OCPA column: Government shouldn’t discourage work

Government shouldn’t discourage work

By Jonathan Small

To make Oklahoma a place where all people can thrive requires that we make Oklahoma a place where people can work.

Work matters. It provides people with a sense of purpose and self-control even when they face financial stress.

That’s why conservatives are so strongly opposed to government policies that incentivize people to stay on the workforce sidelines. Such polices have severe negative impact on individuals and society as a whole.

OCPA: Afghanistan debacle is big government in action

Afghanistan debacle is big government in action

By Jonathan Small

The ongoing debacle in Afghanistan has become a military rout, international humiliation, and humanitarian crisis for the United States. But it’s also a lesson in the fallacy of thinking bigger government is better government.

It’s notable that many stories of successful rescues from Afghanistan are the result of private individuals and organizations acting independently of the U.S. government. That’s not surprising. Independent actors respond to changing circumstances … by changing tactics. With big government, the tendency is to stick with a flawed process regardless of outcomes and any change in course must first wade through a morass of red tape.

Big government is also plagued by hubris. Those in charge too often think they really are smarter than the average citizen and stubbornly insist their choices are best. Thus, when President Joe Biden was asked about the sight of Afghans desperately clinging to the outside of aircraft to escape and plummeting to their deaths, he dismissively responded, “That was four days ago, five days ago.”

OCPA column: Limited government should also be effective

Limited government should also be effective

by Curtis Shelton, policy research fellow at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs

Who runs Oklahoma’s largest state agencies? This is a hard question to answer. Governors and legislators appoint members to agency boards. Those boards then choose agency directors. The directors nominally report to the board, but board members are volunteers who only meet occasionally and only know what agency staff tells them. Historically, these boards have a terrible track record when it comes to asking hard questions or holding anyone responsible.

Last week, Gov. Kevin Stitt and legislative leaders announced an agreement to increase accountability for five state agencies. The reforms will give the governor authority to hire and fire directors of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, and the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. These are some of the largest state agencies.

The largest is the state’s Medicaid agency, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA). According to the state Senate Appropriation Report for fiscal year 2019, OHCA had $1.1 billion in appropriations with a total budget of $5.8 billion. The smallest of these agencies is the Office of Juvenile Affairs with a total budget of $110 million. The Department of Transportation, Department of Corrections, and the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services have total budgets of $1.8 billion, $588 million, and $471 million respectively.

In all, the five agencies account for $8.7 billion of the $27 billion total budget reported by the state Senate. That is nearly a third of the total state budget that has limited accountability to current elected officials.

As of today, these agencies are run by boards whose members may have been chosen by previous governors and former legislators. The board members, and the directors they choose, have no direct accountability to the people for their results. When things go awry, as in the case of the recent financial scandal at the Oklahoma State Department of Health or past crises at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, assessing who is responsible is difficult. Changing how agencies operate often seems impossible.

A limited government shouldn’t mean an ineffective one. Oklahoma’s current government structure pits its executive branch against itself and makes any real reform difficult. With the proposed changes, the people will know exactly who is responsible—the governor. With that responsibility comes the authority to hold these agencies accountable for how taxpayers’ dollars are being used.

Curtis Shelton serves as a policy research fellow focusing on fiscal and tax policy for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

OCPA column: Three resolutions for Oklahoma

Three resolutions for Oklahoma

by Jonathan Small, president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA)

The new year is a time for resolutions. Here are three for state government, things the Legislature can do in the upcoming session that would make Oklahoma government more effective and accountable.

The first resolution will be familiar to a lot of us: slim down. Take a look at a list of Oklahoma state agencies and compare it to other states. Or look at the 150-page directory necessary to list all the agencies, boards, and commissions. We’re not a big state, but we have a sprawling state government bureaucracy.

This slimming down needs to start at the top, with management. Instead of having a bunch of unaccountable boards and commissions running major agencies, the ultimate authority should rest with the governor. After all, that is the governor’s job.

