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Thursday, September 06, 2007 Dumb and Dumber Part 2
The state's "dumbest" utility, OG&E, is hopping mad that State Treasurer Scott Meacham, is appearing in newspaper ads critical of a proposed coal-fired power plant near Red Rock Oklahoma.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The Oklahoma Political News Service broke the story recently that the utility was using the same advertising agency as its opponent in the battle, Chesapeake, who appears to be spending far more than OG&E. Most political observers we spoke to were stunned the utility would make such a gaffe. One Capitol insider summed it up by saying, "They're getting creamed as far as advocacy is concerned. Any firm with with any sensible political instinct would never, ever use the same firm as their opponent. What, there are no other ad agencies in America? OG&E's advocacy effort is non-existent and they are losing the ad war to a company who uses their ad agency. It's an incredibly stupid mistake." Click here to read The Oklahoman's take on the controversy: Labels: Chesapeake Energy, OGE, Scott Meacham Posted at 10:21 AM |Compromise Lawsuit Reform Proposal Submitted to Henry
Legislative leaders in the Oklahoma Senate and House of Representatives have submitted a compromise lawsuit reform proposal to Gov. Brad Henry in an effort to reach an agreement before the Legislature adjourns for the year.
Monday, April 02, 2007
The proposal was developed by physicians and business groups, and addresses the governor’s concerns about Senate Bill 507 as outlined in a recent memo from the governor’s chief negotiator, State Treasurer Scott Meacham. Henry has been under fire in Oklahoman and nationally for his veto of Senate Bill 507, a bipartisan lawsuit reform bill passed by the Legislature last month. “The need for lawsuit reform is one of the most critical issues facing our state, so in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation we have agreed to accept the compromise proposal submitted by the medical and business communities. We encourage the governor to accept this proposal so we can take a major step toward stamping out lawsuit abuse in Oklahoma,” stated Senate Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City. “The ball is now in the governor’s court.” “Time is growing very short in the session's final days, but we're hopeful the governor will accept this important compromise," said Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah. "This bill represents a true compromise, but also achieves reform. Oklahoma desperately needs lawsuit reform if our state is going to move forward.” Labels: Brad Henry, OK Legislature, Scott Meacham, Sen. Glenn Coffee, Spkr. Cargill Posted at 3:04 PM |Leaders Send Letter to Henry
Dear Governor Henry,
Thank you for your letter inviting us to discuss the Fiscal Year 2008 budget. Before such a meeting is scheduled, please provide us with a copy of your comprehensive, detailed alternative to the Legislature's bipartisan budget plan. We look forward to meeting with you once we have received your alternative proposal and compared it to the Legislature's bipartisan budget plan. The bipartisan budget in HB 1234 has been open to the public for two weeks. We presume your alternative plan will be similarly open and detailed. The budget adopted by the Legislature through HB 1234 is a constitutionally-mandated balanced budget based on revised revenue estimates adopted by the Board of Equalization in February. Inasmuch as your Executive Budget was prepared using revenue estimates that are no longer valid, we would like to see your alternative plan reflecting the revised revenue estimates. Sincerely, Mike Morgan Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee Senate Co-President Pro Tempore Lance Cargill Speaker of the House Labels: Brad Henry, Budget, OK Legislature, Scott Meacham, Sen. Glenn Coffee, Sen. Mike Morgan, Spkr. Cargill Posted at 2:38 PM |Republicans Mustn't Budge on Tax Cuts
By Andrew Spiropoulos
Friday, March 30, 2007
