Political Pulse

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart
is in federal court to answer questions about an Internal Revenue
Service demand for some of his tax records.
The IRS says Rinehart hasn’t complied with an order to provide
2003 tax records for the parent corporation of his heating and air
business and wants him held in contempt.
During Thursday’s hearing Rinehart’s attorney, Steven Jones,
said Rinehart has provided all the documents he has.
Rinehart took the stand briefly to answer several questions
asked by IRS attorney Dan Applegate.
Applegate claims Rinehart has not complied with the court’s
order and hasn’t answered all the IRS’ questions.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Voters have picked their nominees and will
determine in the fall whether Democrats or Republicans will have
political control of the Legislature.
Party nominees were chosen for all but five House and Senate
seats. One Democrat and four Republicans face a runoff election
August 26th.
GOP leaders are predicting a GOP takeover in the 48-member
Senate, which is currently tied with 24 Democrats and 24
Republicans.
Republicans have held a 57-to-44 advantage in the 101-member
House since 2004, when they took control of the chamber for the
first time in 80 years. Leaders from both parties are predicting
they will pick up seats in the House this fall.
Senate co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee says GOP legislative
candidates were buoyed by Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the U.S.
Senate in which state Senator Andrew Rice received only about 60
percent of the vote against perennial candidate Jim Rogers.
Democrats are targeting incumbent Republicans who hold seats in
traditionally Democratic areas as well as open seats held by
Republicans who are leaving office due to term limits or
retirement.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Senator Jim Inhofe is giving a $10,000
donation he received from a political action committee controlled
by Senator Ted Stevens to charity.
Stevens was indicted this week on seven counts accusing him of
hiding $250,000 in gifts and services given to him by an
Alaska-based energy company.
Inhofe campaign manager Josh Kivett says the money will be
donated to Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity and the Tulsa
affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Inhofe is being challenged for re-election by Democratic state
Senator Andrew Rice.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A new law that reduces how much lobbyists
can give to state officials is forcing lobbyists to wean themselves
of giving gifts to lawmakers.
Reports filed by lobbyists with the state Ethics Commission
indicate that lobbyists gave $73,652 to lawmakers during the first
six months of this year. That’s down from nearly $120,000 a year
ago.
Reports show that House Republicans received the most gifts. The
57 House Republicans received $33,269 in gifts for the first six
months of this year, or nearly half the amount given to all 149
legislators. The 43 House Democrats received $16,486.
Democratic senators had a slight edge in receiving gifts in the
evenly split Senate. Lobbyists reported giving the 48 senators
$24,196 in gifts, with $12,883 going to Democrats.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - For a primary in a presidential election year, the number of people voting Tuesday in Oklahoma was the lowest since 1952.

Only 328,974 voted in the primary, about 18 percent of the 1.8 million Republicans and Democrats eligible to vote.

State Election Board Secretary Mike Clingman says you have to go all the way back to 1944 to have such a low vote in a presidential year when there was a U.S. Senate primary. In 1952, a Corporation Commission race topped the ticket.

Clingman said he had not determined if the percentage turnout was a record low.

See results from July 29, 2008 Oklahoma Primary Election