As DHS Cut Senior Nutrition Programs, Top Officials Got Raises

Top administrative staff at the Department of Human Services received almost $200,000 in pay raises in the past year before the agency cut senior nutrition programs, records show.

“These raises were given at a time when the economic situation was bad and getting worse and a budget shortfall was clearly imminent,” said state Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore. “In light of the raises, I find it hard to believe DHS could not find any way to save money other than cutting nutritional programs for the elderly.”

Records show 29 of the top 36 administrators at the agency received raises in the past year.

The pay raises ranged between $135 per month to an additional $1,894 per month. The pay raises totaled $16,380 per month and $196,560 per year. Terrill noted the pay raises were not approved by the Legislature and it is not known if those receiving the raises assumed any additional job responsibilities. Terrill likened DHS officials’ actions to AIG executives who received millions in bonuses after obtaining taxpayer-funded bailout money from the federal government.

“DHS has violated the sacred trust with our seniors in the same way many greedy Wall Street robber barons violated the trust of the taxpayers who bailed them out,” Terrill said. He said the case illustrates the need for even greater scrutiny of agency budgets as lawmakers revise appropriations due to the downturn.

“This unconscionable series of events calls into question the judgment of DHS’ senior management,” Terrill said. “With state workers facing furloughs or layoffs, the Legislature should scrub every agency budget to determine whether the DHS abuses are an isolated case or just the tip of the iceberg. Somehow, I suspect the latter.”

Even Demo State Sentor
Debbe Leftwich think this is
WRONG!

Oklahoma State Senate Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405-521-5774

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –


State Sen. Debbe Leftwich said it was unconscionable for the Department of Human Services (DHS) to pass out nearly $200,000 in pay hikes at a time when the agency has cut $7.4 million from senior nutrition programs. Leftwich said while many employees at DHS and other state agencies are underpaid, raising salaries while cutting senior nutrition is the wrong thing to do. She applauded House member Randy Terrill, R-Moore, for bringing attention to the situation on Wednesday.

“This is outrageous, but it proves what I’ve said many times—DHS has deep pockets when it comes to something they want, like these raises. We have seniors who are literally going to suffer because of the cuts to the nutrition program, but the bureaucrats claim they couldn’t make cuts elsewhere,” said Leftwich, D-Oklahoma City. “This is indefensible.”

DHS has argued the raises were a necessary market-rate adjustment. Twenty-nine of the top 36 administrators at DHS have been given raises ranging from $135 to $1,894 per month.

“We have agencies that are being forced to leave empty posts unfilled, furlough remaining workers and cut programs, yet DHS proceeded with these raises. It’s just unbelievable,” Leftwich said. “For years I’ve tried to move state services for seniors out of DHS and other agencies to a stand-alone entity that will make taking care our older Oklahomans the priority it should be. As far as I am concerned, this action by DHS just underscores why they should not be entrusted with programs older Oklahomans need to survive.”

Sen Paddack Plan Announcement Superintendent of Public Instruction

Back in March (and June on facebook) I said that Susan Paddack would be making a run for Superintendent of Public Instruction. And on Monday, She will jump in to the race.

Oklahoma State Senator Susan Paddack (D- S13, Ada) will seek the Democratic nomination for superintendent of public instruction next year.

"Please join me in supporting Senator Susan Paddack by attending the official announcement of her candidacy for State Superintendent of Public Instruction 10:00 a.m., Monday, November 9, 2009, Chickasaw Community Center, 700 N. Mississippi." in an announcement that was sent to Paddack supporters via email.

Sen. Paddack was elected in November 2004 as the senator for District 13, which includes Pontotoc, Hughes, portions of Garvin and Coal Counties. She serves as a Democratic Whip.

Prior to her election, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence employed her for nine years as director of Local Education Foundation Outreach. She's also been employed as a secondary science teacher in middle and junior high schools in Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma and served as an adjunct faculty member for East Central University’s Education Department. She served as a board member for the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and co-chaired the Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations in 1993 and 1994. She was also on the board of trustees, the executive committee, and chaired the Local Education Foundation Outreach Committee. She was named the Ada Education Association’s 1992 Friend of Education.

She is on the Southern Region Education Board, an organization that studies trends and issues in education, and is a member of the Education Commission of the States and the Southern Legislative Conference.

She is NOT up for re-election next year, so She will not have to give up her senate seat to run.

72 HOURS AND COUNTING FOR TULSA CITY ELECTION

Attention all Republicans

All hands on deck
For the 72 hour push
To get out the vote!

Meet Us at Dewey Bartlett's Headquarters
1648 S. Boston
(the corner of 17th and Boston)
starting at
10:00 am Saturday
1:00 pm Sunday

You will be assigned a neighborhood to knock on doors to remind people to vote on Tuesday November 10th and please vote for Dewey Bartlett for Tulsa Mayor We need volunteers to be in the neighborhoods throughout Tulsa this weekend!

Bring your friend, child, relative or neighbor to Headquarters on Saturday and Sunday to Help us comb the neighborhoods
Thank you!

