The Edmond Evening Sun
Sounding Board
Sunday, August 14, 1983
Our Point of View
4-Year Speaker Limit Has Merit
Regardless of the outcome of the current vote fraud trial of House Speaker Dan Draper, D-Stillwater, there are some changes in the air concerning the way the house speaker is selected.
Draper’s dream of becoming the first man to serve a fourth two-year term as house speaker is all but dead. Already three legislators have lined up for the house speaker race, and they have all voiced approval of limiting the position to a two-term limit. The candidates include David Riggs, Sand Springs; Jim Barker and John Monks, both of Muskogee.
No matter which one is elected, adoption of such a change appears most certain.
Riggs and Monks want to change the way committee chairmen and vice chairmen are chosen. They’d emphasize seniority and likely would name a Committee on Committees. Right now, chairmen are handpicked on basis of loyalty to the speaker and speaker pro-tempore.
Barker believes electing a speaker for no more than four years would, in itself, ensure periodic changes in leadership goals, periodic changes in committee assignments and redistribution of plums. He points to Draper’s prime interest in higher education and predicts any new speaker will change that emphasis, even if only slightly.
There is no way, of course, that the spoils system can vanish entirely. But limiting the position to two terms has a lot of merit and may help streamline Oklahoma politics and government.
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