Reynolds files bill to restrict state hiring of ex-legislators

Bill Filed to Ban Lawmakers from Most State Jobs

OKLAHOMA CITY (January 9, 2012) – State Rep. Mike Reynolds has filed legislation to eliminate loopholes that allow state lawmakers to accept high-paying state jobs after leaving the Oklahoma Legislature.

House Bill 2194 would make it illegal for any Oklahoma lawmaker to take a state government job that pays more than the base legislative salary. The ban would be in place for two years after a legislator steps down from his elective position.

“If lawmakers can be good public servants while earning $38,000 in the Oklahoma Legislature, they should be able to do the same thing at the same salary if they want to continue working in state government,” said Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City. “Most importantly, this legislation will end the perception that some legislators have used their political connections to feather their nest with cushy government jobs after they leave elective office.”

Although there is currently a ban on lawmakers taking state jobs for two years after the end of their terms in office, that ban applies only to positions funded directly by legislative appropriations. That loophole has allowed lawmakers to accept jobs paid with federal dollars or fee revenue that is not appropriated.

“I think Oklahoma citizens have made it clear that they do not want legislators to work in state government immediately following the end of their terms in office to reduce the chance of someone selling votes for a job,” Reynolds said. “By ensuring lawmakers can only take positions paying the same as the base legislative salary, we can end the perception of corruption that troubles so many Oklahoma citizens.”

Reynolds files this bill after controversy erupted in early 2011 over three ex-legislators receiving state jobs right after leaving office.

• State Sen. Glenn Coffee was appointed by Governor Mary Fallin to serve as Secretary of State; Coffee had left the state senate in 2010 due to term limits. 
• State Sen. Randy Brogdon was hired by Insurance Commissioner John Doak to work in the Insurance Department; Brogdon had left the state senate in 2010 to run for governor.
• State Rep. Mike Thompson was hired by Insurance Commissioner John Doak to work in the Insurance Department; Thompson had left the state house in 2010 to run for Congress.

In the case of the three men, each of their salaries was paid for by agency-collected fees, in order to comply with the ban on ex-legislators being paid with legislatively-appropriated dollars for two years after leaving office. 

Former State Sen. Owen Laughlin also took a position with Commissioner Doak, but unlike the others, Laughlin had been out of office for four years, making his hiring clearly above any controversy.

Shannon elected House Speaker-designate

OKLAHOMA CITY (October 17, 2011) - Rep. T.W. Shannon has been elected House Speaker-designate for the 54th Oklahoma Legislature.

The House Republican Caucus elected Shannon (R-Lawton) as Speaker-designate during a caucus meeting Monday morning at the Capitol.

Should Republicans maintain their majority in the House following next year’s election cycle, Shannon will be next in line to serve as Speaker of the House beginning in November 2012, when current House Speaker Kris Steele leaves office due to term limits.

“The House will be in good hands under Representative Shannon’s leadership,” said Steele, R-Shawnee. “T.W. is a dynamic and capable leader who will continue to work hard for the state of Oklahoma. I look forward to begin working with him to ensure a smooth leadership transition next year.”

Shannon and Reps. Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, and Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, were the candidates for Speaker-designate.

“The three candidates who made themselves available to fill this position are fine public servants and are to be commended for their enthusiastic desire to be leaders in Oklahoma’s effort to grow as a state,” Steele said.

Shannon, 33, said he looks forward to working with Steele and the rest of the House in the coming months.

“I was extremely humbled by the support shown by my colleagues today,” Shannon said. “I am excited and ready to stand behind Speaker Steele to help grow our majority in the coming election and assist in advancing a conservative agenda that will make Oklahoma a destination to live, work and raise a family.”

Shannon, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation, is a sixth generation Oklahoman and third generation Lawtonian. He has served in the Legislature since 2006, representing House District 62. Shannon previously served as a congressional staffer for U.S. Reps. J.C. Watts and Tom Cole.

Shannon and his wife, Devon, also a Lawton native, are the parents of a daughter, Audrey Grace, and a son, Tahrohon Wayne II.

Shannon holds a bachelor of arts in communications from Cameron University and a juris doctorate from Oklahoma City University. (OK House Media)

Also of note: once formally elected Speaker in November of next year, Shannon will become the first black speaker of the house in state history.

State House passes ObamaCare implementation measure amid false claims

The Oklahoma House of Representatives voted 51-34 to pass a bill that begins the implementation of a key portion of ObamaCare - an Oklahoma health insurance exchange. HB2130 is authored by House Speaker Kris Steele (R-Shawnee) and Senate President Brian Bingman (R-Sapulpa), but was run on the House floor by freshman Rep. Glen Mulready (R-Tulsa). You can listen to the entire bill presentation and debate at this link.