Victoria Bartlett
527-1404 (cell)

Gov Brad boy Names Hetherington To Civil Appeals Court

Governor Brad boy today appointed Judge William (Bill) C. Hetherington, Jr., to the Court of Civil Appeals.

He succeeds Judge Glenn Adams, who resigned last September. Gov. Brad boy lauded the experience of Hetherington, a longtime judge in Cleveland County District Court.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of Roman Catholic restorationists from England who planned the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Their aim was to displace Protestant rule by blowing up the Houses of Parliament while King James I and the entire Protestant, and even most of the Catholic, aristocracy and nobility were inside. The conspirators saw this as a necessary reaction to the systematic discrimination against English Catholics

The Gunpowder Plot was led by Robert Catesby, but Fawkes was put in charge of its execution. He was arrested a few hours before the planned explosion, during a search of the cellars underneath Parliament in the early hours of 5 November prompted by the receipt of an anonymous warning letter.

Guy Fawkes Night (or "bonfire night"), held on 5 November in the United Kingdom and some parts of the Commonwealth, is a commemoration of the plot, during which an effigy of Fawkes is burned, often accompanied by a fireworks display. The word "guy", meaning "man" or "person", is derived from his name.

Cleveland County Election Board gets new digs

The Cleveland County Election Board has begun moving out of its downtown Norman offices and should open at its new digs, 614 E. Robinson St., today, a CCEB spokeswoman said Monday.

Anette Pretty, assistant executive secretary of CCEB, said the board has been at its current location, 122 S. Peters Ave., since 2004.

Pretty said this move shouldn't be an issue for the CCEB staff, whose next election (on two proposed school bonds) falls on Dec. 8.

"We're seamless," Pretty said. "We'll be fine." Right now, the CCEB is sharing the building with a bank and the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department.

Who exactly will fill the prime downtown office space the CCEB is vacating is still up in the air.

Tulsa State Lawmakers Form Tulsa (Mafia) Caucus In Legislature

Two state lawmakers from Tulsa, State Rep. Eric Proctor and State Sen. Gary Stanislawski are forming a bipartisan (Mafia) caucus to promote the interests of Oklahoma's second largest city. (ie How much State Tax $$ can we get)

Gary Stanislawski say the new Tulsa (Mafia) Caucus is open to all Tulsa-area legislators and elected officials. It will meet before the end of the year to review legislative priorities. (If you Look like a Mob & Sound like a Mob then you are a Mafia)

Proctor, a Democrat, says Tulsa's needs are being crowded out at the state Capitol. He says it's important that the city's infrastructure needs are met. (Hey Eric, How about Tulsa pay for its own city's infrastructure!)

Stanislawski, a Republican, says Tulsa has been the main economic engine for Oklahoma for over 100 years. But Stanislawski says the city has been a net donor to Oklahoma's treasury. (Come on Gary, talk about a SPIN JOB!)

He says the new caucus wants to make sure Tulsa's interests are not overlooked. (ie making sure that the Tulsa Metro Chamber will not be overlooked)

McDonnell Country

BoomerQ is coming to Norman !

Look like BOOMERQ is coming to Norman
(SW 24th and Main)

New Law Ends Oklahoma Spanish Driver’s Tests

A new state law that took effect Nov. 1 will prevent the waste of taxpayer dollars on Spanish-language drivers’ tests, the bill’s author said today.

“In a year of budget cuts, it makes no sense to spend extra money on Spanish-language drivers’ tests that serve no legitimate public policy purpose,” said state Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore. “Providing this special accommodation to non-English speakers indirectly encourages illegal immigration and prevents assimilation of legal immigrants.”

House Bill 2252, by Terrill and state Sen. Anthony Sykes, repealed the requirement for the Department of Public Safety to provide driver’s license tests in Spanish. The bill went into effect on Nov. 1.

Drivers who cannot read or speak English pose a public safety risk, Terrill noted.

“Individuals who cannot speak or read English cannot read most road signs and they cannot communicate with other drivers, law-enforcement personnel, or emergency responders in the event of an accident,” Terrill said.

The risk associated with non-English-proficient drivers is one reason the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s regulations require individuals seeking a commercial license for interstate commerce to “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries and to make entries on reports and records.”

House Bill 2252 was prompted, in part, by a federal government investigation of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety over allegations the agency violated the civil rights of two Iranian immigrants who were not provided written driver’s license exams in Farsi, the dominant language of Iran.

The state has received multiple foreign-language requests since that time.

“If a government agency agrees to provide services in one foreign language, what basis does it have to deny services in any of the 322 languages now spoken in the U.S.?” Terrill asked. “By treating all citizens the same, House Bill 2252 also reduces the chances of a successful lawsuit that further drains taxpayer dollars.”

He noted the cost of providing driver’s tests in foreign languages is between $25,000 and $50,000 per language, per year.

“At a time of significant budget cuts, we need to make every dollar count and cannot afford to waste money on these tests,” Terrill said.

Research has also shown that English proficiency provides enormous financial benefits for legal immigrants, Terrill noted.

“Proficiency in English increases the degree of one’s civic participation as well as earnings potential,” Terrill said. “State policy should not discourage the assimilation process and hold back legal immigrants.”