D-Day: Remember The Greatest Generation

It is a symbolic day in modern world history that - for Americans - lives as a touchstone of pride and sacrifice within the memory of our souls.

By Rep. Richard Morrissete

The valor of our troops and the requirements of victory: all of the courage and selflessness we could muster on a foreign shore. To protect America and her promise of freedom was the hope of every determined soldier that day and for all of the days to follow to the end of the Great War.

As we approach the anniversary of the event that still stirs our American pride, I think of my dad, Robert Joseph Morrissette of Patton’s Third Army Engineers, marching through Germany to roust out and defeat the last of Hitler’s troops. And, how, even after the Armistice, he carried on to clean up the last of Mussolini’s terrible legacy.

I am the son of a great patriot who taught me by example the value of freedom. That for Americans there is no other choice but to serve for freedom carries with it a high price.

On D-Day, we cannot imagine the challenges our “greatest generation” soldiers faced as they were swept upon the beaches of a rocky coast in France. To live or to die that day were both possible outcomes of the campaign but not to fight was impossible for our patriots - our heroes - including Robert J. Morrissette, my hero, my dad.

Democrat Morrissette serves the people of District 92 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

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Morrissette Suggests DOC Audit Manipulation

The Legislature may have underfunded the Department of Corrections in order to manipulate a $1 million independent performance audit of the organization, says Rep. Richard Morrissette.

The Department of Corrections was underfunded by $42 million, despite agency officials and legislators agreeing that amount was needed by the department to do its job for Fiscal Year 2008, said Morrissette.

“If the Department of Corrections isn’t given the appropriation it needs, which it clearly wasn’t, of course they will come out on the wrong end of an independent performance audit,” said Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City. “We have the State Auditor and Inspector right here in the Capitol with not only the Constitutional mandate to audit and review state agencies, but also the expertise and experience to do so.

“It begs the question: why not save the state $1 million and have the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office handle this function? It is apparent that someone in the House majority doesn’t like our state auditor.And by the way, who are the so-called legislative leaders who picked this non-Oklahoma company to conduct this audit?”

In May, the Legislature approved a $1 million performance audit of the department to find a qualified firm to conduct the review of both the DOC’s operational costs and its internal policies that may be contributing to the agency’s annual budget shortfall.

This month, the state contracted with MGT of America, Inc. to conduct the independent review at a cost of $844,000.

Morrissette said it is a given that the audit will put the department in a bad light, which will lead to an increase in the use of privately run prisons in Oklahoma in the future.

“This is an overt attempt to bash a state agency and place the state corrections system on the path to a particular agenda of privately controlled prisons throughout the state,” said Morrissette. “This expenditure is unnecessary, appears politically motivated and will not result in better government."

Morrissette said the most obvious solution, short of allowing the State Auditor’s Office to conduct the review, is to form a legislative task force to study the issue and submit a report to the Legislature prior to the reconvening of the legislative session in February.

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Morrissette Proposes Tax Break

In a move that he says could dramatically improve health care coverage in Oklahoma, Rep. Richard Morrissette has filed legislation, House Bill 1888, to provide working families similar tax benefits enjoyed by large corporations.

"In the spirit of President Bush's State of the Union address tomorrow evening, I have filed a bill that will make the Oklahoma tax code fairer for working men and women and their families by providing a tax break for health care expenses such as in-patient hospital care, prescription drugs, rehabilitative care and nursing home care," said Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City.

"These tax breaks are similar to those already given large corporations and big businesses, who are now allowed to deduct all types of expenses and have been allowed that right for many years. Any tax code benefits should be applied broadly and fairly, which House Bill 1888 does."

Under current law, businesses are allowed a tax break to offset the cost of employee insurance. President George Bush is expected to call for extending that break to individuals who buy their own insurance during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

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