Channel 9 news says it all - "Wynnewood Care Center Closes Amid State Budget Crisis". Christy Lewis of News 9, goes on to say "Amid the state budget crisis, two dozen elderly residents were uprooted from their homes." According to one state representative, John Bennett, public service agencies and their employees are nothing but terrorists, because they say that lack of funding will force them to close their doors, forcing our most vulnerable citizens out on the street. Bennett claims this is terrorism because it's not true, but it makes our citizens afraid it is true. The citizens of Wynnewood and many Garvin County citizens can attest that the state budget crisis, created by John Bennett and his fellow corporate lawmakers, has profoundly affected our most vulnerable citizens. These corporate lawmakers, evidently, do not have any friends or relatives which have been affected by their shenanigans (voting "no" on the balanced state budget bill, just because it called for an increase on the corporate gross production tax). There are county and state health agencies all over the state closing or not admitting new clients as a result of actions taken by corporate representatives - not conservative or liberal. Conservative and liberal lawmakers do not victimize our most vulnerable citizens by "uprooting them from their homes." John Bennett is not the only corporate lawmaker who believes our public service agencies are guilty of terrorism and voted "no" on public service funding. If one is interested in discovering the identities of others, check their voting record, or better yet - check followthemoney.org to see who your lawmaker answers to... I'll give everyone a hint - it's not the Wynnewood Care Center or its former residents.
In addition to followthemoney.org, additional insight can be gained from research by Oklahoma Watch - as to why local district Representatives do not protect our most vulnerable local citizens - like those in the Wynnewood Care Center and former residents of the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center (SORC) in Pauls Valley. The SORC was a state institution located in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, which served citizens with severe mental and physical disabilities (139 citizens in 2010). Many of these residents were non-voters, which certainly has an affect on the actions of some corporate lawmakers. During the 2010 legislative session, House Bill 2456 was introduced on the House floor which gave authority to the Department of Human Services to shut down the SORC. HB 2456 passed the House with flying colors, but when it landed in the Senate - Senator Susan Paddack urged members of a Senate budget panel to reconsider legislation that allows closing of a Pauls Valley facility... and the bill died. Some insight as to the real motivation behind support of the bill was provided by a lone senator, when he said "Closing the facility would save DHS (the state) about $2.5 million a year". The corporate senator and other corporate cronies were only concerned about money, not the well-being of our most vulnerable Oklahoma citizens. Corporate lawmakers, unable to close the facility with HB 2456 in 2010, nonetheless were determined to close it, so began the task of cutting funds to DHS.
In 2015, the SORC was finally closed due to lack of funding. The state had finally cut it way to prosperity (sarcasm) much like corporate lawmakers are doing today. Unfortunately, 18 former residents died within one year of moving to a corporate managed facility or own home. This was considered "collateral damage" by some corporate lawmakers, as the state is saving $2.5 million a year. While most of the corporate actors from the 2010 thru 2015 budget debacles are now gone, a new crop has taken their place. If anyone believes that the corporate legislators are solely responsible for closing facilities and gutting our state service agencies - they are not. All Oklahomans are responsible for the nation's greatest state budget mess, because we knew who they were, but elected them anyway. As one corporate lawmaker insightfully said: "If my constituents don't like the way I vote, they don't have to vote for me (in 2018)".
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