By ANDREW W. GRIFFIN

Oklahoma Watchdog, editor

Posted: April 30, 2010

andrew@oklahomawatchdog.org

OKLAHOMA CITY — Some conservative activists in Oklahoma are circulating an email expressing concern over U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin’s support of HR 2499, the “Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2010.”

In an email from the Tulsa 9-12 Project, they note that Fallin was “the only representative from Oklahoma to co-author … the bill that would put Puerto Rico on track to become the 51st state.”

While she does support the bill, she was unable to vote on it due to an unforeseen circumstance, a spokesman said Friday.

Meanwhile, the Tulsa 9-12 group says in their action alert that they do not want Puerto Rico to be given the option of becoming the 51st state because “the U.S. would transform overnight, into a bilingual nation,” it would also “bring immediate demands for massive federal spending,” they say “Puerto Rico is already a democracy” and finally “Statehood would give Puerto Rico more congressional representation than 25 of our 50 states.”

And in a post at the conservative Hertiage Foundation website, writer Brian Darling writes that “The Puerto Rico Democracy Act has some serious flaws.” Darling continues, noting that “the votes seem to be set up in a way that favors statehood.”

However, others argue that since Puerto Ricans are technically U.S. citizens already and serve in the military, they should be given a change to have representation in Congress. Either declare their independence or join the U.S. as a full and equal partner in this experiment in democracy.

Alex Weintz, spokesman for the Fallin for Governor campaign addressed the issue Friday, saying in an email to Oklahoma Watchdog that Rep. Fallin “does not support Puerto Rican statehood and neither do the people of Puerto Rico.”

“The bill Mary is a cosponsor of (HR 2499) gives the people of Puerto Rico another chance to affirm their desire not to be a state, rather than allowing Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack Obama and the Democrat congress to dictate to them their political future.”

The bill had bi-partisan support, including support from “liberty-minded conservatives” like Aaron Schock, a Republican from Illinois, GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana and Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian-minded Texan who ran as a staunch, pro-constitutional conservative presidential candidate in 2008.

Weintz continued on behalf of Fallin, writing: The Enabling Clause of the Constitution empowers Congress to grant statehood with a super majority, which Speaker Pelosi already has in the House and Senate is one vote shy of.

 Continuing, Weintz said: So if Speaker Pelosi woke up tomorrow and wanted to make Puerto Rico a state, she could write a bill and pass it through the House with no problem — handing over, in all likelihood, more Democrat seats in the House and Senate.

What HR 2499 does is to add an extra step that could help prevent a Democrat super majority from doing this against the will of Americans and Puerto Ricans.  Under this bill, Puerto Ricans would first have to vote on their own to become a state before Congress could grant them statehood. With the passage of HR 2499, Congress could not force Puerto Rico into statehood until it held a vote to become a state — an outcome that is very unlikely, given that past votes on statehood have all overwhelmingly failed.”

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