As Oklahoma Capitol crumbles, lawmakers continue to dismiss bond issue as solution

We wonder: Where outside of the Capitol does that environment exist? Are lawmakers being bombarded by constituents pleading with them not to pass bond issues? If so, lawmakers are truly just representing the people who sent them to Oklahoma City. But we can't help but believe that most Oklahomans understand that governments occasionally use bond issues to pay for infrastructure needs.

What's happened is that conservatives at the Statehouse are placing spending through a bond issue in the same league as the profligate deficit spending that's going on in Washington, D.C. They're not close to being the same thing.

Those pooh-poohing the bond issue idea — the House voted 77-15 against such a proposal this spring — have suggested a pay-as-you-go approach to fixing the Capitol, or perhaps raiding the state's Rainy Day Fund. The former is a bad idea because the amount allocated each year could change on a whim. And even tapping 25 percent of the Rainy Day Fund, the maximum lawmakers could get by statute, wouldn't cover the estimated $153 million needed for repairs.