Saturday, June 19, 2010

Not Pretty: Not much pretty at the Capitol these days. The 2010 session ended with an investigation into what Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater now describes as a "slush fund" allegedly manipulated by Rep. Randy Terrill, with Republican leaders in the House and Senate apparently unable or unwilling to answer legitimate questions about that and other events in which they've been involved, with serious questions about the motives behind Governor Henry's veto of a Senate bill and his advocacy of a new highway traffic "spy" camera system and the belief by some that the session fell far short of its potential.

The Gadfly: Not Pretty
By Mike McCarville

Not My Job: Thank the Lord I'm not Randy Swanson or Jennifer Monies these days. Swanson, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee's chief spokesman, and Monies, House Speaker Chris Benge's spokeswoman, have taken heat for...well, for being in their jobs. Swanson's absorbed a few barbs for (1) Coffee's days-long absence from the state in which he was completely out of contact and (2) his less-than stellar performance at a news conference called to clear the air over who put language into one of his bills. Monies has taken heat for Benge's refusal to respond to questions on several issues.

Not Bad: The Oklahoma political blogosphere continues to buzz and readership apparently is increasing. From time to time, we note the number of daily hits some blogs and websites receive; not all of those up and running make their numbers available. For those that do, here's the latest recap: Okie Campaigns, 74; Muskogee Politico, 112; Dustbury, 416; BatesLine, 459; The McCarville Report Online, 1,025.

Not Nice: Cleveland County GOP has booted a congressional candidate, R. J. Harris, from future meetings. From Oklahoma Watchdog: "Harris, the Tea Party Republican running against incumbent candidate 4th Congressional District Rep. Tom Cole, was informed this week that he is banned from participating in Cleveland County GOP events." Seems Harris had someone videotape a recent meeting; that's not allowed under party rules.

Opposite Of Bad Is GOOD: And that's exactly the view of Election Year 2010 from newspaper publishers, radio and television station general managers and website operators as millions are being, and will continue to be, spent on advertising. Printers, IT and website experts and designers, direct mail specialists, advertising agencies, consultants...share in the influx of all that money into the economy. Business is so good at TMRO we've taken down the "room for rent" sign in the bay window.

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