I'm willing to consider both sides. Why should Henry be retained as Governor? What can we point to that he's accomplished?

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Duhhhhhh, Barry Switzer endorsed him. PAY ATTENTION!

I've really already stated this in other threads, but here we go again.

1. When he took office, Keating had left him with a state budget that was in shambles. We were considering laying off hundreds of teachers and simply holding on. Even the Oklahoma History Center was in fear of not being completed. Henry has put into place a series of audits that make each governmental agency show where the money is going. It's called zero-based budgeting. Through this Henry found all sorts of wasted money, and funnelled it to the areas needed most. This was a HUGE accomplisment. We're at least closer to getting the state budget in line, and trimming the fat. As a result, state teachers have gotten a few raises, as have state employees.

2. Getting the education lottery passed in an extremely conservative state, was an accomplishment in and by itself. And the way the bill was worded was fantastic. Can't cut funding from the general fund for education. Lottery money is simply additional money.

3. State parks are about to get a complete overhaul, with a new plan put in place through former Gov. Nigh. Putting Gov. Nigh in charge of that is about the smartest thing Henry has done as governor.

4. Regardless of what some may say, I think the tobacco tax increase was a step in the right direction. Sure, there have been problems with Native American tribes not using the right stamps and the state being short-changed, but those problems have now been worked out. Money brough in has kept the trauma center at OU Medical Center afloat.
Sure, money that has come in isn't as high as expected, but that's because more people have quit smoking than expected. That is another accomplishment, that will lead to the improvement of the health of our citizens.

5. The new pseudoephedrine laws have almost completely eliminated meth labs in the state. This law was Henry's idea, and has become so popular, other states and businesses have followed suit. Getting people off meth improve crime rates in our state and the overall health of our citizens.

6. I give Henry a lot of credit for the package he put together to try to keep GM here. Sure, they didn't go for it, but even they admitted it was the most ambitious package of incentives ever offered to a corp. It's their loss.

I know there are more positives that have come out of his governorship, but that's enough in and by itself.

1) Scott Meacham deserves 99% of the credit here. Henry 1% of the credit for appointing Meacham.

2) The lottery in its present form is a financial debacle. The vast majority of the profits are passed on to the managing company. Further, Higher Ed was allowed to pass a bond issue where it'll benefit about 10 cents on the dollar all the while running a strong chance of robbing the k-12 system of its guaranteed monies due to the state being on the hook for the debt service payments before anything else can be paid out.

3) You can't give someone credit for something that hasn't happened yet. Nigh by the way is not the sharpest spoon in the drawer. There's a funny story I could tell you about how he was even appointed governor in the first place (happened in my dad's living room when he was in college).

4) The OU Med center thing was basically extortion. The tobbacco tax has been a miserable failure. I'm surprised that Henry would take credit for this, was it even his idea? If so, it's a boon to his N.A. supporters -- and they are big supporters, I was at Henry's victory party and the N.A. constituents were very well represented.

5) The total benefit here has yet to be seen. There are fewer meth lab busts, but there is no shortage of supply. The current supply is being bolstered by Mexican gangs importing higher quality meth at sometimes even lower prices than what there was before. All in all, I'd say due to the increased level of violence that these Mexican gangs will bring that the success of this has been somewhat marginalized. It's definitely a step in the right direction though.

6) You can't give someone credit for setting up probably the single biggest example of corporate welfare ever contrived anywhere and then failing.

All that said, I don't want to sound too negative on the Gov. I think he's doing a fine job, and a far finer job than Istook could. I spoke with many people at Henry's victory party who had known him and his family for many years (including his Kindergarten teacher). They were extremely down to earth people who were quite proud of what their friend had accomplished. I get the sense that Henry is a statesman rather than someone out to line his own pockets and the pockets of his supporters.

Nice list Patrick, keep it up

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They both work together to put the budget together. Part of being a successful leader is putting decent people in place under you. Henry has been excellent about doing that. If you're a decent leader, you can just sit back and watch your staff do its job. Take Bob Stoops for example.....only reason he looks so good as the leader of the OU football team is because he puts excellent assistants under him that know how to win ballgames.


Regardless of the percents and all of that, it's still money that was going to Texas and other outlying states, that's now staying in the state. Any any percent that goes towards education is better than nothing....more than what we had before.

Again, Henry is putting the right people in place. Just look at what Nigh did with UCO. He got private donors involved and thus was able to almost double the size of the university. He will do the same with the state park system.

I don't call fewer people smoking a miserable failure. As far as I'm concerned, let's raise the price of cigs up to $500 a pack........

