Fallin voted to raise mortgage insurance premiums for high-risk borrowers

Earlier this year we found out that DC Mary hates the poor.  Turns out this isn’t a new feeling for her, Mary has long voted against helping those living in poverty. 

Fallin voted for an amendment that overhauled the Federal Housing Administration‟s (FHA) mortgage lending practices and required the FHA to base each borrower‟s mortgage insurance premiums on the risk that the borrower poses to the FHA Mortgage Insurance Fund.

Mortgage insurance premiums would be based on borrower‟s credit history, loan-to- value ratio, debt-to-income ratio and on FHA‟s historical experience with similar borrowers.

DC Mary loves to vote lock step with her rich DC friends and continuously turn her back on hard working Oklahomans.

Fallin voted against Government Effeciency

For someone who wants government to be more efficient and effective... she sure goes about it a funny way.... DC Mary voted against a bill that directed the National Archives and Records Administration to create regulations on the capture, management and electronic preservation of electronic messages that would be electronically searchable.

All federal agencies were required to comply with the regulations within four years of the bill‟s enactment. Agencies were no longer able to use a “print and file” system. The bill required the National Archives and Records Administration to create standards for the management of presidential records, and required annual certification of whether the president‟s records management controls meets those standards.

This would have help increase government transparency and been a great step forward for our Nation, but once again DC Mary votes to keep something from the people.

Fallin voted against $6.4 billion in school construction funding

Education is by far one of the most important issues facing our Country.  DC Mary claims that she cares about our Country, our children, and our future.

Mary is a liar.

Fallin voted against a bill that authorized $6.4 billion for school construction projects in fiscal 2010, requiring that a certain percentage be used for construction that meets environmental or energy efficiency standards.

That percentage was set at 50 percent in fiscal 2010, increasing by 10 percent each year, until reaching 100 percent in fiscal 2015. The bill also authorized $600 million in fiscal 2010 through 2015 for the repair of public schools damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, applied Davis-Bacon wage requirements to the projects and barred states from taking into account funds authorized under the bill when determining a school’s eligibility for other aid.

How can someone claim to care about our Country’s future and our children’s future and stand opposed to building up our Nation’s education system?  The simple answer is someone can’t, but somehow DC Mary fails to see a reason to invest in our futures.

New poll a crock

Another poll was released at the end of last week, and it purports to show Fallin with a massive lead, but like much Fallin’s campaign, if you take a quick peek under the hood you’ll find that all is not what it seems.

We’ll begin with reports that came in last week of a mysterious poll that was in the field.  Several people emailed this blogger to find out if I knew who was responsible for the phone call they had just received.  The caller would say they were polling in the Oklahoma governor’s race, but then proceeded to ask questions that attempted lead the receiver of the call to believe that Democratic candidate Jari Askins was in some way tied to the national health care reform bill that became law earlier this year.  The person being polled was also lead to identify Askins as a “liberal,” and the poll even included questions about church attendance.

In the polling business this is referred to as a “push poll” and it doesn’t produce reliable data.  That’s ok with the pollster,  because in these cases reliable data isn’t even the goal.  The supposed poll is really just a negative campaign tactic that attempts to smear a candidate one phone call at a time.

Of course, after leading respondents to the answers that the pollster is looking for, the numbers come out heavily weighted to one side, and so the candidate (or candidate’s supporters) who initiated the push poll will proudly publish the results as evidence that they are way ahead in the race, the implication being that if you were going to vote for their opponent, well, you might as well just stay home that day.

Lo and behold, at the end of the week a poll was published and it, predictably, showed the biggest margin yet between the two candidates, with Fallin soaring to a double digit lead.  The pollster was a company called Rasmussen Reports who are notorious for publishing data that is so heavily skewed to the conservative side of a race as to be laughable (and useless to the sort of person who actually wants to see accurate data about a race).

Rasmussen’s bias is well documented and heavily reported.  Political junkies know they’re not to be trusted, but sadly if you’re not the kind of person who pores over ethics reports and polling data as a hobby (I admit it, I’m a junkie…with a hobby most would find about as exciting as watching grass grow) then you probably don’t know that Rasmussen polls are generally worth slightly less than the paper on which they’re printed.  So you see the results, assume they’re accurate, and either rejoice if you’re a Republican or become discouraged and despondent if you’re supporting the Democrat in the race.  And that’s exactly what Rasmussen wants you to do.

Here are the facts; national conservative organizations are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into Oklahoma to convince voters to choose Mary Fallin.  There are competitive gubernatorial races all over the country, and yet precious resources are being funneled here faster than you can say DC Mary.  If the race was as one-sdied as this poll seems to indicate, why would they be wasting their money here, instead of putting it somewhere that has a close race where the candidate really needs the help?  Here’s the answer; they wouldn’t be.  Fallin’s enormous ad buy, and her very negative campaign message are both evidence that she’s running scared, and she knows that this election is likely to be very very close.

