I want to start off by wishing everyone out there a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I had a busy week as I was able to catch up with many people at their end of year gatherings and parties. I was able to enjoy time with the Grady and Caddo County Superintendents, the Cyril school teachers, the Elgin school teachers, the Rush Springs Lions Club and several other groups and individuals. I also had the chance to visit with a group of students from Cement Public Schools as they took a tour of the Capitol and I prepared chili for the staff at the Capitol earlier this week as a thanks for the great job they did this past year for us.

The bill deadline for writing language will be on hand next week, so I’ve been working some long hours getting the wording correct in the bills. Among the ideas I requested, here are a few of them: Read more…

Giving our Money to the Corrupt

By Rep. Jason Murphey

Two weeks ago I wrote about a future discussion in the Legislature between those who believe Oklahoma can improve economically by reducing the size of government and lowering taxes, and those who feel that Oklahoma should continue to develop a wide array of giveaways in the name of economic development.

As State Representative, I have observed that whenever a new problem crops up, it takes very little time for people to look to government to provide a solution. All too often they fail to account for the fact that if government expands to provide the solution, it will make politicians more powerful, and better enable those who wish to use this power for inappropriate or counterproductive purposes.

In the case of economic development, those who advocate for giveaways to incentivize business will point to the problem of economic blight and ask for the government to take away our taxpayers dollars, give that money to politicians or bureaucrats to control, and then give them the power to determine who receives the benefit.

A prominent example of this type of abuse has been alleged in the state of Illinois. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is accused of trying to strong-arm the Chicago Tribune into firing critical editorial writers by leveraging his power to help give the Tribune millions of dollars. Read more…

Hello again, everybody! One of my favorite quotes from President Kennedy perfectly sums up some of our challenges as we work to create a brighter future for Oklahoma.

“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic,” he said. “Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”

One myth that has held back rural Oklahoma is the misguided belief by some that our area cannot compete in a global economy. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We see time and again that rural Oklahoma can compete in a global economy, bringing prosperity and opportunities to our communities.

It takes two things to dispel that myth: confidence and capital. Read more…

Putting A Stop To Inappropriate Lobbyist Giving

By Rep Jason Murphey

One of the issues about which I have felt the most strongly has been the inappropriate nature of special interest influence over policy makers. One of the foremost manifestations of the inappropriate influence has been the ability of these special interests to give personal gifts to legislators.

I do not believe it is any more appropriate for a lobbyist to give a gift to a legislator than it would be for an attorney to give a gift to a judge who was ruling on a case in which the attorney was a party. In both cases the gift giver receives a direct benefit from the decision of the recipient.

As such when I sought election to the legislature I did so on a platform of not taking personal gifts or contributions from lobbyists or the groups that hire lobbyists.

When I first entered the legislature just two years ago this inappropriate giving was nearing an all time high point. In 2007, over $150,000 of personal gift giving was reported by lobbyists. This number was probably just a percent of the total gift giving as a significant amount of gift giving probably did not meet reporting requirements.

OKPNSnet Forum Question: Should lobbyists be banned from giving legislators gifts? (click here to join the discussion!)

A Thanksgiving Story

By Sen. Jay Paul Gumm

Thanksgiving is a time my thoughts turn to my late mother, Harlene Taylor Gumm. It was the most special of the holidays for her because she had a prayer answered over Thanksgiving Weekend 1963.

Just like Deena and me, my parents were told they could never have children. That changed Thanksgiving Weekend 1963, and this true story gave Deena and me hope during our struggle to become parents. Read more…

Moving Ahead with Property Tax Reform

By Rep. Jason Murphey

I am happy to report some fantastic news about one of the most needed reforms. Last week the window of time opened when Representatives can file new legislation to be heard during the upcoming session. Those who wish to make a point and provide their legislation with one of the initial House bill numbers are using this as an opportunity to make a strong statement by quickly placing their bills on file.

One of the first bills to be filed was House Joint Resolution 1001. HJR 1001 will be a proposal by Oklahoma City State Representative David Dank. Dank has been one of the leading proponents of one of the most important issues to my constituents. The issue is that of property tax reform. Each year I receive a number of constituent calls protesting the punitive and unfair nature of the ever-increasing property tax assessments that seem to always go up by about 5% with each new issuance. Read more…

Giving Special Interests The Power To Take Your Property

By Rep. Jason Murphey

In the past, I have written about the possibility of the expansion of the Trans-Texas Corridor into Oklahoma and described why it is important that we not allow foreign-owned companies to control Oklahoma roads.

The example of the foreign-owned Texas toll road is one example of this type of abuse. However, this is not the only example of Texas allowing privately owned interests to operate much like the government in order to make a profit.

