Quotes of the Day

“We can no longer sit at the banks of the courthouse steps waiting for prosperity and normalcy to come to us. Though we are separate in our respective branches of government, all of us are tied together by the shared thread of public service and united by a common vision, and that is the administration of justice.”

– Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Tom Colbert, in a speech warning Oklahoma judges that several proposed bills in the Legislature could have had a “lethal and devastating” effect on Oklahoma’s judiciary (Source: http://bit.ly/1jA1qhI)

“It’s tragic that you can move 21 million pounds of food out into these communities and it’s still not enough.”

– Eileen Bradshaw, executive director of the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. She said the food bank distributed a record amount of food but is still not meeting the full need (Source: http://bit.ly/1oXNptm).

“They start with the mentality of seeing employees as assets to be maximized.”

– Zaynep Ton of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, on retailers such as QuikTrip, Trader Joe’s and Costco Wholesale that are paying workers living wages. Such retailers consistently report better operational efficiency, better customer service, and better sales than their low-wage competitors (Source: http://bit.ly/1zDQV1z)

“It used to be if you posted a middle school teaching job with a coaching position attached to it or an elementary school job, you would get 40 applicants for the job. Now, we are getting four, maybe five. And some of those haven’t even passed their certification test yet. It has become a game of making sure you are staffed and dealing with it early because the later it gets the harder it gets to fill those spots.”

-Todd Garrison, superintendent at Lone Grove Public Schools, who said low pay and lack of respect for the teaching profession in Oklahoma is making it difficult to fill vacancies (Source: http://bit.ly/1qzHtX3)

“They may have experienced abuse and other threats to their safety. They may have been trafficked or smuggled in. To allow images of their faces would compromise their safety and privacy.”

– Jesus Garcia, special assistant to the deputy assistant secretary for external affairs at the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, explaining why reporters touring Fort Sill are forbidden from videoing, photographing, or interacting with the children (Source: http://bit.ly/1ooJeUl)

“We cannot support open borders for trade but not for people. We cannot support the unfettered exchange of goods and ideas while building razor-wired walls that separate children from their parents. We cannot make America stronger and more prosperous by excluding tomorrow’s talent and industry.”

– Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating arguing in favor of compassionate immigration reform in the L.A. Times (Source: http://lat.ms/1lVRR7o)

“These are lifesaving services that hospitals and EMS providers provide to people without respect to their ability to pay or their insurance status. It’s a critical system for us to support.”

-Julie Cox-Kain, a deputy commissioner with the Oklahoma Health Department, speaking about the Legislature’s move to take $5 million from the state trauma care assistance revolving fund to balance this year’s budget (Source: http://bit.ly/1qj6SUP)

“It is not just about being fiscally responsible, but also about redeeming lives through faith-based programs, keeping families together and turning more ex-offenders into productive, taxpaying citizens. Moreover, for nonviolent offenders, watching television and receiving ‘three hots and a cot’ in prison does far less to advance personal responsibility than paying restitution to the victim, performing community service, holding a job and paying child support.”

-Former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts, writing in support of a “Right On Crime” initiative to create more alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders in Oklahoma (Source: http://bit.ly/1qeWWf0)

“The sad truth is that the state budget has become dependent on using one-time funds in good times and bad. Oklahoma’s economy has been expanding for more than three years, yet legislators tapped nearly $1 billion in nonrecurring revenues over that period — some appropriately so, but most not — to spend more than the amount certified.”

– Oklahoma state treasurer Ken Miller, speaking out against the overuse of one-time funds and cuts to recurring revenues in the state budget (Source: http://bit.ly/1jXUlT1)

“Oklahoma has done an exceptional job of creating high-quality preschool education and in this respect seems to be doing almost everything right—expanding access to large numbers, putting important quality measures in place so that students are taught by highly credentialed teachers, building some of the best facilities in the world in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Oklahoma should be a model for other states.”

-David Blatt, executive director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute (Source: http://bit.ly/1rbzaEb)