An important new report from The Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board delivers stinging criticism of judicial elections and says fundamental reform is urgently needed. “[A]ppointment  should be the basic principle applied to the selection of all judges,” the report says in favoring merit-based judicial selection.

 by Perry J. Browder

Posted Dec. 22, 2015 at 10:02 PM 

Around the country, including here in Illinois, corporate America is waging war on our rights. Despite a booming stock market, monumental profits and huge payouts for corporate CEOs, big business and the front groups they finance are constantly looking for ways to strip citizens from their 7th Amendment right — the right to trial by jury. Whether it is stoking fear about our civil justice system by producing phony studies or their sweeping approach at inserting binding arbitration clauses into just about every consumer contract, corporate America does not want you to have your day in court. Why? It all boils down to profits over people.

To end a projected revenue shortfall of $157 million, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services today declared a revenue failure for Fiscal Year 2016. As a result, state agencies receiving monthly general revenue allocations will see those allocations reduced by three percent beginning in January.

The three percent reduction will reduce general revenue allocations by $176.9 million for the remainder of FY 2016. General revenue allocations needed to be reduced by at least $157 million to end the projected shortfall.

http://newsok.com/article/5465013

Legislative leaders said in a public affairs forum that an expected state budget hole of more than $600 million could have a positive side if it forces lawmakers to better focus on spending priorities. 

Speaking at a State Chamber event Thursday Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman said lawmakers get so involved in policy matters that consideration of the budget — often referred to as the Legislature's top job — is not at the forefront of discussions.

"Not everybody is engaged in the budget at the appropriate time," he said. 

Reprinted from NewsOK.com - http://newsok.com/article/5469240

RECENT polling shows strong voter support for changing the way judges are selected in Oklahoma. A recent report naming one Oklahoma court a “judicial hellhole” will only add fuel to that fire.

Polling done by North Star Opinion Research shows 79 percent of Oklahomans now support direct election of judges, while 16 percent support the commission system currently in place. In that system, the Judicial Nominating Commission — made up of six lawyers appointed by the Oklahoma Bar Association, six nonlawyers named by the governor and three members named by state legislative leaders and the commission itself — nominate three candidates for a major court vacancy. The governor must then select one of those three nominees and cannot consider other possibilities.

For over 50 years, the Citizens for Justice PAC has worked to elect legislators in Oklahoma who support the right to a jury trial for civil cases.

We are a broad range of members from Democrat to Republican, liberal to conservative, large firm to the one-man office, who all unite to ensure the people of Oklahoma's right to a fair and equitable trial by jury.

In 2014, there will be 32 open State House and State Senate seats due to term limits and retirements.  This is an unprecedented opportunity to ensure change in the Oklahoma Legislature by electing Representatives and Senators who believe in our cause.

But we can't do it without your help.  Please consider donating today and ensuring justice still prevails in Oklahoma's courts.

There's a good discussion in conservative circles about defining a new "conservative vision" in time for the 2016 Presidential election (while there is almost no fresh intellectual output among progressives right now, especially about health care). Too many conservatives are still pining for the Reagan Days, which were fabulous (I came to Washington as a political appointee during the Reagan Administration), but it's time to move on and redefine conservatism for today's America. But one right explicitly protected in the Bill of Rights, and described by the Founders as "sacred," seems to be missing from the discussion.