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 […]
politics
Posted inNews
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 […]
Posted inNews
Romney and religion
“I think it’s very possible Romney’s faith will be an issue,” said Charles Kimball, director of the University of Oklahoma’s religious studies program. “When you consider that the Southern Baptist Convention has a program for ‘interfaith witness’ directed at Mormons, it points out that they don’t consider them part of the same Christian faith. “In […]
Posted inNews
Perils of ‘Personhood’
If your hand is in the air, you are in luck. An Oklahoma state Senate committee last week passed Senate Bill 1433, “The Personhood Act,” as its first step toward becoming law. This measure states that life begins at conception, so a single-cell fertilized egg has “all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other […]
Posted inNews
Move school board elections
When one looks at the Oklahoma City Council races and the untraceable funds that poured into them — and, the fact that so few voters vote in these types of races — it is easier to “stack the deck” against the larger sample of voters who vote in general elections. School boards are controlled by […]
Posted inNews
Super PACs pack it in
Following that U.S. Supreme Court decision, there arose political action committees known as “super PACs,” which can make independent expenditures on behalf of or against a candidate. Super PACs are allowed to take unlimited contributions from corporations or individuals, although they do not (wink, wink) “coordinate” with the candidates they’re supporting. Several Oklahoma names were […]
Posted inNews
After Rice
Even so, Democratic state Rep. Al McAffrey and Republican attorney Jason Reese, the candidates squaring off in Tuesday’s special election, both said they’re confident in the race for Senate District 46. McAffrey, the son of a Baptist minister, runs several businesses, including a funeral home. He has spent the last five years representing House District […]
Posted inNews
Alternate route
The MAPS 3 Citizens Advisory Board voted Jan. 26 to recommend the City Council approve purchase of the Santa Fe Train Depot to serve as a convergence for several modes of transportation in the city, including car, rail, bicycle and possibly bus. The city already set aside $10 million of the $127 million in MAPS […]
Posted inNews
Time for full disclosure
Utilizing that decision, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Forward IV program and the Oklahoma City firefighters union each created a string of entities to inundate OKC’s spring 2011 council elections with $631,041 to attack or support council candidates. No campaign reports have been filed identifying the source of this campaign funding, only the name of […]
Posted inNews
Enough, already!
She births another child and the stipend is increased. The incentive is to run the father out of the home and have more babies! This is why illegitimacy is at 70 percent in the black community, and it’s why this culture produces people who are the least employable and more likely to be incarcerated. Kate […]