Has State GOP Lost Its Mojo?

The state GOP, despite its majority in the Oklahoma House and rising fortunes in the Senate, continues to misfire by supporting needless ideological legislation and engaging in petty, sometimes secret, bipartisan politics.

The questions are these: Where are the big plans from Republicans to help move the state forward and help its residents? Where is all the promised reform of good ol’ boy politics, the actions of what its mouthpiece, The Daily Oklahoman, always refers to as the “usual suspects? Has the conservative juggernaut here lost its mojo?

Here’s what sticks out about the GOP in the 2007 legislature so far:

(1) House Speaker Lance Cargill (R-Harrah) still has not made the financial sponsors of his 100 Ideas initiative public. His Republican colleague, Thad Balkman, who directs the initiative’s operations, says he will release the information soon, but we still don’t know who is behind this obvious political effort to advance Cargill’s career and the fortunes of the GOP here.

(2) Republicans, for now, have stopped Gov. Brad Henry’s plan to create an early education program for three-year-old children in the state. This is especially petty because Henry has been one of the most bipartisan politicians in recent memory here. Remember, Henry supported GOP tax cuts last year.

(3) The GOP has submitted eight (yes, eight) more anti-abortion bills. All these bills are needless and designed to play a cultural wedge card for single-issue Republicans. The legislature passed strict anti-abortion bills last year. The legislation will only hurt poor women because those with enough financial resources can always get an abortion in a different state. Let’s hope the legislation doesn’t lead to back-alley abortions for women too poor to travel to places where the procedure is offered. Also, let's not forget the kooky GOP-sponsored bills making English the state's official language, requiring voters show identification when they vote (a GOP tactic to lower minority voting), and preventing undocumented workers from taking their kids to see a doctor.

(4) In a particularly petty move, Speaker Cargill refused to appoint state Rep. Wallace Collins (D-Norman) to an important committee dealing with mental health issues. Collins’ district includes Griffin Memorial Hospital, a mental health facility. What makes this especially petty is that Collins beat out Balkman, the 100 Ideas director, for his House seat. So Balkman apparently gets rewarded by the state’s ultra-rich power structure for losing his race, and Norman gets shafted because one of their representatives can’t get on a committee that is important to their community.

There is certainly an “in-your-face” attitude among Republicans to which they may feel entitled because of their majority in the House and because they now have an equal number of senators in the Senate.

But the ideological tone of some legislation, the secrecy behind the 100 Ideas organization, and the petty politics are symbolic of a political party that has lost its way nationally and locally. Behind Cargill’s bluster, Balkman’s vacillations, or even Vice President Dick Cheney’s angry occupation rhetoric this part weekend is a party that has seen the writing on the wall and is running scared.

Polls consistently show a drop in support for President George Bush’s Iraq occupation, and a majority of Americans now favor an immediate withdrawal. A vast majority trust the Democrats more than Bush and the Republicans on Iraq.

Democrats are poised to make great gains in the 2008 elections not just nationally but statewide as well. This will especially be the case if the first weeks of the 2007 state legislative session are any indication. The state GOP has become a party led by angry, petty blowhards, who vote down programs for three-year-olds even as they sanction secret politics. Their supreme commander, the imperial president, continues to bankrupt the federal government for a senseless occupation of a country whose residents don’t want us there.