State Rep. Gus Blackwell released a video and press release yesterday saying he was “appalled” by a legislative measure sponsored by fellow Republican John Trebilcock that is primarily designed to reduce the number of pain-management treatment providers in rural Oklahoma. His reaction comes two days after conservative blogger Christopher Arps’ post in the Examiner.com titled, “Dear patients: I’m from the government, and I’m here to hurt you!”

It’s hard to imagine a bill worse than the one that killed Sen. Brian Bingman’s chances to succeed Glenn Coffee as senate leader. But the chatter (and laughter) is starting to build about SB 1133, a bill that rolls back the scope of practice for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists.

CRNA’s provide the bulk of pain management to rural Oklahomans. CRNA’s are supervised by doctors, and are primarily responsible for pain relief and anesthesia delivery in the 57 counties where no anesthesiologists practice. So is there a problem with CRNA’s? Patient advocates say no: in fact, they point to the fact that no CRNA’s are in trouble with their boards. They don’t want to practice medicine or expand their scope of practice the way optometrists and chiropractors have been doing for the past decade. Read more…

Blackwell further states in the release that he believes the legislation is designed to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.

“For much of the past decade, organized medicine has been telling us the greatest threat to Oklahoma’s patients is expansion of surgical privileges by non-surgeons. They’ve bought ads, issued press releases, raised campaign funds and sounded the alarm bell. Now they suddenly whirl and attack medical providers, CRNAs that legally and safely operate entirely within their scope of practice. This is madness, and I suspect it’s organized and orchestrated for profit or payback.”

Rep. Blackwell says the bill’s hypocrisy is evident with only a cursory examination.

“Not one patient advocate group has come forward asking for this bill. In fact, the patient advocates I’ve talked to are puzzled about why organized medicine has walked away from what they’ve been saying for years is the central threat to patient safety: dangerous expansion of scope of practice by untrained medical professionals.”

Blackwell’s last line is priceless and should be a wake up call for all Oklahomans:

“Now they attack CRNAs: Does that mean they’ve been lying to us for much of the past decade about the primary threat to patients on Oklahoma? Are they lying now? Regardless, this laughable bill and the rogue’s gallery of characters pushing for it guarantee one thing: Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jon Stewart won’t soon run out of material with which to mock Oklahoma anytime soon I’m sad to say.”

Related:

NewsOK.com: Pain management bill draws debate in Oklahoma House

Your Vote Counts: “Debating Health Care in Oklahoma”

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.

Alie Walsh, a senior at Shawnee High School, speaks to the members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives as Rep. Kris Steele looks on. 

Shawnee High School Senior Alie Walsh lobbied state lawmakers yesterday, giving a speech on the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives urging them to help prevent the use of derogatory terms to describe people with disabilities

Alie, whose older sister Jenny has a disability, specifically urged legislators to discourage the use of the words “retarded” or “retard” as derogatory terms.

“To me to hear someone use the word ‘retarded’ as a put down just doesn’t line up, because I would never think of something that describes Jenny as a put down,” Alie said.

 She noted her sister was the prom queen at Shawnee and participates in competitive swimming and dancing activities.

Refreshing!

We’re not even to the 2008 primary, and someone may be already in 2010 campaign mode.

So why was State Rep. John Wright doing in Hollis over the weekend? Inquiring minds might just think the Broken Arrow conservative is sizing up a run for statewide office in 2010. Located in southwest Oklahoma near the Texas border, Hollis is known for being the birthplace of Darrell Royal and the fact that there are very few Republicans in Harmon County. Rep. Wright is known as a staunch conservative and even challenged then-Speaker Lance Cargill for that office last fall at the height of Cargill’s campaign finance scandal.

Two-term governor Brad Henry won’t be on the ballot in 2010, and insiders say that Wright would represent an attractive choice for the conservative wing of the party.

Developing……

“We need to take the politics out of this situation as much as possible. Considering impeachment of a statewide-elected official is very serious, and we plan to move forward in a bipartisan manner so the charges can be fully reviewed without bias.” - Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa.

