Some discord nettles bipartisan harmony
Capitol Report for dailies for week of Feb. 4. 2007
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau
Occasional discords of political rhetoric on both sides nettle the bipartisan harmony heralded for the 2007 Legislature, and Gov. Brad Henry says it may someday take a constitutional amendment targeting so-called "safe seats" to achieve real cooperation.
In rolling out their legislative platforms during the past month, leaders of both parties in the House and Senate and the governor cautiously expressed optimism for across-the-aisle productivity in the Centennial session beginning Feb. 5.
Speaking at the annual Associated Press luncheon forum, Henry floated an idea sure to be unpopular with lawmakers as a means of reaching the bipartisanship he said is necessary to seize opportunities now available for national leadership.
"Already we are seeing some partisan gamesmanship," he said. "I'm realizing more and more it will be very difficult to take politics out of the process here at the capitol - and legislators are not going to like this at all - until we revamp our redistricting process."
The governor said legislators in districts registering 70 to 80 percent of voters for one party or the other, a situation more prevalent at the congressional level, have no incentive to work with members of the other party.
Henry said he will not propose remapping this year and suggested it would take a constitutional amendment to somehow achieve more political balance in the districts. A lot of research and probably an independent commission to draw the lines would be required, he said.
Henry's proposals for funding of education from three years through college, scholarships, health care, corrections and a proposed bio-fuels research center have been met with skepticism and, at-best, a wait-and-see approach from Republicans.
"Our caution is 'how do we pay for these ambitious goals?'" House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, told the gathering of reporters, broadcasters and editors.
Of particular concern, he said, is Henry's proposal to earmark 1.25 percent of the state income tax as a permanent revenue source for the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program.
Cargill reiterated that he would like to consider total elimination of the state income tax as a long-term goal, moving toward a more-fair consumption taxes to replace the revenue.
"If you're a rich guy and you want to go out and buy a big yacht you'd get hit with a bigger tax," he said.
Senate co-President Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, also voiced doubts about costs of Henry's plans, suggesting he might need a tax increase to pay for them."
"He hasn't been able to project with a high degree of accuracy what those will be in the past," he said.
Coffee also said the state needs to pay for current educational programs before sending 3-year-olds to school.
Earlier in the week, Coffee was initially more receptive than Cargill to Henry's proposal to create a $40 million bio-fuels center in Oklahoma, reaping energy from the state's abundant native grasses.
Coffee said it makes sense for Oklahoma to take a leadership role in the development of new energy sources, calling Henry's proposal "worthy of serious study and consideration."
Henry said David Fleischaker, his energy secretary, brought the idea to him.
Fleischaker said research collaboration from Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation could bring "a critical mass of intellection firepower" to the project. Democratic legislative leaders applauded the initiative.
Henry acknowledged that it is almost obligatory for leaders of one party to criticize proposals of the other, but "I'm going to do my best to govern in a bipartisan fashion."  Some Democrats in the past have complained that Henry worked too closely with the GOP.
Lawsuit reform is once again a top project of House and Senate Republicans, while Senate co-President Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, said, "You might not be shocked that that's not big on our agenda." Morgan disputed renewed GOP contention that courts are clogged with unworthy lawsuits, saying, "If we had a dollar for every time we've heard that we'd have a lot of dollars."
Announcing Senate Democrats "Oklahoma Rising" agenda with an olive branch to the GOP, Morgan said the Senate Democratic agenda was put together from comments candidates heard while visiting door-to-door across the state.  He said tort reform was not a big topic with voters, but that immigration reform had become a leading concern just in the last couple of years.
It's also once again a prime project of Randy Terrill, R-Moore.
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"Nothing is certain but negative medical outcome and revenue enhancement," a euphemistic version once voiced for the familiar axiom about death and taxes.
So it should perhaps follow that a proposed lawsuit reform measure would give a tax break to purchasers of "negative outcomes insurance" as an alternative to medical malpractice litigation.
Freshman Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Edmond, told the House Revenue and Taxation committee the idea has been proposed in Congress, but "ground has not been broken at the present time. We are the first state to look at it."
Judging from the series of questions from committee members, House Bill 1018 could get only the same brief look likely to be afforded many of the new bills before the committee headed by Terrill.
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