Quotes of the Day

“It’s an experiment that failed in Ohio, and it’s an experiment that failed in Arizona. I don’t understand why the state would even pick that as one of the choices.”

– Attorney Dale Baich, objecting to one of the state’s proposed drug cocktails (midazolam and hydromorphone) to be used in Oklahoma executions beginning in November. (Source: http://bit.ly/1vEbto8)

“It turns out, though, that the overarching reason for stagnant and even declining state and municipal revenue is that the biggest share of taxpayers — the broad middle class — simply don’t have as much to be taxed on as they used to.”

-Tulsa World reporter Randy Krehbiel, discussing a new Standard & Poor’s report that found extreme income inequality is contributing to state budget shortfalls in Oklahoma and across the nation (Source: http://bit.ly/1rP9JIG)

“One thing that immediately stands out in White’s opinion is just how thin his legal reasoning is. Despite the fact that this case concerns a matter of life and death for the millions of Americans he orders uninsured, his actual discussion of the merits of this case comprises less than 7 double-spaced pages of his opinion. In that brief analysis he quotes the two other Republican judges who ordered Obamacare defunded, claiming that ‘the government offers no textual basis’ in the Affordable Care Act itself for treating federally-run exchanges the same as those run by states. In fact, the government has identified numerous provisions of the law which cut against the argument that only some exchanges should provide subsidies.”

Ian Millhiser, a Senior Constitutional Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress, writing about an U.S. District Judge’s decision upholding Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. The decision will be appealed to the 10th Circuit Court in Denver (Source: http://bit.ly/1vxaqY4).

“Tax bills such as SB 1246 reducing taxes for a particular class of taxpayers, specifically those persons with the top marginal income tax rate, has the effect of shifting the tax burden to other taxpayers.”

-Community Action Project Executive Director Steven Dow, writing in an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit challenging Oklahoma income tax cuts, because they were approved without the 3/4ths majority required for a revenue bill (Source: http://bit.ly/1oumqDC)

“We’ve got an entire trial being conducted in secret. Mr. Hamm is saying his divorce is a strictly personal matter, but apparently it’s not, because Continental says it will harm the company if the doors are opened. Meanwhile, on the website, Continental appears to be changing significant facts about itself.”

– Dr. Joey Senat, communications law specialist and associate professor at Oklahoma State University’s School of Media and Strategic Communication, on the divorce trial of Continental Resources oil baron Harold Hamm. A Reuters investigation found that company is changing history on its website to downplay Mr. Hamm’s role in the company’s success, thereby reducing what he would owe his wife in a divorce settlement (Source: http://reut.rs/1wQcysR).

“I’m not going to vote to give another $3 million to a failed vendor. When you take your car into the same guy twice and he screws it up both times, you go somewhere else. You don’t take it back to him and let him screw it up a third time.”

– State Board of Education member Lee Baxter, on the Board’s decision to delay a decision on a $2.8 million contract with CTB/McGraw-Hill, the vendor the state Education Department fired after two years of statewide testing disruptions.(Source: http://bit.ly/1yttFFn)

“No one in this building is happy. This was not our first choice. We tried to make it abundantly clear how frustrated we have been working with McGraw-Hill the past couple of years. This is not an ongoing relationship here. This is a short-term, one-cycle testing contract.”

– Joel Robison, chief of staff at the state Education Department, on the Department’s request that the state Board of Education approve a no-bid contract with CTB/McGraw-Hill for winter testing. SDE had previously fired the company following two consecutive years of statewide testing disruptions. (Source: http://bit.ly/1uIeRN6)

“There’s supposed to be two per cell but there’s, like you know, five or six in a cell. People are sleeping under beds and in walkways; some aren’t on mats but on the floor.”

– A woman whose husband was in the Okmulgee County jail, which is currently housing more than double the 150 inmates it was designed to hold. A riot early this week caused $10,000 in damage and sent one inmate to the hospital. Prison officials blamed the riot on “extreme overcrowding.” (Source: http://bit.ly/Y4immr)

“I pulled up the hood and it still had its invoice on it. ‘For $2,500,’ I joked with the (seller), ‘Can we get two?’ It’s just too good of a deal.”

– Tulsa Deputy Police Chief Dennis Larsen, speaking about two heavily armored military vehicles recently purchased by the Tulsa Police Department and Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office through a Defense Department program. The vehicles originally cost $733,000 (Source: http://bit.ly/1sVzNxS).

“Many of our families that we serve at Infant Crisis Services can’t afford to buy a car seat, so their children are either not riding in a car seat at all, or they’re riding in a borrowed car seat, an expired car seat, a car seat that may have been in a wreck, and those will not keep the baby safe.”

-Miki Farris, executive director of the non-profit Infant Crisis Services, which held a car seat giveaway for low-income parents in Oklahoma City (Source: http://bit.ly/1mB76cT).