kern compares gay people to terrorists. We know what the U.S. has done to respond to the threat presented by terrorism. We have gone to war. We have killed suspected terrorists at every opportunity. We have tortured suspects and locked them up for years without benefit of a trial or any legal process or representation.
So what strategies does Rep. Kern suggest about an even greater threat?
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE THREAT?
She describes a small town in Arkansas where gay people have been elected to the city council. You may now gasp in horror. What she doesn’t explain is exactly what difference it has made [other than bringing in tourists]. Have they thrown out the Constitution? Have they organized forced indoctrination sessions among the citizens? What is the threat that she sees?
She says that gay people have violated God’s word. Once again she is wrong. She uses religion to stir up fears and hatred.
Some of my tolerant friends are of the opinion that all religions are good in their own way. Sure everyone’s beliefs are different but does it all really matter in the end. As they say: “Whatever floats your boat.” Various forms of religion seems to work for different people so who am I to judge?
Given the fact that many people have gone to war over trivial differences in dogma, such a view has some credence.
KERN’S COMMENTS HARDLY INNOCENT
I want to suggest that, like Rep Kern’s comments, religion is not is not nearly as innocent as some would suggest.
The world will not come to an end as a result of her comments but if many others express a similar opinion and go unchallenged then the groundwork is laid for ignorant public policy.
Her comments are an example of bad religion. Bad religion is a system of belief that pulls us farther apart instead of puling us together. Bad religion pits “us” against “them.” It often suggests that those who are different from us are bad and those like us are good.
Religion can draw us into an experience of the sacred depths of life or it can lead to a kind of narrow-minded bigotry.
Religion can lead us to a sense of gratitude and wonder for life as it really is or it can make us intolerant of those we don’t understand.
Religion can serve to facilitate an escape from our world [that many believe to be sacred and created by God] or it can lead us to accept others as they are.
Religion may call us to fully embrace and live our own authentic self or it can lead us away from reality.
– The author is ordained in the United Church of Christ and is an Associate Minister at Church of the Open Arms in Oklahoma City
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Feasting At The Public Trough
BY JOHN PARKER
As the vote approaches on whether taxpayers should heartily approve a subsidy for some of Oklahoma’s wealthiest citizens, I hope voters will read Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense [and Stick You with the Bill].
The new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston outlines how supposedly free-market enterprises, such as Bass Pro and sports teams, routinely seek taxpayers’ money to enrich themselves at the expense of their nonsubsidized competitors and the common good.
The highly researched book exposes how America’s wealthy elite is phenomenally successful in getting voters, and our elected representatives, to use our tax money to make them richer.
Have no illusions: On March 4, you’ll be asked to voluntarily give up a portion of your money to support this policy.
With a penny tax that will raise an estimated $121 million, here’s what some of Oklahoma City’s richest “success” stories are proposing: Hand over one-cent for every dollar you spend for 15 months, or Oklahoma City will not get an NBA team.
Just who is trying to sell you this?
Forbes magazine pegs part team-owner Aubrey McClendon’s oil fortune at $1.5 billion. By himself, not to mention the other tycoon team owners, McClendon could devote a paltry 10% of that wealth [$150 million] to renovate Ford Center and easily arrange sweetheart profits rubber-stamped by his fellow owners and an all-too-accomodating City Hall.
Instead, Oklahoma’s “best and brightest” are taking the low and lazy road.
Many of America’s wealthy elite, as Johnston points out, can’t resist “corporate socialism” by using their money to divert the people’s taxing power for their personal gain.
The free and economically self-destructive ride they take is immoral; it doesn’t follow Adam Smith’s prescriptions for thriving capitalism; but it sure is profitable for the wealthy few who covet greed over using our taxes to help the less fortunate – the poor, ill, elderly and children who need our help.
The Sonics owners are counting on Oklahomans to be gullible this March. They do not want you to know about propaganda-weary and victimized American cities that were led down the rosy path to rip-offs of their tax money.
They don’t want you to know about the $150 million Nationwide Arena, which opened in 2000 in Columbus, Ohio – funded completely by private money [and there are more].
After voters rejected welfare for the rich in 1997, two profitable private companies stepped in – after the bluff was blown – and funded a lucrative arena to their profit.