Over the past few years, a wealthy Texas businessman decided to incur the risk of investing in a product that he believes will be in great demand in the future. That product is water. The businessman formed a corporation known as Mesa Water and acquired water rights in a large aquifer in the Texas panhandle and tried to market this water to the nearby city of Amarillo. Read more…

My interim study last week provided a great deal of information regarding our elections process in Oklahoma. There were very few problems at the polls and the provisional ballots are currently being reviewed for authenticity and will be included in the totals, even though none can possibly change outcomes on the elections. Thank you to those of you that voted and helped make this election turnout just short of a state record. Read more…

Senator Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, was the guest on the Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008 edition of KXII’s First News Forum, a public affairs program hosted by Charlie Haldeman. The senator answered questions on a host of subjects including the election results, priorities for the Oklahoma Legislature in 2008 and the change in legislative leadership. This is the opening segment.

Hat tip:senatorgumm

By Rep. Jason Murphey

Attending a recent forum at the Woodcrest fire department reminded me that one of the experiences I have most enjoyed as State Representative during the past two years has been the role of Vice-Chairman and ranking Republican on the House of Representative’s Homeland Security Committee.

When designing the new house committee system, house leadership structured the system so that members of the committees could really focus on specialized areas of committee work. They did this by giving the committees both appropriation and policy oversight in their respective areas. It has been exciting to serve as Vice-Chairman of a committee where I could specialize in an area in which there is a core purpose for government involvement.

In this role, a little over a year ago I joined Oklahoma State Fire Marshal Robert Doke and a delegation of state government and firefighting officials in visiting the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). There we met with FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison. Administrator Paulson was complimentary of the manner in which Oklahoma officials have handled past emergencies and is supportive of the efforts made in developing additional emergency readiness.

One of the reasons for meeting with Paulison related to developing a truly interoperable statewide emergency communications system to allow officials in different agencies to communicate with one another. This issue has without doubt been the most comprehensive and the most controversial issue that our committee has considered in my term as Vice-Chair. Read more…

Should Private Companies Be Allowed To Own Our Roads?

By Rep. Jason Murphey

As a member of the House of Representative’s Transportation Committee I have been able to observe one of the most controversial but rarely talked about and mostly under the radar issues regarding the long term development of our highway system.

One year ago I wrote in my update about an the issue at the heart of which has been Oklahoma’s membership in a group known as the North America SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO), the desire of big corporations to enhance the movement of Chinese-manufactured goods throughout North America, the possible privatization of new state and federal highways and NASCO’s desire to deploy sophisticated tracking devices along I-35.

In the past I written about what I believe to be the inappropriate and frightening alliance of big business monopolies backed up by the power of big government. Nowhere is this abuse more evident than when big companies buy long term leases of public roads. You can only imagine how your power as a citizen is minimized when a big (and likely foreign owned) corporation has complete control over a public road on which you depend in order to get where you need to go.

The issue of private ownership of public roads is in its infancy in Oklahoma but appeared to be growing after Texas planned out the construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) network. The TTC was to be owned and financed over the next 50 years by a foreign investment group based in Spain known as Cintra. Read more…

Most of the interim studies have been heard, but I have one coming up on November 6th regarding the possibility of updates for voter rolls and notification to state agencies upon the death of an Oklahoman. The Department of Health does not currently share this information automatically and it would help a great deal for other agencies to know this information.

I remember seeing my grandmother’s name on the voter rolls after she had passed and thought this would be good to have the names removed so the family does not have to go through current channels. Should a name be mistakenly removed, provisional ballot would still be allowed so a vote will not be prohibited. I authored the bill that allowed provisional ballots here in Oklahoma. Read more…

By Rep. Jason Murphey

Perhaps you have seen recent stories in the news about a group known as ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). Some of ACORN’S employees have been accused of submitting false voter registration forms; some were signed “Mickey Mouse” and some listed Dallas Cowboys players’ names, even though none of the players lived in that particular state. Agents acting on behalf of ACORN employees were also caught filling out voter registration forms using names and addresses copied from the telephone book. In a number of states, fraud investigations are underway.

While these events are mostly occurring in presidential battleground states,

The voter identification cards used by the election board could be easily forged. Especially during low turnout elections, there is absolutely nothing to stop people from voting under different names in different precincts. If a group with the wherewithal and the power of ACORN decided to manipulate our elections by registering out-of-state voters or by registering the same person multiple times in different precincts under different names and addresses, there would probably be very little to stand in their way. Read more…

By Rep. Jason Murphey

One of the types of bills I am most disappointed to see appear on the floor of the House is a bill that makes a seemingly small but expansive change in the way an incentive program or tax credit give away is allotted to some special interest somewhere. I believe that most legislators have no clue about the identity of the special interest or group that is set to benefit from the change but are simply asked to support the bill in the name of economic development.

