LAwmaker Update 12.05.09
Keeping up with Little Axe’s legislators.
State Sen. John Sparks, District 16, hopes the state Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Department finds options other than eliminating the Norman Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center, in response to a $7.3 million reduction in state funding.
State Rep. Shane Jett, District 27, still hasn’t announced his candidacy for the Fifth District Congressional seat being vacated by present Congresswoman Mary Fallin. Jett was “95 percent certain” he would run for the seat months ago.
State Rep. Wallace Collins, District 45, thinks the state’s Rainy Day Fund should have already been tapped.
“I think it’s a shame we’ve waited so long,” he said.
State Rep. Randy Terrill, District 53, would like to defer state employees’ pay and expand early retirement buyouts:
Under the deferred payment plan, state employees could voluntarily choose to work instead of taking an unpaid furlough day in return for receiving some form of compensation at a later date…
US Rep. Tom Cole feels President Obama made a compeling case to escalate the fighting in Afghanistan, but would prefer 40,000 additional troops rather than 30,000.
Cole said he also was troubled by the plan to bring troops home in 18 months.
US Sen. Jim Inhofe launches Climategate:
Last week, emails released by a computer hacker revealed that several leading climate scientists allegedly manipulated climate data and research used by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
US Sen. Tom Coburn wants all lawmakers to enroll into any Health Care “public option” that might be passed by congress.
“It’s called leadership,” Coburn said. “If it’s good enough for everybody else, we ought to be leading by example.”