That's Bush's problem. Bush deal with federal immigration issues. If we want to stop the Mecican gangs from coming in, we need to do something about our borders.

At least I don't have to worry about a meth lab blowing up next door.

That's your opinion. And if we as a state don't offer incentives to corporations, other states will and we will lose out. Sorry, that's just the name of the game now. I don't necessarily like it, but we have to compete.

I figured that. I'd be curious to know what Istook's motives are for running.

Thanks, I do what I can.

Keep in mind Gov. Nigh is only an interim director, they have already announced the successor to Rob Gray, and now Gov. Nigh. I forget the name off the top of my head.

The only thing he has accomplished since being governor is that he didn't have an affair, or at least not one that we know of. Other than that, he has done nothing but push an "education" lottery that has already proven to be a joke.

That's quite an accomplishment considering the scandals most politicians are getting into today.

I simply cannot pull myself to vote for a Mormon. Someone else stated that here, and I agree completely.

Who's Mormon?

Ernest Istook. He's donated tons of money, both privately and publicly to the Mormon Church. And what public money he couldn't funnel that direction, he funnelled to the city of Salt Lake City.

That's a sort of foolish way to go about life. Which parts of Mormonism do you disagree with which will affect the way that a public servant will carry out their duties with respect to your rights and your tax money?

As long as they are clearly a servant to the public and not their cult, I have no problem with them whatsoever.

Istook, it seems is not much of a servant to the public though -- unless that public includes highway construction contractors or light rail contractors in SLC...

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I could care less what religion a candidate is. They could be an atheiest for all I care. I look at the record or what the person wants to do. I(s)took takes from Oklahoma and gives it to another state... Even if the voters of Oklahoma approved the reason for the money.It would be a more honest name if he changed his name to Robin Hood.

The part that I don't like is that he's so attached to his religion that it does impact the way he serves the public. It's been obvious in recent years that he's serving SLC and not Oklahoma. Reason? SLC is the Mormon capital of the world.

And the reason why he does that is to benefit his fellow Mormons. So religion does play a factor in his decision-making, so much that he doesn't serve the people who elected him. He serves his religious affiliation instead.

I was attacking your reasoning, but not your conclusion. Your reasoning presupposes that simply because someone is a mormon that they would place their church ahead of their constituents.

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I should've stated it differently. I'd vote for a Mormon is the person represented his or her constituents well.

Why would Istook be willing to take a $55000 per year cut in pay to come from the US Senate to the Governor's office?

Henry financially righted the state and didn't borrow any money, nor raise our taxes through the roof doing it.

If Earnest Istook (...and took and took and took money in Earnest from special interests) becomes the next Governor of Oklahoma - I'm moving. Henry has worked across party lines in a bi-partisan way to advance Oklahoma on all fronts (especially education). If Istook was elected - it'd be ciching another notch in an already too tight bible belt that would ultimately cut the bloodflow to the brain(trust) that is advancing Oklahoma like at no other time in the state's history. Things are great in Oklahoma - let's keep them that way. Istook won't get 30% of the vote - mark my words.

I won't move, but I will really question the sanity of the Oklahoma populace. I smell a fish here somewhere, why would a senator want to become governor? And, don't tell us "because I love Oklahoma". That doesn't wash at all!

Rebel -- he wasn't in the Senate, he was in the House.

It could possibly have something to do with the fact that in recent months, he's been divested of the very influential chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Transporation.

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Nooo... it's to advance his agenda to kick all the Mexicans back to Mexico.... that's the only thing he can take issue with per Henry and the verdict is far from in on illegal immagration. Our neighbors to the south work hard and do a lot of jobs I don't want to do... and people on public aid won't do (although I wish that was a pre-requisite).

Ok, my mistake. I thought he was a senator. Thanks for straightening me out.

Not a problem. Nothing harsh meant by it at all. Thanks for participating here.

At any rate, I'll disagree that it's a big deal to Istook to get the Mexicans back to Mexico. If anything, he's just as culpable as Henry is.

How long has the guy been in public office? How long has he had this position on immigration? It's simply a recent political calculation intended to attack where Istook's handlers think Henry is weak.

I think it's a great place to attack, but Istook has is own vulnerability there as well. How about being part of the leadership in a House majority who did absolutely nothing about the issue, never asked to do anything about the issue, etc.?

If this is Istook's platform, it's a losing one I think.

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Per the immagration platform, it is weak and will not be nearly enough to upset an incumbent governor with a strong track record on education, economy, etc. Per Istook's "handlers"... several were involved with handling Mick Cornett's race too... so expect a similar outcome... as they are supposed Washington-"insiders" yet on the "outside" when it comes to understanding Oklahoma politics.