Working on the Railroad
Cities supporting a grass-roots effort to save the rail lines at Oklahoma City’s Union Station apparently are being bullied into changing their minds, according to advocates with Oklahomans for New Transportation Alternatives Coalition (OnTrac).
During a press conference Monday morning, officials with the group accused Department of Transportation Director Gary Ridley of issuing veiled threats to communities that want to see the Crosstown Expressway re-routed to save the tracks at Union Station. Eventually, if passenger rail service begins the station could serve as a hub.
Rep. Wallace Collins, D-Norman and former Norman City Council member Richard Stawicki said ODOT officials did not react kindly to a move by the Norman city council to support efforts to save the station. Norman is one of four cities that currently has adopted a resolution to save Union Station.
Stawicki called ODOT officials, “arrogant bureaucrats that threaten elected officials.” Collins recounted a 7 a.m. Saturday meeting held after the city council approved the measure in which Ridley discussed road projects in the Norman area and suggested that the Lindsey Street exit could be closed and other road projects put in jeopardy.
“We took that as not a very veiled threat,” Collins said.
A videographer from ODOT was rolling tape during OnTrac’s press conference, and that may have been reviewed by ODOT officials staffers before their 4 p.m. press conference.
At the afternoon press conference, Ridley said he was “disappointed folks made that comment.”
“I can honestly say that the Department or myself never engaged in pressure tactics or anything of the sort,” Ridley said. “That’s totally false. ”
Ridley pointed out that ODOT had increased funding for projects in Norman and highlighted efforts to improve the look of overpasses and signs.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to help with projects on I-35, Highway 77 and Highway 9-East,” Ridley said.
Julie Bisbee
Capitol Bureau
Coburn lends hand to Inhofe
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn is “asking everyone to support my friend and colleague, Jim Inhofe,” in an e-mail paid for by Inhofe’s re-election campaign.
Coburn, R-Muskogee, said an Inhofe victory would send a message to Washington that “America is fed up with wasteful spending and high taxes.”
Coburn said Inhofe, R-Tulsa, led efforts to defeat a climate-change bill that would have set a limit on the emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide from the combustion of coal, oil and natural gas, Coburn said. Had it passed, America would have faced the largest tax increase in the country’s history, he said.
Coburn said Inhofe’s challenger, state Sen. Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, would be “another vote for the big spending, anti-energy, and ‘government knows best’ policies of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
“When Jim’s opponent, Andrew Rice, tried to link his policies with mine I made it known that I will not be associated with Rice’s liberal agenda,” Coburn said.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Bus bashing Bush makes Oklahoma stop
A museum on wheels with several exhibits to demonstrate how “disastrous” President Bush’s policies have been since he took office in 2001 rolled into Oklahoma today.
The Bush Legacy Bus made a two-hour stop in a parking lot south of the state Capitol. The general theme is that the Bush administration is responsible for an economy in shambles, millions of Americans without health insurance, ignoring concerns about global warming and a growing number of Americans losing their jobs.
Americans United for Change, a group best known for leading efforts to beat back Bush’s effort to privatize Social Security in 2005, is a main sponsor of the bus, which has made stops in more than 40 states.
Locally, the Oklahoma state AFL-CIO helped bring in the bus.
Jimmy Curry, president of the state AFL-CIO, said it’s an attempt to bring issues to the voters instead of having them depend on “30-second sound bites on the TV.”
Videos were played outside and inside the bus. Visitors inside the bus could look at exhibits on Bush’s policies involving the Iraq war, the economy, health care, the environment and workers.
Julie Blust, who is with Americans United for Change and has been on the bus since it started its trek June 24 in the nation’s capital, said the bus does not have materials endorsing any of this year’s presidential candidates. But the bus has information linking those in Congress who supported Bush policies. Sens. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, and John McCain, R-Ariz., the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, are mentioned in materials provided by the group as having backed many of Bush’s policies.
The bus left the Capitol grounds this afternoon. It’s scheduled to arrive tomorrow in Wichita, Kan.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Henry seeks Rice donations
Andrew Rice’s uphill campaign against Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator reminds Oklahoma’s governor of his 2002 gubernatorial race when he was the underdog, according to an e-mail sent out during the weekend.