The moral of the story here is that if you’re hoping to keep DC Mary out of the governor’s mansion, this so-called poll is no reason to be discouraged.  Keep knocking on doors, keep calling your friends, and for heaven’s sake, keep sending campaign contributions to your candidate.  She’s in this race to win it, and she will so long as you keep working your tail off to support her.

Fallin voted against “whistleblower protection” for her own employees

Does Mary Fallin have something to hide?

Good ol’ DC Mary voted against a bill that provided protection to federal employees who lawfully disclosed evidence of waste, abuse or gross mismanagement that they believed was credible without restriction as to time, place, form, motive, context or prior disclosure.

These “whistleblower protections” are a way to ensure honest, hard working folks won’t lose their jobs when they see something that violates the law and report it.

It prohibited employers from implementing or enforcing any nondisclosure policy or agreement. Employers were barred from investigating an employee who made a protected disclosure other than routine nondiscretionary agency investigations. The bill provided whistleblower protections to federal employees who disclosed actions that compromised the validity or accuracy of federally funded research or analysis and disseminate false or misleading scientific, medical or technical information.

Mary Fallin not only refuses to stand up for worker’s wages, she won’t even stand with working people trying to do the right thing.

Fallin voted against $281 million in math and science scholarships

Fallin voted against an amendment that authorized $281 million from fiscal 2009- 2013 for the National Science Foundation to create a new scholarship program for undergraduates specializing in science, technology, engineering or math.

Students would have to be enrolled in a four- year college or university, completed at least half of the credits towards a degree, maintained a grade- point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, not be a convicted felony and have a family income of less than $75,000 per year.

Fallin voted against funding for Community Oriented Policing Services

Mary’s political moves once again fail to keep people safe. 

Fallin voted against a bill that authorized $18.4 billion over six years for the Justice Department‟s Community Oriented Policing Services program and expanded types of activities eligible for program grants.

The bill eliminated the requirement that half of program funding go to grants in areas with populations of more than 150,000 people, increased from 3 percent to 5 percent the amount of funding used to provide technical assistance to states and localities, and required individuals recruited through the Troops to Cops program be honorably discharged members of the military.

Fallin voted against cracking down on child abuse in foster programs

DC Mary’s bad politics once again turn her against the safety of the future leaders of Oklahoma.  Mary voted against a bill that would crack down on child abuse in foster home programs.

Why in the world would she vote no on this? We have no idea, it surely has to be some biased party politics game she is playing in DC.

The bill required the Department of Health and Human Services to enforce health and safety standards for children‟s residential programs. It required criminal background checks for staff, the creation of a child abuse and neglect hotline, as well as a public Web site with information about program ownership and compliance with state child abuse licensing requirements. The measure authorized $15 million per year from fiscal 2010-2014 to implement the bill‟s provisions and $235 million per year over the same period for a child abuse prevention grant program.

Fallin voted against rights for state and local public safety officials

DC Mary not only hates the hard working class Oklahomans but she also voted against our public safety workers too.

One of Mary’s first actions in Congress was to vote against a bill that established limited salary negotiations for state and local public safety officials, including police officers and firefighters.

It required the Federal Labor Relations Authority to determine, within 180 days of enactment, whether a state allowed for certain rights for public safety employees, including the right to talk to their employer about working hours, working conditions, wages and other term of employment.

Mary claims she wants to keep Oklahoma safe, but the only thing Oklahoma needs protection from is Mary’s poor decision making and bad political motives.  Every working person deserves the right to discuss whatever they want with their employer and ask for what they think is fair.  

Taking that right away gives too much power to CEO's and they're already getting our bailouts ... er... I mean "tax incentives."

Fallin procured a $3 million earmark for a defense contractor that employed less than a quarter of jobs promised

Fallin secured a $3 million earmark for a private contractor, Wave Technologies, which operated the Urban Warfare Analysis Center. The contractor was previously expected to provide 100 high-paying defense jobs in Shawnee but actually only employed 21 people. Ernest Istook, Fallin‟s predecessor, got the first funding for the project. A former Istook staff member in Oklahoma, Mike Maxwell, was working for Wave as director of legislative affairs. Tom Leydorf, a former CIA employee married to a former Istook staff member, was the research director at the center. And Kurt Conrad, who was Istook‟s legislative director, registered as a lobbyist for Wave last year, when the center opened. [Oklahoman, 4/14/08]

The center was expected to close without additional earmark funding. The president of the company, William Axelrod, said in 2008 that it received no funding from the Defense Department that year and might not stay open if it did not receive money from the military or another congressional earmark. [Oklahoman, 4/14/08]

 Fallin: The center “had potential benefits” for “our national defense effort.” Alex Weintz, Fallin‟s press secretary, said Fallin and her office “were contacted by local officials as well as Kurt Conrad concerning a UWAC appropriations request. In the course of learning about the program, Rep. Fallin determined the center had potential benefits for both the Shawnee community and our national defense effort.” [Oklahoman, 4/14/08]

 Fallin received $3,100 from Wave Technology employees. [Federal Election Commission]