Now THAT'S Ironic

The Tulsa World, which fired Capitol Correspondent Mick Hinton as part of its recent financial retrenchment, reports today that Hinton has been given the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Oklahoma Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The SPJ board members who selected Hinton said his professional curiosity has helped Oklahoma readers get the news they need. He worked for both The Oklahoman and the Tulsa World.

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The Incredible Shrinking Capitol Press Corps

By Arnold Hamilton/The Oklahoma Observer ~ The Tulsa World’s layoffs are bad news for Oklahoma journalism - and even worse news for civic discourse and understanding.

Among the 26 newsroom personnel getting pink slips were two of the World’s three Capitol bureau reporters: Mick Hinton and Tom Lindley. Only Bureau Chief Barbara Hoberock survived Bloody Tuesday.

Hinton had been with the World four years [after a long career with The Daily Oklahoman]. Lindley came aboard in August, when Angel Riggs decided to pursue her PhD.

Both were providing excellent coverage at a time when Oklahoma faces enormous challenges: There’s a looming $309.6 million budget shortfall. Prisons are overcrowded and crumbling. State roads and bridges need at least $1 billion in improvements. Six-hundred-thousand residents don’t have health insurance.

Need I continue?

More context: Hinton’s and Lindley’s departures from the Capitol Press Room come just months after The Oklahoman pushed one of the state’s finest political journalists, John Greiner, into retirement.

At a time when Oklahomans’ need-to-know has never been greater, they won’t have the benefit of turning to these three excellent political journalists.

What a shame.

Reprinted with permission.

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Big Pensions Draw Legislative Attention Again

By Mick Hinton, Capitol Bureau, Tulsa World ~ Legislation to close a loophole in state law that allows some elected officials to retire with pensions bigger than the salaries they earned on the job has survived two committee hearings. But it is still questionable that a bill to abolish the loophole will become law this session, since numerous attempts in previous years have failed.

Republican lawmakers are trying to get the enhanced pension benefits abolished.

Most Democratic legislators are opposed to closing the loophole that helps hundreds of elected county officials throughout the state.

Lobbyist Dave Herbert, former state senator who represents county officers at the State Capitol, said it is only right that they get the enhanced benefits. "You suffered through a crappy old government job so you could have a decent pension when you retired," he said.

Read the entire story at www.tulsaworld.com.

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Hinton Examines Benge's First Days As Speaker

By Mick Hinton In The Tulsa World ~ Two days after Republican Rep. Chris Benge of Tulsa took over as House speaker, he invited Democratic minority leader Danny Morgan to meet with him.

Morgan said he had only one face-to-face meeting with Benge’s predecessor. Time will tell whether there is a new spirit of bipartisanship in the Legislature.

Read Hinton's entire article at www.tulsaworld.com.

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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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Immigration Law Authors Say It Is Working

The Tulsa World's Mick Hinton has a story that comes on the heels of yesterday's report that Tulsa elementary school officials have noticed Hispanic students leaving: Architects of the state's tough new immigration law said reports that Hispanic children are leaving Tulsa Public Schools indicates that the legislation is working.

"Obviously, if we are talking about people who are not here legally under immigration laws, then the law is having its exact intended effect," Rep. Randy Terrill said Friday.

"Certainly, I have heard the chatter that there are people particularly in northeastern Oklahoma and the Panhandle who are leaving, but we don't have any real evidence," added Terrill, R-Moore.

Senator James Williamson, the Senate author of the bill, said, "The whole purpose of the law was to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in Oklahoma because it is costing taxpayers a lot of money to educate them. (Read all of Hinton's story here.)

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Ethics Rules Too Broad?

By Mick Hinton, Tulsa World ~ Befuddled by new ethics rules, lobbyists have come up with an idea they hope the state Ethics Commission will find palatable. Lobbyist Pat Hall last week proposed a rule to assure that, for example, the Oklahoma State Medical Association would spend, at most, $300 a year on an individual lawmaker for meals or any other gifts. The state medical association, one of Hall's clients, has a half-dozen registered lobbyists, and the Ethics Commission has been concerned that each of those lobbyists could spend $300 on the same lawmaker. Read all of Hinton's insightful article here.

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