Remember the Republican mantra that government is bad? It seems that it’s only bad if they’re not controlling it! Oklahoma may be the first state to actually gain the governmental control the party evidently so desperately wants.
Newly-elected Governor Mary Fallin may soon be allowed to hire and fire state board and commission members at any time, at will (HB 1208).
The state’s Board of Education is targeted as one of the first to be included. Ms Fallin may also change the board’s makeup from private citizens, as it was previously, to include the governor herself and three statewide officials—two of whom would be appointed by the governor (via SB 435). So, the “new” Board of Education would be run by the governor, with two members of the board appointed by her. Guess what direction that board would take.
Previously elected positions of state superintendent, treasurer, insurance commissioner and labor commissioner would no longer exist. Instead, the governor would appoint those officers (SB 622). It doesn’t matter what the people want—they now have a governor who will micro-manage all facets of state government.
Currently, the Judicial Nominating Commission presents the governor with three acceptable names for judicial appointments. The governor then selects one from those submitted. The state’s Judicial Nominating Commission consists of 13 members. Six are appointed by the governor, six are selected by the Oklahoma Bar Association, and the final member is selected at large by the other twelve. None of the gubernatorial appointees can be a licensed attorney in Oklahoma, and each must come from a different Congressional District. Two more at-large members were recently added—one appointed by the Speaker of the Oklahoma House and the other by the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate.
SB 641 would add Senate confirmation to the above requirements, if the voters agree.
Under Senate Joint Resolution 36, though, the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission would no longer exist and the governor would have free reign to fill judicial openings as he/she sees fit, subject to Senate confirmation only.
This reeks of a dictatorship under the guise of ensuring that elected officials, especially the governor, are effective, according to Republican spokespersons.
When did Oklahomans vote to hand the governor all-inclusive dictatorial powers? That certainly wasn’t part of the last election’s discussions!
What happened to division of power? There are two possibilities: 1) Republicans don’t know there’s a reason our government has three branches or 2) Republicans simply do not care.
Either option is unacceptable and should not be allowed now, or at any time in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment