Bill Shifts Race Riot Artifacts To Tulsa Control

Legislation approved by the State House today would give Tulsa control of all historical artifacts relating to the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.

House Bill 1077, by state Rep. Lucky Lamons, shifts control of the artifacts to the City of Tulsa for use with the John Hope Franklin Greenwood Reconciliation Memorial and Museum.

The state of Oklahoma currently has control of those artifacts.

“It just makes sense to transfer ownership of the property to the City of Tulsa because it increases the city’s ability to determine how the memorial will be designed, operated and funded,” said Lamons, D-Tulsa. “The museum will be in the middle of Tulsa’s entertainment district so it doesn’t make much sense to have it run out of Oklahoma City.”

Officials are currently developing plans for a proposed John Hope Franklin Greenwood Reconciliation Memorial and Museum in Tulsa that would commemorate the riot, which destroyed much of the all-black Greenwood district (which lies in Lamons’s district). The riot reportedly killed dozens and left thousands homeless.

House Bill 1077 passed out of the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a 100-0 vote today. It now proceeds to the Senate.

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Reynolds: House Fails To Back Ethics Reform

Rep. Mike Reynolds said lawmakers missed the opportunity today to back their ethics-reform rhetoric with actual funding.

"The Oklahoma House of Representatives had the opportunity to fully fund the state Ethics Commission for the first time in state history," said Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City. "Unfortunately, it appears the House is paying lip service to the idea of ethics reform instead of real service. The Ethics Commission cannot monitor and protect the integrity of our campaign finance system unless the agency is given a budget that will allow them to truly investigate complaints. That didn't happen today."

During floor activity Tuesday morning, Reynolds offered an amendment that would have significantly increased the Ethics Commission's budget to roughly $900,000 per year. The amendment was defeated twice.

A similar amendment offered by Rep. Lucky Lamons (D-Tulsa), was also defeated twice, Reynolds noted.

"Today's action on the House floor was a setback, but it won't be the last word on ethics reform," Reynolds said. "I will continue this fight throughout the legislative session."

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Lamons Rips Republicans Over House Vote

Democrat Lucky Lamons today blasted House Republicans for opposing a bill he said would "provide access to affordable healthcare."

“I’m disappointed to see that providing affordable healthcare failed along party lines today,” said Lamons, Tulsa House member. “This is not a Republican or Democrat issue.”

Lamons offered an amendment to House Bill 2531 on the House Floor that he said appropriated $173 million to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which would be used to levy matching Federal Funds for Oklahoma’s Medicaid programs. Based on the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rate for Oklahoma for FY-09, the amendment had the potential to generate $334,000,000 additional federal dollars for the Oklahoma Medicaid program. The total funds available for use in the Medicaid program as a result of this amendment would have been $507,000,000. The amendment was tabled along a party line vote, with House Republicans voting to kill the amendment.

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GOP Leader Says Ethics Funding A Priority

A top Republican House leader said Wednesday that allocating more money to the Ethics Commission will be a priority this session.

The commission's duties have expanded over the last few years, but its operating budget has been cut by half, Executive Director Marilyn Hughes told the House Rules Committee.

Rep. Greg Piatt, the House majority leader, said, "Our responsibility is to adequately fund the Ethics Commission. I believe that will be one of our priorities this year."

The Ethics Commission oversees campaign activities of elected officials and apparently has been looking into questionable fundraising by House Republicans in the 2004 and 2006 elections. Former Speaker Lance Cargill, who resigned last week, led the House GOP political action committee in 2004. He was the speaker during the 2006 election.

Hughes said the commission has seven employees, just as it had in 1994. She is seeking funds to pay for an additional lawyer and investigator. Operational dollars have dwindled as the agency used them to pay for increased benefits and other fixed costs that have not been funded by the Legislature.

Rep. Lucky Lamons, D-Tulsa, has filed a bill calling for an overall Ethics Commission budget of $886,980, an increase of more than $380,000.

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World: Edmondson Wants Audit Of ME's Office

By Mick Hinton, Tulsa World ~ Attorney General Drew Edmondson has requested an investigative audit of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, officials confirmed Friday.

A letter dated Thursday seeking the audit stated that the attorney general had received a complaint and conducted an interview, concluding “that an investigative audit should be conducted.”

”Because this involves an investigation which could result in criminal charges being filed, this audit and its results are to be kept confidential until the investigation has been completed,” states the letter written by Edmondson’s first assistant, Tom Gruber.

Rep. Lucky Lamons, D-Tulsa, said Friday he had received information he felt could be of a criminal nature and “went straight to the attorney general.”