The problem with the conventional wisdom is that it is generally more conventional than wise. The story everyone is telling at the Capitol these days is that the Governor and the Senate Democrats are deeply at odds; the Senators were just delighted with the now aborted budget deal while the Governor was betrayed by them. He is now lashing out by vetoing their deal. Nice story, but what if it's not true? The last two years we often heard from the Governor and his minions as well as the Democrat Senate leadership and staff how angry they were at the other and how they would much rather deal with us, the Republicans. My suspicion-and operating assumption-was that this kind of talk was a pretense and that they were really working together to maneuver us into an unwinnable position. I obviously don't know for sure whether they were playing it straight then and I know even less about what is going on now. But I do know this-the veto of the budget deal leaves the House and Senate Republicans in a very tough jam. They are going to be forced to negotiate the deal twice and thus satisfy, out of their hide, the hearty spending appetites of both the Governor and the Senate Democrats. Read more... Labels: Brad Henry, Budget, OCPA, OK Legislature, Scott Meacham Posted at 8:17 AM |Laster Leaves Everyone But Meacham Laughing From the Tecumseh Countywide News & Shawnee Sun:By Wayne Trotter State Sen. Charlie Laster has been a strong supporter of Gov. Brad Henry but that didn't keep him from sending the governor an unmistakable message last week - don't mess around with the Senate on this budget issue. “I love Brad and he's my No. 1 guy in state government, I assure you,” Laster told a legislative breakfast in Tecumseh Friday morning. “But he will not get any sympathy in the Senate for having not been so involved in the budget deal,” said Laster, like Henry a Shawnee Democrat. “He will just have to decide if he wants to line-item veto some of the things in the bill, then sit back and watch and see if there's an override. “That'll be fun,” Laster said. “I look forward to that.” Read more... Labels: Brad Henry, OK Senate, Scott Meacham, Sen. Laster Posted at 5:45 PM |Henry In Favor of 90% of Budget He Vetoed
Speaker Cargill mentioned at his weekly press conference this afternoon that the governor’s chief spokesman on matters of policy and finance, Scott Meacham, has said that they are in favor of 90 percent of the bipartisan budget that the governor vetoed yesterday. Meacham made his comments yesterday on the News9 Morning Show:
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
NEWS9 MORNING SHOW REPORTER DOUG WARNER: No one is suggesting this morning that the governor is waking up this morning shoving the budget in a paper shredder or anything, but uh, are there any parts that you guys have looked at that you actually like, and think, hey, this was a good move, this was a good decision? STATE TREASURER SCOTT MEACHAM: “I think a lot of the budget is – probably 90 percent of it, maybe a little less than that – is okay.” Insiders are scratching their heads and are asking: Why would the governor veto a budget deal, he's 90% in agreement with? Labels: Brad Henry, Budget, OK Legislature, Scott Meacham, Spkr. Cargill Posted at 6:30 PM |Freedmen Descendants Hold Rally, March Oklahoma Black Caucus lends support to movement to get Freedmen back on Cherokee rolls By Jaclyn Houghton CNHI News Service Vicki Baker never used the benefits of being a member of the Cherokee Nation - health care, education and discounted car tags. But a March 3 vote to oust those who cannot trace lineage to one member on the Cherokee Nation’s base roll, known as the Dawes Roll, is personal. “They keep yelling ‘sovereignty, sovereignty.’ It has nothing to do with sovereignty,” said Baker, of Chelsea, Okla. “It has to do with the treaty.” Baker’s great-great-grandmother was an eighth Cherokee and was switched to the Freedmen rolls, which mainly consisted of former tribal-held slaves. She was not a slave. Several legislative members of Oklahoma’s Black Caucus joined the fight Tuesday to overturn the Cherokee Nation’s recent vote, and also joined members of the Descendants of Freedmen Association to protest a fundraiser for Cherokee Principal Chief Chad Smith. Several state elected officials including Gov. Brad Henry, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, State Treasurer Scott Meacham, Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett, Commissioner of Insurance Kim Holland and Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan were expected to host the fundraiser. Read more... Labels: Brad Henry, Kim Holland, Oklahoma Black Caucus, Sandy Garrett, Scott Meacham, Sen. Mike Morgan Posted at 8:47 AM |GOP Leaders: What is Henry Trying to Hide with Veto of Audit Funds?
Republican leaders questioned today Gov. Brad Henry’s line-item veto of funding for an independent performance audit of the Department of Corrections – which the governor described as his “first” line-item veto of HB 1234, the bipartisan general appropriations bill overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature last week.
