Conservative vs. Corporate = Public vs. Private

   Our "do-nothing" Legislators have taken the first pay cut in Oklahoma statehood history, suffering an 8.8% salary cut because of ineptitude in job performance. Governor Fallin promised it would happen, if corporate lawmakers continued to look out for themselves instead of constituents. You have to respect and admire her for "sticking to her guns". Hats off to Governor Fallin!
   Unfortunately, many good lawmakers were hurt too, not just the corporate members of the legislature. All Senate members were also penalized, even though they passed a balanced budget to the House for consideration. All Democrats in the House were also penalized, even though they made a valliant effort to overcome the ineptitude of the Corporate House members. The good must suffer as well as the bad, when one group screws up, so its not true "merit pay".
   Coincidentally, the amount of salary cut ($3,300) for each lawmaker matches up pretty well with the money wasted on these do-nothing lawmakers for the last month. In the final analysis: Corporate lawmakers who fought so hard to protect oil and gas tycoons, have succeeded in preventing gross production taxes off the budget fiasco table - but have suffered a pay cut in the process. If you have a corporate Representative in "your" local district, like I do, don't worry too much about his or her pay cut, as the corporate oil and gas industry will see to it that "their" pay cut is more than made up for.
   In addition, Governor Fallin has vetoed "the end of the special session" to balance the state budget, so corporate lawmakers will receive even more "overtime pay" to take the sting out of the legislative pay cut. So, the road goes on forever and the party never ends... for "Corporate Representatives". To find out if your local State Representative is corporate or conservative (they all claim to be conservative) just followthemoney.org.
    The corporate vs. conservative battle is also playing out in two state semifinal football games this weekend in the Oklahoma City metro area. First, McGuinness (private school) will play Noble (public school) at 7PM Friday night at Western Heights - and then on Saturday night, undefeated Heritage Hall meets Blanchard (11 - 1). Let these games serve as a call to action for public school supporters statewide... Public schools need our support..