RIED - William O. Pitts and The Journal Record coming after...

I think its very odd that William O. Pitts and The
Journal Record, In now two story/opinion would
single out State Sen. Anthony Sykes, and try to
make him look like He is NOT Pro Business !

Just like Dr. Tom Coburn, Senator Syker is
ANTI-PORK !!!!

And that something that the so call "pro business"
RIED is NOT, They LOVE PORK and to spend out
Tax Dollar for pets issues !!

Senator Syker is one of two State Senator (The
other being State Senator Randy Brogdom),
that try to hold the line with the pro-pork
GOP group's at the State Capitol.

It look like, that Pro-Pork Republican's, are
coming after Anti-Pork Republican, up for
re-election in 2008, more about this in due time.

Are the Pro-Pork Republican trying to make
Senator Syker, look bad ? Only time and more
old media news story will tell...


http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recid=83076

OPINION
Pitts: Lawyer legislators – their score on business issues

by William O. Pitts
The Journal RecordOctober 29, 2007

Attorney members of the Oklahoma Legislature averaged better than a passing score in voting on business issues during the 2007 session, according to data released by the Research Institute for Economic Development, which prepared an annual report card on how legislators voted on more than 200 business, jobs and economic development issues.

That concept of the Legislature was true years ago when the House might have as many as 30 lawyer-members and it was not uncommon for more than half of the 48-member Senate to be attorneys. One reason for it was the public's idea that lawyers, by reason of their profession and interests, should make good lawmakers.

Only 11 of the 101 current House members are lawyers, while 15 of the 48 state senators list their occupation as attorneys. These 26 legislators (14 Republicans and 12 Democrats) are a mere 17 percent of the 149 legislative members.

What has proven true in recent years is that no profession, business endeavor or specific area of public interest has a corner on the ability to provide competent legislators.

With trained staff personnel available as bill drafters and researchers, any legislator is able have his ideas formed into workable legislative measures.

More business people run for the Legislature today than in the past, often reducing the number of lawyers running or getting elected.

Before lawyers were allowed to advertise many attorneys ran for the Legislature to get public notice. If they were elected it was helpful in getting legal business.

Another contributing factor to the image of a lawyer-dominated Legislature is that for 26 of the last 40 years the top leadership post in the Senate has been held by attorneys.

The House is another story. During the same period attorneys were speakers for a total of 10 years, including current Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, who lists his occupation as business attorney.

The RIED scores for attorneys on business issues shows an average grade of 73 points in the House, which is above the 70 point passing grade but well below the perfect score of 100 points.

On business issues there is a definite difference in attorneys. A compilation of RIED scores for the five House Democrat attorneys indicates a failing average of 55 points.

The lowest was by state Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-OKC, with 48 points. The highest was 86 by state Rep. Scott Inman, OKC.

With Republican attorney-House members the picture is different. Those six have a RIED rating averaging 87 points with three of them, Cargill, Reps. Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa, and Ron Peterson, R-Broken Arrow, scoring the maximum of 100 points each. The lowest score of 56 points among the Republicans was by Rep. John Trebilcock, R-Tulsa.

In the Senate the score was higher for the eight Republican and seven Democrat attorneys, with an average for all 15 of 79 points. Democrats averaged 72 points, while the Republicans averaged 86 points.

The highest RIED score among Democrats belongs to state Sen. Charlie Laster, Shawnee, with 86 points. The lowest was Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, with 60 points.

State Sen. Anthony Sykes, R-Moore, had the lowest rating among Senate Republican attorneys with 45 points . The two highest scores belong to state Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, and Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-OKC, with 98 and 97 points respectively.

Are there too many lawyers in the Legislature?

Gov. Brad Henry, an attorney, has said there should be more of them. He seems to follow this philosophy in his gubernatorial appointments to state boards and commissions.

By the way during the four years the RIED report was issued while he was in the state Senate, Henry had a substantially failing cumulative average of 47 points.

The RIED report card shows at least one thing. The pro-business attitude of today's attorney-legislators seems to depend more on political affiliation than their profession.

William O. Pitts may be reached by phone at (405) 278-2880 or by e-mailingbill.pitts@journalrecord.com .