Michele Bachmann and others declare that the U.S. government has been infiltrated and compromised by Muslim terrorists. Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh contends that radical Islam is “trying to kill Americans every week” and that “it is a threat that is much more at home now than it was after 9/11.” In our own state, then-Rep. […]
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Open carry is an embarrassment
Robin Meyers In almost every column I wrote, there was a singular refrain: Beware the triumph of the Christian right in the halls of power. Beware the lawmaker whose intolerance masquerades as faith, and whose fundamental distrust of women creates laws designed to shame them rather than to protect them. Don’t say that you weren’t […]
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Trying something new for the economy
Many letter writers seem to feel they must make a derogatory comment about someone who disagrees with them. In his opening paragraph, D.W. Tiffee (“Oklahoma is not OK,” Feb. 29) claims that the Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs is “deranged” because it supports a reduction in or the elimination of state income taxes. Remarks like […]
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Identity crisis
Senate Bill 1569, authored by none other than Sen. Ralph Shortey (he of fetus-food bill notoriety) requires candidates in Oklahoma’s presidential primaries to present the state Election Board with a photo ID and proof that they satisfy all requirements for office. Cue the “natural-born citizen” arguments. In a news statement on the bill’s passage, Shortey […]
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Open books
Last year the city saw unprecedented spending on City Council elections on behalf of independent expenditure groups that attempted to shield their financial backers, a situation made possible by the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case, Federal Election Commission v. Citizens United. The proposal, passed on to council from that body’s legislative committee, supported a state […]
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Drug testing no answer
First, some background. The state Department of Human Services already does some drug testing as a condition of receiving a check from the government. Basically, the way it works is that the applicant is interviewed by a DHS employee, and if that employee thinks you are on drugs, a drug test is ordered. (I’m not […]
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Fade out
Senate Bill 1623 has made it past the state Senate Finance Committee and is awaiting further action in the Senate. Authored by Sen. Mike Mazzei, R-Tulsa, it would eliminate a number of special tax credits and subsidies in order to compensate for revenue lost by reducing the state’s top marginal income tax rate from 5.25 […]
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Oratory overkill
If so, somebody page Oklahoma’s U.S. Rep. John Sullivan when that time arrives. At a Feb. 22 town hall meeting in Bixby, the Tulsa Republican decided to open mouth and insert foot when a constituent asked about the national debt. Sullivan voiced his support for Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget to curb debt and said […]
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Time for tax credit reform
One reason was laid bare in a recent series of legislative hearings I was privileged to chair: We waste too many of your tax dollars on unnecessary, giveaway tax credits to businesses. The tax credit task force examined how and why past legislatures had granted tax credits to specific industries. We found little rhyme or […]
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Drug-testing for dollars
According to the state Department of Human Services, 3,922 adults and 17,233 children received TANF funds in January. Most of those households are single-parent homes with low or no earned income, and the maximum time a person can receive TANF is five years over an adult’s lifetime. While only two such measures were introduced in […]