 |
 |
We couldn’t help but be amused that another figure who put OKPNS on the map is back in the paper. Rep. Terrill has had a better time with the Oklahoma City daily paper: each and every time he takes on the paper he wins.
The Moore representative is back in the legislature despite a steady drumbeat of propaganda against him initiated by the paper, and the irony of Terrill and Coates being in prominent stories in the paper on the same day was simply too much to resist.
The Oklahoman:
Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, said the fracture between conservative House Republicans and Speaker-elect Kris Steele is widening after he said last week he would ask fellow Republicans to focus on economic issues.
“I was offered a position but declined,” Terrill said. “I simply felt that it would be inappropriate for me to accept a position when I may not fully share Speaker-elect Steele’s vision in what needs to take place in terms of our caucus agenda.
“I reached the point in my legislative career where I don’t need a title to be relevant. Read more…
Thanks to all of you who have written and called to urge us to get back into the Oklahoma political scene. You were right: there is just to much going on/being ignored for us to stay out any longer!
‘Two of them that are missing up on that board are OKPNS as well as the McCarville Report, both good at covering what’s going on at the state capitol. That increasingly has been their role as the capital press corp has been decreasing in size – and that is a bad thing.”
Last Friday’s Your Vote Counts show with host Scott Mitchell did a segment on the Oklahoma blogosphere. Congratulations to the following blogs that were mentioned on air:
We were especially honored to be mentioned in the same breath with the McCoffeville Report Online McCarville Report Online. Not bad for a discredited blog, huh Mike?
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
From Examiner.com:
A curious reader inquired whether or not we were aware that a connection existed between abortion activists and proponents of so-called “tort reform” in Oklahoma
A quick look at the record seems to indicate that there is a connection, but nobody up until now bothered to connect the dots.
It’s well known that the state’s medical association and prominent doctors have long sought “tort reform.” You may remember that in 2007, they were very close to getting it done. But another bill of interest to docs was making its way through the legislature that same year: SB 714 by Sen. Jim Williamson, R-Tulsa, which would virtually halted taxpayer-funded abortions.
News accounts indicate that the medical bureaucracy opposed SB 714, but a group of the pro-life doctors, including the state’s most prominent ob-gyn, urged state legislators to pass the bill. The divide was clear: the pro-abortion forces wanted a green light for taxpayer-funded abortions in public facilities, and they aggressively opposed Sen. Williamson’s bill. Read more…
Related:
Video: “Your Vote Counts”
“I wouldn’t have thought there was any linkage between the three issues, but there was a blog – OKPNS.com – that broke the story earlier this week.” – Rep. Randy Terrill
Hat tip:NEWS9OklahomaCity
OKPNS readers alerted us today that the KOKC version of “Your Vote Counts” this morning featured an exchange between “Sunrise News” Host Randy Renner, Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore and Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City regarding problems with the shrinking capitol press corps.
Listeners say Terrill complained the press has thus far ignored hints that a group of abortion advocates may be the driving force behind some of the provisions of the lawsuit reform bill. Morrissette complained the press missed an astounding revelation by nursing home reformer Wes Bledsoe in a hearing Monday that the same reform effort will endanger nursing home residents. We’ve heard this before!
Developing….
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…
Excerpts from this morning’s radio edition of “Your Vote Counts” on AM 1520:
VOTER ID:
“What is so wrong with proving who you are.” - Randy Renner
“Solution looking for a problem. The voter system in Oklahoma is one of the best in the country.” - Rep. Morrissette
“There’s the nonsense of this argument. How would we know if there is voter fraud since we don’t require I.D. now?” - Rep. Terrill
SEN. COFFEE:
“Should Glenn Coffee resign his position as leader of the Senate?”
“No he should not. Before this ever became a story, Glenn Coffee manned up and paid his taxes that were due.” – Rep. Terrill
“We have heard resolution after resolution to stop out of state travel by members of the state house of representatives. My friends on the right won’t hear it.” - Rep. Morrissette
UPDATE: AP: Coffee pays old traffic tickets
Excerpts from this morning’s radio edition of “Your Vote Counts” on AM 1520:
“He just took a crisis and turned it worse.” - Scott Mitchell
“It boggles my mind. No wonder so many Republicans are pushing tax cuts!” - Randy Renner
“His credibility is a little bit damaged. If he seeks the AG, I think that could be problematic.” - Rep. Randy Terrill
“Barack Obama’s recovery program is going to save the State of Oklahoma and the state Republicans from their fiscal mismanagement.” - Rep. Richard Morrissette
“We can push polarizing legislation that grabs the attention of bloggers and talk radio, or we can pursue legislation that propels Oklahoma firmly into the 21st century.”
Were the Governor’s remarks yesterday at his state of the state address motivated by this OKPNS post? Hmmm.
EXCLUSIVE: Candid Emails Reveal Depths of 1804 Repeal Conspiracy; Ambush Planned for Rep. Terrill
By Dennis R. Preston
English Professor
I have just read in the Daily O’Collegian that “[a] group of lawmakers … are refiling legislation … to make English the official language of Oklahoma government in an effort to save taxpayer money and help legal immigrants assimilate into American society.”
In another venue the chief sponsor of this legislation, Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, has said that “census data shows that learning to speak English is a near guarantee that immigrants will increase their earning power. This bill will improve the lives of immigrants, foster better relations between all citizens and grow our economy.” Although careful studies in many sites have shown the expense of services in other languages is vastly overestimated, that is not the reason for my response. This initiative presupposes that there are many legal immigrants who do not learn or even want to learn English and that a punitive whip is needed to get them going. Nothing in recent surveys suggests that this is true.
The rapidity and thoroughness of learning English is better in the current climate than it was when many of our grandparents (well, mine) and great-grandparents (probably yours) came to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Read more…