Imagine as CEO and president of a company you have multiple divisions. Each division has a manager. But the managers don’t report to you and aren’t even selected by you. The managers are selected by separate boards in each division, and your competition or those interested in a hostile takeover select the board members who pick the managers of the divisions. This debacle is how Oklahoma state government is structured.

So, our first resolution is to make agency posts appointed, give the governor power to hire and fire agency heads, and trim the number of agencies. By slimming down government, we can make it more efficient and more effective, getting better results for all Oklahomans.

While our first resolution deals with the executive branch, our second deals with the Legislature. We all know from civics class that it holds “the power of the purse,” but the truth is that our Legislature is understaffed. It lacks the structure to conduct a thorough budget process and oversight. Current talk of creating an accountability and oversight office within the Legislature is heading in the right direction.

The third resolution involves education. Lawmakers should work to increase teacher salaries so that they are the highest in the region and empower public schools, teachers, and students with programs that expand their educational options and expand innovative programs in public schools.

All of these reforms require legislation. In every case, they would bring some common sense to state government, making it more efficient and accountable. We will have at the state Capitol soon a new governor and many new legislators. It’s an exciting time as both Governor-elect Stitt and lawmakers have said they will prioritize efficiency and accountability in state government to safeguard taxpayers and the most vulnerable.

What better way to start 2019?

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

Spiropoulos: Frustrated and fed up

Frustrated and fed up

by Andrew Spiropoulos

Gov. Mary Fallin has had enough. She is frustrated with a legislature that cannot muster sufficient votes to enact even popular policies like taxing tobacco or increasing teacher pay. I know how she feels. I’m frustrated too.

I’m frustrated that, for seven years, the governor never came forward with a comprehensive and detailed plan to reform the size and structure of our dysfunctional state government. For almost two decades, Oklahoma’s conservative political and policy leaders have studied, proposed, and pleaded for reform of our bloated, unmanageable executive branch, our costly excess of poorly managed public school districts and state higher education institutions, and parasitic patchwork of crony-capitalist tax credits and exemptions.

Why didn’t Gov. Fallin dust off an excellent study of the executive branch commissioned by Gov. Frank Keating while she was lieutenant governor? Instead, despite possessing both public attention and the considerable resources of the state administrative apparatus, she passively passed the cup of leadership to a leanly staffed, part-time legislature. And then she was shocked when nothing got done.

I’m frustrated that the governor doesn’t understand or explain how she successfully presided over an era of great prosperity and how conservative efforts to limit and reform government played a critical role in swiftly lifting us out of a recession caused by a deliberate economic attack on our energy industry.

Unlike at the end of the 1980s, when wrong-headed state policymakers compounded our economic suffering by significantly raising taxes during a recession, this time conservative legislative leaders successfully fought off most efforts to raise economically harmful taxes, kept spending down, and afforded private enterprise time and capital to recover. The governor, and business leaders who should know better, consistently confuse the prosperity of state government with that of its people. It’s fine that state tax revenue has finally started to rise, but it’s more important that we’ve regained all the jobs we lost in the recession. Any candidate who can’t comprehend that our good news far outweighs the bad doesn’t deserve your vote.

I’m frustrated that the governor doesn’t understand either that education spending has risen, not fallen, during her term or that there’s no reason to believe that, absent significant reform, increased spending leads to improved achievement. I’m fed up with conservative leaders who sat mute while the education establishment and left-wing propagandists disguised as policy analysts and journalists fed the public a buffet of readily refutable lies about declining budgets while districts chose to spend money on anything other than raising teacher pay. Worse yet, these lies drowned out the news that the few reforms, like the Reading Sufficiency Act, we’ve barely managed to preserve have begun to work. The well of public discourse concerning education is now so poisoned with myth that I’m not sure rational conversation is possible.

