OKGazette.com - Commentary

Ogling open government -

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

The delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention conducted their deliberations in secret. These were thoughtful men who realized that the decisions they faced — how to design and construct a form of government to maximize the freedoms only recently won in the American Revolutionary War — required a great deal of give-and-take.

College shouldn’t be never-ending -

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

When I was a kid attending college, the general rule was it would take four years to complete a degree.

Common sense about Common Core -

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Being an educator has become like drinking water from a fire hose. Oklahoma City administrators and teachers barely have the time, money or know-how to tackle challenges that must be met, such as improving early childhood education, ensuring that students read for comprehension by third grade and evaluating teachers with rigorous new observations.

Connecting the dots -

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Young students do connect-the-dot worksheets to learn numbers. Students draw lines from a dot to another dot in numerical order and a true picture is revealed. When they don’t, there is no picture, or it’s distorted.

Miracle on 23rd Street: a tax cut -

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

With the exception of that most beloved Republican activity — the buying, selling, exchanging, concealing, cleaning, carrying, showing, stroking and shooting of guns — members of the party once led by Lincoln are now best known for their genetically driven obsession: cutting taxes anytime, anywhere, any size, for any reason or excuse.

Pump up the volume -

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Oklahoma City needs its own Cain’s Ballroom.

‘Local control’ in education -

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

In the cult movie classic The Princess Bride, Vizzini repeatedly uses the word “inconceivable” as his efforts to evade pursuers fail. Inigo Montoya finally replies, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

OKC, get serious about water conservation -

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

It’s often said you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. In terms of resources, nothing could be closer to the truth. Oklahoma is blessed with many resources — resources that have helped us build Oklahoma City from the desolate ghost town I remember as a child, during the oil bust, into one of our country’s best-kept secrets for quality of life.

OG&E must move past coal -

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Over the past few years, our nation has taken great strides toward reducing the enormous health burden posed by toxic coal-fired power plants and transitioning America to a future powered by clean energy.

Point: Triggering better schools -

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

This state legislative session, Sen. Jabar Shumate, D-Tulsa, Rep. Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, and I proposed legislation to give parents a new tool to affect positive change in their student’s underperforming school. Senate Bill 1001 would create the Parent Empowerment Act, a version of a “parent trigger” that has been enacted in at least seven other states. It passed the Senate, but limited support in the House means it will be laid over until the 2014 session.

Counterpoint: Don’t pull that trigger -

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

In the 2012 film Won’t Back Down, a single mother stands up to a villainous teachers’ union and school administrators to take over her child’s school. The film was produced by Walden Media, a company belonging to Oklahoman owner Philip Anschutz. It seeks to dramatize “parent trigger” laws being pushed across the country by organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Correction needed for correctional officers -

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Are you willing to supervise as many as 200 inmates by yourself? To assess and react appropriately to extremely violent situations such as rapes, suicides and stabbings? To work with inmates who have communicable diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis or hepatitis?

Making schools safe -

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CDT

After the tragic events in Newtown, Conn., last December, Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman and House Speaker T.W. Shannon asked me to chair the Oklahoma Commission on School Security (OCSS). As a former U.S. Secret Service special agent, I have a background and training in security. As a state senator, I was the principal author of the Oklahoma School Security Act.

Whole lotta crazy going on -

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CDT

There’s enough extreme ideological legislation floating around the state Capitol right now to make a decent reality television show.

Put down the smartphone and drive -

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Is the conversation lagging? Bring up texting while driving. The topic is sure to spark a tidal wave of talk. Sure, some will say they don’t want the government telling them what to do behind the wheel, but a growing number are vocal supporters of a state bill to do just that: ban texting while driving.

Counterpoint: Don’t punish workers -

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CST

Workers’ compensation is again on the front burner at the Oklahoma Legislature. In my 32 years of representing injured workers, it is the 19th attempt to make major changes in the law that governs the delivery of benefits to workers injured on the job.

Point: Time to fix workers’ comp -

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CST

Oklahoma’s system for handling workers’ compensation claims is badly in need of reform. So much so that it is time to replace the system altogether.

Improving mental health in Oklahoma -

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 CST

In her State of the State address, Gov. Mary Fallin is to be commended for the inclusion of mental health when talking about health and for proposing increased funding for mental health programs. Mental illness is a medical condition of the brain, an organ of the body, and should be treated like any other organrelated malady.

The truth of emergency contraception -

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 CST

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”

Be cautious with a dopey idea -

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 CST

The renewed push to legalize the medical use of marijuana in Oklahoma takes the same misguided approach used by other states, including California. If, indeed, there is legitimate therapeutic value in pot — a contention with limited anecdotal evidence — setting up an ad hoc network of authorized growers and dispensers is the wrong way to go. Medical pot, if it’s ever legalized, should undergo rigorous clinical trials and be carefully regulated like every other drug