Senate leader calls Speaker's fund-raising efficient 
Capitol Report for dailies for week of March 4, 2007
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau
If the House Speaker had huddled with deep-pocket lobbyists over bagels and coffee at 
Panera Bread there might not have been a fuss in the media, as the Senate's Republican 
leader sees it.
Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, scheduled meetings with key lobbyists at 15-minute 
intervals at the Oklahoma City office of two leading Republicans who had conducted 
several campaigns for the party.
"I don't think he did anything wrong," said Senate Co-President Glenn Coffee, R-
Oklahoma City. "He didn't violate any laws.
"If he had gone to Panera Bread and scheduled those 15-minute meetings instead of at 
somebody's office, you guys probably wouldn't have heard about it, and I don't think it 
would be an issue," Coffee told reporters.
A week earlier reporters staked out the office about five miles from the capitol and 
buttonholed leaving lobbyists.
Coffee said fund-raising is a fact of life for elected officials and those who don't engage 
in it, "do so at their own peril." 
But he said "play for play" scenarios for favorable action on legislation, as alleged in the 
past, would be "absolutely" inappropriate.
Coffee said he prefers to schedule meetings with likely donors and go to see them, or 
speak to them on the phone from his home.
Cargill's method, he said, was "pretty efficient and business-minded."
The speaker's meetings came as his ethics reform message, which included a ban on 
contributions at the capitol, was nearing a committee vote that still has not been held as 
Cargill awaits a staff estimate of costs to the State Ethics Commission. The commission 
has put the price tag at $400,000 or more for all provisions in the bill.
HHH
What a little arm twisting will do. Gov. Brad Henry's office went to work Wednesday 
night on senators who had voted against his bill intended to trim the numbers of high 
school dropouts.
A 31-14 vote before senators went home for the week reversed a 23-20 failure a day 
earlier for Senate Bill 519, which Henry had asked GOP Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson of 
Oklahoma City to carry. The first vote found some of the chamber's most conservative 
and liberal senators on the same side, with 13 Democrats joining 10 Republicans in 
opposition. 
Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, who had told the Senate about watching his parents 
struggle after dropping out of school, brought the measure up for reconsideration.
 The bill eliminates a section of law allowing students to leave school at 16 if their 
parents and administrators believe it in the students' interest.
Wilcoxson said it makes no sense to have something in the law that encourages drop outs.
"Instead of writing off problem students and making it easier for them to drop out, we 
need to push them to earn a high school diploma," Henry said.
Coffee voted against it the first time and would have voted no again, but was out of the 
capitol the second time.
"This is a feel good deal that doesn't really accomplish much," he said, adding that it "is 
a serious problem we need to address."
Coffee congratulated Shawnee Sen. Charles Laster on his choice to succeed the term-
limited Mike Morgan of Stillwater as Democratic leader in the Senate. But he said a press 
release calling him president pro tem was "premature." That title will depend on the 
majority after the next election.
HHH
 Bareheaded bikers, alarmed that the 18-year-old cap on required helmet use might be 
lifted, converged on the capitol to plead their case with lawmakers.
They were particularly concerned about House Bill 1539 by Rep. Skye McNeil, R-
Bristow, saying it would create a universal helmet law.
In talking points used to lobby legislators, the bikers said helmet laws do nothing to 
prevent accidents and impair the sight and hearing of the rider. They also said 
motorcycles are fuel efficient, have a light impact on roads and that bikers also are more 
likely to have health insurance than the average car driver.
The bikers also oppose a bill requiring minor ATV riders to wear helmets, saying that 
should be decided by parents.
HHH 
TABOR redux? A group that opposed the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) petition 
last year sent out an alert saying House Joint Resolution 1024 mirrors TABOR and is to 
be heard in the House Rules Committee on Monday.
Oklahomans for Responsible Government said the resolution by Rep. Ken Miller, R-
Edmond, lowers the constitutional spending limit from 12 percent to six percent of funds 
appropriated the prior fiscal year, adjusted for inflation. The group said it diminishes the 
power of elected officials, shackles the state budget and erodes public services over time.
The State Supreme Court rejected a TABOR initiative petition last year.
HHH
A bill allowing a majority of members of a public body to meet informally if they don't 
talk about any public business passed the Senate, 39-8.
SB 163 originally said they could be together if they didn't "conduct" any business.
Sen. Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward, the author, acknowledged that there was no way to 
tell whether two county commissioners sitting together at a 4-H banquet were talking 
about gravel.
"But at least we're not going to prosecute them for being at the banquet together," he 
said.
HHH