| Oklahoma Politicians: No Leaders |
|
|
|
| Written by Harlan Hentges |
| Thursday, 17 March 2011 15:13 |
|
Oklahoma politicians are being driven by national and global interests and ignoring the interests of Oklahomans. Oklahoma politicians are ignoring the difference between big business (like Devon) and most local businesses (like those on main streets). As a result they are supporting big-business-Republican ideas (limits on: access to Courts, collective bargaining rights, voter initiatives, etc.), and they are getting a lot of money for doing so.
Oklahomans are ignoring the difference between big enviros (like Al Gore and RFK Jr.) and regular folks concerned about health and safety (like the folks in Bokoshe). As a result, they are ignoring the legitimate health and safety concerns of their own constituents and getting a lot of money for doing so.
Oklahomans must take back Oklahoma politics.
Local businesses and regular folks can demand answers to the hard questions such as:
1. Why don’t you stop using my taxes to give handouts to big business? In particular: why does AES a multinational energy company gets a $10 per ton subsidy (tax credits) for burning coal in Oklahoma?
2. Why don’t you stop letting big business destroy my land? In particular: why, after AES burns the subsidized coal, is it permitted to dump the ash so that it blows onto the neighboring land and town?
3. Why don't you stop big business from taking my land? In particular: why is a Canadian company able to take land by force (eminent domain) to build a pipeline to carry Canadian bitumen from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico?
It is time to recognize and to say loudly that the interests of Oklahomans can not be served by politicians who serve big business, big enviro, big oil, big ag, big Democrat or big Republican. Oklahoma needs politicians who are leaders and not just followers of national and global interests. |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 17 March 2011 15:20 |
Mr. Hentges is a 1992 graduate of the University of Texas with a juris doctorate from the School of Law and a Master of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. He is a 1987 graduate of Oklahoma State University with a bachelor of science in agricultural economics.
He is admitted to practice law in the States of Oklahoma and Texas and the Federal District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. He is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Oklahoma County Bar Association and the American Agricultural Law Association.
Mr. Hentges’s legal practice is concentrated in agricultural law, civil litigation, Endangered Species Act, eminent domain and appellate law.
Phone: (405) 340 6554
Harlan Hentges P.L.L.C.
1015G Waterwood Parkway Ste F1
Edmond, OK 73034