The former speaker and a member who wanted to replace him both bowed out with tax problems
"It's the craziest thing I ever heard in my life," said Larry Ferguson, a former lawmaker who served for 20 legislative sessions, including eight as the leader of Republicans who were in the House minority.
By Monday's end, however, a new speaker will emerge as the fractured House strives to convince the Senate, the governor and the public that it is ready to do business.
After two top leaders bowed out last week because of embarrassing tax problems, the public is watching, said University of Oklahoma political science professor Keith Gaddie. Residents are alarmed that their leaders have not been paying taxes on time, like they have to, he said.
Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, resigned Monday; speaker pro tem Gus Blackwell, R-Goodwell, exited the race for speaker three days later. Both acknowledged they had been repeatedly late in paying taxes.
Cargill's resignation occurs at a time when the State Ethics Commission apparently is investigating campaign practices among Republicans under Cargill's leadership in the past two election cycles.
"This better be wake-up time" for whoever ends up leading the House, Ferguson said. "The people out there are tired of reading about this kind of stuff and hearing it on TV."
This follows numerous recent stories about Democrats, including former longtime Sen. Gene Stipe and his excessive campaign donation problems.
Now, Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan, a Democrat, has been indicted on multiple counts over campaign irregularities. Former Democratic insurance commissioner Carroll Fisher is in prison after being convicted of embezzling from his campaign funds and of lying on a campaign report.
"Then they hear about the speaker and the wanna-be speaker," Ferguson said.
Four House Republicans have filed to lead the lower chamber for the session. They include Rep. Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, who is the old leadership's choice. He is viewed as a more moderate Republican who can work with both the GOP and Democrats, which he has done as head of the powerful House Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Cargill had the unquestioning allegiance of the freshman lawmakers whom he helped get elected, and they are expected to rally behind Benge when the GOP caucus meets in closed session Monday morning. The next speaker will be elected in open session Monday afternoon, following Gov. Brad Henry's State of the State address.
Benge has said he will keep the current GOP committee chairmen in place so the House can quickly get about its business. It has only three months to deal with a dwindling surplus in the state's $7 billion budget.
Another speaker candidate is Rep. Susan Winchester, R-Chickasha, who was denied a leadership role under Cargill but has supporters among some of the more experienced members.
Candidate Rep. Dale DeWitt, R-Braman, leads the rural caucus of Democrats and Republicans who meet during session to discuss mutual interests.
Another candidate, Rep. John Wright, R-Broken Arrow, leads the Republican Caucus. Last fall, he ran unsuccessfully against Cargill for the position of speaker designate.All four of these candidates have solid records of paying their taxes on time, county records checks by the Tulsa World show.
This controversy over taxes probably would not have occurred 20 years ago, before tax records were computerized, Ferguson said.
"I've never known a person resigning because of tax problems and an interim leader withdrawing because of the same thing," he said. "This has all left the people confused."
The longtime Republican said several GOP seats are being held by freshmen whose constituents are mostly Democratic, so the party needs to recognize that these seats could be vulnerable.
Ferguson does not expect Democrats to take over of the House, but he is afraid Republicans could lose ground in the fall elections.
The House leadership should look to the Senate, where Republicans and Democrats are evenly split, he said. Surprisingly, "the two parties made progress last session in a bipartisan fashion and both sides got things they wanted," he said.
Ferguson said he has been tempted to talk with University of Oklahoma President David Boren and ask him to call together former seasoned state leaders from both parties. Recently, Boren summoned numerous old Senate colleagues from across the country who gathered at OU. They urged the presidential candidates to quit listening to their entrenched bases and strive for common ground, reaching across party lines.
"Both Republicans and Democrats need to come to the Capitol with the idea of working with the people and being good servants instead of worrying about running for some other office and see how much money they can accumulate," Ferguson said.
"It's gotten pretty much out of control."
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