Racial prejudice at the Capitol?
Members of a committee assigned with developing a plaza on the state Capitol grounds to honor Oklahoma’s black history are concerned racial prejudice may be blocking their efforts.
Sen. Connie Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, tried unsuccessfully this past session to get legislation passed to give supporters another five years to raise money for the plaza, which now is estimated to cost $10 million. Original estimates were $2 million. The measure was included as an amendment to a Senate bill and passed the House of Representatives, but the amendment was taken out in the version approved by the Senate.
Johnson says she expects opposition to the plaza project next session.
“That’s what we found out this year,” she said Wednesday.
Committee member Ernest Holloway says he is appalled legislators did not extend the fundraising deadline. The land is to revert back to the state Monday, according to the 2006 legislation, because money for the project has not been raised.
“It is outright disgraceful,” said Holloway, former president of Langston University. “Oklahoma apparently is not ready to acknowledge part of its citizens who made a contribution to this great state.
“We’ve got to re-energize this or otherwise we won’t ever get this done,” he said.
Legislation passed in 2006 approving the project gave supporters two years to raise money for the plaza, to be built in the median of Lincoln Boulevard, just north of NE 18. Legislators declined to appropriate state money for the plaza.
Johnson says fundraising efforts stalled last year because it was uncertain whether the committee could use money raised for the plaza to pay for efforts to secure contributions. The sculptor selected by the committee, Ron Firmin, agreed to raise money for the project for a fee. About $28,000 was raised, with about $12,000 being paid to Firmin for his sketches and proposal.
Committee members suggested Johnson contact the Oklahoma Centennial Commission’s nonprofit entity, which is holding the unspent $16,000 raised for the project, to see if it would handle fundraising efforts for the plaza.
They also encouraged Johnson to draft legislation to be introduced next session that would again reserve the tract of land for the plaza and give supporters more time to raise money. Getting support from various state and community leaders also was suggested.
Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Did political ad go too far?
Candidates supported by the Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats in a newspaper advertisment that featured a picture based on the flag-raising at Iwo Jima weren’t told about it in advance, but they should have come out immediately to denouce it, the head of the Oklahoma Republican Party says.
The ad ran last week in two Oklahoma City weekly newspapers. It included a picture of four shirtless men posed similar to the famous photograph of five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.
Gary Jones, chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, said the ad was “in very poor taste” and criticized Democratic candidates for not acting quicker to denounce the ad.
“When people do things that you don’t agree with, separate yourself from them,” Jones said. “Give their money back, tell them you don’t agree with this and put out a statement that you don’t condone this. But to sit back and remain quiet and then take their money, that’s almost an implied endorsement of what they’re doing.”
Steve VanHook, co-chairman of the Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats. said the candidates named in the ad are “blameless” because they weren’t shown it in advance.
He apologized to the candidates and to any veterans who were offended.
Ivan Holmes, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said the ad was not in good taste, and he faulted the group for not first contacting the candidates.
What do you think?
Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Terrill keeps plugging for HB 1804
State Rep. Randy Terrill maintains a federal judge is incorrect in her ruling that halts part of the state’s immigration law that he authored from taking effect.
A presidential executive order issued this week seems to be contrary to last week’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron, says Terrill, R-Moore.
Cauthron’s ruling halted implementing the private employer provisions of the immigration law, House Bill 1804, which legislators passed last year.
Cauthron ruled that “federal law prohibits use of the Status Verification Systems to verify employment eligibility.”
President Bush this week issued Executive Order 12829, which requires anyone contracting with the federal government to use the E-verify system, Terrill says.
Bush’s order, he says, stated, “It is the policy of the executive branch to enforce fully the immigration laws of the United States, including the detection and removal of illegal aliens and the imposition of legal sanctions against employers that hire illegal aliens” and noted that E-verify “provides the best available means to confirm the identity and work eligibility of all employees that join the Federal workforce.”
“It was clear from the very beginning that Judge Cauthron’s ruling was inconsistent with recent decisions in other similar cases, most notably in Missouri and Arizona,” says Terrill, who has said he is confident his measure will withstand legal challenges. “Now President Bush’s executive order makes it obvious the judge’s ruling was wrong and should be overturned.”
Cauthron ruled sections of HB 1804 interfere with federal rules regarding the hiring of unauthorized workers. In granting the injunction, she said a pending lawsuit against the law has “a substantial likelihood of success.”
Cauthron agreed to prevent enforcement of parts of the new immigration law that require companies to verify the eligibility status of new employees. Those provisions were scheduled to take effect on July 1.
The judge denied the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
“One by one, the criticisms of House Bill 1804 are being dismantled and it’s becoming clear opponents of the law have just one goal – the continued exploitation of cheap illegal alien slave labor to drive down the wages paid to Oklahoma citizens,” Terrill says. “Oklahoma can do better and we will when Judge Cauthron’s poorly reasoned decision is overturned.”
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
