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Fallin budget veto reaction

On Friday, the Oklahoma Legislature approved a budget compromise that funded essential services, cut spending in other areas, and avoided raising taxes entirely. Later the same day, Gov. Mary Fallin used her line-item veto to remove all of the bill except for funding for the three agencies that would have...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 21, 2017 1:55 AM

Oklahoma's Common Core Four

National Review has a wonderful history of the effort to pull Oklahoma out of the Common Core curriculum and the four women who spearheaded it. [Jenni] White has spent the past four years telling Parent Teacher Organizations and anyone else who would listen that Oklahoma should not implement Common Core,...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 21, 2014 12:34 AM

Fallin signs Common Core repeal

Good news from the State Capitol this afternoon: Governor Mary Fallin Signs HB 3399 to Repeal and Replace Common Core Standards New Standards will be developed in Oklahoma and Increase Academic Rigor OKLAHOMA CITY--Governor Mary Fallin today signed HB 3399, a bill that replaces the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 5, 2014 5:39 PM

Mary Fallin: What's holding her back from bold leadership?

Here we are, the reddest state in the nation: Republican governor, overwhelmingly Republican legislature. (36-12 in the Senate, 72-29 in the House.) But instead of tightening the state's belt, as their constituents have had to do, instead of cutting tax rates significantly so that Oklahomans will be able to keep...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 3, 2013 12:45 AM

Fallin rejects Obamacare exchange, Medicaid expansion

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin announced today that Oklahoma will not create a state-based Obamacare exchange or participate in Obamacare's Medicaid expansion: For the past few months, my staff and I have worked with other lawmakers, Oklahoma stakeholders and health care experts across the country to determine the best course of...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 19, 2012 1:30 PM

Could Oklahoma unravel Obamacare?

With the judicial and political options for voiding Obamacare now apparently off the table, the final hope to defeat the DMV-ization of the best medical system on the planet may be the vast law's inherent contradictions. Hastily and sloppily put together, there are loopholes in the law that may be...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 16, 2012 12:21 AM

Coburn, Lankford ask governors not to establish state exchanges

A group of 75 U. S. Senators and U. S. House members, led by Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. Michelle Bachmann, and Rep. Jim Jordan, have written a letter to the National Governors Association urging against the implementation of state health care exchanges. Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn and Rep. James Lankford...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 2, 2012 7:06 PM

Fallin punts on Bartlett Jr investigation; official photo, part 2 of 30

I was not the least bit surprised at last Friday's announcement that Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin would not use her power to direct the Attorney General to investigate charges against Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett Jr. Gov. Fallin is the play-it-safe type. (One indication of that during the general election campaign:...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 16, 2011 11:34 PM

Gov. Fallin monthly column, official portrait, part 1 of 30

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin's press office emailed me with the first in a planned series of monthly columns along with her official press portrait, a high-resolution 2400x3000 JPEG image. Her first column is on saving tax dollars by consolidating administrative and IT among state agencies and moving to electronic billing....

Posted by Michael Bates on March 7, 2011 10:16 PM

Fallin picks Coffee, Nichols to head transition team; Dank issues warning

My first reaction? Yuck. Governor-elect Mary Fallin today announced the selection of the two co-chairs of her transition team, Devon Executive Chairman and former Oklahoma State Chamber Chairman Larry Nichols and Senator Glenn Coffee. I was disappointed to see that both are from Oklahoma City, so talented Tulsans and other...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 9, 2010 7:39 AM

Wilson on Oklahoma poll failure; Fair on Askins v. Fallin

A couple of interesting items on our recently concluded Oklahoma governor's primary and the upcoming general election battle -- Dem. Lt. Governor Jari Askins vs. Congresswoman and former Republican Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin. Political opinion researcher Chris Wilson has some thoughts on why the polls were so far off, predicting...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 2, 2010 5:22 PM

What did Lankford do right that Brogdon did wrong?

I'm asking; I don't have an answer, as I wasn't following the 5th Congressional District race. I invite my Oklahoma City readers to share their observations. In James Lankford you have a political novice who puts together a conservative grassroots campaign to finish ahead of several more heavily financed candidates....

Posted by Michael Bates on July 30, 2010 2:42 PM

Vote for a runoff

A survey of 12,000 likely Republican voters done by the Brogdon campaign last week showed Fallin at 37%, Brogdon at 26%, and 37% undecided. The trend over a similar survey six weeks earlier had Fallin virtually flat with a significant shift of undecideds moving to Brogdon, surging by 15 points...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 26, 2010 12:10 PM

"Fallin-esque" vs. Brogdon's specific plan

No time to write today, but here's a worthwhile piece of writing about GOP gubernatorial candidate Mary Fallin by Richard Engle: I commented to a candidate for State Senate [at a candidate forum] that his non-committal and non-specific answer to one of the questions on our survey was "Fallin-esque." The...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 24, 2010 1:20 PM

Mary Fallin disparages following the Constitution as "the easy way out!"

Although Republican gubernatorial candidate Mary Fallin refuses to do a televised debate with her opponents, there are video and audio clips of joint appearances and candidate forums at which she, Randy Brogdon, and the other two GOP candidates discussed issues. Here's a clip from a Comanche County Republican meeting. The...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 20, 2010 12:31 PM

Fallin plans lobbyist meet, skips grassroots event and forums

You know a candidate is dodging debates when the mainstream media finally takes notice. From an Associated Press story: But one of the campaign's front-runners has been conspicuously absent from a series of recent high-profile forums sponsored by The Oklahoma Academy. U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, the presumptive favorite in the...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 6, 2010 10:10 PM

Brogdon wins straw poll of county party leaders

UPDATE: Rally for Randy Brogdon in Tulsa tonight, Monday, June 28, 2010, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. at 4343 S. Memorial, Suite I. (Follow the Brogdon signs behind Big Red Sports at 44th & Memorial.) Meet Sen. and Mrs. Brogdon, pick up yard signs and bumper stickers are available, buy t-shirts,...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 28, 2010 12:46 AM