You can't say we're not a Top 10 state in wacky government performances
This year?
If there are words to describe what went on in the final weeks of this year's session, they would have to include ― Astonishing. Incredible. Unsettling.
What else could you call it when the head of a major state agency, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, goes before a legislative committee to ask for an emergency $20 million to meet its payroll and then has no explanation for how this crisis suddenly materialized?
Asked what was going on and whether the department might need even more money to meet its obligations, Mental Health Commissioner Allie Friesen said, "The fact of the matter is, I don't think we have a confident understanding of that yet."
More: Grading Oklahoma Mental Health
And then we had the spectacle of Ryan Walters, the elected state schools superintendent, calling an "emergency" news conference to deliver a rambling and at times almost incomprehensible litany of complaints about the Legislature, critics of President Donald Trump, lobbyists, opponents of putting Bibles in every state classroom, teachers' unions, his own treatment in the media, and most of all, high taxes.
"What has this got to do with education?" a reporter asked at one point when he took a breath.
"Education is the No. 1 thing we fund in this state," Walters replied, going on to say that taxes could be lowered because schools really didn't need more money.
"It's not a revenue problem, it's a spending probem," he said. "Let's eliminate administrator positions. Let's eliminate bureaucratic positions. You eliminate all these things, folks, the money's there."
Walters went on to say that the tiny nibble in the state income tax that the Legislature seems ready to approve is hardly enough.
"When are we actually going to see real tax reform?" Walters asked, "Why are we not moving forward with eliminating property taxes? We shouldn't have a property tax. Why do we continue to tax someone's property, often after they have paid for it, year after year after year?"
According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, property tax collections in Oklahoma totaled $3.7 billion in 2021 and are the single largest source of local government revenue (excluding intergovernmental collections).
Currently in Oklahoma, property taxes are essential for (among other things) the operation of public schools, county services including the court system, and city services like police and fire departments, parks and recreation and bond payments. No other state in the nation has eliminated its property tax, and doing so in Oklahoma, to say the least, would be a major undertaking with undeterminable consequences.
"I expect a lot of repercussions for speaking this directly and fighting for taxpayers today," Walters said, but "somebody" has to do it.
"Somebody" will need to figure out how to fund state government if "nobody" is paying taxes.
More: My biggest problems as a high school teacher ― none were the school's fault | Opinion
Friesen, according to her LinkedIn profile, was the director of a behavioral health clinical program at Integris Health before she was appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt to her current position in 2024. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Texas Christian University.
Asked by a legislator if she had budget experience, Friesen seemed irritated, saying, "Yes, sir, I did. It was not my primary function, and with all due respect, I am here to answer questions related to this current financial crisis, because every moment we're sitting in here answering questions, we are delaying solutions for you all."
Stitt, who picked Friesen to lead the department in January 2024, announced on May 20 that an outside accountant he picked to look into the department's finances found the shortage to be closer to $30 million than the $20 million Friesen had estimated. That was the eighth different estimate of how much the department is in the red.
Stitt has been supportive of Friesen and has suggested that the problems couldn't be his fault because they have existed for "decades."
Attorney General Gentner Drummond, now a candidate for governor, has called on Stitt to fire Friesen, saying she's unqualified for the job.
Friesen has responded that she's the one trying to root out long-existing problems in the agency, which has been the governor's responsibility since he took office in 2017.
When the rhetoric shifts to blame people who are "brave enough to confront years of likely fraudulent and grossly unethical behavior, it causes internal chaos," Friesen said.
Yes, Oklahoma, we may have terrible prisons, low-performing schools and a mental health agency that seems in total disarray, but we have the best soap opera performances in the nation.