Over the past few years any number of programs have popped up that give away your money to any number of entities that will benefit from the special consideration of one of these incentive programs. The programs are usually created in the name of economic development which means it is very hard for most legislators to vote against them and run the risk of being seen as anti-growth.

Now, these programs appear to be slowly expanding to include more and more special interests. These groups are no doubt willing to invest in the lobbyists and build relationships with legislators in order to be successful in expanding these programs to include themselves.

I feel that Oklahoma’s elected officials are putting us on a dangerous road down a path where anyone who can afford a high price lobbyist can create a special program that provides their specific interest with financial gain at the expense of the average taxpayers who are unknowingly forced to carry the burden of paying for these pay outs. Read more…

Related:

 Sen Gumm: Mandate Myths From “The Daily Oklahoman” Opinion Page

Video: KXII First News Forum - Segment 1 - Sept. 28, 2008

Senator Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, is the guest on this edition of KXII’s First News Forum. Forum is a weekly public affairs program hosted by Anchor Charlie Haldeman. The show is broadcast Sunday mornings at 6 a.m. on KXII-TV, serving southern Oklahoma and north Texas.

It was a very informative two weeks for me as I participated in a program called the New Generation Seminar. This was conducted through a Congressional grant by a program established 18 years ago with the University of Hawai’i and their East-West Center. I had the opportunity to visit with politicians and journalists from Asian countries, along with three other politicians from the United States. It truly was a small world as one of the American politicians, Rep. Tim Moore, R - North Carolina, was a friend of mine during my college days. Tim attended Oklahoma City University for law school and we were both active in the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature during the same period of time.

Senator Chuck Hagel, R - Nebraska (center) poses with delegates from the 18th New Generation Seminar, including Rep. Joe Dorman (far right)

The conference was established to build better relations between the United States and these various countries that participate. The delegates had the opportunity to learn from each other’s cultures and also spend time on a predetermined topic. This topic was globalization, which primarily focused on the job sectors in America that have been affected through companies moving large segments of their industry overseas. Each delegate was responsible for a discussion on an area of their home and I chose Agritourism. For more on this topic, check out http://www.oklahomaagritourism.com/ for a great breakdown of this new industry in our state that is assisting rural farmers, ranchers and landowners establish tourism. Read more…

Hello again, everybody! The Oklahoma Constitution guarantees “all political power is inherent in the people.”

One of the clearest expressions of that power is that the sole ability to amend the state Constitution rests with voters. The Legislature can only propose constitutional amendments; the ultimate decision to ratify constitutional amendments rests with you. This is an important right we as Oklahomans have.

On Election Day – just four weeks away – you will have the ability to pass judgment on a proposed constitutional amendment that I strongly supported when it was before the Senate. In fact, I was a co-sponsor of the proposal.

State Question 742 would guarantee one of the rights we as Oklahomans cherish the most: the right to hunt, fish, trap and take game. The wording you will see on the November 4 ballot is:

“This measure adds a new section to the State Constitution. It adds Section 36 to Article 2. It gives all people of this state the right to hunt, trap, fish and take game and fish. Such activities would be subject to reasonable regulation. It allows the Wildlife Conservation Commission to approve methods and procedures for hunting, trapping, fishing and taking of game and fish. It allows for taking game and fish by traditional means. It makes hunting, fishing, and trapping the preferred means to manage certain game and fish. The new law will not affect existing laws relating to property rights.”

Some have suggested this constitutional amendment is unnecessary. After all, who would ever try to prevent us from hunting and fishing? The truth is there are groups out there that have it as their mission to take away this cherished right. Read more…

We’ve told you about the energy con artists and their Kool-Aid drinking enablers.  We all know who the con artists are, and the thinking ones among us know it’s a scam, but the body count of those claimed by the energy con artist gang just keeps spreading.  Note the latest victims to be publicly linked with the scam.

One sure sign of a con artist organization, or their victims, is the refusal to talk to the press.  Here’s the latest Joe Isuzu update from the Gazette.

Related:

Burns Hargis Discusses Boone Pickens Energy Plan

Hat tip: OkStateNews

  From A to Z Energy ETF blog:Despite recent optimistic news on new shale gas reserves, the totality of North American natural gas production remains on a treadmill, as the grim EROI reaper has relentlessly raised the marginal cost of producing- to currently above the price of natural gas futures. While shutting in production is not easy to do once wells are drilled, low prices with rising cost structures can put the crimp on future expansion. Chesapeake (CHK), the largest US natural gas producer and operator of land rigs, announced last evening they will be curtailing production, cutting their rig count and reducing capital expenditures. Read more…

Quote of the Day: “Well Now, This Makes For an Interesting Game of Connect the Dots”

OK Legislators’ Blog: Dorman Calls Energy Forum an Educational Success