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.”

In a partisan move, Senate Democrats put political posturing over "Doing the Right Thing"!

Democrats Lock Up on Program
They Didn’t Fund During Last Budget Crisis

In a partisan move, Senate Democrats put political posturing over jobs for employees in the Departments of Corrections, Highway Patrol, and common education today, as well as other vital state services today, in direct opposition to Governor Henry, who negotiated the bipartisan budget agreement which they opposed today.

“It’s a curious decision by the Democrats today,” said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee. “They are fighting for restoration of a line item, senior nutrition, which they cut in the 2003 budget crisis.”

In a budget vote on the Senate floor today, Democrats locked up to deny funding for common education, corrections, the state Emergency Fund which pays cities and towns after ice storms, tornadoes and other natural disasters, the state School for the Deaf, state School for the Blind, Department of Public Safety, Military Department, Agriculture, Conservation and other agencies.

“I find it curious that these Democrat political leaders will jeopardize the jobs of troopers, prison guards and education in an election year, under the guise of protecting Oklahoma’s seniors, yet forgot all about those same seniors in a past budget crisis when they had unfettered control of the Oklahoma legislature,” Coffee continued. “The hypocrisy meter is spinning out of control.

“They complain about not having a seat at the negotiating table, yet the governor and his budget negotiator, the Democrat State Treasurer, negotiated this bipartisan agreement on their behalf,” Coffee added.

“And I recall the Senate Democrat Leader saying earlier this session that he would stand with his governor on matters such as this during the budget crisis.

“The Democrat Leader and his caucus have been unwilling to stand by the governor on this deal,” Coffee concluded.

Coffee pointed out that the Democrats’ demand of “only $2.5 million” in the budget for senior nutrition is a blatant act of deficit spending, modeled after their Democrat counterparts in Washington.

“Senators Laster and Corn say all they want is a mere $2.5 million for senior nutrition, yet it would require another $7.5 million next year, creating a $10 million hole in the 2011 budget,” Coffee said. “As the governor recognizes, this is irresponsible.”

It is disappointing that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are adopting the partisan approach of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in that they need to come to grips with the fact that our state is in an unprecedented budget crisis, and that more tough decisions will be made before this is over,” Coffee continued.

“I hope they join the governor’s bipartisan approach and abandon the election year grandstanding.

“I urge them to do the right thing for Oklahoma taxpayers,” Coffee concluded.