An open letter to
Gov. Brad Henry

By John M. Wylie II, Oologah Lake Leader

Good morning, Governor.

Four years ago a bunch of folks went out on a limb and supported you in the Democratic primary. We were among the first. You won.
We supported you against a well-known lawyer and a former Congressman and football star. You won.
We supported you because we thought you stood for something.
We thought you stood for strong public schools. We thought you stood for fixing Oklahoma’s roads, which continue to be the laughingstock of the nation. We thought you understood that state government performs vital services and its loyal employees are valuable assets. And most of all, we thought you understood fiscal responsibility.
Apparently, governor, we were wrong.
On Monday you proposed a so-called budget “compromise.” In fact, it is a capitulation so brazen that we can find only one of equal magnitude in modern history: An appeaser named Neville Chamberlin and a resulting conflagration called World War Two.
You sold out our public school teachers, including your wife.
While preaching a strong economy, you sold out the highway investment needed to fuel such strength.
Senator Daisy Lawler calls your sellout of state employees “unconscionable.” They already are among the lowest paid state workers in the nation, but apparently paying them decent wages might slow the cascades of cash flowing into your reelection war chest.
Your sellout of our District Attorneys has riled leaders from both parties. Republican Senator Jonathon Nichols said funding for DA’s “to ensure that criminals are “prosecuted and punished” should be “a priority at the State Capitol, not an after-thought.”
Senator Kenneth Corn, a conservative Democrat, was even harsher, noting that your “compromise” has grave implications for crime victims and their families.
“It is shameful to send a message to these families that we don’t care,” he said. “If we pass a budget that shortchanges the needs of Oklahoma prosecutors we are compromising the safety of our communities, our families and most importantly our children.”
And then there’s your tax cut proposal, which is really a compromise between the two hard-line anti-government candidates for lieutenant governor, House Speaker Todd Hiett and Senator Scott Pruitt.
Each knows that once the income tax rate is cut, any restoration would require a three-fourths vote by each house of the Legislature.
Your proposal to cut the state income tax to 5.5% might make sense on a one-time basis. We have a tidy surplus this year.
But a permanent cut is suicidal for Oklahoma. Have you already forgotten the budget nightmare you inherited in 2003? Have you forgotten the budget crises of the ‘80s and ‘90s? Economic health is cyclical in any state whose economy is as heavily based on natural resources as Oklahoma’s.
So you have certainly sold out your promise of fiscal responsibility.
In case you haven’t realized it, governor, Oklahoma is in the midst of a civil war.
One side believes government is evil and must be destroyed.
They give lip service to public education and public safety, but they don’t want to fund it. They say we need better roads, but they don’t want t pay for them. These folks don’t believe public employees provide public services. Instead they are used as convenient whipping boys and girls for everything wrong with society.
Four years ago, governor, you campaigned against that attitude.
A great many of us went out on a long limb because we believed in you. We believed you were different, that you wouldn’t pander to the worst elements of political demagoguery. We believed you were brave, honorable and trustworthy.
You still have a chance to show us that we were right. Once you’ve gotten lawmakers to the table, you can yank the rug out from under a compromise that won’t fly anyway and start some real negotiations.
You can still insist on doing the right things. You can honor your contract with the voters. When we endorsed you, we said you were a smart politician. Smart politicians don’t become craven cowards at the first sign of trouble. They fight for their beliefs. They fight to win, not to appease.
We thought we knew you, governor. Back on June 20, 2002, we said, “Henry isn’t the kind of politician who makes unrealistic promises just to get elected, only to give his supporters a bad case of buyer’s remorse.”
Well, governor, our case of buyer’s remorse is life-threatening.
Perhaps another history lesson is in order. In 2002 you won by fewer than 7,000 votes. Let’s face it, without Gary Richardson to siphon off Republican votes from Steve Largent and without the support of cockfighters, you might well have lost.
This time around, the polls show you with a commanding lead. You’re flush with cash. Victory seems assured. There’s no real opposition on the horizon.
That, of course, was what several U.S. Senate candidates thought two years ago. Then a guy named Tom Coburn came out of political retirement because he didn’t like any of the choices on the ballot, and the rest is history.
Remember Neville Chamberlain? He returned to London proclaiming he had achieved peace for Europe. Instead his appeasement policies triggered the bloodiest war in modern history.
He offered political expediency, and now is ridiculed as a failure by those who have not blotted him entirely from their memories.
His successor, a guy named Winston Churchill, offered nothing but blood, sweat and tears. But he displayed leadership and resolve against his enemies, winning the war and securing a lasting place in history.
The choice is yours, governor, the path of appeasement and Chamberlain or the path of leadership and Churchill.
Choose wisely, or the independent name on the 2006 ballot may be “Buyer’s Remorse.” And he’s not real friendly to incumbents who sell out those who originally sent them to the Capitol.

John Wylie
A proud Democrat from the
Birthplace of Will Rogers