 |
 |
Hmmm, our amateur detective sense tells us that someone is not happy with the recent posts we’ve done on Mr. Cloud and Mr. Coffee. This comment was left on the Cloud post:
“Chris Arps, you meddling dumbass, leave Oklahoma alone and take care of Missouri. Nobody gives a crap what you think…”
We guess in an effort to throw us off track, they left our headline comment on a post which had nothing to do with either one.
From Examiner.com:
It’s the political perfect storm: the battle over official English, lawsuit reform and private prisons will determine whether Senate Leader Glenn Coffee stays or is ousted this legislative session. And as a result, there’s been a change at the top of the standings of the Coffee Enemies List!
State Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, has rocketed all the way to the top of the Coffee enemies list, with capitol reporters pursuing private prison shenanigans debuting on the list at a strong number 2 position.
OKPNS has learned that the embattled Coffee is being squeezed by a group of liberal Republican senators led by Sen. Harry Coates of Seminole and Patrick Anderson of Enid. Coffee’s top legislative agenda item, so-called lawsuit reform, has been weakened by the scandal fumes that have been surrounding Coffee for nearly a month now. Coates and Anderson, and perhaps as many as 4 or 5 more Republican senators, are seen as possible ‘no’ votes on lawsuit reform. Coffee desperately needs their support to keep his leader post and their votes to pass his lawsuit reform package. But Coates and his followers have another agenda: to stop Randy Terrill’s official English package, something Coffee’s conservative members are strongly committed to passing. Read more…
Another fine example of outstanding citizen journalism from The Red Dirt Report:
By Nick Baker
The Oklahoma Tax Commission issued 24 determination letters for investment schemes to receive tax credits under the 2006 Grandfather clause. At least ten of the plans were the same as the Scissortail scheme that was allowed tax credits worth $5.40 for every $1 invested by misrepresenting the amount invested at risk. The law clearly states the investment must be “at risk” in order to qualify for tax credits. A not so well disguised shell game was used to claim tax credits on funds borrowed on the assets of the business venture the investment was intended to help. Leaving Scissortail with no risk and the “so called investors’” risk limited to their $5 million. This not only violates the law, but defeats the program by eliminating the very business ventures, venture capital funding and this program were originally created to help.
OTC has exclusive access to all the evidence. We have obtained documentation for two tax credit schemes, both of which have been exposed as fraudulent. The Altus group (currently under investigation for filing a $200 million false claim and multiple other issues) and Scissortail which cost the taxpayers $27 million to generate a mere $5 million in qualified funding.
Scissortail without investing one dime pockets $17 million. The “so called investors” pocket a $10 million profit. Both virtually overnight.
An analogy to help understand the shell game and the element of risk. Read more…
State Rep. Mike Ritze joined other legislators in welcoming an official of the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest recently.
Ben Stinsman, a native Texan and the cultural affairs officer at the Israeli consulate, spoke in the House Chamber Thursday, April 9.
Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, said he was pleased to welcome Stinsman.
“Oklahoma has a tradition of economic partnership and many other ties with Israel,” Ritze said. “The cultural officer who came to speak to the chamber is a University of Oklahoma graduate and a very passionate friend of Israel. I would love to see him here again in the future.”
State Rep. Mike Ritze introduces Ben Stinsman, a University of Oklahoma graduate and the cultural affairs officer of the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest in the Oklahoma House of Representatives chamber last Thursday.
Stinsman addresses the House chamber.
I want to start off this week by reminding everyone of the Apache Rattlesnake Hunt April 16 -19th. I hope you will have the chance to attend. I will be there and look forward to having some fun as this is a great annual festival that is very family-friendly. I am also having Lasik surgery on my eyes on Friday, so keep me in your thoughts and prayers that it is successful.
