Apparently, an Oklahoma U. S. House staffer doesn’t like our editor, as this comment left this morning on one of our posts seems to indicate. Because the Senate and House all use the same IP addresses for their computers, we thought it would be impossible to trace which Congressional office this was sent from. But we talked with a former Senate colleague this afternoon who was our office’s IT guy and he said yes, it can be traced and he’ll look into it for us. Developing….

The Oklahoma Political News Service has learned that Sen. Glenn Coffee’s handpicked choice to succeed him as senate leader, Sen. Brian Bingman, is the author of a horrific bill that will make drug lords rejoice and gut the ability to resist foreign drug cartel influence in Oklahoma. Really.

If it were a laughing matter, SB 2298 could be called the “Coffee-Bingman-Morgan Mexican Drug Lord Methamphetamine Stimulus and Fattening of Coffee’s Political Action Committees Act of 2010.” But it’s real, and it is definitely NOT a laughing matter.

Sources inside the Oklahoma anti-drug community say Bingman’s bill effectively guts Oklahoma law enforcement’s ability to interdict illegal drugs and the profits headed to Mexico. So why in the world would a man who is a leading contender to be the next senate leader sponsor a bill that will pad drug dealers pockets and open the flood gates to a new wave of imported meth? There are two plausible answers.

One, he did this all on his own; but while we’ve heard Sen. Bingman is not the shrewdest legislator, sources tell us he’s NOT a bad man. He just consorts with a couple of them.

Second, he didn’t know what was in the bill. Now this one just doesn’t look very good either, but our money is on this excuse. Our sources say this bill likely came from the current occupant of the pro tem’s office. They further say a lobbyist for a very large international company that makes beau coup money off wire transfers is the driving force behind this travesty. Coffee exploited the opportunity, (more on that in a moment) took personal charge of this request, and handed it off to Sen. Bingman. It is incredible to think they actually thought they could get away with this affront to all that is good and decent, but they did.

Sources say this the circumstances surrounding this gutless triumph of power over principle could why some may have misinterpreted the actions of a few courageous Republican senators. Indeed, it appears Sen. Bingman’s reputation as an unsuspecting and easily-duped lawmaker is more than just a stereotype, and that objections to his elevation as senate leader stem from the fear he’ll be a gaffe machine, unable to lead and incapable of resisting the corrupt agendas of Coffee and Morgan, the right hand man who has been foisted onto the state chamber of commerce after a month of begging by Coffee.

Yes, the most likely reason is that Sen. Bingman was given the task to carry the bill in order to complete a nasty little arrangement. Here’s the scenario: a huge international conglomerate who makes enormous profits from unsuspecting drug dealer wire transfers gets annoyed at having to follow a new and effective law regulating such transfers. Putting profits before decency, this prominent member of a large liberal state lobbying entity that specializes in corporate welfare presses any and all who will listen to help them get rid of this ‘annoyance.’ Coffee gets their bill introduced at the highest level, assures them of leadership guidance and suddenly the liberal state lobbying entity makes Coffee’s problem-child disappear, despite the fact that Morgan has nothing in his resume’ to merit his hiring. Multiple sources have confirmed this scenario.

Now the Coffee crowd and his apologists in the press corps are going to dismiss this post because they’ve got no other choice. It’s doubtful the capitol press will inquire. But any reporter can in a few calls confirm this account. Let’s hope they do, but this time we doubt the press can successfully keep the information from the people because of the influence of State Rep. Randy Terrill.

You can dispute the narrative, but you cannot dispute the grave damage to drug interdiction and enforcement this bill will inflict. Rep. Terrill and Sen. Anthony Sykes (made to look foolish last year by Coffee when he lied to Sykes before sending the public safety chairman out do an interview with Dave Jordan regarding the Coffee Department of Corrections lie) authored HB 2245, which Coffee and Bingman are trying to dismantle. This brilliant bill, the first of its kind in America, is a vital tool for law enforcement in investigating and interdicting illegal drugs and drug profits. The vicious Mexican drug gangs use couriers called “mules” to move their profits, but they no longer drive the streets and highways with trunk-loads of cash. To avoid detection, they now wire millions and millions of dollars back home to the drug lords; ironically, HB 2245 placed a fee on suspected drug-related wire transactions, and those funds are being used to fund the anti-drug efforts. A law enforcement legal expert tells OKPNS that the Coffee-Bingman bill is insidious in that it attempts to “carve out every possible exception” to the original bill, effectively cutting off funding, as well as gutting, the ability of law enforcement to investigate and interdict. Unbelievably, Oklahoma Senate Republicans are carrying a bill that would make Tom Hayden proud. Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his grave.