If citizens agree to tax themselves for the rich, the Sonics owners will be at least $121 million richer because they got you to pay for overhead costs that all the other nonsubsidized businesses in Oklahoma pay for by themselves.
So, think: As a voter, you’ll end up March 4 with a blank ballot in that private space at the precinct. No one will be looking at how you vote.
You know an NBA team would be really cool for Oklahoma City. You also know people vastly richer than you want to put that team here, and they can make it happen with their own money. As owner McClendon said, in a remark that earned him a $250,000 NBA fine, their plan was to bring the team to OKC all along.
Most of all, you know those rich people aren’t offering anything near a penny of their own dollars – unless it benefits their bank account – to make your life, or that of your children, any better with this tax. They’re saying $121 million is better spent on NBA salaries and their profits than your neighborhood school.
Then think about that people you’re giving your money to: Would a quarter-of-a-million-dollar fine be a big deal to you?
If not, why are you helping people who think it’s not?
– The author is a former journalist for the Oklahoma Gazette and the Oklahoman. He and his wife live in unincorporated Fairwood, WA, near Seattle.
As the vote approaches on whether taxpayers should heartily approve a subsidy for some of Oklahoma’s wealthiest citizens, I hope voters will read Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense [and Stick You with the Bill].
The new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston outlines how supposedly free-market enterprises, such as Bass Pro and sports teams, routinely seek taxpayers’ money to enrich themselves at the expense of their nonsubsidized competitors and the common good.
The highly researched book exposes how America’s wealthy elite is phenomenally successful in getting voters, and our elected representatives, to use our tax money to make them richer.
Have no illusions: On March 4, you’ll be asked to voluntarily give up a portion of your money to support this policy.
With a penny tax that will raise an estimated $121 million, here’s what some of Oklahoma City’s richest “success” stories are proposing: Hand over one-cent for every dollar you spend for 15 months, or Oklahoma City will not get an NBA team.
Just who is trying to sell you this?
Forbes magazine pegs part team-owner Aubrey McClendon’s oil fortune at $1.5 billion. By himself, not to mention the other tycoon team owners, McClendon could devote a paltry 10% of that wealth [$150 million] to renovate Ford Center and easily arrange sweetheart profits rubber-stamped by his fellow owners and an all-too-accomodating City Hall.
Instead, Oklahoma’s “best and brightest” are taking the low and lazy road.
Many of America’s wealthy elite, as Johnston points out, can’t resist “corporate socialism” by using their money to divert the people’s taxing power for their personal gain.
The free and economically self-destructive ride they take is immoral; it doesn’t follow Adam Smith’s prescriptions for thriving capitalism; but it sure is profitable for the wealthy few who covet greed over using our taxes to help the less fortunate – the poor, ill, elderly and children who need our help.
The Sonics owners are counting on Oklahomans to be gullible this March. They do not want you to know about propaganda-weary and victimized American cities that were led down the rosy path to rip-offs of their tax money.
They don’t want you to know about the $150 million Nationwide Arena, which opened in 2000 in Columbus, Ohio – funded completely by private money [and there are more].
After voters rejected welfare for the rich in 1997, two profitable private companies stepped in – after the bluff was blown – and funded a lucrative arena to their profit.
If citizens agree to tax themselves for the rich, the Sonics owners will be at least $121 million richer because they got you to pay for overhead costs that all the other nonsubsidized businesses in Oklahoma pay for by themselves.
So, think: As a voter, you’ll end up March 4 with a blank ballot in that private space at the precinct. No one will be looking at how you vote.
You know an NBA team would be really cool for Oklahoma City. You also know people vastly richer than you want to put that team here, and they can make it happen with their own money. As owner McClendon said, in a remark that earned him a $250,000 NBA fine, their plan was to bring the team to OKC all along.
Most of all, you know those rich people aren’t offering anything near a penny of their own dollars – unless it benefits their bank account – to make your life, or that of your children, any better with this tax. They’re saying $121 million is better spent on NBA salaries and their profits than your neighborhood school.
Then think about that people you’re giving your money to: Would a quarter-of-a-million-dollar fine be a big deal to you?
If not, why are you helping people who think it’s not?
