I read this Sunday’s Constitution Editorial page with some amusement and disappointment. Their timing is way off for planning and funding Lawton’s Centennial Project.
Like a lot of Lawton community projects, it should have been done last year. I doubt if the Commission is still active since the centennial year was to begin in 2006.
Getting money from the legislature is not limited to prodding your legislator to file a “gimme some money “bill and going down to the second floor of the State Capitol a picking up a check.
The authorization and appropriation bills for 2006 – 2007 prepared in February or later this year were the proper places to get the money inserted in the budget. Inclusion in a list by the Centennial Commission to the legislature probably should have happened in 2005.
The editorial board should have known that budget authorization and appropriation bills originate in the State House of Representatives. Little regard would have been made of the special budget items in the 2006 Session by Rep. Abe Deutchendorf because he was a member of the minority party. That would leave it to our Representative Ann Coody to have sponsored and carried the budget item.
Prospects for any reconsideration for Lawton don’t look too good for the 2007 legislative session. Ms. Coody spent most of the last session sponsoring and passing a bill to teach high school students about how to use credit cards and will find some other important education legislation to sponsor. Our new Representative T.W. Shannon will be busy with casino matters and Boone Pickens OSU projects.
The two candidates for the House of Representives that expressed a real interest in Lawton community projects were defeated by the voters. When you get your $49.00 “taxz cutz” check next year, be proud. Building community pride appears not to be a conservative value.