The measure is funded using a $54 million grant from the federal government (HHS) given as part of the implementation of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) passed by Congress almost one year ago.

Keep in mind that Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly passed SQ756 last November, which was aimed at opposing ObamaCare, and that Attorney General Scott Pruitt has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state against the federal health care law.

Proponents have said over the past few months, and on the floor of the House, that this legislation was supported by the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs, and U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn.

Those statements, however, were misleading, at best. State Rep. George Faught (R-Muskogee) told his colleagues that he had spoken with Sen. Coburn's office, and Dr. Coburn said that he "thinks this is a bad idea to use federal dollars to implement health exchanges" -- a point that Faught and Rep. Mike Ritze (R-Broken Arrow) reiterated during debate.

On OCPA's InterAlia blog, Jason Sutton had this to say:

Following Gov. Mary Fallin’s announcement a few weeks ago that Oklahoma would accept more than $54 million in federal funds to begin implementation of a health insurance exchange, I blogged about the “concept” of health insurance exchanges as a useful idea (absent Congressional effort to change the federal tax code) in a patient-centered, free-market health system.

It is important to add, however, that OCPA has never advocated acceptance of federal funds – especially federal funds that have to be printed or borrowed − to accomplish state goals that are not a “core” function of state government.

To be clear, OCPA believes the state should not use federal dollars to implement a health insurance exchange. [...]

Health insurance exchanges are not a bad idea, but Oklahoma should not be using federal dollars to implement such an exchange − particularly when the state could build an exchange for far less with no federal strings attached.

In a Facebook discussion, Sutton also said, "I have also had discussions with Dr. Coburn's staff (and have been in ongoing discussions with the health policy experts at both Cato and Heritage for the last two months) and Coburn's position is essentially ours (and Heritage's)......that is, he thinks OK should explore all options that could lead us to a more patient centered, free-market health system ( including exchanges), but should not be using federal funds to do so."

Supporters of HB2130 cherry-picked the positions of the prominent individuals and organizations in an effort to convince enough of their colleagues to support this bill. Evidently, it worked.

It did come out during the presentation that a "secondary" reason for this measure was to comply with the PPACA legislation. In fact, Rep. Mark McCullough (R-Sapulpa) said, "It could be considered pretty darn aggressive or clever for Oklahoma to take federal money to build an exchange built in opposition to the PPACA, while simultaneously suing the feds, telling them 'we don't want this.'"  That certainly is a creative, albeit flawed, method of action.

During debate, State Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-OKC) said, "This is a clever method to deceive the voters; a way to disguise what you stand for."

Rep. Faught closed debate in opposition to the bill. "I can't believe I heard this. 'Take their money... let's sue them over it... then say we really don't want it.' Sounds like a word we ought to say: hypocrisy! Hypocrisy. [...] This money comes with strings attached." Rep. Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore) asked Faught if he agreed that Oklahoma should send the $54 million back to the federal government, and Faught replied, "I think we should throw it back in their face."

Speaker Steele said, "There's not a boogeyman in this bill."  Unfortunately, that is not the case, and enough Republican legislators were deceived into supporting HB2130. I was particularly disappointed that eleven freshmen Republicans voted for the bill, while only three voted against it.

I'll conclude with a quote from Rep. Faught's debate: "I would suggest, that this money comes with strings attached, and they may wind up and be the noose around our necks, and ultimately the future of our children."

Let's hope that the Republican members of the State Senate will put a stop to this misguided legislation.

House Censures Reps. Reynolds and Terrill

The Oklahoma House of Representatives voted this afternoon to publicly reprimand two members for separate incidents that took place last week.

The body voted 67-18 (7 members abstained, taking 'Constitutional privilege') to censure Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-OKC) for interrupting the Pastor of the Day on last Thursday, and 34-30 (with 30 members taking 'Constitutional privilege') to censure Rep. Randy Terrill (R-Moore) for saying very strong obscenities (FCC-fine kind of words, coupled with physical threats against the Speaker) to a staff member in the Majority Floor Leader's office.

Peter Rudy of Oklahoma Watchdog has more here.

[Reminder: the first round of our 2012 GOP Primary Madness closes tomorrow - make sure you have voted in it!]

Wisconsin-in-Oklahoma: AWOL OK House members

For the first time since the 1990's* last March, the Oklahoma House of Representatives issued the Call of the House, to force absent members into the chamber for a vote.