– The author is a former journalist for the Oklahoma Gazette and the Oklahoman. He and his wife live in unincorporated Fairwood, WA, near Seattle.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Third World
POSTED BY ARNOLD HAMILTON
Oklahoma's bridges are rated the nation's worst. Teacher salaries are languishing near the 50-state bottom. Smaller class sizes are but a distant memory. The state's correctional facilities are judged in a new performance audit to be the most decrepit in America...
Where to begin tackling Oklahoma's problems?
Republican legislative leaders have an idea: cut taxes even more.
The state will have but $32 million in extra money to spend this legislative session -- out of a $7 billion-plus budget. Corrections alone needs at least $30 million.
Yet House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, told a Tulsa audience Tuesday that "it's proper to keep tax cuts on the table."
Senate Republicans joined the chorus Wednesday when unveiling their 2008 legislative agenda.
Isn't it time for some new material?
Many of today's GOP lawmakers are unabashed government haters. They are tickled pink that $700 million in tax cuts in recent years already is shrinking the state's financial bottom line.
They are convinced government is a nest of thieves and profligate spenders. Their belief is so strong they hired an outside firm to conduct an independent "performance audit" of the state's troubled prison system. They just knew millions of dollars were being wasted.
They are still wiping the egg off their faces from the results: MGT of America Inc. found the prison system is mostly lean, well-managed ... and grossly underfunded.
Cargill argues tax cuts remain an appropriate topic because there is $300 million or so in new revenue this year. It's not clear where he came up with that figure, but whatever the amount, much already is committed to spending on roads/bridges and on the state's successful college scholarship program.
Senate Co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee said he hopes eventually to get Oklahoma's income tax rate [currently at 5.5%] down to 3% or 3.5%.
To their credit, Coffee and Senate Republicans at least say they want to take a hard look at Oklahoma's laundry list of special interest tax breaks and tax incentives as a way to offset the lost income tax revenue.
We've long opposed corporate welfare. Example: We don't think it's right the state's media are tax exempt while mothers pay sales tax on milk for their babies.
Oklahoma's needs are great. Talk of more tax cuts -- especially with the nation's economy slowing -- is nothing but political pandering. It's time to invest in the state and its future, not accelerate a slide into Third World status.
A year ago, Republican lawmakers prescribed a new personal finance course for Oklahoma high school students. Too many don't know the first thing about balancing a checkbook or managing credit cards.
Physician, heal thyself.
Oklahoma's bridges are rated the nation's worst. Teacher salaries are languishing near the 50-state bottom. Smaller class sizes are but a distant memory. The state's correctional facilities are judged in a new performance audit to be the most decrepit in America...
Where to begin tackling Oklahoma's problems?
Republican legislative leaders have an idea: cut taxes even more.
The state will have but $32 million in extra money to spend this legislative session -- out of a $7 billion-plus budget. Corrections alone needs at least $30 million.
Yet House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, told a Tulsa audience Tuesday that "it's proper to keep tax cuts on the table."
Senate Republicans joined the chorus Wednesday when unveiling their 2008 legislative agenda.
Isn't it time for some new material?
Many of today's GOP lawmakers are unabashed government haters. They are tickled pink that $700 million in tax cuts in recent years already is shrinking the state's financial bottom line.
They are convinced government is a nest of thieves and profligate spenders. Their belief is so strong they hired an outside firm to conduct an independent "performance audit" of the state's troubled prison system. They just knew millions of dollars were being wasted.
They are still wiping the egg off their faces from the results: MGT of America Inc. found the prison system is mostly lean, well-managed ... and grossly underfunded.
Cargill argues tax cuts remain an appropriate topic because there is $300 million or so in new revenue this year. It's not clear where he came up with that figure, but whatever the amount, much already is committed to spending on roads/bridges and on the state's successful college scholarship program.
Senate Co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee said he hopes eventually to get Oklahoma's income tax rate [currently at 5.5%] down to 3% or 3.5%.
To their credit, Coffee and Senate Republicans at least say they want to take a hard look at Oklahoma's laundry list of special interest tax breaks and tax incentives as a way to offset the lost income tax revenue.
We've long opposed corporate welfare. Example: We don't think it's right the state's media are tax exempt while mothers pay sales tax on milk for their babies.
