Chambers group want to increase city council candidates

Business group now wants to
turn out the candidates

The Norman Transcript Editorial
Published: January 06, 2008

Chambers of Commerce at the state and local level have made a concentrated push over the past few years to raise the percentage of registered voters that actually take the time to fill out ballots on election day. At the state level, the campaign seemed to have started with the Right to Work vote several years ago.

The local chamber's "Get Out the Vote" Committee is credited with raising the number of voters in the mayoral race last year. The turnout has been embarrassing of late. Now, the same committee is looking to increase the number of city council candidates. They are hoping to recruit those with business experience.

They're not backing any particular candidate. That's prevented in the chamber's bylaws. They believe the council is strengthened "with more and more diverse, business experience" in the governing body.

That being said, the chamber committee is hosting a city council candidate tutorial from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Norman Public Library Rooms A/B. Wards 2, 4, 6 and 8 are up for grabs and at least one incumbent, David Hopper, is not planning to seek re-election.

Former Norman mayors Bob Thompson and Bill Nations will serve as adjunct instructors. They are to cover job basics, responsibilities, time commitment and the campaign itself. Filing for the offices is open Jan. 7 through Jan. 9. The election is March 4.

Big issues for 2008 legislative session From Cleveland County lawmakers

Immigration, infrastructure 

likely to be big issues for 

2008 legislative session, 

Cleveland County lawmakers say

Transcript Staff Writer

Published: January 06, 2008 12:00 am

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Call it the problem of "what they need to be doing versus what they'll get to do."

With just over five weeks left before lawmakers return to the state capitol, the list of issues needing legislative action grows almost daily -- education funding, teacher pay, health care, transportation, corrections and, of course, the budget all "desperately need attention."

But many legislators -- including some from Cleveland County -- are concerned those issues will take a back seat to one which has dominated the state's political landscape for more than a year: immigration.

And some worry the issue -- like Frankenstein's monster -- just won't go away.

With Moore Rep. Randy Terrill's recent announcement that he plans to file the "son of" his previous immigration bill, House Bill 1804, some state lawmakers worry Terrill's newest bill could divert attention from many other pressing issues.

"Immigration, it's an issue that shouldn't be No. 1, but it is," said state Rep. Bill Nations, a Norman Democrat. "We ought to be talking about education and health care and other things, but Rep. Terrill has us talking about immigration."

And that debate, Nations says, is a distraction.

"They should be dealing with it in Washington, D.C," he said. "The bill that Randy wrote is causing economic hardships. It's going to distract us from dealing with more important things. But you can rest assured there will be a lot of press and immigration will be a front page issue."

Instead, Nations said, lawmakers should be working on issues such as health care.

"We need to look at some type of universal health care for children," he said. "I don't know if we are where it can happen, but there is a moral obligation to see if we can cover all the children in Oklahoma."

And while Nations says lawmakers and policy experts haven't solved the health care problem yet, he believes there is hope.

"State Insurance Commissioner (Kim) Holland's task force isn't quite finished with its study," he said. "She and I have talked and I may be pushing their timing, but I believe there is a need to keep the conversation in people's mind. We have a need and responsibility to do that."

But health care isn't Nations' only concern.

A slow down in growth has the five-term Representative cautious.

"Our budget will be fairly quiet," he said. "It's not so bad a revenue picture that we'll have to make drastic cuts."

That is, cuts in spending or cuts in the tax rate.

"I certainly hope we don't try any more tax cuts," he said. "I agree with (OU President) Boren and the State Chamber of Commerce. We can't afford any more tax cuts at this point. We already have incredibly low taxes and, by any way you want to slice it, we need to hold off on any future ones."

An idea that some of Nation's more conservative colleagues support.

"I think we'll probably have to assess our situation," said Moore Republican Paul Wesselhoft. "We don't know how important additional tax cuts will be until we can see what our needs are and know how much money is available."

Wesselhoft, who says "he's not against tax cuts" said lawmakers should "exercise some caution" with future reductions in state revenue. "I read what President Boren had to say," he said. "You've got to see the whole picture and see what the needs are."

For Wesselhoft, those needs include repairing the state's ailing roads and bridges and reducing the number of inmates in the state's corrections system.

"The most important issues are roads and bridges and the corrections system," he said. "We're going to have a tighter budget than we did last year and getting our roads and bridges repaired and answering the problems with the corrections department, those issues should be our focus."

To do that, Wesselhoft said he wants to earmark all the state's growth revenue -- about $32 million -- for road and bridge repair.

"That means it won't go to teaches salaries," he said. "But infrastructure is not a sexy topic. It doesn't lend itself to political rhetoric and gamesmanship. It's not a ribbon cutting kind of policy."

The state's bridges, he said, are crumbling.

"Chunks are falling through windows and killing our citizens. That should send a chilling message to lawmakers. It's a concrete example of why we should invest in infrastructure."

Wesselhoft also wants to reduce the number of inmates in state prisons by expanding the use of community based sentencing programs, alternative forms of incarceration and drug courts.

"We have an overcrowded prison system," he said. "We need to give more thought to putting those incarcerated for drugs into different programs. We are going to have to develop an alternative system, such as community sentencing for these people."

State Sen. John Sparks, a Democrat, agreed.

"We should look at the reasons for incarceration," he said. "We should decide if we can use alternative sentencing more."

The issue, Sparks said, comes down to money. "Without over simplifying the deal it comes down to this: How much do we want to pay to keep people in jail?"

Sparks says he would rather earmark state revenue for education.

"We need to get a handle on our higher education system," he said. "I think everyone would agree that higher education benefits the state. The numbers don't lie. If you don't have a healthy, well educated work force, economic development isn't going to happen."

