Budget agreement keeps corrections workers on job

Op Ed

Published January 29, 2010

Legislative leaders can get a lot accomplished if some members didn't spend time grandstanding. Even before they start the session next month, some lawmakers have been hard at work trying to forestall state employee furloughs.

We appreciate the work of central Oklahoma legislators Sen. Anthony Sykes and Rep. Randy Terrill in helping craft an agreement with the governor on a $7.2 million cash infusion into the Department of Corrections budget.

State Corrections Director Justin Jones had started the process of requiring prison guards to schedule furlough days this spring. That means prisons, already short-staffed with high turnover, will be able to maintain security levels. This is helpful to the guards and the inmates.

The state's public employees association has commended Sen. Sykes and Rep. Terrill as well as House Speaker Chris Benge and Senate Pro Tem Glenn Coffee.

The agreement also is a tribute to state workers who helped demonstrate the need to keep the agencies at full staff. Corrections employees are kind of like the offensive line in football. They don't get noticed until something goes wrong.

Old Media in Moore is dying and Showing just how FAR TO THE LEFT they are !

Old Media in Moore is dying and Showing just how FAR TO THE LEFT they are !

Talk about SPIN by the Drive by Media, LOL

Maybe Carter, forgot that Rep. Randy Terrill got 75% of the vote in the Primary and WILL WIN in NOV too.

Can anybody not tell that Scott Carter, use to work for the Demo in the State Senate (as a State Emp) and also work for the Demo State Senate PAC.

Somebody need to slap both Stringer and Rieger on CRAP like this, But no one will !

I remember a few year ago I was talking to Stringer and Rieger, about something they did to the Norman Transcript, They just told me "not to piss off, people who buy ink by the barrel !"

I walk away thinking is the best the Norman Transcript Publisher David Stringer and Editor Andy Rieger could do, LOL


Published: October 01, 2008 12:00 am

What seeking public office means

By M. Scott Carter
With the nation's presidential election just about a month away, maybe it's time to consider what it really means to run for office.

Over the past few months politicians from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to state Rep. Randy Terrill have questioned the media's role in the political process. Both are skilled public speakers and both are smart, capable politicians.

But I'm not sure that either Rep. Terrill or Gov. Palin have a full understanding of what it means to run for office from the media's perspective.

While she has served as a governor, by accepting Sen. John McCain's offer as a vice presidential candidate, Palin has moved from the state house to the national stage.

And political life there is more difficult.

Gov. Palin -- to borrow a phrase from a law professor friend of mine -- voluntarily thrust herself into the public light. That is, by seeking a public office, funded by tax dollars and conducting public business, Palin has opened herself up to intense scrutiny.

Like it or not, that's the way it is. Because today, even with all its warts and problems, the press corps still remain America's watchdog. And, often, that dog barks.

Palin's problem first began when she allowed her political advisors to cloister her and prevent a full disclosure about her life. And while she pushed back at the press after stories appeared about her underage, pregnant daughter, Palin played the double standard card by having her children campaign with her, work the "rope line" at events, and appear at campaign rallies.

Don't want the kids in the political mix? Keep them at home.

Like her own life, Gov. Palin has now opened the lives of her children up for examination when they became part of her political campaign.

Am I saying that Gov. Palin is a bad candidate, or unprepared for office?

No.

What I am saying is that the governor knows how the modern political campaign works and she knows -- and should expect -- every aspect of her life to be examined.

Sure, many have said a politician's personal life should be off limits, but I'm pretty sure that debate went out the window when Sen. Gary Hart ran for office.

Closer to home, state Rep. Randy Terrill has accused his political opponents -- including those who had the audacity to question his anti-immigration legislation -- of dirty tricks and "sleaze-ball tactics" when stories first appeared about his bankruptcy.

He said the issue was a "personal and private" financial matter.

Sorry, that doesn't fly.

Known for his blizzard of media releases, Rep. Terrill is, often, the first to run to the media with an announcement about legislation or a complaint about state government.

I well remember his public "concern" a few years back, when a group of children used lottery tickets as Christmas Tree decorations.

But Rep. Terrill, like Gov. Palin, lost the ability to use the "personal and private" label when he sought public office.

And when he complains about his public court filings being made public he's being disingenuous.

For the record: Any person, acting in person on using a computer, can access those filings and read them. Rep. Terrill's bankruptcy is no different than those filings of thousands of other Oklahomans -- each was made in a federal court and is, therefore, a public document.

The difference is Rep. Terrill is a public official who, as chairman of the House of Representative's Revenue and Taxation Committee, helped write tax and financial policy for the state.

Activities which invite intense examination.

With the fall election just weeks away, Oklahomans will have their chance to decide the fates of both Gov. Palin and Rep. Terrill. On Nov. 4, each of us will be able to decide whether or not these two individuals are worthy of the public trust.

A vote, that itself, is the most intense form of public scrutiny.

Letter to the Norman Transcript Editor: Conservatives support Second Amendment

Conservatives support Second Amendment
Letter to the Norman Transcript Editor, Published April 13, 2008

Editor, The Transcript:

Your editorial concerning the passing of the great actor, Charlton Heston, was a very nice tribute, but one line was deeply offensive to me.

You mention that Heston "was a champion of the civil rights movement but he grew more conservative in his old age." That strongly implies that being a champion of civil rights is somehow contradictory of being a political conservative. There are liberals who were KKK recruiters, such as Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, but I don't think for one second that means support for the KKK-style racism is part of liberalism.

I also contend that support for all of the Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment, is something that identifies any true political conservative.

STEVE BYAS

Norman

Letter to the Editor, The Norman Transcript: Have gays apologized for death threats?

Published March 22, 2008

Have gays apologized for death threats?
Editor, The Transcript:

In the Transcript Readers' Forum on March 16, Kay Ham lists groups that support homosexuals. One group she failed to mention were the people who have threatened the life of Rep. Sally Kern for her statement.

Has any gay or lesbian called Rep. Kern to apologize for the death threats?

Where is their tolerance?

The next time you are in the presence of a gay or lesbian will you wonder if this is the one who made a death threat to Rep. Sally Kern?

BILL RATLIFF
Noble