But back to the good guys: Rep. Terrill has beaten the chamber of compromise crowd more times than a rented mule, and we hope he does so again. Try as they will, even the press corps won’t be able to keep a lid on this. Terrill has access to media, and law enforcement loves him. For Sen. Bingman to have come within a hundred miles of this bill is enormously poor judgment. To mess with a Terrill bill that protects our communities, our children and that is used a primary weapon against the drug cartels demonstrates Sen. Bingman is simply not leadership material.

This flaw is ultimately why capitol insiders say Sen. Bingman has no business being senate leader.  Simply put, Sen. Bingman’s lack of savvy is why he was picked: to unquestionably do the bidding of two bad Republicans.

While we don’t want to quarrel with our friends’ conclusions over at Okie Pundit, after today’s revelation, we don’t think those Republican senators they wrote about are behaving in a “treasonous” manner. Quite the contrary: we think stopping a political disaster for Republicans before it happens deserves another word: Patriot.

Related:

Okie Pundit: Four Senate Republicans Threaten to Join Democrats

The “Teflon Glenn”

Okie Pundit is reporting that the race to succeed Glenn Coffee as  Senate Speaker Pro Tempore has taken an unexpected turn.  We predicted problems back in December.

Related:

NEW Top Ten Coffee Enemies List; Rep. Terrill Added

Top Ten Coffee Enemies List

Examiner.com: 8 questions press corp should ask Glenn Coffee

Nothing yet on The McCoffeeville Report Online about the latest headache for the Speaker Pro Tempore.  Only informative and intriguing stories like this.

We called our friend Mike McCarville over at The McCarville Report Online/press release service/news aggregator and thanked him for today’s post. Apparently, Mr. McCarville’s criticism of our editor stems from us “needling him over the last two years.” Like most journalist types, they can dish it out, but apparently can’t take it themselves. We apologize Mike if our “needling” took you over the edge. We were always taught to respect our elders and If you’ve been slighted in any way Sir (tongue firmly planted in cheek) then we apologize.

Great work from Okiepundit!

Okie Pundit is still receiving new information, but this is what we know at this time about contributions made to Representative Dan Sullivan, Assistant Majority Floor Leader, and Senator Cliff Aldridge.

Two Republican legislators accepted a total of $24,000 in campaign contributions over a period of three days in September from an insurance company that stands to gain financially from recommendations made by a task force that studied the possible privatization of Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation system. The Task force on Privatization of CompSource Oklahoma was studying whether to mutualize CompSource or sell it off to a private company.

Representative Dan Sullivan and Senator Cliff Aldridge, the two chairmen of the task force, each accepted $12,000 from the National American Insurance Company (NAICO) while the task force met.  Though initially Sullivan and Aldridge ostensibly claimed they could not say whether mutualization or privatization was the best course, by the end of the task force meetings in December both were big proponents of selling the system to a private company. In fact, Sullivan recently filed House Bill 2662, legislation that would require the state to sell CompSource by December 31, 2011.

And suddenly NAICO has emerged as the leading candidate in the politically-charged battle to purchase CompSource. Read more…

Email we received yesterday from former ODP Chair Dr. Ivan Holmes

I read your post today on Senator Coffee. Clearly it appears that something is terribly wrong behind closed doors inside the Republican caucus. Since I am a Democratic political operative and former party chairman and you, Mr. Arps, are a conservative Republican, there are most assuredly many items in the public policy arena on which we will disagree. But there is one item on which we are in complete agreement: we despise corrupt public officials.

In 1974, I served as the campaign manager for a then-unknown college professor who traveled across Oklahoma in a crusade to sweep out corruption. I’ve never tolerated corruption. The Boren Broom Brigade lives on in the hearts of many reform minded Oklahomans. I am also a former journalism professor, and I’ve been very disappointed at the press’ nonchalant attitude toward Senator Coffee’s unethical behavior. When I read the details of the smear on AG candidate Jim Priest, and the compelling evidence that Senator Coffee was involved, a light went on for me.

