Capitol Spotlight for weeklies for week of April 16, 2006
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau
About the time the tulips bloom each spring, torrents of press releases wash across the Capitol rotunda from the House and Senate, decrying irresponsibility of the other chamber.
So it is that as bills move from one chamber to the other the Republican-majority House and the Democratic Senate are crossing philosophical swords over the wisdom of enacting big permanent tax cuts before funding various interests.
"Senate Democrats' Spending Spree Doesn't Add Up" - House press release headline.
"Senate Democrats' Govern Responsibly; Republicans Continue Stumping for the Next Election Cycle" - Senate press release headline.
"A lot of trees are being killed," observed Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield, D-Ardmore, chairman of the Senate appropriations committee.
Crutchfield responded to the flurry of accusatory statements both ways following House passage of an income tax cut from 6.25 percent to 4.9 percent, largest slash in state history, and a standstill Republican budget. He has suggested the existence of a budget impasse that could bring lawmakers back for a June special session. 
"The Senate Democrats are acting like a group of teenagers with their first checking account, and they are putting Oklahoma's accounts in danger of being overdrawn," said House Speaker Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville. "We're taking a firm stand for the hardworking Oklahoma taxpayer."
He said House Republicans want to "take care of taxpayers first - and a permanent income tax cut must be a top priority."
"It's a difference of philosophy," said Crutchfield. "The Republicans want to cut taxes and if there's anything left over give it to the agencies. I want to fund the agencies and then see what we can give back to the taxpayers."
In a later press release of his own, Crutchfield said House Republicans "are acting like a group of politicians in an election year, and they are putting Oklahoma's future on the line for their own personal gain."
House Democrats, smarting from inability to get proposed amendments heard before the income tax cut passed, 64-34, suggested the bill was a product of the race for the Republican lieutenant governor nomination between Hiett and Sen. Scott Pruitt, R-Broken Arrow.
Hiett first proposed a cut to 5.85 percent. Then Pruitt got the Senate to approve a 4.9 percent cut and send it to the Senate with the title off. Democrats who voted for it said the crippled bill was expected to go to conference.
But Hiett got the title restored, secured the bill's passage and sent it back to the Senate as a "live round."
Senate Leader Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, who voted for the bill the first time in the Senate, quickly responded that it must go to conference.
"In the Senate, we believe that we should first take care of our obligations by making significant investments in education, health care and public safety," said Morgan.
Rep. Richard Morrisette, D-Oklahoma City, wanted to amend the bill to raise the standard deduction and earned income tax credit, saying those changes would have helped the state's working poor.
Hiett said such issues could be considered in other legislation. He said the standstill budget is a fallback to keep government running, should there be an impasse."
Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, chided Senate Democrats, saying they were preparing to "flip-flop" on the income tax cut and elimination of the estate tax after voting for them the first time around.
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The House, told the Department of Public Safety it would have to start furloughing Highway Patrol troopers in 10 to 12 days, passed a $3 million supplemental appropriation.
The vote to keep the troopers on the road was 97-0.
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Sen. Cal Hobson, D-Lexington, leading off the goodbye speeches by term-limited senators, teased his colleagues with a suggestion that he might get into the lieutenant governor's race himself.
"I can't stand to think of spending the summer without seeing Sen. Pruitt," he quipped.
Later, he said, "I was having fun with my friends." But he said he believes "it is important for the Democrats to keep control of the Senate and I want to do whatever I can."
House Democratic Leader Jari Askins also is a candidate for lieutenant governor.
Democrats and Republicans alike spoke of Hobson's intellect, debating skill, honesty and hard work.
"For more than a quarter of a century of the history of this state. I've had the honor to be in this building," said Hobson, former president pro tempore. "Except for my family and those wonderful times, nothing, nothing can exceed the friendships, the relationships...from the bottom of my heart, the love I have for the Senate, for its employees and for my colleagues, thank you very much."
Hobson and Sens. Frank Shurden, D-Henryetta, and Stratton Taylor, D-Claremore, are the only remaining members of the legislative class of 1978.
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Gov.  Brad Henry's signature has now made the Mexican free-tailed bat the official state flying mammal.