I have been busy with reading bills over the past few weeks and have also had the chance to visit with many folks from back home while they have been at the Capitol. We had over 50 bills considered in the Appropriations and Budget committee on Monday and the schedule will be the same for the next committee meeting on Thursday. We also considered Senate Bill 834, which was voted out of the Common Education committee on a straight party vote (Republicans for the bill, Democrats against it). I had the chance to speak to a group of teachers in Chickasha on Thursday along with Sen. Ron Justice about this bill. I feel this bill goes too far with deregulation of schools and will provide too many problems at the local level, and also has the chance to reduce the amount the state appropriates to common education in the future. Read more…
By Rep. Jason Murphey
Last week, the House approved the issuance of new long-term debt to finance a dam project on the Arkansas River in the Tulsa area. This means that each year, more of your money will be added to the millions of tax payer dollars that are tied down to paying debt and debt interest.
You may remember that last year the Legislature approved a major debt package in the last few days of the legislative session. The Tulsa dam project was one of the issues in this bill. Since that time, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has held that the debt bill was unconstitutional because it “log-rolled” more than one issue into the bill.
I feel that the Court should have also held the bill unconstitutional because it did not allow the people to vote on the bond issuance, which I believe is probably required by our state Constitution in this instance. Read more…
Hello again, everyone! Once again this last week, Oklahoma was plagued by wildfires that destroyed property and threatened lives.
The primary defense against many of these fires scattered across rural Oklahoma were volunteer firefighters. Every firefighter is a hero; they risk their own lives to protect our businesses, our homes, our families.
Volunteer firefighters are something special. Geographically, volunteer firefighters are the first line of defense across most of Oklahoma. For no pay, and with precious little resources, volunteer firefighters save countless dollars in property and untold lives every year. Read more…
From Examiner.com:
Conservative talk show giants Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity had different approaches today to commenting on last weekend’s successful hostage standoff off the coast of Somalia. Limbaugh praised the president – with tongue firmly planted in cheek – while Hannity flat out refused to offer any praise. Admittedly, I’m no fan of the president, but thankfully Obama let the military do their jobs and a team of Navy SEAL’s wasted these scumbags in three accurate shots. Read more…
OKPNS was the first to float the idea last week that an “enemies list” was being assembled by those surrounding State Sen. Glenn Coffee, the Senate leader, who is awash in controversy.
Whoops! Maybe we hit the nail on the head. An editorial on this weekend’s Tulsa World, which we admit is a paper left of center, nonetheless suggest that crossing Coffee invites retribution.
Further, a group of citizens took out a huge ad yesterday blasting Coffee and inviting the public to phone Coffee’s senate office and ask him “questions.” Just before the Easter holiday break, a new full blown controversy had erupted over the possibility Coffee had been caught being, shall we say, less than forthright with reporter Dave Jordan of News9 regarding possible prison closures. The Coffee appeared to be moving to punish prisons corrections chief Justin Jones for not backing Coffee’s version of a meeting the two had surrounding the prison closing issue.
If you’re on Coffee’s enemies list, or know someone who is, let us know! In the meantime, this conservative blog says it’s time for a change at the state senate before more damage can be done.
———————————————
Top Ten Coffee Enemies List
Updated Monday April 13, 2009
1. Justin Jones
2. Dave Jordan, News9
3. Nick Winkler, FOX 25
4. Lawyers who don’t work for his law firm
5. Health care patients not represented by his law firm
6. Tulsa World Editorial Staff
7. OKPNS
8. Tim Talley, Associated Press
9. Editorial Boards calling for his resignation
10. IRS
Related:
Tulsa World: DOC woes: Straight answer needed from Coffee
Is Department of Corrections Chief Justin Jones the first confirmed member of Glenn Coffee’s enemies list?
“He wouldn’t lie to cover-up Coffee’s trail, and now he’s being punished,” one capitol insider tells OKPNS.
The Dave Jordan series of stories about the corrections controversy began last Friday. We’ve linked to all of Jordan’s stories, (below) and the News9 site notes that Jordan will lead with this latest wrinkle on tonight’s 10PM News9 newscast.
Developing….