Oklahoma's needs are great. Talk of more tax cuts -- especially with the nation's economy slowing -- is nothing but political pandering. It's time to invest in the state and its future, not accelerate a slide into Third World status.
A year ago, Republican lawmakers prescribed a new personal finance course for Oklahoma high school students. Too many don't know the first thing about balancing a checkbook or managing credit cards.
Physician, heal thyself.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The Enemy?
POSTED BY FROSTY TROY
The Center for Global Development recently released data showing the United States is the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter, releasing 2.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Many governors are recognizing the seriousness of the U.S. emissions problem and are frustrated with the slow progress of legislation in Washington on energy and global warming.
Several governors have created regional agreements to cap greenhouse gases and are engaged in a concerted lobbying effort to prod Congress to act.
Midwestern states have jointly agreed to reduce carbon emissions, following a meeting of 31 states who decided to measure and jointly track greenhouse gas emissions.
The globe is polluted while the politicians in Washington piddle.
The Center for Global Development recently released data showing the United States is the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter, releasing 2.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Many governors are recognizing the seriousness of the U.S. emissions problem and are frustrated with the slow progress of legislation in Washington on energy and global warming.
Several governors have created regional agreements to cap greenhouse gases and are engaged in a concerted lobbying effort to prod Congress to act.
Midwestern states have jointly agreed to reduce carbon emissions, following a meeting of 31 states who decided to measure and jointly track greenhouse gas emissions.
The globe is polluted while the politicians in Washington piddle.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Much More
POSTED BY FROSTY TROY
The term "teacher union leader" typically evokes a hard-charging labor activist who shares an adversarial relationship with the school district, is focused solely on protecting members' bread-and-butter interests, and flees from phrases like "school reform."
But a new report based largely on interviews with 30 local union presidents who each have spent less than eight years in office paints an evolved picture of leaders who are often involved in collaborative relationships with their school superintendents.
They have to work together constantly to balance the needs of a new generation of teachers with the needs of older members.
They see the importance of framing arguments for improved salaries and working conditions within the context of improved schools and building a better teaching force.
The unprecedented demands for evidence of student success under state and federal accountability laws have changed the mix.
In this new atmosphere, industrial-style bargaining, which pits one side against the other, is of little use in solving different problems or developing new programs.
There are also challenges from within. Today's union leaders deal with two very different groups of members -- veterans who want to preserve traditional approaches to pay and protections, and new teachers who demand strong support from unions in the first years of teaching, and ongoing training, as well as innovations in pay.
The term "teacher union leader" typically evokes a hard-charging labor activist who shares an adversarial relationship with the school district, is focused solely on protecting members' bread-and-butter interests, and flees from phrases like "school reform."
But a new report based largely on interviews with 30 local union presidents who each have spent less than eight years in office paints an evolved picture of leaders who are often involved in collaborative relationships with their school superintendents.
They have to work together constantly to balance the needs of a new generation of teachers with the needs of older members.
They see the importance of framing arguments for improved salaries and working conditions within the context of improved schools and building a better teaching force.
The unprecedented demands for evidence of student success under state and federal accountability laws have changed the mix.
In this new atmosphere, industrial-style bargaining, which pits one side against the other, is of little use in solving different problems or developing new programs.
There are also challenges from within. Today's union leaders deal with two very different groups of members -- veterans who want to preserve traditional approaches to pay and protections, and new teachers who demand strong support from unions in the first years of teaching, and ongoing training, as well as innovations in pay.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The Education of Jeff McMahan
POSTED BY ARNOLD HAMILTON
Democrat Jeff McMahan won the only two political races he ever ran – both for state auditor and inspector. Both times he defeated Republican Gary Jones, a former Comanche County commissioner who now serves as the state GOP chairman.
The 2002 and 2006 campaigns were hard-hitting, personal and bitter.
In many ways, the feud is as intense now as it was then.
Jones doesn’t parse his words: He is convinced McMahan is crooked and deserves to be prosecuted. He’s worked tirelessly to tie McMahan to a straw donor scheme involving former longtime state Sen. Gene Stipe. And he’s accused McMahan of being bought by abstractors tied to Stipe and his estranged business partner Steve Phipps.
McMahan says Jones has levied 511 allegations against him so far – all with one goal: Drumming McMahan out of office in hopes it will help Jones win it.
