In the latest episode of Anything That Costs the Government Money is Bad, Oklahoma GOPers are stifling the development of the OKPOP museum — a
75,000-square-foot art and culture museum slated to be built in Tulsa —
by withholding the necessary appropriations from the state’s 2015 fiscal
budget.
Clearly, they can’t comprehend the facility’s potential
awesomeness.
“Until we
get a better idea of our revenue picture from the Board of Equalization
in February, we can’t commit to anything that will have a budget
impact,” Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, said.
But
advocates of the project say the museum will be self-supporting,
offering a place for public gatherings and events — which, in turn,
would generate revenue.
“We
are not taking our foot off the pedal at all,” Oklahoma Historical
Society Executive Director Bob Blackburn said. State funding for tornado
relief efforts has put a damper on the project — or has at least given
state officials an excuse to spend less.
But don’t they know the museum will have an original puppet used by Clarence Nash — the voice of Donald Duck — who was born in Watonga?
C’mon guys! This is Donald Duck we’re talking about here!
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2013.