Left out: Dead end for sales tax idea

MEMBERS of the Oklahoma House put in a long week, with roughly 230 bills lined up for consideration at the outset. "We're going to be faced with the possibility of not hearing all of those bills,” Speaker Chris Benge said.

House Joint Resolution 1056 was among those left behind, although the bill certainly had people talking about communities' reliance on sales tax revenue.

The resolution, by Rep. Steve Martin, R-Bartlesville, was well intentioned in that it sought to give a financial boost to smaller communities that struggle to generate sales tax revenue, which of course is the lifeblood of cities and towns across Oklahoma. Trouble is, HJR 1056 would have done that by taking revenue from our larger cities.

Tulsa stood to lose $16.1 million in annual sales tax revenue under the plan and Oklahoma City about $13.4 million. Edmond, Ada, Woodward and Norman would have come out on the short end; Moore, Broken Arrow, Guymon, Altus and others stood to gain.

Oklahoma City and Tulsa opposed the plan, as did the Oklahoma Municipal League, which represents cities large and small. One OML official said it would "turn city against city and neighbor against neighbor.”

HJR 1056 survived by one vote in committee, and Martin knew it faced an uphill fight. If it had been heard and ultimately approved by the Legislature, it would have gone to a vote of the people.

But given the strong anti sentiment the idea produced, that proved to be a mighty big if.

State Rep. Sally Kern generated a ton of righteous indignation with her recent remarks about homosexuality. She was rightly lambasted for saying the "homosexual agenda is destroying this nation” and "I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.” Funny thing is, we didn't hear any such righteous indignation when MSNBC blowhard Keith Olbermann said last year that "Al-Qaida really hurt us but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News.” Murdoch's sin? He's a conservative! The media mogul and new owner of The Wall Street Journal, in Olbermann's view, is more dangerous than 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed! Olbermann went on to say Fox News "is worse than al-Qaida — worse for our society. It's as dangerous an organization as the Ku Klux Klan ever was ...” We heard no calls for his resignation over these outrageous statements, no calls for censure.

In Israel, feelings about the Holocaust remain understandably intense more than 60 years after the end of World War II. About a quarter-million Holocaust survivors live there, which helps explain pockets of opposition to Tuesday's scheduled address to the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. German dignitaries have addressed the Knesset before, but a number of Israeli lawmakers boycotted those sessions. Although Germany is one of Israel's leading trading partners and has sent approximately $25 billion in reparations to Holocaust survivors, some Knesset members say they'll walk out when Merkel speaks. Forgive maybe; forget never.

Those Oklahoma County Democrats, they've got quite a sense of humor. At the group's recent Medallion Awards Dinner, Labor Commissioner Lloyd Fields served as auctioneer. In a message to members posted on the group's Web site, Chairman Lynn Green saluted Fields for "being such a good sport when a guitar was presented as an auction item.” Recall that Fields was taken to the Oklahoma City police detox unit last month after allegedly having a few too many at a party and then trying to walk off with someone's guitar. We assume he handed this one over without incident.

Congress continues to grapple with farm legislation, voting this week to extend current law into April to buy more time to work it out. A key issue is new spending beyond $280 billion over five years for existing programs. President Bush says House and Senate bills already passed are too expensive and don't include enough reforms. Bush opposes using tax increases to pay for new spending. Meanwhile, Congress is debating eligibility levels and a new fund to pay farmers who suffer weather-related losses. Another problem: Although current law runs until April 18, Congress starts a two-week recess Monday, slashing the time it has to finish legislation acceptable to the president. No one ever said it would be easy.