Commentary: Fourth Reading: Flying in the face of reason

When I was a little kid, I used to stay up late on Saturday nights so I could watch Monty Python's Flying Circus on OETA. My love affair with the Pythons and, subsequently, the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, began at about the age of 12.

At first blush, Jolley's idea sounded terrific. Expanding OETA's role and providing the public more access to what is happening in the Legislature seems like a great idea."If it's open to the public, broadcast it," Jolley told the Tulsa World.Thankfully, the Oklahoma House of Representatives killed Jolley's proposal on an 82-to-15 vote. But that doesn't mean the esteemed senator from Edmond won't try to slip the idea into some other piece of legislation.Editor's note: The Journal Record and OETA sometimes share resources.Of course, he doesn't mention that his unfunded mandate is a little exercise in senator ego against the state's public television authority.Since that time, I've watched a billion hours of OETA's programming, news and PBS documentaries. I worked side-by-side with OETA's reporters and news anchors and witnessed firsthand the important role the authority plays in informing the public.Instead, he wanted to set OETA up to fail. His bill didn't provide any additional funds to OETA for its round-the-clock mission. It would have just added new requirements for a station struggling with limited resources. Without funds to pay for additional staff and equipment, Jolley was trying to box OETA into a corner, forcing the station to expand its news operation without the resources to fund the expansion.But Jolley wasn't really trying to provide Oklahomans with more information.State Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, wanted to expand OETA's mission. To do that, Jolley authored Senate Bill 89, which would have required OETA to broadcast both houses of the Legislature, committee meetings, Oklahoma Corporation Commission hearings and state Board of Education meetings.From my corner of the world, OETA has done its job and done it well.What was ironic about the idea was the fact that Jolley is one of the first ones to wave his fist and complain about unfunded mandates. He stomps around the rotunda and issues press release after press release about how horrible unfunded mandates are on the state and then preaches to the voters about how bureaucrats are out of touch with rest of us.So it only stands to reason that the Oklahoma Legislature would try to screw things up. Framed against calls on the national level to gut funding for public broadcasting, spank all the journalists at National Public Radio and save the country's information gathering system from the mythical liberal bias, this week Oklahoma lawmakers tried to change OETA's role and reduce its funding yet again.Because given the choice, I'll settle for Monty Python over Senator Jolley any time.

Editor's note: The Journal Record and OETA sometimes share resources.