Senator Taylor Comments on Fallin Occupation

Statement by Senator Stratton Taylor, Senate President Pro Tempore

"We had reached an agreement with the minority leadership to take a vote on their amendment. Just as we were completing those negotiations and preparing to carry through with our agreement, the Lieutenant Governor jumped into the chair of the Senate and took over. If her action wasn't so disruptive to the government process, her behavior would really be comical. But as it stands, she's managed to bring the wheels of government to a screeching halt, all to prove a political point."

"Ironically, the minority members may have had enough votes to pass the amendment, but after this display, a lot of potential yes-votes are rethinking their decisions. I think they're upset by the notion that a minority of members can hijack state government and hold it hostage until they get their way."

"It's reminiscent of the students taking over the dean's office to complain about a campus dance being cancelled. They know what they're doing is wrong, but they get carried away with themselves and do it anyway, disrupting an entire college campus in the process. We're witnessing the same thing here. You can forgive college students for their behavior given their youth and immaturity, but the Lieutenant Governor should know better. No one, certainly not the taxpayers, is benefiting from this display."

"The framers of our State Constitution certainly didn't intend to give the Lieutenant Governor the authority to hijack the Senate and derail the orderly process of government just to make a partisan political point. I'm sure Lieutenant Governor Fallin and her backers wouldn't support Vice-president Al Gore if he woke up one morning and decided to hijack the U.S. Senate. It disrupts the government and allows the minority rather than the majority to rule."

"At the very best, Lieutenant Governor Fallin is guilty of paralyzing the democratic process of government. This is the kind of gridlock politics that they practice in Washington DC, not Oklahoma."