OkieBrent's Soapbox

This week is National Sunshine Week.  I am a huge fan of the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts.  As citizens of the United States, of the State of Oklahoma, of our local counties and our local municipalities, we have a right to know what our governments are doing and how they are spending tax dollars and operating business.

This past Saturday FOI Oklahoma issued their Awards for 2010.  Click on the link to see all the award winners, but two I wish to name here are Rep. Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie) who received the Sunshine Award for his sponsorship and support of bills to increase transparency in government; and, Rep. Randy Terrill (R-Moore) who received the Black Hole Award for working to keep government workers’ birth dates private.

There have been real problems here in my own little town with our current Mayor not releasing public documents.  FOI Oklahoma offers candidates the opportunity to sign an Open Government Pledge.  This week the Minco Millennium newspaper encouraged all candidates running for Mayor and City Council to sign the pledge and she will publish before the April 5th Election who did and/or did not sign the pledge.

I encourage you to learn more about Sunshine Week and Freedom of Information Oklahoma.

After just one full term and a couple months into a second term, Mary Fallin has had enough of Congress.  She announced she’s throwing in the towel as a member of Congress, coming back home and running for Governor, something she wanted to do in 2002, but her party bosses thought Steve Largent was a better choice.

 

Oklahoma Democrats have not had a high-profile candidate in the 5^th Congressional District in decades, if ever.  Our candidates for CD5 have been good people, but they were unknowns who couldn’t raise the necessary funds or votes to be successful.

 

The perfect candidate for 2010, in my opinion, would be John Whetsel.

 

Whetsel is serving his fourth term as Sheriff of Oklahoma County.  As an elected official he is a proven leader.  As a candidate he is a proven winner. 

 

I encourage all my friends in Oklahoma County, Pottawatomie County and Seminole County to help persuade John (and maybe even more importantly, his brilliant and beautiful wife Mitzi) to become our candidate for 5^th District Congress.

 

That is how much Oklahoma taxpayers spend every day on criminal corrections.  Yesterday the Pew Center on the States released a report showing that spending on criminal corrections by the states is outpacing everything with the exception of Medicaid.

 

From the New York Times today:

 

“One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation,” a new Pew Center on the States study reports. State spending on prisons quadrupled over the last 20 years, despite the fact that crime dropped 25 percent during that time. “Criminal correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance. … Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending.”

 

Something has to change, especially now that we find ourselves in this economic downward spiral. 

 

In 1982, Oklahoma corrections controlled 1 in 90 adults, today it is 1 in 42 adults.  Do we really have that many more criminals, or have our state and nation just made more things unlawful with mandated prison time?  Zero tolerance is an expensive position which Oklahoma and the United States can no longer afford.

 

“Most states are facing serious budget deficits,”said Susan Urahn, managing director of The Pew Center on the States. ”Every single one of them should be making smart investments in community corrections that will help them cut costs and improve outcomes.”

 

Oklahoma Correctional Population, Year End 2007

Rate of Correctional Control:     1 in 42 adults

Total Correctional Population:     65,720

Probation:     26,038

Parole:     2,349

Jail:     9,748

Prison:     23,957

Federal Prisoners:     3,628

 

For the full report, click here:

 

For one-page summary on Oklahoma, click here:

 

 

The witty and clever clan over at The Lost Ogle, taking their cue from Oklahoma Today’s “Oklahoman of the Year Award,” have announced their choice for Oklahoma’s “Idiot of the Year Award.” 

I agree with their choice 100%.  Some hints about the winner:

·         A Republican

·         “not a good ol’ boy”

·         Sheriff Whetsel publicly called him an Idiot and made headlines

·         Thought a comic book was the way to win re-election

·         In trouble with the Law and the IRS

And the winner of The Lost Ogle’s Idiot of the Year is …