Politics

Here’s some encouraging news: notwithstanding this year’s repeated ferocious attack by the Legislature upon the wallet of Oklahoma taxpayers, there is hope for the future.

For much of Oklahoma’s history, the conservative fiscal values of Oklahomans were upheld because state officials were unable to issue general bonded indebtedness without first…

When asked to point out what I believe to be the most wasteful and inappropriate form of government spending, I can answer without hesitation. Without…

“We have a LOT of travel! There are a lot of savings to be found in this area.”

How would you reduce the state budget? To answer this question, I have maintained the following framework for restoring a responsible and fiscally conservative budget…

Observing the Legislature over the past 11 years have given me much perspective. I now have a tremendous appreciation for those courageous legislators who are…

I have made it a practice to keep on file notable correspondence both written and emailed. From time to time, I go through these archives….

Prior to holding office I had heard the commonly used Action quote: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

It is a very old story and I have heard it repeated many times. It seems that legislators cannot hold a budget hearing or meet…

Last week I described the dangerous decline of transparency in the Legislature and how this is leading to an environment into which terrible ideas are…

Last week I described a key moment from the 2015 legislative session that put the Oklahoma Legislature on a downward transparency trajectory: legislators suspended an…

Last week I wrote of the devolution of openness in the Oklahoma Legislature.

Longtime readers will know that from the time of my election in 2006 until a few years ago I was quite bullish on the potential…

It was the last straw. For years, an area-based business owner had managed to deal with the stressful and potentially punitive sales tax collection requirements…

That was my first thought as I stared up at the monitor in the Appropriations Committee hearing room. The committee was just starting to consider…

Would you believe that the House Appropriations Committee approved the 2018 state budget without reading a single word of the bill?

As this legislative year concluded, those who had been trying to raise taxes gave up on all but the smallest pretense of following the Constitution.