I’m frustrated that the governor repeatedly passed on opportunities to lead the charge for bold conservative reform while Wisconsin’s Scott Walker or Indiana’s Mitch Daniels, facing challenging, even vicious, political environments, cut spending, demonstrably improved agency management, expanded school choice, and reformed both the state health care and higher education establishments. Gov. Fallin and her staff had repeated opportunities to consult and learn from these successful leaders, but they never did.

Oklahoma has moved beyond the point where a winning personality, good intentions, and vaguely conservative beliefs are enough to lead. We need our Walker or Daniels.

Andrew Spiropoulos is the Robert S. Kerr, Sr. Professor of Constitutional Law at Oklahoma City University and the Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and should not be attributed to either institution. Originally published in the Journal Record.

"There, but for the grace of God, go I"

I read an article this morning about a U.S. Army sergeant who was on the brink of being discharged from the Army for interfering with an Afghan official who had been serially molesting young boys. Fortunately, military justice seems to have been prodded into good sense and the soldier will be allowed to stay in service.

I asked a veteran who served in Afghanistan how widespread this sort of behavior was there, and he said it was an everyday occurrence. Sometimes Afghan soldiers and police did it under the guise of interrogation. "Might makes right" is the norm over there.

America is an incredible place. Our founding fathers understood the nature of man as described in the Bible. They understood the depravity of man, and that man unrestrained follows the strongest impulses of his nature - pride, greed and lust.

For this reason our founders placed strict limits on the government, intended to restrain these excesses of man's nature. Yet even they understood that the form of government they gave us would only work with a moral people, a people who understood and followed the principles of the Bible.

The article reminded me of the old saying, "There, but for the grace of God, go I". Have you ever pondered how supremely fortunate you are to have been born in America? Why me? Why was I not born in some other land? Why was I not subjected to the same sort of experiences others endure?

Inscrutable are the ways of God. Romans 9:20-21 says "Nay but, oh man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?"  And in Romans 11:33 - "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!"

The sovereignty of God in all things is a difficult thing to comprehend, but is a wonderful truth. We should be grateful every day for the mercy God showed in placing us where we were born and for the salvation He so freely gives, unworthy though we are.

God placed you where you are for a reason, and for reasons known only to Him. What are you doing about it?

'The Conservative View': Pizza and Politics

This week's Conservative View, by former Adair County Commissioner and conservative activist Russell Turner.

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Pizza and Politics

We Americans have had things so easy for so long that we expect all of our problems to be solved in about the time it would take to cook a pizza. All of us at one time or another have ordered a pizza, usually in about 10 minutes we can pick up our meal and avoid starvation. We have lived in a fast paced society for so long that we think that all of our problems should be solved in a short period of time; sadly that is seldom the case.

Just a little over a week ago we Americans made history by giving the liberals a stinging defeat. While it is reassuring to see that the American people remembered their conservative roots, we need to come to the realization that electing conservative leaders is merely the first step. The problems in our country didn’t come about over night and the solution to our country’s problems will not happen overnight. We Americans have become too comfortable with all of the government programs that our citizens take advantage of at an ever increasing rate. We Americans said with a loud voice that we want more fiscal responsibility and smaller government, but it will be interesting to see if that mentality holds true when the tough decisions have to be made.

For this country to get its financial house in order, there will have to be a major change of attitude across the entire country. It is a fact that whenever some program has to be cut we all want it to be someone else’s program and not ours. Our government budget has become so large that merely trimming the fat will not be sufficient. Over the years our elected leaders have been so concerned with getting re-elected that they would create programs and spend money that we didn’t have to garner votes for the next election cycle. While we like to blame the politicians for all of the problems of our country, we the citizens bear a large part of the blame ourselves. Whenever we adopt the attitude of asking the politicians “what can you do for me today” the simple politician will come up with some scheme to satisfy the voters for a day, whereas the true statesman is looking for a solution for the future and will not play the instant gratification game. Wanting a pizza in 10 minutes may not be inappropriate, but we Americans must be ready for the long haul if we are able to correct the excesses of the past. We are just like a person starting a diet; the decision has been made, now the work begins.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.