Questions have been raised about the management of Chief Medical Examiner Jeffery Gofton and his assistant, Kevin Rowland.

Lamons and other Tulsa area lawmakers have been concerned after Gofton said he intended to halt autopsies being performed at the Tulsa office, which concerned local law enforcement and the Tulsa County district attorney’s office. Gofton backed away from his plan after complaints from law enforcement, lawmakers and others.

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Lamons Seeks More Ethics Commission Funding

UPDATED ~ State Rep. Lucky Lamons today announced he has filed legislation to increase the Ethics Commission's budget by 70 percent.

Lamons' bill will increase the watchdog agency's funding by$369,000 per year to hire additional staff and pay for new technology.

The Ethics Commission, which enforces state campaign finance laws, currently has an annual budget of just $518,000.

"In order for the public to trust their elected officials, we must be monitored by an agency that has some autonomy from the Legislature," said Lamons, D-Tulsa. "We must fund this agency and give them the resources necessary to oversee the financial transactions conducted by elected officials' campaigns."

The $369,000 increase includes money for the following improvements:*$75,000 for increased operational expenses;*$37,000 to double the agency's office space;*$26,000 for information/technology improvements;*$45,000 for performance increases; and*$186,000 to hire three new employees - a training specialist ($52,000), a new auditor/investigator ($56,000) and a new attorney($78,000).

Lamons said he will be a "strong supporter" of an ethics reform bill filed by Rep. David Dank (R-Oklahoma City), but said his legislation will complement Dank's efforts.

Dank's legislation would ban in-session legislative campaign contributions, prohibit shadowy transfers of campaign funds between political action committees and ban the use of campaign funds for personal use.

"I plan to support Representative Dank's sweeping ethics reform package, but for us to implement those new recommendations, it is imperative to increase the Ethics Commission's staff and appropriation," Lamons said."I believe there is a very good chance of new ethics reforms becoming law this year with bipartisan support."

The Democratic lawmaker said more funding is imperative now that questions have been raised about Republican House Speaker Lance Cargill and his leadership team concerning contributions intended for the state party that ended up with the Oklahoma County party and were spent on key House races.

Late today, Dank issued this statement: "While I appreciate Representative Lamons support for my comprehensive ethics reform measure and look forward to working with him to win its passage, I think it is inappropriate to point to any purported past violations when discussing additional funding for the State Ethics Commission. The issue is not partisan, but simply a matter of open and good government. Democrats, as well as Republicans, have been the target of ethics investigations in the past and several members of the Democrat leadership team were guilty of funneling personal campaign monies into a phony political action committee that slandered Republicans—including me—in the last two general elections. This Win Pac political action committee was founded by former Democrat Speaker of the House Larry Adair and funded in the last general election by virtually the entire Democrat leadership team, the Oklahoma Education Association and a host of other Democrat operatives and political action committees. So, I would suggest that we leave any of this speculation about past violations out of the discussion and concentrate on what we can do to assure proper conduct in the future."

The status of such a probe by the Ethics Commission is unknown because the agency's investigations are kept secret by law. However, a former Republican state lawmaker, Ray Vaughn of Edmond, confirmed that he visited the Ethics Commission office on Friday. Vaughn is now an Oklahoma County commissioner. His spokesman, Rick Buchanan, said that would be the only comment Vaughn would have regarding the visit. Vaughn said earlier that he had given $5,000 to the state party and was disturbed to learn that it went to the county party instead.

Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones also confirmed that he visited the Ethics Commission office Friday. Jones noted earlier that the Ethics Commission was raising questions about the contributions being diverted from the state to the county. Although several checks were written to the state, records showed that they ended up in the Oklahoma County Republican Party's coffer.

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Lamons Backs Dank's Ethics Proposal

Rep. Lucky Lamons, D- Tulsa, today said he supports an ethics proposal by Rep. David Dank, R- Oklahoma City. (See story below.)

“The reforms that have been proposed in the past were bi-partisan proposals that would halt legislative members from soliciting or receiving campaign contributions during legislative session. In 2005, I filed House Bill 2014, in 2006, I filed House Bill 2449 and in 2007, I filed House Bill 1436, all with Representative John Trebilcock, R- Broken Arrow, and Senator Patrick Anderson, R- Enid, as co-authors. However, since 2005 none of these measures were never even allowed out of committee and have been killed by House and Senate leadership ever since.

“I applaud Representative Dank’s efforts to combat this perceived corruption and unethical behavior that takes place at the State Capitol. I look forward to working with him next session to have these measures signed into law.”

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