Corporate Legislators Continue Slaughter of Agencies..

   With the predicted decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that the "cigarette fee" is indeed a revenue raising measure enacted by corporate lawmakers, and unconstitutional - corporate lawyers everywhere are celebrating. This court decision ensures that several Oklahoma Health Agencies will fall $215 million short, and must cut public services. The corporate lawmakers, most of whom are attorneys, passed this cigarette tax knowing full well it was unconstitutional... from the beginning. So, if most lawmakers were aware the "cigarette fee" was illegal and unconstitutional, then the question becomes "Why did they rely on it to help balance the state budget?" or "Why did they pass it in the first place?" There are two theories as to "why?, and they both have to do with "stupidity". Either the corporate lawmakers are stupid... or they believe their constituents are stupid. As an example of pleading stupidity, State Representative Josh Cockroft said that "he doesn't agree with the court's ruling but he respects it". Cockroft seems to be blaming the court for being stupid, not himself nor his constituents, so there is a third theory... Corporate lawmakers who voted for the unconstitutional cigarette tax, told their constituents it was one of the only ways to help balance the state budget and fund core services (an out-and-out lie) and it is all perfectly legal - another lie. The third theory is that the lawmakers have claimed self-stupidity. These corporate lawmakers are not really stupid, but claim they were just not aware that their "cigarette fee" would be a "revenue raising measure", Duh.. It's difficult to believe that corporate attorneys are stupid, so there must be a double top-secret motivation behind all the stupidity claims.
   A theory concerning the double top-secret motivation corporate lawmakers might have to pass such unconstitutional bills is the fact that Oklahoma legislators only earn about $50,000 annual salary. This $50,000 ranks Oklahoma in 12th place among states' legislative pay... which is not enough for most corporate attorneys. When Governor Fallin calls the inevitable special session to pass a Constitutional budget bill, lawmakers will earn an average of around $10,000 in overtime pay - which greatly fattens their take-home pay.