Vacation plans
With legislators gone and no special session for the first time in four years, Oklahoma’s first family is making summer vacation plans.
Gov. Brad Henry plans to attend a summer meeting June 10-13 of The Council of State Goverments in Puerto Pico. Henry is president of the organization.
The governor and the first lady, Kim Henry, plan in late June to go on a mission trip with the former pastor of their church, the First Baptist Church in Shawnee. They will be distributing treated mosquito nets to children and pregnant women in Ghana, Africa.
“We’ve been wanting to go on this particular mission trip for some time and I think we’ll be able to work it out,” Henry said.
With his oldest daughter planning to start college this fall, the governor said the family will focus on spending time with her before “she leaves the nest.” Leah, 17, is planning to study out of state.
“My other two daughters will be home and we’ll just try to have some good, quality time this summer,” he said.
Before summer officially arrives, the governor and first lady will be celebrating their wedding anniversary. They will be married 21 years Thursday.
Michael McNutt
Capitol Bureau
Rumors fly as talk of session ending today picks up steam
The Capitol is always a rumor mill the last week of session. Well, it is a rumor mill period, but especially as the final details are sorted out and lawmakers start to feel a sense of urgency.
The Legislature has to be done by 5 p.m. tomorrow. But many are talking about finishing a day early. This would give lawmakers something to brag about. They finished their work not only on time, but early.
There are still dozens of bills in conference, and several even already on agendas. But as the clock ticks by, lawmakers are moving a little quicker today. The only bill lawmakers need to pass is a one-time funds bill that spends the rest of the $7.1 billion state budget. If that can be done, they rest may fall by the wayside. Only time will tell……..check back for updates.
Jennifer Mock
Capitol Bureau
Traveling man
Ivan Holmes, the new chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, is planning to get to know Democrats across the state.
Holmes, elected Saturday to a two-year term, pledged to go to each of the state’s 77 counties to help recruit candidates for every state House and Senate race.
Holmes, 69, said he realized the need for state party officials to work with local party officials while he worked as campaign manager Lloyd Fields in his successful race for state labor commissioner.
“Most of them said you were one of the few Democrats that showed up,” he said. “That’s the reason most of them supported me.”
His visits, he said, will build the Democratic Party from “the bottom up.”
“So that the people out there in these counties have some input into what’s going on,” Holmes said.
Holmes, a retired journalism professor at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, will give up an annual salary of about $50,000 as Fields’ communications director at the Labor Department.
Holmes, of Oklahoma City, said he wants to make the state Democratic Party more visible by holding regular news conferences.
He also wants to organize young Democrats across the state, he said.
Lisa Pryor, the party’s outgoing chairman, did not seek a second two-year term for the unpaid position. She will stay on until the end of this month as the party’s executive director, which has an annual salary of about $60,000.
Holmes said he will not serve in both positions, and is looking at possibly splitting up the duties and hiring two people.
“I may not even have, quote, an executive director,” he said.
Holmes said priorities in the 2008 election include defeating U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, chipping away at the Republican majority in the state House and regaining control of the state Senate, which is evenly split and for the first time in state history is not controlled by Democrats.
He wants to help Sen. Nancy Riley, D-Tulsa, get re-elected. Riley, who switched last year from Republican to Democrat, was targeted earlier this year for defeat by Senate co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City. If she had not switched, Republicans would have the majority in the Senate and Coffee would be president pro tempore instead of sharing control with President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater.
Michael McNutt
Capitol Bureau
Family feud
Daniel and Frank Keating may be twins, but they clearly have different opinions on who should be the next president.
Daniel Keating, a Tulsa businessman, is behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Frank Keating, Oklahoma’s governor from 1995 to 2003, is supporting U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Romney and McCain each are seeking the Republican Party’s nomination.
Daniel Keating said he supports Romney because of his successes: Romney helped businesses grow and improve their operations; he helped turn around the 2002 Winter Olympics’ debt; and as governor, he balanced the budget every year of his administration, closing a $3 billion budget gap he inherited when he took office in 2002.
