McCall Leadership Mocked and
Challenged by Freshmen House Members
Republican House members joined Democrats in defeating a Pro life bill one on Wednesday despite hundreds of pro life activists visiting the Capitol on Rose Day, the annual pro life event at the Capitol. Uh… guys, yes we said you should band together and challenge House Leadership but going pro abortion isn't going to play well back in your district. Still the debacle was a slap in the face of House leadership and doubly so as McCall was off dealing with a family tragedy according to rumors.
HB 1549 by Rep. George Faught would have prevented abortions done solely on the grounds of birth defects or Down 's syndrome. Three Republican freshmen legislators, Carol Bush, Mark Lawson, and Marcus McEntire joined the single pro abortion Democrat on the committee in defeating the legislation.
McEntire explained his vote by stating that he didn't want the state paying court costs in a down budget year but the state Attorney Generals Office is charged with representing the state at no additional cost other than his annual budget and there are usually no court costs involved in filing or defending such cases.
House leadership is included by default on all committees and although Speaker Charles McCall was out of town his surrogate, Pro Tem Harold Wright, could have came in to cast the deciding vote in the 4 to 4 vote tie yet it appeared not to have been a priority for House Leadership.
Representative Carol Bush is no stranger to trouble as she was admonished earlier this year and ordered to apologize to another member she had slandered in a news interview and apologize to the entire House of Representatives after she slandered the entire Republican caucus, the entire GOP, the incoming President of the United States, Christians, and a vast swath of Oklahomans. In her apology email to the House members she claimed she was misquoted and taken out of context yet the interview was prefaced with a note that said that the journalist and Rep. Bush were long time friends, over 35 years of friendship.
When questioned by other journalists the interviewer said they stood by their story and would be glad to discuss the matter and review the taped interview with Rep. Bush.
Freshmen legislators are generally a timid lot and having three freshmen being as bold as to go against House leadership and the Republican Caucus shows what a weak hold the new Speaker of the House, Charles McCall, has on his team.