Wertz is deputy opinion editor of The Oklahoman. If you have a comment on what he's written or a suggestion for a future topic or someone he should talk to, his address is wwertz@oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: At least government performances have been lively this year | Opinion
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'We've been imploring Democrats where they have power on the state and local level to flex that power,' said Maurice Mitchell, who leads the Working Families Party at the left flank of mainstream U.S. politics. 'There's been this overwrought talk about fighters and largely performative actions to suggest that they're in the fight.' This time, he said, Democrats are 'taking real risks in protecting all of our rights' against 'an authoritarian president who only understands the fight.' Pairing fiery talk with action Texas made sense for Republicans as the place to start a redistricting scuffle. They dominate the Statehouse, and Gov. Greg Abbott is a Trump loyalist. But when the president's allies announced a new political map intended to send five more Republicans to the U.S. House, state Democratic representatives fled Texas, denying the GOP the numbers to conduct business in the Legislature and approve the reworked districts. Those legislators surfaced in Illinois, New York, California and elsewhere, joined by governors, senators, state party chairs, other states' legislators and activists. All promised action. The response was Trumpian. Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Kathy Hochul of New York welcomed Texas Democrats and pledged retaliatory redistricting. Pritzker mocked Abbott as a lackey who says 'yes, sir' to Trump orders. Hochul dismissed Texas Republicans as 'lawbreaking cowboys.' Newsom's press office directed all-caps social media posts at Trump, mimicking his signature sign off: 'THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.' U.S. Rep. Al Green, another Texas Democrat who could lose his seat, called Trump 'egomaniacal.' Yet many Democrats also claimed moral high ground, comparing their cause to the Civil Rights Movement. State Rep. Ramon Romero Jr., invoked another Texas Democrat, President Lyndon Johnson, who was 'willing to stand up and fight' for civil rights laws in the 1960s. Then, with Texas bravado, Romero reached further into history: 'We're asking for help, maybe just as they did back in the days of the Alamo.' 'Whatever it takes' A recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that about 15% of Democrats' own voters described the party using words like 'weak' or 'apathetic.' An additional 10% called it 'ineffective' or 'disorganized.' Beto O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman who is raising money to support Texas Democrats, has encouraged Democratic-run statehouses to redraw districts now rather than wait for GOP states to act. On Friday, California Democrats released a plan that would give the party an additional five U.S. House seats. It would require voter approval in a November election. 'Maximize Democratic Party advantage,' O'Rourke said at a recent rally. 'You may say to yourself, 'Well, those aren't the rules.' There are no refs in this game. F--- the rules. ... Whatever it takes.' Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin acknowledged the shift. 'This is not the Democratic Party of your grandfather, which would bring a pencil to a knife fight,' he said. Andrew O'Neill, an executive at the progressive group Indivisible, contrasted that response with the record-long speeches by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. and the Democratic leader of the U.S. House, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, in eviscerating Trump and his package of tax breaks and spending cuts. The left 'had its hair on fire' cheering those moments, O'Neill recalled, but were 'left even more frustrated in the aftermath.' Trump still secured tax cuts for the wealthy, accelerated deportations and cut safety net programs, just as some of his controversial nominees were confirmed over vocal Democratic opposition. 'Now,' O'Neill said, 'there is some marriage of the rhetoric we've been seeing since Trump's inauguration with some actual action.' O'Neill looked back wistfully to the decision by Senate Democrats not to eliminate the filibuster 'when our side had the trifecta,' so a simple majority could pass major legislation. Democratic President Joe Biden's attorney general, Merrick Garland, he said, was too timid in prosecuting Trump and top associates over the Capitol riot. In 2016, Democratic President Barack Obama opted against hardball as the Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, refused to consider Obama's nomination of Garland to the Supreme Court. 'These unspoken rules of propriety, especially on the Democratic side, have created the conditions' that enabled Trump, Mitchell said. Fighting on all fronts Even on redistricting, Democrats would have to ignore their previous good-government efforts and bypass independent commissions that draw boundaries in several states, including California. Party leaders and activists rationalize that the broader fights tie together piecemeal skirmishes that may not, by themselves, sway voters. Arguing that Trump diminishes democracy stirs people who already support Democrats, O'Neill said. By contrast, he said, the GOP 'power grab,' can be connected to unpopular policies that affect voters' lives. Green noted that Trump's big package bill cleared the Senate 'by one vote' and the House by a few, demonstrating why redistricting matters. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said Democrats must make unseemly, short-term power plays so they can later pass legislation that 'bans gerrymandering nationwide ... bans super PACs (political action committees) and gets rid of that kind of big money and special interest that helped get us to this place.' U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, added that a Democratic majority would wield subpoena power over Trump's administration. In the meantime, said U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, voters are grasping a stark reality.