“Today we need people with fresh ideas, people that have been successful and don’t necessarily need (Washington) D.C. for their income or D.C. for their ego,” said Daniel Keating, who helped organize tomorrow’s fund-raising breakfast for Romney in Tulsa.
Frank Keating, who hosted two fundraiser Monday for McCain in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, said he is supporting McCain because of his “enormous personal courage” as a war hero and his “brilliant record” as a fiscal conservative in Congress.
“I think we need someone where we know where he stands,” the former governor said.
Michael McNutt
Jennifer Mock
Capitol Bureau
Oklahoma receives nationwide attention
http://newsok.com/video/149140
Today The Oklahoman was featured on MSNBC for a story that ran in the newspaper this week on a comprehensive immigration reform bill the Legislature sent to the governor.
As far as convergence goes, national television is the big kahuna. Though I only got our Web address in on one of the three segments I did live Friday (man TV interviews go by fast!), having The Oklahoman out front of a story people across the country care about is important to our future as a multimedia company. I was happy to be a part of it.
Immigration is an issue on the minds of a lot of Oklahomans. In all three live shots, the TV reporter asked me why immigration is such a big issue in Oklahoma, since it is not a border state. It is an interesting question. Many of the state House and Senate candidates said it was the number one issue they heard about while knocking doors in their districts during the elections last year. Immigration played prominently in the gubernatorial campaign.
Throughout that campaign, Gov. Brad Henry said he thinks immigration is mostly a federal issue that must be solved at that level. And now he is deciding whether to sign a bill that will impose some penalties on local businesses for hiring illegal immigrants and will cuts off most public subsidies for those here illegally.
Odds are he will sign the bill. The legislation passed through the House and Senate overwhelmingly, meaning any veto by Henry could likely be overridden in both houses.
But, is the legislation good public policy, or an attempt by politicians to appease their voters? Is this a stall until the federal government does something about the problem?
Henry has until Tuesday to sign or veto the bill. Check newsok.com for the latest, and let us know why this is such a big issue to you here in Oklahoma.
Look here for a clip of the MSNBC segment: http://newsok.com/video/149140
Jennifer Mock
Capitol Bureau
OCAST observes 20th anniversary
The state’s technology-based economic development agency marked its 20th anniversary yesterday by thanking a former governor who helped get the idea started and the current governor for working to get the agency more money.
Former Gov. George Nigh and Gov. Brad Henry were presented awards during a brief ceremony capped by anniversary cake on the state Capitol’s 4th-floor rotunda.
The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology generates more than $17 in federal and private money for each dollar of state money it receives, said Michael Carolina, the agency’s executive director.
Henry said, “I don’t know of many investments with a better return than that.”
Since 1987, the state has given the agency about $138.6 million, which it has used to garner $2.4 billion in federal and private dollars, Carolina said.
“We are creating the kind of R and D (research and development) excellence in this state that I think 20 years ago we probably wouldn’t have imagined,” he said.
Nigh was “instrumental” in the early work that resulted in the creation of OCAST, Carolina said.
Nigh told the crowd the idea was suggested to him by an Oklahoma City businessman, Don Paulson. Nigh joked that all he did was put Paulson on a committee to look into developing the concept.
“We had this committee, we made recommendations and I’ve got to say the most significant thing we did was plant the seed,” Nigh said.
The agency at first was placed under the state Commerce Department in 1986; it became an independent agency a year later.
“OCAST was a seed that was planted in a very unusual way,” said Nigh, adding the idea was developed as Oklahoma was reeling from the collapse of the energy boom. “We needed a new source of revenue for this state.”
OCAST oversees several programs that focus on applied research, health research, small business and manufacturing assistance and technology commercialization.
Henry during his administration has pushed for increased state money for the agency, Carolina said.
Henry succeeded in getting a $10 million funding increase for the agency in 2006, putting its annual budget at $22.4 million. Henry is trying to get an additional $2 million for the 2008 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Most of the agency’s state appropriations go directly to programs.
“We have entered an era where technology and science and research and education are absolutely critical to our future survival and prosperity,” Henry said.
Michael McNutt
Capitol Bureau
