By VINCENT LOVOI
Published: 8/12/2010  2:22 AM
Last Modified: 8/12/2010  4:25 AM

"Look mom, no hands!" It's easy to say. And when dealing with taxpayers' dollars, some Oklahoma leaders have always known it's the wrong thing to say.

But regrettably, nowadays we hear it again. In November, Oklahoma will vote on State Question 744, a well-intended but ill-conceived constitutional amendment that would turn budgeting over to a formula rather than our elected representatives.

That's bad policy. Accountability is a key component of representative democracy.

SQ 744 is not about education. Sure, that's the intended beneficiary of the proposed amendment, setting a minimum spending level, but SQ 744 is also about crumbling bridges, state universities, methamphetamine enforcement, environmental quality, mental health, crowded prisons, and every other category of Oklahoma government spending that is outside the formula's protected zone.

SQ 744 impacts everything and all of us, picking winners and losers.

And it would let our legislators just sit back and say, "Look mom, no hands!"

Oklahomans have a strong history fighting this kind of gimmickry. In 1986, U.S. Rep. Mike Synar from Muskogee took a long walk to the U.S. Supreme Court to successfully strike down the Gramm-Rudman Act. That legislation would have imposed automatic budget cuts whenever a formula determined deficit targets were missed.

Given the economy and Desert Storm that would come in the next few years, Gramm-Rudman would have failed by its own terms because both recession and
war suspended the law. Nevertheless, it was wildly popular when enacted. I served as Synar's legislative director and remember receiving a late night phone call from his always-courteous dad shortly before filing the suit.

"Has Mike gone nuts?" he asked.

He hadn't. Rather, he recognized Gramm-Rudman's constitutional infirmity and sought expedited judicial review. Conservative national columnist Jack Kilpatrick praised Synar for taking on a "thankless but necessary task." Later, Synar received the "Profiles in Courage" award from the Kennedy Library at Harvard University.

Synar's mentor in Congress, Rep. Tom Steed from Shawnee, sat in the powerful "College of Cardinals" on the Appropriations Committee. He smilingly told Synar it all came down to a child's rhyme: "Don't cut you, don't cut me, cut that fellow behind the tree."

And so it goes until today. Synar and U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn would not agree on much. But they would stand shoulder to shoulder on accountability. Implicit in Coburn's lonely "Dr. No" campaign against earmarked federal spending is a simple challenge: Give me a vote and I'll give you a chance to convince me. It's unlikely he'd support much new spending. That's democracy. We elected him.

Coburn will certainly never claim, "Look Mom, no hands!"

Now, back to SQ 744. The Oklahoma Policy Institute, a think tank dedicated to fiscal responsibility, recently released its analysis of SQ 744 and opposes its adoption. It estimates that the amendment would require an additional $1.7 billion in state funds - raised through spending cuts, new taxes, or both.

The sponsors of SQ 744 cannot tell us where that money will come from. That's not good government. Don't cut you, don't cut me, cut that fellow behind the tree? OK Policy told us honestly who stands behind the tree. And it's not pretty.

The status quo in Oklahoma education cannot continue. My sister has spent 35 years as an Oklahoma public school classroom teacher. I watch her fight every year for her students. She regularly digs into her own pocket for supplies. She even buys uniforms at consignment shops to give to families who can't afford them. Yet as a seasoned veteran in the profession she never knows from year to year what's ahead.

She deserves better. Unfortunately, there is no magical solution to the problems she faces. And it's clear that SQ 744 is not magic.

The Oklahoma Legislature and the next governor have a lot of tough choices ahead. They need to manage our budget honestly while addressing the needs of our schools and other essential services. They need to keep their hands on the handlebars. The voters, like some of our leaders, must resist the gimmicks.

That's democracy.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectid=65&articleid=20...