“As governor, I am proud when Oklahoma produces leaders like State Senator Andrew Rice,” Henry, who won a Democratic primary before winning by a narrow margin in 2002, wrote in the e-mail, which was paid for by the Rice campaign. Rice, an Oklahoma City Democrat, was elected in 2006 to the state Senate. He launched his bid last year to unseat U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, who was elected to the Senate in 1994 and served as a state legislator, Tulsa mayor and congressman before that.“In an evenly divided Senate, Andrew has proven that he can work with both Democrats and Republicans to attack our state’s most challenging issues,” Henry wrote. “He has stood out as a leader on veterans’ issues, health care, and energy.”
Henry, a Democrat who won re-election in a landslide in 2006, called Rice “the right choice for Oklahoma at a time when Washington is badly in need of new leaders with strong principles and a fresh bipartisan approach.”
The governor asked those who received the e-mail to contribute to Rice’s campaign.
“Senator Rice is proud to have Governor Henry’s support and his help,” said Tres Savage, a Rice campaign spokesman. “He is a good example of somebody who has put people before politics.”
Henry also has appeared in campaign ads for Rice. The commercials haven’t aired yet.
But Henry said last week he may limit how much he will get involved in Rice’s campaign. His first obligation is taking care of gubernatorial duties, he said, and he doesn’t like the recent negative tone in campaign ads used in the race.
“That’s not my style,” Henry said. “I don’t like to get involved in negative campaigns, I’ve never run one myself and certainly wouldn’t want to be involved in anyone else’s negative campaign. It’s not necessarily Senator Rice’s fault.”
Inhofe and Rice along with independent candidate Stephen Wallace of Tulsa will appear Tuesday at different times during a forum sponsored by The State Chamber in Tulsa.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Prepping for the debate
The Democratic and Republican U.S. Senate candidates are preparing for tomorrow’s televised debate in Tulsa.Both U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, and state Sen. Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, will meet again a week later in Tulsa for a forum sponsored by The State Chamber, but they will not be speaking at the same time.
Geri Prado, Rice’s campaign manager, said Rice, elected in 2006 to the state Senate, is spending time looking over Inhofe’s positions and reviewing various issues.
“Senator Rice expects this to be a challenging debate,” Prado said. “Jim Inhofe is a lifetime politician with plenty of debate experience. … He’ll be a well-prepared, formidable debater.”
Inhofe, elected to fill an unexpired term in 1994, was re-elected to the Senate in 1996 and 2002.
Josh Kivett, Inhofe’s campaign manager, said Inhofe is spending time preparing for the debate, “but he’s also spending time going out and talking to voters and visiting the people one-on-one.”
The televised debate is scheduled to start at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday at the studios of KJRH-2.
Those outside Tulsa’s KJRH-2’s viewing area may watch the debate live at www.kjrh.com.
Stephen Wallace of Tulsa, an independent candidate, was not invited to take part in the debate.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
State treasurer supports financial rescue plan
As the U.S. Senate prepares tonight to take up a modified $700 billion bank rescue plan, state Treasurer Scott Meacham called today on Oklahoma’s congressional delegation to act quickly to pass the measure.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, said Monday that taxpayers deserve to know “we will face a financial catastrophe if we do nothing.”
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, has been hesitant to back the plan, saying any legislation must have the public’s support.
The House on Monday defeated an earlier proposal.
Three of five Oklahoma’s House members voted against the measure. Meacham urged Reps. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, and John Sullivan, R-Tulsa, to switch their positions and vote for the package if it passes the Senate tonight and heads to the House tomorrow. U.S. Reps. Tom Cole, R-Moore, and Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, voted for the measure.
Without significant action soon, Meacham said, the damage will only worsen.
“We saw earlier this week what happened to the stock market after the House failed to approve the first rescue package,” he said. “The stock market set a record for the largest single day decline in history and investors lost more than a trillion dollars.”
Meacham said no package is going to please everyone.
“No taxpayer is happy that they are being called on once again to rescue private businesses from their poor decisions,” Meacham said. “However, history teaches that failure to act in times of national crisis can be devastating. Herbert Hoover had to learn that lesson the hard way following the stock market crash of 1929.”
What do you think? How should Oklahoma’s congressional delegation vote?
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
