Letter to the Editor: Disgusted
BY Connie Seibold, Tulsa
Sunday, February 24, 2013
2/24/13 at 7:42 AM
Today's politicians appear to campaign non-stop but pay no attention to governing. For example, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's first public comment in 2009 was that his top priority was to make Obama a one-term president, thus ignoring a terrible economic recession and two unwinnable wars.
More recently, Gov. Mary Fallin's 2013 State of the State address promised more income taxes cuts, even though funding for education is lower than it was under Brad Henry. She proposed fixing the crumbling Capitol building and increasing mental health funding, but ignored critical Career Tech and understaffed prisons.
No mention was made of the OSU Hospital in Tulsa, which may be closed, depriving medical students of necessary training and forcing non-paying emergency room patients into other city hospitals.
Continued underfunding of colleges makes higher education less available to those with limited incomes. And who will pay for armed guards or weapons and training for teachers to safeguard our schoolchildren, as recommended by the National Rifle Association?
Fallin also refused federal funding for Medicaid, although the need grows and other Republican governors have recognized the benefits of accepting it.
She turned down $54 million for the creation of health-insurance exchanges for the Affordable Care Act; her administration is "studying" options while uninsured working families are bankrupted by medical bills and hospitals lose millions of dollars on emergency-room care.
Rumors are that Fallin is gearing up to run for the U.S. Senate and is primarily interested in winning the votes of Oklahoma's tea party crowd.
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