July 16, 2019 Issue, Page 4 of 8

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Tuesday, July 16, 2019 Opinion Page “ElkCituNews Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 Taxpayers should appreciate Stitt’s executive order The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City -During fiscal year 2019, 33 state agencies in Okla- homa combined to spend $1.48 million on lobbyists. The previous year, the total (by 29 agencies) was $1.52 mil- lion. That’s roughly $3 million used by mostly taxpayer- funded offices to ask lawmakers to send them more taxpayer money. Gov. Kevin Stitt is putting a stop to this legal but off-putting practice. Having issued an executive order early this year that limited agencies from extending their lobbying contracts or entering new ones, Stitt last week issued a new order making the restriction permanent dur- ing his administration. “The agencies’ practice of hiring contract lobbyists skirts transparency laws and empowers agencies to ig- nore voters’ mandates,” Stitt said. On high court, ideological The governor’s original executive order required state agencies, boards and commissions to list which contract lobbyists they had hired since 2015 and the amount split often went missing spent. The list makes for interesting reading. For FY ‘19, eight institutions of higher learning report- ed using contract lobbyists. The University of Oklahoma spent a total of $145,000 on three outside lobbyists, with Oklahoma State University spending $90,000. (The other schools were Tulsa Community College, Southwestern The Oklahoman, Okla- following the law as they These included a ruling that argues that Kavanaugh and Oklahoma State, Northeastern State, the University of homa City interpreted it. allowed for the prosecution Gorsuch, while siding with Central Oklahoma, Seminole State and Rogers State.) Williams noted the court of the same offense in state liberals in some cases, have The Oklahoma Lottery Commission spent $140,000 in There are no more bruis- divided along conserva- and federal court, and one proven to be "reliable con- FY ‘19. The Grand River Dam Authority, which some ing fights in Washington tive/liberal lines only seven in which the court chose not servatives in the biggest and lawmakers in recent years have talked about trying to than those involving nomi- times, although one of those to hear appeals from states most controversial cases" sell, has spent $138,000 on contract lobbyists in each of nations to the U.S. Supreme was a high-profile ruling in looking to keep Medicaid Court. The Brett Kavanaugh which the justices opted not patients from using Planned and that Chief Justice John the past five years. hearings provided the latest to get involved with politi- Parenthood's services. Roberts has become the Among the other state agencies contracting with lob- byists this year were the Corporation Commission, the example, with opponents cal gerrymandering. That Kavanaugh and Gorsuch court's swing vote. Two Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, and the Teachers Re- suggesting his placement, allowed politicians, Justice were among the majority examples: Roberts joined tirement System, along with smaller groups such as the which provided conserva- Elena Kagan complained, to in a 6-3 ruling that struck conservatives in the jer- state Fire Marshal, the Funeral Board, and the Board of tives with a 5-4 majority, "beat democracy." down a federal ban on rymandering case, but went Architects, Landscape Architects and Registered Interior would be ruinous. Kavanaugh joined with trademarking words and the other direction in block- Designers. Yet the court's recently the court's four liberals symbols considered "im- ing the Trump administra- completed term proved in a ruling that let iPhone moral" or "scandalous." Jonathan Small, president of the conservative Okla- tion's effort to add a citizen- otherwise, as Kavanaugh customers sue Apple over Fellow conservatives Clar- homa Council of Public Affairs, notes that state agencies sided more than once with pricing of apps. He also ence Thomas and Samuel ship question to the census cannot contribute to political campaigns, but contract questionnaire. his liberal colleagues and agreed with them in block- Alito agreed, as did liber- lobbyists can. Thus, money spent on contract lobbyists can create “a roundabout funnel in which agencies effec- the court issued numerous ing the execution of a Texas als Kagan and Ruth Bader Next year, the Supreme tively use taxpayer money to fund political campaigns.” rulings that reflected ideo- inmate because the state Ginsburg. Court is scheduled to tackle logical comity. didn't allow the man's Bud- The court also agreed, several highly charged Some lawmakers have tried in years past, without suc- 7-2, to defend religious cess, to end or impose tougher regulations on this taxpay- Pete Williams, who dhist priest in the execution issues ranging from gun covers the court for NBC chamber. freedom by ruling that a er-funded lobbying. Defenders of the status quo will say rights to employment dis- News, suggests that after Williams points out that cross-shaped monument in that lobbyists are a must given the number of bills filed crimination against gay and each year -- this year, roughly 3,000 pieces of legislation the Kavanaugh spectacle, Kavanaugh and President a Maryland traffic round- transgender issues to depor- were filed. the court "seemed deter- Trump's other appointee, about does not endorse mined to keep a low profile Justice Neil Gorsuch, came religion and violate the First tation protection for so- Lobbyists do provide an important service for clients. and to avoid being per- down on different sides in Amendment's establishment called "Dreamers." Writes However, many state entities have their own lobbyists ceived as a partisan body." nearly half of the opinions clause. Totenberg, "Buckle up. It's or legislative liaisons -- employees who work and track issues at the Capitol. So, Stitt’s order will not muzzle the Or perhaps justices were that weren't unanimous. Nina Totenberg with NPR going to be a wild ride." voices of these entities. A reflection of priorities It’s also possible some agencies will simply use the money they spend on contract lobbyists to hire an in- house person to do the same work. If so, then savings may wind up being negligible. Nevertheless, Stitt’s executive order allows for more Stillwater NewsPress, Workforce. That has a lot structure in the schools. when Stillwater Middle transparency and is one taxpayers should applaud. Okla. to do with the education We also look at life-long School last fall introduced a available to the workforce, learning opportunities in first-of-its-kind Career Day Last week, CNBC ranked like STEM areas of science, each state," according to the as part of a pilot program technology, engineering and Have something states 1-50 as the top states website. for businesses. Based on math. Productivity, training, We've known for some for the Individual Career our historically low batting union membership also fac- time that Oklahoma lags Academic Plan, an effort average coming in, you can tor in. Oklahoma was 49th behind other state's in to make children career- to share? probably surmise where in this category, leading school funding. The hard minded at an early age in Oklahoma ranked. If you only Vermont. Oklahoma truth is, we know we can hopes it will spur academic can't, we'll go ahead and tell was near the top, coming do better, because worse success. Are there lessons you it's 43. at No. 2 in Cost of Living. isn't really an option. But Send your Many areas are scattershot, We know we can take what are doing about it? We to be learned there that can a lot of these lists with a but where Oklahoma barely have a few things we can be be shared? grain of salt. A list like that stacks up again is Educa- proud of here. The entre- Oklahoma has had a solid doesn't mean businesses tion. In Education, Okla- preneur network that has editorial to bounce back from a slug- would be unwilling to re- homa was ranked 50th. been established through gish economy. Some of that locate here, or that entre- "We consider the number Oklahoma State University preneurs would be all that of higher education institu- and Meridian Technology is money has been directed less willing to set up shop, tions in each state as well promising. Is there more we to the schools, but we etlitor@ecdaily- but we can draw many of the conclusions CNBC did based on the metrics that as long-term trends in state support for higher educa- tion. We look at several can do to help it succeeded? The CareerTech program- ming is supposed to be one can't forget the lessons we learned during the hard- est times. We have to start news.com were used to establish the measures of K-12 education of the state's best assets. rankings. including test scores, class Are we giving it enough looking to our children as The most points awarded size and spending, and we support? the greatest return on our were for an area called look at technology infra- Another highlight was investments.