New Campaign $ Numbers Coming
The latest campaign contribution and expenditure reports are due to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday. None of the challengers to Oklahoma’s incumbent House members are expected to show much (if any) activity.
But state Sen. Andrew Rice, the Democrat challenging U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, has had some fundraising success so his report could give more of an indication of whether he will be able to mount a serious media campaign this fall.
Now that the FEC has enough commissioners to do its work again _ nominations were stalled by partisan bickering _ the commission may take action on an audit done last year of former Oklahoma Rep. Ernest Istook’s 2003-2004 campaign activity.
The audit found serious problems, but no fine was levied against the campaign.
In an e-mail at the beginning of the June, Istook said the matter had not been resolved because of the vacancies on the commission. He declined to say whether a monetary fine was involved.
Watts Stumping for Education
Former Oklahoma Congressman (and OU Quarterback) J.C. Watts, a Republican, is trying to get the presidential candidates to focus on education issues. Here’s an Associated Press story:
By MIKE GLOVER
AP Political Writer
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain must be willing to challenge their political bases if real change is to come to the nation’s schools, a leading advocate for education change said Thursday.
In an effort to build pressure on the candidates to lead such efforts, former Oklahoma Republican Rep. J.C. Watts said he and others are taking the issue to battleground states such as Iowa.
Watts, who once was part of the GOP House leadership, spent the day meeting with elected leaders, school officials and suburban business leaders as part of the campaign to focus the presidential campaign on education. He cited polls showing voters rank the economy and education as more important than the war in Iraq.
“It’s just the bully pulpit that a presidential candidate has,” said Watts. “We think we have the ear of the candidates, but in a campaign you are often driven by the labor of the day.”
Watts is part of a group called Strong American Schools ED in ‘08, headed by Roy Roemer, a former Democratic governor of Colorado. The group seeks fundamental reforms in the nation’s school system, and Watts said only a presidential campaign provides the platform for such far-reaching changes.
“In order for there to be real change, I think presidential candidates in whichever party have to be willing to take their base places where their base isn’t willing to go,” said Watts.
He argued that Republicans must accept an increase in teacher pay and that Democrats must agree to the notion that school standards should be raised.
“A Democratic nominee will have to be willing to take teachers’ unions places they’re not willing to go,” said Watts. “A Republican nominee will have to be able to take the right, who says parental choice in education is the solution to everything, he’s going to have to be able to take the base places they’re not willing to go.”
Watts said he was encourag ed that both Obama and McCain have shown a willingness to break from political convention.
“John and Barack are both pretty doggone good listeners,” said Watts.
He said this year’s campaign could start a movement with a payoff in later years. He noted that President Kennedy launched America’s effort to reach the Moon, an accomplishment that came nearly six years after his death. And while many credit President Reagan for the fall of the Berlin Wall, it came down nearly a year after he left office.
“It’s more than a four-month process,” he said.
One of the toughest sales jobs will be on standards, Watts conceded, pointing to his days as a star quarterback at the University of Oklahoma.
“We’re not advocating a federal takeover of the school system,” said Watts. “As a quarterback, I had standards and if I didn’t adhere to those standards I wasn’t in there. There has to be standards. There has to be accountability.”
Sketch Artists
After a week of vacation and the better part of a couple of weeks in the other Washington covering the Seattle SuperSonics trial, I’m back in DC, where little has changed in my absence: the Democrats and Republicans are still arguing about oil prices.
The trial over moving the NBA team to Oklahoma City was interesting at times and deadly boring at others. Through most of it, I sat next to a sketch artist (photographers aren’t allowed in federal courtrooms) and, when the testimony was less than scintillating, I watched her work.
On one day, I sat next to two sketch artists and watched them both draw the same scene _ a lawyer questioning a witness with the judge looking on. Though they had the same overall characteristics, the pictures looked a lot different. Different features of the people were emphasized, the colors varied, the styles were distinct.
Here is a picture done by Julie Notarianni for the Seattle Times newspaper. It shows Sonics attorney Brad Keller questioning Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, with Judge Marsha Pechman and Sonics owner Clay Bennett:
And here is a picture by David Badders for the Seattle Post-Intelligencier of Pechman and Nickels:
It struck me that people following the coverage in more than one newspaper might have thought the same thing about the stories they read. The reduction of five or more hours of testimony into a newspaper-sized story requires an incredible amount of sifting and, though the basic stories might be the same, the details, almost inevitably would be different.
As you all know by now, the judge never did get to rule in the case _ whether the Sonics had to honor the last two years of the lease with the Seattle-controlled arena or could leave early under a buyout _ since the lawsuit was settled just hours before the decision was to come down.
I know I was very interested in how the judge would rule (having devoted many hours to the trial) and I would assume the lawyers, city officials, Sonics owners and many others were darn curious, too. It was a sports-related trial, after all … You watch a game to see who wins.
Of course, here in Washington DC, lawmakers spend a lot of time debating an issue in public, but the final solution is often settled behind closed doors, too.