DEVELOPING…

Sources are telling the Oklahoma Political News Service tonight that as early as next week, new Speaker Chris Benge will start assigning members to a special investigative committee with full subpoena power.

It is expected that the special committee will ultimately file articles of impeachment against the embattled State Auditor and Inspector.

OKPNS will continue to investigate.

The Oklahoma House of Representative issued the following press release today:

OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 5, 2008) – Rep. Ken Miller was named chairman of the
House Appropriations and Budget Committee today.

Miller has served for the last year as vice-chairman of the
committee under now House Speaker Chris Benge, who vacated the chairmanship for
his new role. As chairman of the Appropriations and Budget Committee, Miller
will play a vital role in hearing the first round of budget bills through
committee this session, and will have a key part in determining how the state
will spend taxpayer dollars this year.

Miller, R-Edmond, was first elected in 2004 and is an economics
professor at Oklahoma Christian University.

“Rep. Miller’s economics background will serve him well as the chairman
of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee,” said Benge, R-Tulsa. “I have
full confidence in his abilities.”

Sources are telling the Oklahoma Political News Service tonight that with the uncertainty about who the new House speaker might be, Danny Morgan is saying he may be able to make a coalition speaker arrangement – where a small group of unsatisfied House Republicans would work out a deal with House Democrats to pool their votes together and elect either Danny or a fringe Republican as speaker. But insiders say that to even have a chance of pulling that off, House Democrats are looking to clean up their own leadership team.

As the mainstream media miraculously reported this week, the recent tax problems weren’t just Republican problems. Several members of the House Democrat caucus were also listed as having issues paying their income and/or property taxes. They included Jabar Shumate of Tulsa, Ryan McMullen of Burns Flat (or of a part of El Reno that’s outside his district, some say), and Richard Morrissette, Al McAffrey and Al Lindley of Oklahoma City. Several of them play important roles on the House Democrat leadership team.

Shumate, an assistant minority floor leader is one of the worst offenders. He has failed to pay his income taxes five times in nine years and McMullen recently stepped down as caucus chairman in order to devote his time to running the caucus’ 2008 campaign operation. (Charlie Laster, who’s been designated to take over for the term-limited Mike Morgan for Senate Democrats, has also had trouble paying his property taxes.) While there were some rumblings that Shumate might be forced to step down – Danny Morgan even said that he expected him to – little seems to have come of it yet. And there’s been no word on any repercussions for the others. But an announcement may be coming soon.

Danny Morgan has spent a lot of time criticizing House Republicans for their tax troubles, but now has to deal with his own. Morgan is aware of this, and insiders say he may be looking to do something about it over the weekend because he wants to pull off a huge upset on Monday when the House votes on a new speaker. He may even be willing to skin his own and make deals with Republicans if it means he can become speaker.

OKPNS will continue to investigate.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 1, 2008) – Rep. Chris Benge, chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, announced today he is running for Speaker of the House.

“I’m honored some of my colleagues have encouraged me to run for this position, and am actively seeking votes from my fellow Republicans,” said Benge, R-Tulsa.

Benge has spent a decade in the House working in both in the minority and majority, and at the service of two speakers as the Appropriations and Budget Committee chairman.

This experience, and his intimate knowledge of the legislative budgeting process, is what several of his colleagues cited as reasons why they urged him to run, Benge said.

“Regardless of who is chosen by the caucus Monday, we will move forward with the agenda that was approved by all of our members and will be well-positioned to get the people’s work done this legislative session in a united way.”

Rep. Benge is a native Tulsan. He was born and raised in southwest Tulsa and currently resides in the community of Berryhill with his wife, Allison, and their two children, Garrett, 13, and Hayden, 11. He is an Oklahoma State University graduate with a degree in business

.

Related:

DEVELOPING: Chris Benge New Speaker? (1-31-08)

More details to follow….