Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn Supports FairTax
From reader Robert Semands:
At a town hall meeting a couple of weeks ago in Midwest City, Ok, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), answered my direct question as to whether he is a co-sponsor of HR 25 with a resounding, “Yes, absolutely.” The Houston office was not aware of this and no calls to his office have been returned to confirm this but he did say it in front of over 100 people.
And for the benefit of anyone in Oklahoma:
The First FAIRTAX Conference in Oklahoma will be held at the OKC Downtown Library, 300 Park Ave. from 9am-1pm on Sat. Sept 24. Any FAIRTAX supporter in the state is welcome to attend. Genie Hayes and Tom Wright will attend as guest speakers.
UPDATE (9/7/05) - More from Semands:
Coburn was confirmed as co-sponsor today by Genie Hayes at the Houston office. He is a champion since he is the 2nd co-sponsor of S-25. He was impressive in the town hall I attended. He is an honest man who will stand up for what he believes. He says he doesn’t care if he is re-elected. He wants to do what is right for the country. How unusual!
UPDATE (9/10/05) - Some interesting behind-the-scenes information from David Klepinger:
While talking with Rob Woodall last night during a reception in honor of John Linder (it was also his birthday), I was informed that Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has signed on to the FairTax Bill in the Senate. Rob explained that the reason the Senator signed on was that he received so much pressure at a recent town hall meeting that he decided to blurt out something like, “But I am already a co-sponsor of the bill” just to quell the crowd.
Well, in order to make good on his statement, he had to get on the phone the next day and make sure that he was actually signed on to the bill before the end of the day. My hat is off to those at the town hall meeting in OK. This is how it is supposed to be done! We can all learn a simple but important lesson here: If you want your members of Congress to sign on to the bill, bringing pressure to bear is the best way.
The Scorecard at www.fairtax.org does list Senator Coburn as a supporter.
Twenty-two senators are For, or Lean For fair tax. The same number are Against or Lean Against the bill. Sixty are not committed. The house states are 132/81/230.
Yeah, I saw that too. Not sure if they added it before or after getting Semands’s call about it.