Quotes of the Day

“We’re running a factory to create future felons. It’s ridiculous. The image that we create nationally — we’re viewed as being mean-spirited, poor, ignorant, and very, very backward. That’s not who we really are.”

-Gene Rainbolt, chairman of BancFirst Corp., on his support for the ballot initiative proposed by Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform (Source)

“When a private school is given public dollars without the same state and federal reporting or testing standards as public schools, there is no way one can fairly evaluate how the funds are being used to serve the student. There is no measurement or accountability, which is required of public schools. Simply put, vouchers don’t promote equality or higher standards for Oklahoma children.”

-Sandra Park, Executive Director of the United Suburban Schools Association (Source)

“In Oklahoma, we rank 49th in teacher pay, 44th in pupil funding and 41st in K-12 achievement rates. Success for Oklahoma public education means success for all our children, not just Cherokees, so proper funding is imperative. Our legislature is responsible to the will of the people, so while tax cuts sound fine to the average citizen, they are devastating to the programs that build a healthy state with an educated workforce. The sweeping tax breaks have not spurred growth and have hurt Oklahoma.”

-Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker (Source)

“It is the piece that we’ve missed with an equal pay law on the books in Oklahoma for over 50 years. Without the transparency piece, it’s been an ineffective law for women. By [adding] transparency, we will have a bill in place that will work effectively to help women earn equal pay.”

-Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, who introduced a bill that protects women who compare paychecks with coworkers and increases punishments for employers that fire workers for discussing wages (Source).

“Where we are right now as a state, if we don’t make the right changes in the long term, it will bring about the ultimate demise of the death penalty. I don’t think we’re there yet.”

-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, discussing problems with executions and the possibility of establishing a compounding pharmacy to produce its own execution drugs (Source)

“We have schools moving to four-day weeks to save money and others who are already laying off employees to make ends meet this school year. She didn’t address those problems in her speech today.”

-Alicia Priest, president of Oklahoma Education Association, expressing skepticism about the $3,000 teacher salary raise proposed by Gov. Fallin in her State of the State address on Monday (Source)

“I am always worried I will be a statistic if I don’t get my therapies continued.”

– An unnamed man who receives treatment for mental illness care through the state-funded mental health system, voicing concern about continuing cuts to state programs in an email to reporter Jaclyn Cosgrove  (Source)

“It is harder than hell. February of next year I can get my license back, but in between that I have kids, I have a job, I mean, what do they expect us to do.”

– Rebecca Adkins, who was released from prison in December but will be unable to get her drivers license reinstated until next year. Legislators have said their priorities for the legislative session include making rehabilitation efforts easier and sending fewer low-level offenders to prison in the first place (Source)

“If we have an ice storm, the governor is on the phone begging for federal money. If we have a tornado, everyone is lining up for federal money. And we take federal highway funds. It’s just the Obamacare dollars that are radioactive.”

– Former Oklahoma Gov. David Walters, on state leadership’s refusal to accept an infusion of federal funds to expand health coverage to 100,000 uninsured Oklahomans (Source)

“The removal policies enforced by Andrew Jackson led to the reductions of the homelands, and ultimately the deaths, of thousands of American Indians across the continent. The forced removal of American Indians by Andrew Jackson and the subsequent inhumane settlement of Indian lands represent a major blight on the proud history of the United States.”

-A resolution filed by U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) calls for replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with a prominent historic woman (Source)