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Oklahoma legislators betray taxpayers; Coburn launches taxpayer revolt

NOTE: I will be on 1170 KFAQ with Pat Campbell at 7:05 am on Wednesday, March 28, 2018 to discuss the tax increases passed by the Oklahoma House of Representatives last night and the path forward. Listen live on 1170kfaq.com or on the Tune In app. Later the interview will...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 27, 2018 7:07 PM

Tom Coburn endorses Jarrin Jackson, Jim Bridenstine

This has been out for a few weeks, but I thought it deserved to be noted here. Retired U. S. Sen. Tom Coburn, renowned for his adherence to principle and his often-lonely fight for fiscal sanity in Washington, has endorsed Jarrin Jackson, who is challenging incumbent Markwayne Mullin in Coburn's...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 21, 2016 1:01 AM

Tom Coburn's farewell to the Senate

Oklahoma's U. S. Senator Tom Coburn did not suffer from senioritis. He made the most of every minute of the final weeks of his ten years in the Senate. On December 9, Coburn issued the latest and last in his long-running series of reports on government waste. Tax DecoderTom_Coburn-Tax_Decoder-2014.pdf, an...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 23, 2014 10:33 PM

Randy Brogdon for U. S. Senator

Seven candidates have filed to complete the final two years of U. S. Senator Tom Coburn's term, but if you were to follow the news coverage you might think there were only two candidates in the race. Three of the seven have been elected officials: Former State Sen. Randy Brogdon,...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 16, 2014 8:08 PM

Coburn aide: Tea Party winning, even if "Tea Party candidates" aren't

John Hart, Sen. Tom Coburn's communications director, attempts to help the mainstream media understand what's happening with the Tea Party movement, and in the process encourages Tea Partiers to be of good cheer, notwithstanding the renomination of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: For those keeping score, it is now roughly...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 22, 2014 11:38 PM

National Football League, $9 billion non-profit

Patrick Hruby, writing in Politico Magazine, calls the NFL the "National Freeloader League," in an open letter to the infatuated congressmen who let the NFL make billions and still claim non-profit status: So: Your relationship with the National Football League. It's toxic. Not for you, of course. You seem happy,...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 2, 2014 1:19 AM

McLean, Virginia, resident considers race for Oklahoma senate seat

Politico is reporting that former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating is considering running to fill the unexpired term of U. S. Sen. Tom Coburn, who is resigning at the end of 2014. Property and campaign contribution records indicate, and autobiographical blurbs confirm, that Keating is and has been a resident of...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 23, 2014 9:54 PM

Replacing Tom Coburn: Oklahoma's congressional special election laws

Tom Coburn is leaving the Senate two years early, evidently discouraged by his colleagues' unwillingness to take even modest steps to eliminate wasteful spending and redundant programs. On Wednesday (2014/01/15), Coburn said on the Mark Levin Show, "I've come to a conviction that you can't fix Washington within Washington. The...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 16, 2014 11:45 PM

Tom Coburn to leave Senate at the end of this year

A news release from the office of Sen. Coburn: Dr. Coburn Announces His Decision to Leave the Senate at the End of the 113th Congress (WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) released the following statement announcing his decision to give up his Senate seat at the end of...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 16, 2014 10:14 PM

Oklahomans called to pressure Coburn on Obamacare defunding

FreedomWorks is calling on Oklahomans to attend Sen. Tom Coburn's August townhall meetings to ask him to join conservative Senate Republicans in their fight to defund implementation of the Unaffordable Care Act. Here is a list of Coburn's August 2013 townhalls, which are mainly in rural eastern Oklahoma. Coburn won't...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 18, 2013 3:03 PM

Tom Coburn statement on "fiscal cliff" deadlock

Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn issued this statement Sunday evening, December 30, 2012, regarding negotiations over the renewal of expiring tax cuts approved during the George W. Bush Administration. Emphasis added: No agreement has been reached because too many politicians in Washington want to raise taxes in order to grow the...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 30, 2012 11:30 PM

Coburn town hall in Tulsa tonight

U. S. Sen. Tom Coburn will hold a town hall meeting tonight, Monday, August 6, 2012, at 6:00 p.m. at the University of Tulsa in the TUPAC, corner of 5th and Harvard. Coburn tends to leave as much time as possible in his town hall meetings for answering constituent questions,...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 6, 2012 6:56 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

Run, Tom, run, favorite son! (An open letter to Senator Coburn)

Dear Sen. Coburn, Today, Monday, December 5, 2011, marks the opening of the three-day filing period for school board seats in Oklahoma. It's also the filing period for Oklahoma's March 6, 2012, presidential preference primary. I am writing to urge you to file, to put your name on the Oklahoma...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 5, 2011 12:28 AM

Coburn town halls across Oklahoma next week

Beginning next Monday, August 15, 2011, and continuing through Thursday, August 18, 2011, U. S. Sen. Tom Coburn will be conducting 9 town halls across the state, in Guymon, Woodward, Enid, Tulsa, Claremore, Langley, Pryor, Muskogee, and Oklahoma City. All the details are in a news release on Sen. Coburn's...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 11, 2011 12:18 AM

Sullivan opposes continuing resolution; Coburn proposes cuts of $20 billion

Congressman John Sullivan was the lone House member from Oklahoma to vote against H.J.Res. 48, the latest short-term continuing resolution, designed to continue funding the government in the absence of an actual budget. Sullivan issued this statement: Enough is enough, the American people didn't elect us to continue kicking the...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 16, 2011 8:04 AM

Coburn puts potential Obamacare no-to-yes voters on notice

Sen. Tom Coburn, at a news conference today of physician members of the House and Senate regarding Obamacare: I want to send a couple of messages to my colleagues in the House. If you voted no and you vote yes, and you lose your election, and you think any nomination...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 18, 2010 12:51 PM

Health care "reform": $2.5 trillion in the first 10 years

Why on earth does anyone, left-wing or right-wing, think this is a good idea? In its real first 10 years (2014 to 2023), the CBO says that the bill would cost $1.8 trillion -- for insurance coverage expansions alone. Other parts of the bill would cost approximately $700 billion more,...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 19, 2009 7:45 PM

<em>New York Times</em> profiles Tom Coburn, damages barn

New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich traveled to Sen. Tom Coburn's Muskogee farm for a profile which appears in today's edition: As the health care overhaul heads to the Senate floor, Mr. Coburn is preparing for what he considers a career pinnacle of havoc. Enacting the proposal, he says, would...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 30, 2009 5:03 PM

Sotomayor hearings from a pro-life perspective

If you follow BatesLine on Twitter (and you should), you'll have seen my tweet yesterday about Americans United for Life live-blogging the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. AUL has a legal focus, researching state and federal legislation, court cases, and court nominations that affect issues...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 14, 2009 6:05 AM