House Democrats Declare 'Oklahoma Leadership Disaster'

Democrats in the state House of Representatives are declaring what they call an "Oklahoma leadership disaster" because of the state’s budget woes.

House Minority Leader Scott Inman (D) said Republicans have, “given us $1 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest of Oklahomans, $2 billion in tax credits and exemptions to the most well-connected Oklahomans and the lowest gross production taxes of any major oil producing state in the nation to the most powerful Oklahomans.”

“Our schools have lost $58 million since January and over $400 million since 2008. Oklahoma now faces a teacher shortage of nearly 2,000 trained professionals. Class sizes at all grade levels are increasing to as much as 36 students,” Rep. Donnie Condit (D) District 18 said.

During a press conference Monday, Democrats asked Oklahomans to step up and run for office. 

“And so we call upon our citizens to help us rectify this leadership disaster by coming to the Capitol this week and signing up to run for office to bring fresh ideas and a willingness to do what’s right even when it’s not politically popular,” Inman said.

Republicans blame the budget crisis on the drop in oil prices, although many Republican lawmakers acknowledge mistakes were made over the years. 

They said they’re looking at tax credits and other cost cutting and revenue enhancing measures to try to bridge the budget gap, and hope to have some bills proposed next month.