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OKLAHOMA DEMOCRATS REQUEST COPY OF INTERNAL STUDY SPEAKER SHANNON USED TO RAISE HOUSE STAFF SALARIES

OKLAHOMA CITY– The Oklahoma Democratic Party is processing a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the internal study that was used to evaluate Oklahoma House of Representatives staff employee salaries and retention rates. This study was cited as the reason it was okay for Speaker Shannon to handout $280,000 in raises to only a few employees–some salaries increased by as much as 30 percent.

Speaker T.W. Shannon’s spokesman, Joe Griffin, has stated, “We had an internal study, and we found that we had a problem retaining employees.”

These salary increases are controversial because legislative leaders previously delayed action on pay increases this year while they waited on a $200,000 independent study on employee compensation. It looks like Speaker Shannon is playing favorites at the capitol while most state employees continue to wait for an across-the-board pay raise which has not happened since 2006.

“The message Speaker Shannon is sending to teachers, social workers, correctional officers, and highway patrol is that they don’t matter as much as his personal staff of attorneys,” commented Chairman Wallace Collins. “Dollars do not stretch as far as they used to and our leadership needs to compensate for things like inflation.”

JANITORS, TEACHERS, SOCIAL WORKERS…LEFT HOLDING THE BAG

Speaker Shannon denies raises to middle class, but gives huge tax-funded raises to crony attorneys

OKLAHOMA CITY– Oklahoma’s House Speaker T.W. Shannon has given his personal staff of attorneys huge raises, and yet he and Mary Fallin deny teachers pay raises. The cost Oklahomans will have to pay for Shannon’s staff members increase in pay is an additional $280,000 annually that the majority of which goes to only a handful of employees. Speaker Shannon displays cronyism by giving raises to his friends and denies living wages to various groups such as teachers, social workers, and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

State employees have not seen an across-the-board pay increase since 2006. It is clear that the Republican leadership is continuing their class warfare by denying middle class Oklahomans a living wage.

“How can the Republicans deny raises to these middle class employees, especially when we have seen our state revenues increase?” Chairman Wallace Collins continued, “Shannon needs to learn laws can change lives, and I challenge him to try and live on minimum wage like Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor Cathy Cummings has done.”

Recently, Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor Cathy Cummings conducted “The Living Wage Experiment” where she and her husband tried to live on minimum wage for 30 days. They encountered many difficult situations such as not having enough cash at the grocery store and saving gas by biking to work across highways in Oklahoma City.

You can see their journey on Facebook.

“I am running because I believe our children are our future, that working Oklahomans are the backbone bone of our economy, and that families were meant to be protected, not torn apart,” said Mary Sosa. “It’s time for us to work together and elect leaders that have a plan to protect families in our community.”

Sosa is a retired city employee for the City of Oklahoma City. Mary has lived in the district for 33 years and has raised her children and grandchildren there. She is the former president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association. Sosa serves as a volunteer with countless organizations including the American Red Cross, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the Neighborhood Alliance. Mary is an active member of Capitol Hill Church of Christ in South Oklahoma City.

“In the 33 years I’ve lived in House District 89, I’ve had the opportunity to work with people from every walk of life and see the problems our community faces firsthand. I have raised my children here and am lucky to have grandchildren growing up here too. I have decided to step up to do my part to make sure our community gets the representation it deserves at the State Capitol,” said Sosa.

House District 89 is located in South Oklahoma City. It is currently represented by Representative Rebecca Hamilton who will term out in November of 2014.

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT ALLOWS MORE THAN 800K OKLAHOMANS TO ACCESS FREE PREVENTIVE CARE

Republican plan would cause consumers to lose access to preventive services with no copay

OKLAHOMA CITY– While Republicans in Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation double down on their plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Democrats remain unified behind improving and effectively implementing health care reform. Already, Oklahomans are seeing the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

Approximately 105 million Americans – 71 million with private insurance and 34 million on Medicare – have received at least one free preventive health care service thanks to the Affordable Care Act. In Oklahoma, 811,000 people have received free preventive care like flu shots and cancer screenings because of the health care law [1].

Oklahoma has the sixth highest percentage of residents without health insurance with more than 690,000 uninsured Oklahomans in 2010 [2].

Meanwhile, Oklahoma Republicans – including Senators Inhofe, Coburn, the Congressional delegation, and even Governor Fallin – continue to stand in the way of making commonsense health care reforms. In fact, the Republican plan is to repeal the Affordable Care Act, eliminate services like free preventive care, and return to a broken system that leaves insurers in the driver’s seat of Oklahoma’s health care. Instead of expanding access to health care in Oklahoma, Governor Fallin continues to play politics and refuses to expand Medicaid, which would provide health care coverage for many of Oklahoma’s most vulnerable citizens.

“Republicans like Mary Fallin and Jim Inhofe continue to stand in the way of improving health care for Oklahoma families,” said Chairman Collins. “The GOP’s plan is simple: repeal the Affordable Care Act, take away benefits that lower costs for Oklahomans, and return to a completely broken system. Under the Affordable Care Act, more than 800,000 Oklahomans have received preventive care with no copay. That’s progress, and it’s why Democrats are committed to improving the Affordable Care Act and making it work. Republicans’ only plan is to make the system worse.”

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