Sally Kern

Oklahoma House Reprimands GOPer For Saying 'Blacks' Don't Work As Hard

Jillian Rayfield | May 4, 2011, 4:17PM

State Rep. Sally Kern (R-OK)

The Oklahoma House of Representatives voted this week to reprimand state Rep. Sally Kern (R) for saying that she's seen "a lot of people of color who didn't study hard because they said the government would take care of them."

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Sally Kern

OK GOPer Apologizes For Saying Black People Don't Work As Hard

Jillian Rayfield | April 29, 2011, 10:02AM

State Rep. Sally Kern (R-OK)

Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R) has apologized for her comments about black people not working as hard, saying that "my words were, obviously, not spoken correctly and for that I humbly apologize."

But, she added: "Unfortunately, when we take 'words or sentences' out of the total context of a speech debated on the floor, there can be false misrepresentations, but the most important part is to always go to the heart of the matter."

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Oklahoma

Unions Lose One In Oklahoma

Evan McMorris-Santoro | April 20, 2011, 5:20PM

Gov. Mary Fallin (R-OK)

Republicans in Oklahoma appear poised to remove some more of what little union protection there is in that deep red and right-to-work state. On Tuesday, the state Senate passed House Bill 1593, a bill that would strip away Oklahoma's requirement that large cities engage in collective bargaining with so-called "non-uniformed" city workers. The state House already passed the bill and now it just awaits the expected signature of first-term Republican Gov. Mary Fallin.

The state's existing collective bargaining law, which was signed by Democratic Gov. Brad Henry seven years ago, requires big municipalities -- population 35,000 and up -- to bargain with, as the The Oklahoman reported, "city road, sanitation and utility workers."

In the new legislation, as in the controversial anti-collective bargaining bill in Wisconsin, workers like firemen and police offers are exempt. The Oklahoma bill also excludes teachers from the change.

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