Dark Days at the Departments of Tourism and Commerce

Sources at the state Commerce Department report that on Thursday or Friday 20 more employees were informed they would be taking 20% pay cuts. The big question the demoralized employees have is why weren't cuts spread around so only a few don't have to take such huge cuts and others are asking whether the Secretary of Commerce and the group she brought into the Department with her are taking 20% cuts. Morale at the Department is so bad now that employees are searching for any hint of fairness or hope. Long-time employees at both Tourism and Commerce say the atmosphere at the two agencies has never been darker. This is not the kind of working conditions one would hope to have at what remains of the state's economic development agency.

What is not known yet is whether any of the Department of Commerce's $22 million in porkbarrel pass-through monies will also be cut. If the Administration and the Legislature had cut just 5% of the Legislature's pork flowing through Commerce into Legislator's pet projects none of the debilitating cuts would have had to happen at Commerce. If just 10% of the pass-through pork was cut the state's economic development program could actually grow. Why the pass-throughs continue is a question the state media has neglected to ask.

Porkbarrel Projects of Legislators Costing State and Killing Good Programs

The media and the Administration of Brad Henry have also failed to address the question of why there is no oversight of the hundreds of millions of dollars in pass-through money. A case in point is almost $100,000 in pass-through state money that flows from certain Legislators from southern Oklahoma to Rural Enterprises Inc.(REI) of Durant. The money is appropriated to the Department of Agriculture but Ag is required to pass it straight on to REI without strings or questions asked. No one knows how REI uses the money and REI, like most pass-through recipients, are not required to make any report about how the money was spent. Sources in the state media say REI has refused to answer questions or release details of how their pass-through bonanza of state dollars is used. REI is well known in Capitol circles to take Legislators on trips around the country and around the world. The unanswered question is whether any of the unaccounted for pass-through money is used to take the very Legislators that appropriate the pass-throughs on trips - and whether the trips are legitimate economic development trips?

At a time when legitimate government programs, economic growth programs included, are being slashed it is gross maleficence for the Governor, the Legislature, the State Auditor and the media to let the bloated and stinking mass of porkbarrel pass-throughs in state agencies go unaccounted for and hardly touched.

Let's Eat While Bush and Brad Fiddle

While President Bush is ignoring the economy and Governor Henry is busy micromanaging and politicizing state government we might as well get something good to eat. I tried the County Line in Oklahoma City today. I know that everyone else in Oklahoma has been there done that, but if you are one of the two or three Oklahomans that haven't tried it yet - do. The ribs can't be beat. Order the smallest size you can because all the servings are huge. Now back to the chaos and Orange Alert.

Henry Administration Destroying Innovative Economic Agency

It happened in the Department of Tourism and Recreation a few weeks ago and today it is happening at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. The new Secretary of Commerce and Tourism, Kathryn Taylor, has turned into a hatchet woman - clearing the way for Brad Henry's political appointees by firing scores of professional managers and line personnel. The Existing Business Division was hit hard, with innovative director Beth Van Horn being let go and immediately replaced, without a job posting, with David Hinckle. The International Division of the Department of Commerce, known nationwide as one of the best in trade development, has also been particularly hard hit. Nearly everyone in the division was let go this week and others assigned to domestic duties. The only division not hit so far has been the old-line business recruitment division, headed by Brad Henry's friend, John Reid. Reid got his start in Democratic politics and in George Nigh's Governor office.

In what seems to be a trend with the Henry Administration, old George Nigh and David Walters political functionaries are replacing career professionals. Kathryn Taylor brought in Delmas Ford, formerly Secretary of Transportation under Walters, to take the place of former Department of Commerce Executive Director Ron Bussert - a true professional. Mr. Ford, not known for business or economic development acumen, is seen as Ms. Taylor's link to the state's good ol' boy network. Ms. Taylor, one of the richest people in Oklahoma, has been busy in her first two months destroying the careers of numerous long-serving and low-wage civil servants.

The irony is that when Brad Henry came into office he promised that during these challenging times he would focus on economic development and existing business and globalization. Instead, he and Ms. Taylor are busy destroying one of the premier economic development agencies in the United States. For almost 15 years the Oklahoma Department of Commerce has been remarkably free from political cronyism. While agencies in neighboring Texas, Arkansas and Missouri have floundered under rampant cronyism and political micromanagement at their economic development agencies, Oklahoma had invested in non-political career professionals. Those days seem to be gone under Brad Henry and Kathryn Taylor. This is turning out to be one of the worst administrations in memory.

Selling out the Kurds

I wondered how long it would take us to sell out the Kurds to please Turkey and the Russians. Looks like it took us just 75 days. Slate has the story.