During the vote on the emergency clause for Speaker Kris Steele's HB2139, which expanded the State Superintendent's authority and limited that of the State Board of Education (in response to the controversy over State Superintendent Janet Barresi's first school board meeting), several House members appeared to be purposefully absent. That's when State Rep. Jason Nelson (R-OKC) invoked House Rule 10.5, or the 'Call of the House'.

The procedural motion gives the House sergeant-at-arms the authority to "compel the attendance of the absent members."

After a roll call, the doors to the House chamber were locked, and the House sergeants began the search for missing Reps. John Bennett (R-Sallisaw), Mike Christian (R-OKC), Charles Key (R-OKC), Mike Reynolds (R-OKC), Mike Ritze (R-Broken Arrow) and Randy Terrill (R-Moore).

Peter J. Rudy of Oklahoma Watchdog has more on the story here, including the missing members on the second roll call.

UPDATE: Rudy got a response from Rep. Randy Terrill, one of the AWOL members. Read it here.
* - thanks to the commenter who pointed out that the Call of the House was issued on March 11th, 2010.

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.

Candidate Filing 2010

Today was the first of the three day filing period for candidates here in Oklahoma. 391 individuals filed today, for offices ranging from district judge, to Governor, to United State Senate.

Of the candidates, 157 were non-partisan (running for District Judge or Associate District Judge), 96 were Democrats, 134 were Republicans, and 4 were Independents.

The first to file was State Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-OKC), who actually arrived to wait in line at 10:45pm, Sunday evening (filing opened at 8am this morning).

Filing Day Tidbits

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn drew two Republican opponents - Lewis Spring and perennial candidate Evelyn Rogers. U.S. Congressman John Sullivan (R-Tulsa) drew two Republican challengers - Craig Allen and Nathan Dahm. Congressman Dan Boren (D-Muskogee) filed, as did two of his Republican opponents - Daniel Edmonds and Charles Thompson. Edmonds was the first Oklahoma candidate to file for Congress. Congressmen Frank Lucas (R-Cheyenne) and Tom Cole (R-Moore) filed, as did Cole's Republican opponent, R.J. Harris. Two Democrats (Tom Guild and Billy Coyle), three Republicans (James Lankford, Kevin Calvey and Mike Thompson), and one Independent (Clark Duffie) filed for the open 5th Congressional District, which Rep. Mary Fallin is vacating to run for Governor.

All of the major Democrat (Jari Askins and Drew Edmondson) and Republican (Mary Fallin and Randy Brogdon) candidates for Governor filed. Democrat State Sen. Kenneth Corn filed for Lieutenant Governor, as did Bernie Adler, a Republican. Democrat State Auditor Steve Burrage filed, with no opponent currently. Democrat Jim Priest filed for Attorney General. Former State Sen. Owen Laughlin and State Rep. Ken Miller, both Republicans, filed for State Treasurer, as did Democrat Steven Covert. Democrat State Sen. Susan Paddack, Democrat Jerry Combrink, and Independent Richard Cooper filed for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Democrat Labor Commissioner Lloyd Fields filed, as did his two Republican challengers (Mark Costello and Jason Reese). Republicans John Doak and Mark Croucher filed for Insurance Commissioner, and Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy filed for reelection.

Only the 22 even-numbered State Senate districts are up for election this year. Every district except for SD16 had a candidate file today. State Sen. Jay Paul Gumm (D-Durant) drew a Republican challenger, Josh Brecheen (a former field representative for U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn) in SD6. Ron Black posted some thoughts on why this race could affect any close statewide race this November.

All state house districts are up, and candidates filed in all but three districts today. In eastern Oklahoma (the 2nd Congressional District), Democrat State Reps. Glen Bud Smithson (HD2), Mike Brown (HD4), and Brian Renegar (HD17) drew Republican challengers. Three open seats drew numerous candidates; HD 3 got two Democrats and one Republican, HD18 drew four Democrats and one Republican, and HD21 drew two Democrats and two Republicans (Jack Accountius and Dustin Roberts). Republican State Reps. Randy Terrill (HD53) and Mike Christian (HD93) both drew Democrat challengers. Both men had their notarized "declarations of candidacy" submitted through proxies (which is completely legal), thereby avoiding speaking to the media. The two are currently being mentioned, along with outgoing Democrat State Sen. Debbe Leftwich, in a possible political corruption case.


Filing continues at the State Capitol tomorrow and Wednesday, from 8am to 5pm. You can view the entire list of candidates here.