Rep. Dan Boren will not to slam Sen. Tom Coburn

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden’s office tried to enlist Rep. Dan Boren in a public relations fight against Sen. Tom Coburn after Coburn released a report criticizing some projects funded by the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

Boren, D-Muskogee, said last week he rejected the request because of an "unspoken rule” among the Oklahoma congressional delegation that members refrain from criticizing each other.

"We just don’t do that,” Boren said. "It’s just not my style to critique fellow members of the delegation. We’re too small a state to get into those kinds of internal battles.”

The vice president’s office called Boren’s chief of staff June 16, the day Coburn’s report cited 100 projects, including two in Oklahoma, as being examples of waste or low-priority items funded with stimulus money.

Boren said the vice president’s office wanted him to criticize Coburn’s report and "tout” the benefits of the stimulus package, which Boren supported.

Boren said the call wasn’t from the vice president and was taken by his chief of staff. Biden’s office did not respond to two requests for comment.

President Barack Obama asked Biden to oversee the stimulus, and the vice president has been promoting it almost daily.

Coburn’s report got media attention and hit a nerve at the White House, which reacted immediately, charging that some of Coburn’s examples were not funded and others had been distorted. The White House press secretary said some of Coburn’s assertions were "flat-out wrong.”

Biden’s office released a point-by-point rebuttal of Coburn’s report that said the stimulus program was "overall, a great success. With 20,000 projects approved, there are bound to be some mistakes — when we find them, we have been transparent about it, and worked on a bipartisan basis to shut them down immediately. Sen. Coburn’s report, however, is filled with inaccuracies, including criticisms of projects that have already been stopped, projects that never were approved and some projects that are working quite well. If Sen. Coburn has found any problematic projects, we will address them immediately — but much of this seems to be little more than an objection to the Recovery Act itself.”

Coburn, R-Muskogee, responded last week with a rebuttal of the vice president’s rebuttal. Among Coburn’s claims was that the administration canceled some projects only after reading his report.

Asked why he thought Biden’s office called him, Boren said: "Things get really partisan here. They would assume that just because I’m a Democrat, I would toe the line.”

Boren has touted some of the programs funded by the stimulus package. A day before Coburn’s report was released widely, Boren praised a stimulus program to give low-interest loans to small businesses struggling with debt.

However, Boren said, "I support what Tom is doing — not just on this bill but on all bills — in pointing out waste.”

Coburn spokesman John Hart said, "It’s disappointing that the vice president’s office is playing politics rather than conducting oversight.

"It raises troubling questions for taxpayers.”


from the oklahoman

Reps Dan Boren, Tom Cole denounce call for freedmen questions

WASHINGTON — Two Oklahoma lawmakers lashed out Tuesday at a request by six of their colleagues for a civil rights investigation of the Five Tribes of Oklahoma.

Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, called the request "an affront to tribal sovereignty.” Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said it was "abhorrent and unfair.”

Tribal representatives also took issue with the request that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder investigate whether the tribes are illegally barring descendants of former slaves from full citizenship.

Six members of the House sent Holder a letter last week requesting a "full-scale investigation into what we believe are the Five Tribes’ systematic expulsion of its freedman citizens in violation of their treaty, voting and civil rights.”

The signers of the letter include Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Another signer is Rep. Diane Watson of California, who authored legislation in the last Congress to prevent the Cherokee Nation from receiving federal money unless it allowed freedmen — the term used for the descendants of slaves — to continue to be part of the tribe.

Five of the six signing the letter are black.

The Five Tribes, once known as the Five Civilized Tribes, are all based in Oklahoma. They are: the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles and Muscogee (Creeks).

The controversy centers on the descendants of slaves once owned by tribal members. Some contend that an 1866 treaty compels the tribes to allow the freedmen to be full tribal members.

Members of the Cherokee Nation voted in 2006 to limit tribal rolls to those with Cherokee blood. The move is the subject of two federal lawsuits and spawned Capitol Hill interest in the freedmen.

The lawmakers requesting the investigation say the Cherokees, Choctaws, Seminoles and Creeks have taken steps to strip freedmen of full citizen rights. The Chickasaws’ posture should be investigated, the lawmakers say.

Boren and Cole noted that President Barack Obama, during his campaign last year, said Congress should stay out of the freedmen controversy.

Cole, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, said, "The idea of using the Justice Department as a weapon to beat tribes into submission is abhorrent and unfair.”

Boren said he and Cole would write their own letter to Holder.