Sparks said the state "needs to step up" and make higher education a priority. "It's important to understand, this isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. It's a commitment, a long term commitment. We're not going to fix the problem in one year. It's going to be an 'every year' issue that is going to take an 'every year' commitment."

For state Rep. Scott Martin, a Norman Republican, the focus will be on transportation issues.

"We're going to look at removing the trigger and the cap on transportation spending," he said. "So I'm sure that will be something that's heavily debated and discussed."

Two years ago, Martin said lawmakers passed legislation which had a 3 percent growth trigger. "If growth hit 3 percent, there would be additional funding to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation," he said. "If it didn't there would be extra funding, but not as much."

And while growth didn't reach the 3 percent threshold during last year's legislative session, Martin said it hit the mark after the session, but lawmakers "weren't able to go back and appropriate additional funds for roads and bridges."

"I'd like to review that," he said, adding that he also wants to reapportion fuel taxes which should be going for transportation issues but currently are not.

Like Martin, state Rep. Wallace Collins agrees that lawmakers should focus on transportation. But unlike Martin, Collins, a Democrat from Norman, said that discussion will probably be on light rail.

"We should be looking at transportation issues," he said. "And we'll probably be dealing with rail, it will get some attention. But I don't think ethanol as an alternative fuel is going to solve much of anything. I think it's a distraction."

Education and mental health, he said, along with the state's prison system and pay raises for state employees "all need to be dealt with."

"It's vital that we deal with them," Collins said. "I just hope we won't get bogged down with immigration and more tax cuts."

Editor's note: Despite repeated attempts, The Transcript could not reach state Rep. Randy Terrill, Sen. Jonathan Nichols or Sen. Anthony Sykes for this story. Their views on the session will be included in future stories.

http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_297002442.html

Published: October 24, 2007 12:24 am

Martin, other lawmakers refuse copies of Quran
By M. Scott Carter

Transcript Staff Writer


OKLAHOMA CITY — Saying he had no “spiritual or scholarly need” for it, Norman state Rep. Scott Martin confirmed Tuesday that he refused a copy of the Quran, the Muslim world’s holy book.

On Monday, a “Centennial” copy of the Quran was offered to all members of the Oklahoma Legislature from the Governor’s Ethnic American Advisory Council. And while many lawmakers accepted the book, at least eight legislators refused the gift, citing religious reasons.

Martin, a Republican, joined at least five other state representatives and two state senators — David Derby of Owasso, Guy Liebmann of Oklahoma City, Mark McCullough of Sapulpa, Mike Reynolds of Oklahoma City, Susan Winchester of Chickasha, Rex Duncan of Sand Springs and Senators Randy Brogdon of Owasso and David Myers of Ponca City — who refused to accept copies of the Quran.

“They (the Governor’s task force) sent us an e-mail, asking if we wanted a copy,” Martin said. “And since it wasn’t something that I needed, I kindly declined the offer.”

Martin said he turned down the book for religious reasons.

“I’m a Christian,” he said. “And there’s lots of other religious documents that I don’t have a copy of. But I appreciated them giving us more of a choice.”

State Rep. Rex Duncan, who announced his refusal publicly, said he turned down a copy of the Quran because it advocated killing women and children.

“Most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. Duncan said he objected “to the use of the state Centennial Seal and the state Seal all in an effort to further their (Muslims’) religion.”

However, one religious scholar said the action could be viewed as an insult to the Muslim community.

University of Oklahoma religious studies professor David Vishanoff, who specializes in Islamic studies, said lawmakers were making a “quick judgment” about the Islamic faith and probably haven’t read the book.

“I think they are making the mistake of identifying what they perceive as some Muslims’ belief as what’s in the Quran,” he said. “I don’t think they can find it advocating ‘killing innocent women and children.’”

The Quran, Vishanoff said, condemns infanticide, has a system of rules about the taking of life and urges restraint and forgiveness. And while some parts of the Quran are “hair raising,” Vishanoff said they are subject to interpretation. “It’s a Seventh Century Arabian book. You can say the same thing about the Bible … it’s all in there.”

By refusing the offer, Vishanoff said lawmakers were sending a negative message to the Muslim community.

“If I were in their shoes, I think I would get the message that we don’t really want Islam in our community,” Vishanoff said. “And that’s what they are trying to overcome.”

Oklahoma Muslims have “been making a real effort” to have a visible relationship with Oklahoma’s business and community leaders, he said. “They are an integral and respected part of the Oklahoma community. They are voters and supporters. And they matter.”

But while a few lawmakers passed on their copy of the Quran, at least one Cleveland County lawmaker said he accepted his copy.

Norman Democrat Bill Nations said he, too, was offered a copy of the Quran and he accepted it.

“I did receive a copy,” Nations said. “I fact I already had one.”

Nations said he wasn’t offended by the book, adding that he owned a copy of the Book of Mormon and “about 20” Bibles.

“It’s a matter of an intellectual exercise,” he said. “And understanding what’s going on the world. All Muslims are not our enemies, just some radical ones, which are the problems.”

While he said he had not received the e-mail about the Quran, state Rep. Wallace Collins, D-Norman, said he would accept a copy if offered. “I didn’t see an e-mail about it, but I would accept one if offered,” Collins said. “I have several friends who are Muslim.”

The controversy comes on the heels of a recent Ramadan dinner hosted by Gov. Brad Henry at the governor’s mansion.

Henry’s spokesman, Paul Sund, said the governor had hosted the dinner for several years. “Like President Bush, he’s hosted a Ramandan dinner for many years.”

At this year’s dinner Henry was presented with a copy of the Quran, Sund said. “No, he didn’t refuse it,” he said. “He accepted it warmly.”

M. Scott Carter366-3545scarter@normantranscript.com