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December 14, 2009

Anonymous The Tahlequah Daily Press Mon Dec 14, 2009, 09:40 AM CST

Many folks from both sides of the political spectrum will remember Rep. Jason Murphey of Guthrie, who represents the larger Edmond area. Give him credit: He’s a colorful character.

University presidents, in particular, shudder at the mention of his name: He’s the one who wants to arm college students to the teeth, just in case some malcontent opens fire in the classroom. Recent events at yet another Virginia campus will no doubt embolden him to reassert this plank.

In the meantime, Murphey is busy with another proposal, one that would eliminate county commissioners and replace them with something more akin to a city council structure. Murphey said recently that in his “years” as a public official (he’s 32), he’s observed the “blurring” of the policy and expenditure power on the county level that often results in county officials’ exerting political influence over employees and vendors, creating a “small political empire” funded by taxpayers.

He’d like to replace the current commissioner system with a largely uncompensated board of elected “citizen” commissioners. These folks would have oversight over a professional “county manager” with the same education and qualifications as a city manager. The county manager would hire department heads, and in Murphey’s mind, provide for employees “a level of protection from political pressure.” The commissioners would set policy and budget, he said, but would “have no ability to direct specific expenditure of funds outside of a competitive bid process.”

It’s hard to argue with Murphey that corruption has, from time to time, run rampant in county government in Oklahoma. Some of us will remember the scandal a few decades ago that brought low more than 100 commissioners in this state, including one from Cherokee County. Murphey was probably not too far out of diapers when that happened, but no doubt he’s read about the sordid episode in Oklahoma’s history. And Cherokee County, like others in Oklahoma, has had its share of shady characters since that time.

But the problem is, Murphey seems to want to punish all for the actions of a few. It is, as our own State Rep. Mike Brown said, “a solution looking for a problem.” Brown also pointed out what may seem obvious to many Cherokee County residents: “We have some really good county commissioners, who’ve done a great job, and maybe even saved us money.”

Brown suspects – and we do, too – that Murphey is trying to create legislation for a local problem in his district. This means he’s looking to impose his own idea of “outside” (read: state) control over local government – which seems a bit odd for a man who claims to champion “less government.”

Others have problems with Murphey’s idea, too. Carl Bell, president of a political organization at NSU, understands Murphey’s concerns, but says his solution would be “exchanging our voice and vote for salaried individuals to decide how to allocate fund and decide what is best for county government.”

Besides, what makes Murphey think “unpaid” county council members wouldn’t be vulnerable to bribery and kickbacks? We’ve seen that happen, too.

Given his track record, forgive us if we don’t have much confidence in Murphey’s ability to represent our interests.

Cherokee County voters are perfectly capable of deciding who we want or don’t want to run our government. We’re sorry if there’s a problem in some other county, but if that’s the case, those voters need to throw their bums out. And if we wind up with bums in Cherokee County, we need to do the same. Otherwise, we get what we deserve.

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