The Forked Tongue Governor
Yesterday Oklahoma Brad Henry gave his stamp of approval to yet another violation of compacts between the State of Oklahoma and various Indian Nations. In doing so he has personally decided that it is perfectly acceptable to break the very compacts he and his designated negotiator, current State Treasurer, Scott Meacham were so proud of back in 2004.
The facts are simple. Compacts between the State of Oklahoma and the various Indian Nations pertaining to tobacco sales had expired by 2002. At the time out-going Governor Frank Keating did not want to involve himself in renegotiating them, leaving the task to the new governor. Along comes Brad Henry as governor and he designates Scott Meacham as his negotiator in establishing new compacts and negotiate he did.
As part of the compacts between the state and some of the Indian Nations a requirement was included mandating that the state maintain the sales tax on tobacco products. Other aspects of the agreements granted ‘tax advantages’ to the tribes one of which was that the tribes only had to collect twenty-five percent of the then state tax of twenty three cents per pack on cigarettes, or six cents per pack.
Then something really weird happened. The Oklahoma Legislature with the backing of Governor Henry passed a bill calling for a vote of the people to raise the tobacco tax to $1.03 per pack from the then current $.23 per pack. As part of a convoluted formula the sales tax on tobacco products would be eliminated, an additional $.80 per pack would be added bringing the total to $1.03 per pack and the tribal smoke shops would be rebated half the increase or $.40 per pack. Oklahoma voters approved this tax increase in November, 2004 and it went into effect on January 1, 2005.
But wait! What about those compacts that Meacham had negotiated with the tribes and which Governor Henry had signed? Did not those compacts include requirements that the sales tax on tobacco products be maintained? And did they not include requirements that the ‘tax advantages’ the tribes had be maintained even in light of increased tax rates? Of course they did. But when has a little bit of lying stood in the way of greedy politicians wanting to suck more tax dollars out of the wallets and purses of the taxpayers?
January 1, 205 rolled around and Henry, Meacham and the rest of the tax loving crowd of Oklahoma politicians licked their lips waiting for that wave of new money to roll ashore. Only problem was, it wasn’t quite the wave of money they hoped for. It turned out that many tribal smoke shops had through their compacts with the state managed to avoid having to pay the higher tax rate and were in fact selling cartons of cigarettes about $10 less than the price non-tribal stores were being forced to charge under the new tax law.
Mike Thornbrugh, spokesman for Quick Trip stores, Oklahoma’s largest convenience store chain, squealed like a stuck pig about the disparity in taxes pointing out that the store chain had canceled its expansion plans for Tulsa area stores and demanded government “do something” to level the playing field. Thornbrugh of course blamed the Indian Nations for the fact that Quick Trip was taking a beating on cigarette sales and a herd of Oklahoma politicians including Henry, Meachem and legislative leaders took notice. They had to take notice, otherwise the truth, that being that they and the compacts which they created were the core of the problem facing non-tribal stores, would come out. And that would not play well at election time.
Throughout 2005, Henry, Meacham and others tried to devise ways to circumvent the very compacts which Meachem negotiated and Henry signed for if those compacts are honored there’s not a thing the state can do to help Quick Trip or other non-tribal merchants some of whom are figuratively calling for Henry’s and Meacham’s heads on a stake. To make matters worse, leading Republican politicians have been making political hay of Henry and Meacham’s folly in negotiating the compacts.
Confronted with a political disaster Brad Henry did what politicians have done for years, try to break their agreement with Indian tribes. He has now done this twice. The first time was when he approved a plan to limit the number of cartons of cigarettes wholesalers can sell to tribal smoke shops. That plan was shot down when the Osage Nation went to federal court and obtained an order mandating binding arbitration. Now Henry has come up with a new plan, one to require wholesalers to include the $1.03 per-pack tax in all cigarette sales to tribal smoke shops. This plan too is doomed to failure as the Osage Nation has already announced it will be back in federal court on Monday morning. While Forked Tongue Brad Henry can try to lie, cheat and ignore the very compacts he signed, the federal courts are going to continue to make him abide by them.
It is time for Brad Henry, Scott Meacham and the other tax loving politicians to come to grips with reality. That reality is that even though the compacts which you negotiated and signed evidently mean nothing to you, they are going to come back to haunt you time and again. It’s time to act like men, admit your mistakes and promise to do better next time. If you do not do so, odds are that the voters are going to make sure you do not get an opportunity for a ‘next time’.