Posted on 05/06/2014 5:24:04 AM PDT by marktwain
Last week, when this column reported that the Oklahoma House had voted overwhelmingly to override Governor Mary Fallin's veto of the gun rights bill HB 2461, a similar vote in the Senate seemed inevitable. The Senate's original vote on the bill, after all, was 46-2. Failure to obtain the 32 votes for the required 2/3 majority would thus mean that 15 senators would have to decide to submit to Governor Fallin's little temper tantrum.
Now, though, the Tulsa World reports that the Senate Republican "leadership" has no plans to take any vote at all:
Senate Floor Leader Mike Schulz, R-Altus, and Senate Caucus Chairman Bryce Marlatt, R-Woodward, said the Senate will not pursue a veto override.
They did not rule out the possibility of amending another bill with similar language, and passing that, but they can hardly be said to have pledged to do so. Besides, why go to the trouble of doing that, risking yet another petulant veto of what Fallin refers to as the "minor issue" of her constituents' fundamental human rights, or possibly giving her the option of running out the clock with a pocket veto?
Last week's column noted that Fallin's claimed reason for her veto was decidedly . . . peculiar. According to Fallin, the "minor issue" of Oklahomans' right to keep and bear arms is a waste of the state government's time, so she vetoed the already-passed bill (which, absent the veto, would thus not have required any more of the legislature's time, or hers), "so that we can have more time to deal with major issues here at the Capitol and hopefully get the attention to get those things done."
In the Tulsa World article, she cites another reason for her veto. Unfortunately, it makes little more sense
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Oklahoma yet ANOTHER 20th Century MISTAKE “State”!
I suspect they are collecting evidence to use against Fallin later.
The GOP strikes again. With friends like these who needs enemies.
Seems to me she used a vapid excuse and is really a closet liberal or an appeaser RINO.
She is also pushing common core.
Something our Speaker of the House fought against her over.
HE is now running for US Senate. :)
There is more to this story. An enterprising local reporter needs to dig into the reasons they made this decision and expose why, once again, the GOP leadership has betrayed the citizenry.
We have some good senators, but some of them have to be dragged kicking and screaming to get them to do the right thing. One of the worst, Barrington, is unfortunately head of the Senate Public Safety Committee, and he has been instrumental in blocking a lot of the reforms that we want to get through. We continue to try to educate and encourage them to do the right thing, but it is not always possible.
Not sure what you mean by that, Vet. We have our issues to be sure, but we are working to try to get them fixed, though it can be a slow process. We're all in this together ya know.
Gov Fallin is a Republican, which might be the reason why the GOPe is not anxious to get in a fight with her.
If you have to “drag them kicking and screaming” to do the right thing, they are just another dogsh*t eating politician.
No disagreement, but we have what we have, until we can make the required changes. As Otto von Bismarck pointed out: "politics is the art of the possible". We're working on it, and, quite frankly, making progress.
Perhaps a deal was worked out so that individual legislators could be on record for voting for a pro 2nd amendment bill while knowing the veto would occur. Best of both worlds, being on record for something then not having to deal with the consequences.
Why is it that the ‘Senate’ of states and the Federal government is usually against the people?
Sounds a LOT like here in Texas - when both the State Senate and the State House work to kill bills that Rick Perry doesn’t like. Bills that try to reign-in Illegal Immigration, for example.
“Why is it that the ‘Senate’ of states and the Federal government is usually against the people?”
I believe it is because they are the most easily influenced by the old media.
Politicians, especially federal politicians, live and die by what the old media says about them.
Most influenced Election, President and VP.
Next most influenced elections, Senate. Only 33 candidates every 2 years.
Then comes the House of Representatives.
The old media believed that the House was theirs permanently. Then came 1994, when they tried to push gun control and health care down our throats. The internet was starting and talk radio was free of the “fairness” doctrine.
They lost the House and Senate.
Then they gave up on an semblance of objectivity, to keep Clinton into his second term.
HB 2461 VETO Override was voted on this morning and passed 39-0
It appears that reminding the Senators of their responsibility (Article 6, Section 11 of the Oklahoma Constitution says that after the chamber of origin votes “it shall be sent, together with the [Governor's] objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered.”) works...
OOPS - should have pinged the OP to post #17...
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