April 2009 Volume 16 Number 4
- Avoiding the Theft of Democracy
- April 01, 2009
- By Patrick B. McGuigan
Republican efforts to assure those voting in state elections are actually eligible voters are attracting some heavyweight opposition, including the editorial page at the Tulsa World. A February 26 op-ed on voter ID by Gloria Caldwell of the League of Women Voters claimed no less than seven times that state Sen. John Ford's proposal to tighten up on voting requirements would mandate the use of photo IDs.
Read More >
- Union Requires Photo ID
- April 01, 2009
- Steven Walters of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported in October that the state affiliate of the National Education Association in Wisconsin required those attending its 2008 convention to show a photo ID. One hopes its sister union in Oklahoma - the Oklahoma Education Association - likewise has no aversion to ID requirements and won't oppose a voter ID law in Oklahoma. Read More >
- Crowding Out Oklahoma's Private Sector
- April 01, 2009
- By Brandon Dutcher
This year's budget hole at the state capitol is big. And if the politicians' reluctance to tap the Rainy Day Fund is any indication, next year's hole could be even bigger.
This is not bad news. Government is too big. It needs to get smaller.
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- Where's the Fief?
- April 01, 2009
- By J. Scott Moody and Wendy P. Warcholik
Oklahoma's government workforce is too big. But where, exactly?
As we pointed out in these pages in December ("Overcrowding on the Government Gravy Train"), data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) indicate that Oklahoma's state and local government workforce is too big and is overpaid.
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- Have Tax Dollars, Will Travel
- April 01, 2009
By Steve Anderson
Oklahoma's transparency website is turning up all sorts of interesting things.A few years ago in a column published in the state's largest newspaper, OCPA's Brandon Dutcher teamed up with U.S. Senator Tom Coburn to suggest that Oklahoma should establish a website which would allow taxpayers to see where their money is being spent (‘State spending Web site needed," The Oklahoman, October 18, 2006).
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- Stealth Taxation 'Nonappropriated' Agencies Quietly Take Your Money
- April 01, 2009
- By Steve Anderson
In its first hundred years Oklahoma's state government has managed to develop bureaucracies that would make it the envy of many socialist countries.
Tucked away in the governor's FY-2009 Executive Budget Book is a little something called Schedule C-31, a document listing the "nonappropriated" agencies in state government. Herein lies a treasure trove of political placements and high-paying jobs, many of which are of questionable value and have little or no oversight.
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- A Billion Dollars of Unnoticed Taxation
- April 01, 2009
- By Jason Murphey
Over the past two years, I have been taking note of state government's hidden spending.
Each year, the state government appropriates about $7 billion of your taxpayer money. The agencies that depend on this funding are more subject to legislative oversight because they know their appropriations must be approved on an ongoing basis. In theory, these agencies should be on their best behavior because they are supposed to be held accountable by the people's representatives.
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- In Defense of Oklahoma's Tax-Hike Supermajority Requirement
- April 01, 2009
- By Joseph Henchman
State legislation is often described as an expression of majority rule. However, the legislative process contains steps that seem designed to hinder spontaneous expressions of majority sentiment.
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- School Choice in Obama's America and Our Oklahoma
- April 01, 2009
- By Patrick B. McGuigan
In Barack Obama's America, there's good news and bad news for advocates of school choice. The same is true in Oklahoma.
Among the bad news is congressional action to kill the existing Washington, D.C. school vouchers program serving 1,700 underprivileged and mostly black students. But here's some good news: in mid-March, President Barack Obama told reporters, in comments reinforced by his press secretary, that the program should not be allowed to die.
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- OU Continues to Lean Left
- April 01, 2009
- By Brandon Dutcher
Thought experiment. The head of the OU College Republicans drafts a press release saying, "The University of Oklahoma will join hundreds of institutions from across the country in celebrating ‘National Teach-In for Economic Freedom' to show the President and the Congress that people are ready to enact a bold economic policy that prioritizes income-tax cuts, spending reductions, and a rollback of harmful environmental regulations." The College Republicans take this press release to Catherine Bishop, OU's vice president of public affairs, and ask her to post it on the OU website. Would she do it?
Read More >
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