Monday, March 26, 2007
“What is the governor trying to hide with this veto? Is Gov. Henry afraid that an independent performance audit might uncover his mismanagement of a critical public safety agency? Independent performance audits at public school districts have proven very effective at improving efficiency and saving taxpayers’ money. We believe independent performance audits can have the same positive impact on the Department of Corrections and other state agencies,” stated Senate Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City. “Perhaps the governor is worried that a more efficient Department of Corrections would interfere with his plans to implement the early release program that he outlined in his State of the State Address?” queried Coffee. “Today Gov. Henry has taken a stand against fiscal responsibility. We hope that he does not decide to take a stand against bipartisanship, too, with additional line-item vetoes the bipartisan general appropriations bill. If additional vetoes occur, the governor will poison the bipartisan atmosphere at the Legislature and will set the stage for a possible government shutdown,” stated Sen. Mike Johnson, R-Kingfisher, the co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Rep. Rex Duncan, the House leader on public safety, expressed his frustration and disappointment after Governor Henry tried to kill a plan to conduct a top-to-bottom audit and outside review to fix problems in Oklahoma's state prisons. "After four years of failed policies to address our state prisons crisis, Governor Henry has shown the worst kind of arrogance today by killing attempts at reform. Governor Henry is apparently not interested in accountability to the taxpayers. The governor is now playing partisan gridlock games. What is the governor trying to hide by vetoing this plan?" Duncan said the root of the state's prison crisis stems from the failure of the governor and his financial adviser Scott Meacham to budget appropriately for costs at the Department of Corrections over the past several years, consistently low-balling estimates for the DOC by millions of dollars each year. In each case, the Legislature appropriated millions more for state prisons than recommended by the executive branch, and then had to make supplemental appropriations on top of that year after year. The independent outside audit was part of a historic bipartisan budget agreement passed by an overwhelming margin last week in the State Legislature. The DOC audit has been supported by legislative leaders in both parties, and would cost $1 million -- a mere fraction of the DOC's massive half-a-billion-dollar budget. "This audit has the strong support of leaders in both parties. It's a solid effort to reform a broken system," said Duncan. "If this is the governor's first 'symbolic' line-item veto, he is sending a terrible message about business as usual at the State Capitol. The governor makes disingenuous claims that the state auditor or his finance office could perform this audit, but that undercuts his entire argument. His administration has failed to solve the problems in our prisons. Clearly we need some outside expertise, people who don't have a political agenda like the governor does." Duncan said he found it ironic the governor and Meacham apparently are working on hiring an outside consultant for the EDGE initiative, yet they don't see the value in hiring outside expertise to help resolve the state's prison crisis. "We have a real problem in our state's prisons right now, and it's only been made worse by the failed policies of the governor. It's time to stop the harmful cycle of band-aid supplemental spending on our state's prisons, but apparently the governor is comfortable continuing to write blank checks into a broken system." Labels: Brad Henry, OK Legislature, Rep. Rex Duncan, Scott Meacham Posted at 3:26 PM |Budget Spat Gives House Democrats Reason To Crow
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) State House Democrats, nearly invisible on Oklahoma's political landscape the past two years, are finding a reason to exist as Gov. Brad Henry gets ready for a budget showdown with legislative leaders over a state budget they wrote without Henry's input.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Democrats ruled the 101-member Oklahoma House for 80 years before they were toppled in elections in 2004 that brought Republicans to power. House Democrats have wallowed in political mediocrity ever since, excluded from budget talks they used to command and failing to find ways to make a difference as the chamber's minority party. The Democratic governor's differences with the state budget and suggestions that he will veto much of it give House Democrats a chance to make themselves relevant again. ``We are excited that our voice may finally get to be heard,'' said House Democratic leader Danny Morgan of Prague. ``If the caucus works carefully with the governor on those issues that are important to our constituents, we can make a positive impact for Oklahoma.'' Henry has threatened to line-item veto parts of the $6.9 billion state budget that was passed unanimously in the Senate and by a wide margin in the House last week. State Treasurer Scott Meacham, a personal friend and close political adviser to the governor, told The Associated Press there is a good chance Henry will veto all funding for the 2008 fiscal year that begins July 1, while authorizing supplemental spending for public schools and state prisons for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Henry has until Wednesday to decide what to do. For his vetoes to be meaningful, they have to survive an override attempt. That's where House Democrats come in. Read more... Labels: Brad Henry, Budget, OK Legislature, Rep. Danny Morgan, Scott Meacham, Spkr. Cargill Posted at 7:02 AM |Gov. Henry & Family Vacationing at Trial Lawyer's Vacation Home? So where has the "bipartisan governor" been while his crony and "financial guru" Scott Meacham spent the past week bashing bipartisanship and making wild statements about using the veto pen?GOP Chairman Tom Daxon issued a press release this afternoon asking the same question. He is asking the governor's office to disclose specific and detailed information about the chief executive's Spring Break vacation, where he traveled and stayed, how much the trip cost, and who covered the costs of his trip. "This week has been an important time for the people's business," said Daxon. "And while the governor has been out of pocket, his financial guru Scott Meacham has been making threats about using the veto pen to shoot down the bipartisan budget. I'm hoping the governor will return next week and that cooler heads will prevail. He should also address questions about where he has been." Paul