A Time for Action

With the new gains in the State House and State Senate last night, Republicans now have an iron grip on the state legislature. The GOP holds 70 of 101 seats in the House, and 32 of 48 seats in the Senate.

Control of the legislature has been transitioning to the Republicans over the past decade, but last night the GOP hit the gas pedal. Democrats now cannot stop any procedure without Republicans joining them. In addition, every statewide office is now held by a Republican.

This means that the GOP is in total control of policy-setting from inception to implementation. This also means that the GOP has no one to blame for failure to follow conservative ideals.

The time has come to stop talking about reforming Oklahoma government; now is the time for action. And let's start with a new House Appropriations & Budget chairman.

I call on incoming Speaker of the House Kris Steele to appoint State Rep. Mike Reynolds as the 2011-2012 Appropriations & Budget Committee chairman.

No one in the State House knows as much about the appropriations process as Mike Reynolds does, and no one is as good a choice for reforming the way things are done. He owes no one, and is not afraid to step on toes to get things accomplished - two valuable traits when it comes to reform.

Reynolds is not owned by any special interest group, or any firm of political consultants. He will be a reformer that will make Oklahoma's budget process much more open, transparent, and accessible - for legislative members and the public alike. Currently, the budget process is decided by a tiny handful of people - the average legislator knows next to nothing about the budget numbers until the actual budget is revealed from behind closed doors. Under the current arrangement, our elected representatives have nothing to do except vote up or down on the final version; they have extremely little to no input on the budget. This must change.

Mr. Speaker, do you want to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse in Oklahoma's budget? A&B Chairman Mike Reynolds, together with State Auditor Gary Jones, will be the best team to accomplish that. Do you really believe that less government means more freedom? A&B Chairman Mike Reynolds will work toward that goal more so than anyone else in that position would. Do you want an A&B Chairman who is not controlled by consultants, lobbyists, unions or other special interest groups? Do you want an A&B Chairman who will stand resolute against corruption, and will expose and end the waste, fraud and abuse that we know exists in our budget? Do you want an A&B Chairman who will resist the all-too-common urge to grow government, and will instead seek to restrain it? If so, State Rep. Mike Reynolds is your man.

Will it make you popular with the powers-that-be who always seek to influence Oklahoma government? No. Will it make you popular with the political consultants who have run the show for years? No. Will it make you popular with bureaucrats and lobbyists? No.

Mr. Speaker, if you truly wish to really reform Oklahoma government… if you want to end the ‘good ole boy’ budget process… if you desire to advance conservatism, then Oklahoma needs you to appoint Mike Reynolds as chairman of the Appropriations & Budget Committee.

Pinnell: Our Closing Argument

Our Closing Argument

by Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Matt Pinnell

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, our clients have been to your communities, you’ve seen them on television ads, heard them on radio spots, received mailers and phone calls. It is now time to hand down your final verdict.

I’ve argued throughout this trial that there is something more dangerous than a Democrat. And that is a Democrat who campaigns like a conservative, but then legislates like a Democrat when elected. Oklahoma Democrat candidates have been hiding and ducking all cycle. Hiding from their President and his national agenda, and ducking tough questions from you, the jury.

They’ve told you they don’t want to talk about national politics because they want to focus on Oklahoma issues. I’d ask you this- is healthcare reform not an Oklahoma issue? Each Oklahoman will carry the burden of $8,470 in new government spending under Obamacare.

Is immigration reform not an Oklahoma issue? Each year, the Oklahoma prison system spends an estimated $11.7 million to incarcerate illegal criminal immigrants. The costs in other areas such as health, education and other programs top hundreds of millions of dollars.

When the government gets bigger, the people get smaller. Ladies and gentlemen, our federal government is too big. But even worse, it believes it can be all things to all people.

