Senate Democrats Jeopardize Lives of Officers, Citizens Lawmakers Warn Campaign Stunt Could Have Tragic Consequences

By voting to block emergency funding for the Department of Corrections and the Department of Public Safety, Senate Democrats are literally putting lives in danger, two budget leaders warned today.

“By opposing emergency funding for DOC and DPS, Senate Democrats have voted to risk the lives of corrections officers and gut law enforcement presence on our state highways,” said state Rep. Randy Terrill (R- Dist 53 Moore), who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee on public safety.

Led by state Sen. Kenneth Corn (D-Howe), Senate Democrats opposed emergency funding for DOC and DPS this week.

“Everyone jokes that the most dangerous place in Oklahoma is standing between Senator Corn and a camera,” said state Sen. Anthony Sykes (R - Dist 24 Moore/Duncan), who chairs the Senate appropriations subcommittee on public safety. “That would be funny if his latest publicity stunt wasn’t risking the lives of the men and women who protect the rest of us. There’s a time for showboating, and a time for voting – it’s time the Senate Democrats voted to protect Oklahomans.”

State troopers and corrections officers will join Terrill and Sykes to protest Senate Democrat efforts to gut public safety at a 2 p.m. press conference tomorrow at the Capitol.

Without the emergency funding, the Department of Public Safety is scheduled to furlough highway patrol officers four days every month starting this month.

“If the Senate Democrats continue to block this emergency funding, criminals will think it’s open season on Oklahomans on state highways,” Terrill said. “Under the Senate Democrats’ plan, if you pick up a phone and call the highway patrol in late March, there may not be anyone there to answer.”

The Department of Corrections is already short-staffed and operating with just 77 percent of positions filled at state prisons. That staff number will plummet thanks to the Senate Democrats vote to block emergency funding and force furloughs.

“By blocking the emergency funding, Senate Democrats are asking a handful of corrections officers to do the work of many and put their lives at risk as a result,” Sykes said. “Under the Senate Democrats’ furlough plan, it is likely corrections officers will be attacked, injured and possibly killed. Frankly, if there is a large riot at one of our prisons while guards are furloughed, I am not sure we can contain it.”

Terrill noted that when prison riots occur, highway patrol troopers are normally called in for backup.

“Under the Senate Democrats’ plan, there won’t be enough guards in our prisons to contain a riot and those officers won’t have much backup from state troopers thanks to furloughs,” Terrill said. “This is terrible, short-sighted, completely irresponsible public policy.”

Senate Democrats claim their votes were to protest cuts to senior nutrition centers, but Terrill and Sykes noted that argument “makes no sense whatsoever because the two issues are not linked.”

“The only ones neglecting vulnerable seniors are the Senate Democrats who are voting to gut public safety,” Terrill said. “It’s time for them to end the political posturing and vote to protect all Oklahomans.”