Sund, the governor's communications director, has tried to avoid questions from reporters about the governor's whereabouts -- only willing to say that remarks about the governor's Spring Break vacation were "cheap shots." Well, now we know why the notoriously prickly Sund was so defensive about the governor's trip. Turns out that while leaders in the House and Senate were hammering out the details of a historic bipartisan budget agreement -- the earliest in decades, it seems -- Governor Henry was lounging on the beach and soaking up the rays in Cabo San Lucas at the posh vacation digs of trial lawyer Terry West. The governor has publicly pledged to be in favor of lawsuit reform, but the reality is he's in the hip pocket of the ambulance chasers. More interestingly, while he's been enjoying the rich dividends of jackpot jury verdicts, he's allowed his underlings this week to attempt to sabotage a bipartisan deal that would mark a real turning point in taking care of matters at the State Capitol in a businesslike way. Of course, we won't expect to read any of this information in the mainstream Oklahoma media. The Capitol press corps typically provides the "bipartisan governor" plenty of cover for his trips. All the media has been willing to say is that the governor is "out of state." Labels: Brad Henry, Paull Sund, Press Bias, Scott Meacham, Tom Daxon Posted at 7:31 PM |House Budget Vice Chair Says Comments by Meacham Demonstrate Treasurer's Lack of Knowledge on Budget Matters House budget vice chair Rep. Ken Miller, blasted state treasurer Scott Meacham this afternoon in a press release that discounts several "Meachams Myths." "I'm surprised that Meacham would make these kinds of claims. The things he is saying just make him look out of touch," said Rep. Ken Miller(R-Edmond), vice chair of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee. "Unfortunately, it looks like flawed 'Meacham math' strikes again." Miller was one of about nine Democratic and Republican legislative leaders in the House and Senate who helped to craft a landmark bipartisan state budget agreement that is the earliest in decades and the first ever that will meet the Fund Education First April 1 deadline. Miller said that Treasurer Meacham has been making unfounded claims about the bipartisan agreement - a plan that passed the Legislature overwhelmingly this week in House Bill 1234 and now awaits action by the governor. "I really can't understand why Meacham appears to be so upset," said Miller. "Either he's upset because we didn't ask his permission to exercise our constitutional authority to write the budget, or because it doesn't include the irresponsible spending spree that Meacham has tried to push. Meacham's executive budget included about a billion dollars in spending backed by irresponsible debt. So I guess that's why he is lashing out against our fiscally-responsible plan." Miller said Meacham's many factual errors include: * Meacham Myth: Meacham claims the budget agreement in House Bill 1234 does not provide enough funds for school districts to fund last year's teacher pay increase for those teachers who have a portion of their salaries funded by federal money - such as special education teachers. * Fact: The state traditionally does not fund "federally funded" teachers. State agency appropriations for state employee pay raises are prorated based on a percentage of state verses federal funding. * Meacham Myth: Meacham claims the bipartisan budget does not annualize the pay increase so it includes teachers hired in 2007. "By the time schools would get their money, they would actually see a cut in their operations budget," Meacham has said. * Fact: Additional teacher salaries were funded with a $3.5 million supplemental in HB 1234. Additional teachers were funded in the FY-08 appropriation to Common Education based on figures provided by the State Dept. of Education. * Meacham Myth: Meacham claims the bipartisan agreement funds the STARS program, but that the program doesn't exist any longer. * Fact: The STARS (State Transition Aftercare Region System) program exists within the State Military Department. The program was de-funded in FY-05, and the program was re-established in FY-06 through direct funding to the Military Dept. * Meacham Myth: Meacham claims the bipartisan budget agreement only funds the state's higher education system at a 'stand-still' level which would result in "big tuition increases." * Fact: The State Regents for Higher Education received a $101.5 million increase or a 10.9 percent increase for FY-08. The one-time Rainy Day Spillover money used for FY-07 was replaced with on-going revenue in HB 1234. The Governor replaced only $75 million in his executive budget. * Meacham Myth: Meacham inaccurately claims the bipartisan agreement only provides the state Department of Corrections about $10 million, when he claims they need $40 million. "They need $40 million for operations to the end of the fiscal year," Meacham has said. "But the legislature only provided them $10 million. That will only keep them operating for about 30 days." * Fact: The Department of Corrections received sufficient funds to sustain operations until a thorough cash flow analysis can be conducted. The Legislature set aside monies to address additional supplemental needs and perform an audit to evaluate agency operations, best management practices and future funding needs. * Meacham Myth: Meacham claims that lawmakers funded a pay increase for correctional officers twice - in the corrections budget and in the general appropriations budget. * Fact: The Department of Corrections received appropriations to fund the $2,800 across-the-board pay increase for all correctional officers and appropriations to fund the 5 percent salary increase awarded to all state employees including all correctional officers. * Meacham Myth: Meacham has claimed that funding for state prisons is a function of the number of contract beds paid for, plus corrections salaries. * Fact: Funding Corrections is not a function of the number of contract beds. The Office of State Finance has allowed the Department of Corrections to submit a budget work program essentially attributing all operations funding shortfalls to the contract bed expenditure line-item. "Based on his erroneous claims, it's pretty clear that Scott Meacham either hasn't read the budget or doesn't have the slightest clue about state budget matters, which is disturbing considering he's the state's treasurer," Miller concluded. "I hope that when the governor gets back from vacation, he'll reject the outlandish claims made by Meacham and do the right thing by signing the bipartisan budget." Labels: Rep. Ken Miller, Scott Meacham Posted at 4:52 PM | |
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