Commentary

The Metropolitan Area Projects tax ” or MAPS ” passed in 1993, and the consequences are all around us: new stadiums including the $92 million Ford Center, a new library, a revitalized downtown, a tourist economy. The original tax expired in 1999.   “MAPS 2,” or MAPS for Kids, replaced the old MAPS tax in […]

I sat down to write a list of famous and distinguished people who have ties to Oklahoma. The list turned out to be too long to print.   The state has been a leader in energy for more than a century. Robert S. Kerr, Dean A. McGee, Frank Phillips and T. Boone Pickens have made […]

Send them all back, let them stay, amnesty, prison, give them driver’s licenses or don’t, build a wall “¦ this is about as deep as the discussion on illegal immigration gets. Politicians have managed to confuse voters into believing the war on terror is the same thing as illegal immigration. America doesn’t have a coherent […]

Should Oklahoma City voters approve an extension of a penny sales tax to fund improvements to the Ford Center so the city can have its own NBA team?   There is little doubt the city is ready for the big leagues. It proved this when it became the temporary home of the New Orleans Hornets […]

  It was a Thursday evening and my lovely wife, Suzanne, and I were sitting in the living room watching the news, and there he was: Mayor Mick Cornett, discussing an extension of the existing MAPS tax to make improvements to the Ford Center so we can lure the Seattle SuperSonics or perhaps even a […]

Mitt Romney is running for president, and the Christian right runs the country. The result is that a Mormon felt compelled to make a speech in which he pretended to defend the separation of church and state, and the freedom of religion. What he was doing, in fact, was pandering to a crucial voting block […]

Indian gaming benefits Oklahoma in many ways. Oklahoma tribes operate about 95 gaming facilities, with gross revenues of nearly $2 billion in 2006. This revenue directly or indirectly supports more than 50,000 jobs in the state. Treasurer Scott Meacham recently estimated that the state receives between $60 million and $70 million annually from the tribes, […]

Laugh or cry ” your choice. A key, fast-growing industry in Oklahoma operates largely under rules of its own creation, with oversight by its own employees, for the benefit of some, but not necessarily the majority of state residents. That industry is comprised of gambling casinos built and operated by Oklahoma’s American Indian tribes.   […]

It has not been a good autumn for Oklahoma’s national reputation. In November, The Wall Street Journal compared us to Pakistan and Forbes magazine compared us to North Korea. Why all the criticism? A decision by Attorney General Drew Edmondson to indict three political activists for actions related to their attempt to place the Taxpayer […]

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights ” or TABOR ” initiative petition was thrown out by the Oklahoma Supreme Court last December because the process was riddled with fraud, including the illegal use of out-of-state petitioners (non-taxpayers) as circulators.   Oklahoma’s multicounty grand jury looked at the tactics of the petitioners, and it also found them […]