They Never Learn
It seems that Governor Brad Henry and his cohorts in the state capitol never learn. Just days ago a federal judge in Tulsa ordered binding arbitration between the State of Oklahoma and the Osage Nation, this over a Tax Commission rule approved by Governor Henry and which violated the tobacco compact between the Osage Nation and the state.
Just yesterday the Oklahoma Senate passed and forwarded to the House Senate Bill 1950 by Sen. Cal Hobson, D-Lexington which is Governor Henry’s latest attempt to ‘fix’ his flawed compacts with Indian nation smoke shops.
This ill-advised bill seeks to alter the relationship between the State of Oklahoma, the Tax Commission, tribal smoke shops and their wholesalers and is just as much a violation of the compacts between the state and the Indian nations as was the Tax Commission rule over which the federal court ordered binding arbitration.
One would hope that Governor Henry and his ‘friends’ would eventually learn that once the compacts between the State of Oklahoma and the Indian nations were signed that it is too late to go back and try ‘do overs’ just because Henry’s compact negotiator blew it and left tribal smoke shops with a distinct tax advantage over non-tribal retailers. Evidently both Governor Henry and his ‘friends’ is the Senate have a steep learning curve. A steep learning curve that will result in more federal lawsuits, more discord between the state and the Indian nations and more expense for the taxpayers of Oklahoma.
Governor Henry, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. A deal is a deal and you can not go back for ‘do overs’ just because your designated negotiator was not smart enought to get it right the first try.