Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Oklahoma newspapers:
The Oklahoman, Dec. 27, 2016
Courts the wrong way to challenge Oklahoma ballot access laws
Oklahoma has long had some of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the nation, and we have generally supported efforts to reform the system so more third party candidates can compete here. Still, those changes should be accomplished through the democratic process, not via court edict, which is why we’re pleased a judge has rejected a legal challenge filed by two minor presidential candidates.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein and progressive candidate Rocky De La Fuente, along with some of their supporters, filed a federal lawsuit against the Oklahoma State Election Board claiming the state’s ballot access laws are so restrictive they violate the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Friot rejected those claims, noting that the arguments by Stein and Fuente had been addressed in prior court rulings. In fact, the only substantial change that’s occurred since those prior rulings were issued, Friot noted, was “the change which eases requirements for the recognition and retention of political parties. Such changes made it easier for minor political parties to have their electors appear on the Oklahoma ballot.”
That change to state law made it possible for the Libertarian Party to collect enough signatures from Oklahoma voters to become an officially recognized party in Oklahoma (as of March 21). Libertarians needed to collect 24,745 valid signatures to be officially recognized; they collected 30,517. This year’s presidential election was the first since 2000 in which Oklahomans could vote for someone other than the Republican or Democratic candidate.
Stein’s Green Party could have obtained ballot access through the same method, rather than filing a lawsuit, but party officials didn’t do so. Perhaps their efforts would fall short. But given the number of Oklahomans who supported socialist Bernie Sanders in Oklahoma’s Democratic presidential primary this year, it would seem the Green Party has a fighting chance.
While we agree Oklahoma has been too restrictive in the past, there’s also such a thing as being too lax. A party or candidate who cannot demonstrate a minimum level of support is only taking up precious space on a state election ballot - ballots, we might add, that are printed at taxpayer expense and already tend to run long.
Fuente appears to be an example of that potential problem. He ran for president in the Democratic primary this year, but fell far short. He subsequently founded the American Delta Party and ran as its nominee while also being nominated as the presidential candidate of what’s left of the Reform Party, which still has ballot access in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota and Mississippi.
Even with all that effort, it’s unlikely even the most obsessed Oklahoma politicos could pick Fuente out of a lineup.
Stein and Fuente also objected that Oklahoma doesn’t allow write-in candidates. Yet such votes must be counted manually, slowing the election process dramatically, and they are almost always protest votes cast with no intention of determining an election’s outcome. That’s a change Oklahoma doesn’t need to embrace.
Ultimately, the real challenge for most third party candidates isn’t Oklahoma’s ballot access laws, but increasing their appeal to Oklahomans.
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Tulsa World, Dec. 22, 2016
State faces another gaping budget hole
Another year, another gaping state budget hole.
State revenues will be $692 million lower next year than they are this year, according to a preliminary estimate presented to the state Equalization Board on Wednesday.
On top of that, the current budget relies on money that the state can’t count on again next year, meaning the actual budget hole is at least $868 million, state Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger says.
We say “at least” because the number he uses for one-time money in the current budget is considerably lower than numbers we’ve seen other knowledgeable sources use. We wouldn’t be surprised if the state didn’t have to make up a billion dollars or more when all is said and done.
Last year we had to make up $1.3 billion on a budget that was never fulfilled because of repeated state budget failures.
Those budget holes are essentially cumulative. While transferring in one-time money from sources such as the state “Rainy Day” fund can ease the pain, the failure of state revenue to keep up with the needs of state government has had a disastrous impact on state services.
Thus, four-day school weeks, teachers migrating to states with higher pay, talk of state trooper furloughs and a prison system that is bursting at the seams.
Doerflinger said rightly that the state can’t cut its way out of the predicament. We’ve cut too much already.
We’re talking about budgets, so here’s the bottom line: The 2017 legislative session will call for a new kind of leadership, a new attitude toward state services, a new maturity about taxation and a great deal of political courage.
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Muskogee Phoenix, Dec. 21, 2016
No simple way to end drug abuse
There is no single right way to stop the tide of opioid deaths.
There is no simple reason why someone would become addicted to deadly painkillers and then die from abusing them.
So, it stands to reason, there can be no simple answer to fixing the problem.
Answers come from a combination of areas.
A quality public education raises the opportunity for all students to have a productive work career and happier life.
A quality public education can give one the tools to find a good job and make a good living - lessening the chances of addiction rising from poverty or lack of hope.
Decriminalizing the abuse of drugs is another step.
Oklahomans took a major step in this direction in November.
Voters passed a state question that should see more abusers receive rehabilitation help instead of incarceration. Nonviolent offenders need counseling, not jail time.
We, as a society, must find a way to make the illegal distribution of drugs no longer worth the risk.
Drug dealers do so to make money. If the risk outweighs the profit, dealers would reconsider their actions.
These are not the only answers to end addiction and opioid drug deaths, but they are pieces of the puzzle.
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