This year the federal budget deficit is projected to climb to $1.3 trillion. Our national debt stands at a whopping $13.6 trillion. The interest that taxpayers pay on the national debt totals more than $20 billion a month.

My clients are talking about these deficits. They're talking about right-sizing government here in Oklahoma, and fighting back against the spending in Washington, D.C.

These races are not about personalities but positions. Not about who loves this state more, because we all love Oklahoma, but who will stand up and fight for this state. It’s time to move past status quo policies that have only resulted in failing grades and instead choose candidates who have presented conservative solutions to the challenges we face as a state and country.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm asking that after you consider all the evidence, you will cast your vote for my clients. It’s a vote for conservative solutions over the failed, liberal status quo policies of the past. My clients have made me proud to work for them, now let them make you proud too.

We rest our case.

If you wish to contact Chairman Pinnell, you can email him at mattpinnell@gmail.com.

Brogdon: Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Passed TABOR?

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Passed TABOR?
Brogdon says spending limit needed to control growth of government

(Oklahoma City)- “Don’t fear the budget cuts if TABOR passes, fear the budget cuts if TABOR doesn’t pass.” That’s what Senator Randy Brogdon used to say to opponents of the taxpayer bill of rights. Time has proven him correct.

A spending limitation law is the answer according to the Senator. He says Oklahoma’s current spending limit is too easily ignored. Prior to the current revenue drops, “we increased spending between 6% and 13% every year,” while the Oklahoma economy grew little more than 3% in those same years.

Brogdon says, “Allowing Government to grow three or four times faster than the economy is unsustainable as we have found out over and over again.”

Senator Brogdon says Oklahoma has a spending problem. In five of the last ten years Oklahoma has failed meet proposed spending levels. “If you can’t pay your bills half of the time, you are spending too much money,” said Brogdon.

In fact, state government’s failure to meet budget demands has resulted in drastic, monthly, across the board budget cuts in state agencies and services with little regard for need. “The decisions we should have made for ourselves are being made for us by the balanced budget law,” said Brogdon.

Brogdon acknowledges that passing TABOR would not have prevented the national economic problems that led to the most recent collapse in state revenue. He notes, “it would have given us the opportunity to make our spending decisions based on need. We would also have spent less money and have a third more funds in reserve.”

Brogdon, a candidate for Governor, says spending increases should be limited to the percent increase in inflation and population. “This allows government to grow at a sustainable pace in conjunction with the growth of the economy. This will be a top priority as Governor of Oklahoma.”

One difference Brogdon notes from the last TABOR proposal, “state revenue collected in excess of the spending limit can be used for one time capital expenditures. This will allow Oklahoma to address pressing bridge and road repairs without adding to the budget baseline.”

Brogdon states that he is the only candidate for Governor likely to make a spending law a priority. “Congresswoman Fallin has never spoken in favor of spending limits, Lt. Governor Askins has opposed them, and Attorney General Edmondson tried to put the grassroots organizers of TABOR in prison.”


You can learn more about Brogdon's candidacy by visiting his website. His opponent in the Republican primary is Congresswoman Mary Fallin.

Faught Receives Top Limited Government Score

State Rep. George Faught (R-Muskogee) received the top 'Limited Government' rating from Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise (OK-SAFE) for votes bills that made 3rd Reading this session. A bill that actually passes on 3rd Reading is sent to the next chamber (from House to Senate, or Senate to House).

OK-SAFE took ten bills, and rated them. "The general guidelines for supporting a bill were that it promotes constitutionally-limited government, or was a preemptive bill against more federal intrusion or initiatives. The general guidelines for opposing a bill were that the bill increased the power, scope and reach of government beyond it's proper function or boundaries, and/or increased the use of technology as enforcer (i.e surveillance)."

Faught was one of five representatives to get the top score: 9 out of 10 votes. The other legislators were Charles Key (R-OKC), Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie), Mike Ritze (R-Broken Arrow), and Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore).

You can view the scores for the entire state house by clicking here. Go here to find out more about OK-SAFE.