Last Thursday I received a late night phone call from a man who identified himself as Sen. Coffee. This individual sounded as if he were intoxicated. Slurring his words, he said he heard I was thinking about holding a press conference on the ethics report he turned in concerning his travel, lodging, and meal reimbursement in 2008 and I better be careful of what I did or I would be sorry. That incident was consistent with the reports coming out of OKPNS these past few weeks. That incident settled in my mind the accuracy of the reports I’ve seen in your blog. While we disagree on many public policy issues, I nonetheless appreciate Republican reformers such as you and, Chair Gary Jones. Sen. Coffee offers Democrats a prime target in this year’s elections.

Ivan Holmes

With President Obama’s first state of the union address scheduled for tonight, we thought we’d take you back to a “Your Vote Counts” show from May of last year discussing the president’s first 100 days. Also talked about on this episode was a controversial loan Senate Pro Tem Coffee received – from a then unnamed source – to pay his delinquent tax obligations.

Related:

ABCnews.com: President Obama Has Most Polarized Approval Ratings For 1st Year President In Recorded History

Embattled Senate Leader Glenn Coffee today announced that his own personal millstone, consigliore Fred Morgan, is leaving his post to head the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce, the largely impotent voice of liberal big business and cradle for Oklahoma corporate welfare.

Coffee has been under fire in his caucus over personal and professional missteps. Morgan has drawn the ire of many Republicans for bad advice and bad manners. Coffee had been fighting to keep Morgan by installing weak lackey Sen. Brian Bingman, which would have preserved Coffee and Morgan’s access to potential lobbying jobs.

The most likely casualty of this development is Bingman, who refused to commit to firing the irascible Morgan in order to get Coffee’s blessing to be the next leader. Insiders say the weak Bingman has been increasingly frustrated with having to swallow the Morgan deal, and he had complained to sources recently about the Morgan “albatross” hanging about his neck.

The selection of Morgan is ironic in that he has never been successful in the private sector, with only an interest in a mediocre law firm specializing in bill collections.

One insider says the Morgan selection is particularly rich in that Morgan has been living on a state salary since he termed out of the legislature and finished last in the 1996 Republican primary for the 5th Congressional District. “Couldn’t hack in politics, barely hacks in the legal field and now going to the left-leaning state chamber of commerce,” he says. “Nice pairing, since both are experts in what it takes to make businesses fail.”

Coffee has tabbed former State Sen. James Williamson, R-Tulsa to succeed Morgan.

Now if the senate’s other well-known bad apple will follow Morgan, Republicans can get back to the regular type of business, instead of the monkey variety.

Developing…..

Related:

Okie Pundit: Breaking Story: House and Senate Republicans Implicated in Questionable Financial Dealings

You know our position on wind energy and the other forms of snake oil being sold to us (with our own money) as “alternative energy.”  The Red Dirt Report has given us another angle on this taxpayer supported scam:  what happens to the wing turbines once they’ve outlived their usefulness?

Red Dirt Report:

Wind turbines used to generate electricity would not be built if there were no tax incentives from the State and Federal governments. Wind turbine blades wear out, generators wear out and the towers wear out.  There are not tax incentives to repair wind turbines. When these wind turbines are being constructed in Oklahoma and wear out and the companies that put them up are gone, who is going to take them down?

History tells us that all technology becomes obsolete and when technology that involves massive concrete pads and blades the size of airplane wings becomes obsolete and abandoned we will have another Tar Creek.  Many of the wind turbines placed in use in the 70’s and 80’s in California and Hawaii are now standing idle, broken and silent. Most owners are gone and/or bankrupt and the citizens of Hawaii and California are left with some very visible reminders of the lack of planning when the turbines were constructed. Read more…

Related:

Video: Clarity on Wind Energy

By Rep. Jason Murphey

In recent days there has been a good deal of debate surrounding the fact that the federal Congress is not allowing C-Span cameras to televise the meetings of the health care legislation conference committee. This debate has illustrated the importance of allowing the citizens to observe legislative proceedings.

In the summer of 2008, I wrote a series of articles in which I defined a check list of items which the taxpayer could use to see if their elected official was truly representing the citizens or was representing the bureaucracy, special interests and the status-quo. One of the most important of these items is that of transparency. In my view, transparency issues provide the citizens with a defining issue by which they should hold an office holder accountable.

If the office holder is opposed to openness and transparency then it is my belief that he is acting contrary to the principles of good government and should be replaced as soon as possible. Oftentimes those opposed to these reforms will cloak their arguments behind any number of superfluous arguments but the end result is the same; they don’t want the citizens to know what goes on in government. Read more…