“This comes from a guy … twice defeated by me,” McMahan said, “and he’s still bitter.”
Jones says McMahan’s only hope is to claim he’s the victim of a vendetta because he can’t refute the facts.
In a recent interview in his first-floor state Capitol office, McMahan discussed his on-going battle with Jones and the negative headlines that have dogged his first 4½ years in office.
On Jones’ accusations against him: “They [political opponents] can say anything and they’re not liable. That’s the real sad part about it. They can say anything they want to say about you and they don’t have to be accountable.
“But you know, that’s what scares me about him in this position [auditor]. He lobs those allegations and bombs out with no supporting documentation. What would keep him from doing that to a director of a state agency or a school superintendent? He could hurt a lot of innocent people, would be my concern, if he were sitting in this chair, just because he doesn’t check things out very well.”
On media coverage that links him to straw donors, junkets, failed business ventures and federal investigations: “They’re doing their job. I disagree with it, but they’re doing their job.
“I would hope they would put themselves in the role of being the auditor: We get allegations every day on someone violating the public’s trust, and before we throw it out there to you guys [media], we go check it out – we do an audit – and try to gather up supporting documents.
“And until we’re finished gathering those supporting documents, you won’t hear from us about that issue.
“I would just ask the citizens to play our role a little bit – check it out before they believe anything that comes out of his [Jones’] mouth.”
On his relationship with Steve Phipps, the Kiowa abstractor who recently pleaded guilty to a federal mail fraud count in an investigation of a kickback scheme involving state lawmakers: “I met Mr. Phipps in ’02, the year I was running, when Mr. Scott [former state Auditor Clifton Scott] introduced me to him, and he seemed like a very intelligent man. Never thought he would be doing anything that would contrary to state law.
“He’s never asked me for anything, any favors or anything of that nature.
“I went fishing with him, of course … I went with him and Clif and literally thought that Clif had paid for that trip and found out the day after checking into it, Clif had gotten his checkbook out to pay for it, and Steve had already paid for it. Bonehead decision.”
On his primary job – to ensure tax dollars are spent properly: “That’s what we’ve tried to do. Unfortunately, we’ve stepped on some toes. We’ve stepped on some toes on both sides of the political aisle. But I grew up as a Democrat that tries to choose to do the right thing, regardless, especially in this position.”
On the state motor vehicle audit that identified more than $20 million in potential savings: “When we’re putting our mentally ill out of the streets or they’re ending up in our county jails, and we’re not taking care of our elderly in the nursing homes, but yet we can drive nice suburbans or nice four-door diesel trucks to the state Capitol and back home every day, something’s wrong with that picture. It was a common sense issue.”
On state Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma City, introducing a resolution demanding McMahan step aside because of the allegations: “I actually went to see him. He wouldn’t come off the House floor. I sat up there for quite a while and he wouldn’t come out.”
[He said Dank only agreed to meet him later in the office of – and presence of – state state Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa. Dank’s resolution went nowhere in the GOP dominated state House.]
On whether he thinks Jones ever will leave him alone: “It’s an obsession. It’s something I don’t have. It’s something I don’t understand. I don’t think Gary Jones is going away. I think there are a lot of things in the future that may pop up and bite him.
“I think if you give someone like that enough rope, they’ll hang themselves. He can only hurt so many people before somebody calls his hand.
“I could get caught up in a cat fight with him everyday. Who’s that helping? We’re going to continue to do our job. We’re going to keep uncovering fraud, waste and abuse and we’re going to keep receiving national recognition. I think it’s good for Oklahoma. It’s good for our staff.
“Bottom line, I’ll have a record to run on, and it’s going to be good.”
For the full story on Jeff McMahan’s fight for political survival, see “McMahan Besieged: Auditor’s Political Education” on the cover of the July 10/25 issue of The Oklahoma Observer.
Democrat Jeff McMahan won the only two political races he ever ran – both for state auditor and inspector. Both times he defeated Republican Gary Jones, a former Comanche County commissioner who now serves as the state GOP chairman.
The 2002 and 2006 campaigns were hard-hitting, personal and bitter.
In many ways, the feud is as intense now as it was then.
