Quotes of the Day

“We’re all competing for a piece of a pie that keeps getting smaller.”

– Susan Savage, CEO of Morton Comprehensive Health Services. The organization lost an uncompensated care contract with the state health department yesterday, the latest in a series of reductions in funding (Source)

“We’re just so perplexed that there’s a lot of talk about right-sizing government, but I don’t hear any legislator talking about what the priorities are. Nobody wants your taxes to go up, but tell me what you want to cut then.”

– Craig Jones, President of the Oklahoman Hospital Association, discussing the frustration health care advocates feel about the inability of the state legislature to produce a budget plan during special session (Source)

“I hope these numbers help provide anecdotal evidence to respond to the cost of living argument. Yes, some things cost more here in Texas. And when we begin to look at buying a house, that’s going to change things, too. But at the end of the day, we have something here in Texas that we likely never would have had teaching in Oklahoma: financial stability.”

– Former Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Shawn Sheehan, sharing his family’s budget information to show that he and his wife are earning roughly $40,000 more teaching in Texas than they did in Oklahoma (Source)

“Even assuming that the Midwest City jail officials did everything they were legally required to do here, I think we need to take a long hard look at ourselves as a society and say ‘Is this the best we can do?’ I don’t think it is. We can do better and we should do better.”

– ACLU of Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel, following the suicide of an inmate. Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes estimates that 85 percent of the jail’s inmates have a substance abuse or mental health issue (Source)

“Under guise of a drug alcohol rehabilitation program, CAAIR and Simmons have subjected the Plaintiffs and putative class members to virtual slave labor. …We have filed the lawsuit in an effort to expose this inhumane practice, recover remedies for those wronged and hopefully put an end to these unfair and unlawful labor practices.”

– From a statement by attorneys representing Oklahomans who participated in a controversial court diversion program. Recent investigations found that workers in the program worked long hours in dangerous conditions for only room and board, received no formal drug and alcohol treatment, and had their worker’s compensation payments confiscated by the program (Source)

“There is no question we’re going through some difficult times, so instead of holding onto my pledge, I will take a step back and see what’s best for the great state of Oklahoma. Oklahoma comes first instead of my pledge.”

– Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, saying he would consider voting for certain tax increases despite signing a pledge not to raise taxes (Source)

“There’s been a lot of disorderly resignations over the past two years and it’s kind of broken trust with the Oklahoma voters. The Oklahoma people have been disappointed and lawmakers have not really been held accountable for the cost of the special elections they cause.”

– Rep Zack Taylor (R-Seminole), who has introduced a bill that would require lawmakers who resign due to misconduct to pay for the cost of a special election and forfeit any accrued retirement benefits (Source)

“If there is only one person at the altar, there is no marriage. There is your quote of the day.”

– Governor Fallin, dispelling rumors that a budget deal had been reached after Minority Leader Scott Inman announced that his caucus would support elements of a plan Fallin had presented last week (Source)

“I think term limits have changed the way we have to look at things. You have someone who serves 12 years in the Legislature, and they know they have to leave. There are always possibilities the wrong person might start looking at opportunities for a soft place to land when they are term limited.”

– Former state Representative Phil Ostrander, who served two terms before becoming a lobbyist, speaking in support of a proposed rule change that would prohibit lawmakers and state employees from lobbying for two years after they leave the post (Source)

“Right now, we get paid about $20 less per day than what it costs to take care of that [Medicaid recipient]. We’re able to make up some of that through a small percentage of people who privately pay and a small percentage of Medicare. You get to a point where you can no longer pay staff or no longer afford to stay in regulatory compliance, and you have to shut the door.”

– Nico Gomez, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Association of Health Care Providers, calling the effects of a potential 9 percent cut to Medicaid provider reimbursement rates “heartbreaking” (Source)