Jones doesn’t parse his words: He is convinced McMahan is crooked and deserves to be prosecuted. He’s worked tirelessly to tie McMahan to a straw donor scheme involving former longtime state Sen. Gene Stipe. And he’s accused McMahan of being bought by abstractors tied to Stipe and his estranged business partner Steve Phipps.
McMahan says Jones has levied 511 allegations against him so far – all with one goal: Drumming McMahan out of office in hopes it will help Jones win it.
“This comes from a guy … twice defeated by me,” McMahan said, “and he’s still bitter.”
Jones says McMahan’s only hope is to claim he’s the victim of a vendetta because he can’t refute the facts.
In a recent interview in his first-floor state Capitol office, McMahan discussed his on-going battle with Jones and the negative headlines that have dogged his first 4½ years in office.
On Jones’ accusations against him: “They [political opponents] can say anything and they’re not liable. That’s the real sad part about it. They can say anything they want to say about you and they don’t have to be accountable.
“But you know, that’s what scares me about him in this position [auditor]. He lobs those allegations and bombs out with no supporting documentation. What would keep him from doing that to a director of a state agency or a school superintendent? He could hurt a lot of innocent people, would be my concern, if he were sitting in this chair, just because he doesn’t check things out very well.”
On media coverage that links him to straw donors, junkets, failed business ventures and federal investigations: “They’re doing their job. I disagree with it, but they’re doing their job.
“I would hope they would put themselves in the role of being the auditor: We get allegations every day on someone violating the public’s trust, and before we throw it out there to you guys [media], we go check it out – we do an audit – and try to gather up supporting documents.
“And until we’re finished gathering those supporting documents, you won’t hear from us about that issue.
“I would just ask the citizens to play our role a little bit – check it out before they believe anything that comes out of his [Jones’] mouth.”
On his relationship with Steve Phipps, the Kiowa abstractor who recently pleaded guilty to a federal mail fraud count in an investigation of a kickback scheme involving state lawmakers: “I met Mr. Phipps in ’02, the year I was running, when Mr. Scott [former state Auditor Clifton Scott] introduced me to him, and he seemed like a very intelligent man. Never thought he would be doing anything that would contrary to state law.
“He’s never asked me for anything, any favors or anything of that nature.
“I went fishing with him, of course … I went with him and Clif and literally thought that Clif had paid for that trip and found out the day after checking into it, Clif had gotten his checkbook out to pay for it, and Steve had already paid for it. Bonehead decision.”
On his primary job – to ensure tax dollars are spent properly: “That’s what we’ve tried to do. Unfortunately, we’ve stepped on some toes. We’ve stepped on some toes on both sides of the political aisle. But I grew up as a Democrat that tries to choose to do the right thing, regardless, especially in this position.”
On the state motor vehicle audit that identified more than $20 million in potential savings: “When we’re putting our mentally ill out of the streets or they’re ending up in our county jails, and we’re not taking care of our elderly in the nursing homes, but yet we can drive nice suburbans or nice four-door diesel trucks to the state Capitol and back home every day, something’s wrong with that picture. It was a common sense issue.”
On state Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma City, introducing a resolution demanding McMahan step aside because of the allegations: “I actually went to see him. He wouldn’t come off the House floor. I sat up there for quite a while and he wouldn’t come out.”
[He said Dank only agreed to meet him later in the office of – and presence of – state state Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa. Dank’s resolution went nowhere in the GOP dominated state House.]
On whether he thinks Jones ever will leave him alone: “It’s an obsession. It’s something I don’t have. It’s something I don’t understand. I don’t think Gary Jones is going away. I think there are a lot of things in the future that may pop up and bite him.
“I think if you give someone like that enough rope, they’ll hang themselves. He can only hurt so many people before somebody calls his hand.
“I could get caught up in a cat fight with him everyday. Who’s that helping? We’re going to continue to do our job. We’re going to keep uncovering fraud, waste and abuse and we’re going to keep receiving national recognition. I think it’s good for Oklahoma. It’s good for our staff.
“Bottom line, I’ll have a record to run on, and it’s going to be good.”
For the full story on Jeff McMahan’s fight for political survival, see “McMahan Besieged: Auditor’s Political Education” on the cover of the July 10/25 issue of The Oklahoma Observer.
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