Advertisement Rep. John Bennett calls state agencies ‘terrorists’ OPEA demands apology Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A state representative called state agencies terrorist Wednesday during a discussion on the floor at Oklahoma Capitol.Rep. John Bennett, R-Sallisaw, made the comment "The agencies getting the money are telling our constituents, 'Hey, the sky's falling!' And the agencies telling our citizens, they're going we want to cut their services to the most vulnerable. That's terrorism. We should not be negotiating with terrorists, period," Bennett said. "These agencies are using our citizens as pawns. It's not right, and somebody needs to stop them, and that's where we come in."So what's the answer here? Raise taxes, right? That'll fix everything, until the next year or the next year when they come with their hand out and threaten to extort money from us again."The Oklahoma Public Employees Association took to Twitter to demand an apology from Bennett."John Bennett just called state agencies 'terrorists.' I suggest he go to his Sallisaw DHS office and tell them that they are," OPEA tweeted. "OPEA will ask that Rep. John Bennett apologize to all state employees for referring to them as 'terrorists' on @OKHouseofRep floor. #OKleg"Gov. Mary Fallin said in a Facebook post, "It is unacceptable behavior for a lone legislator to call state agencies and their employees terrorists. An apology should be given. I appreciate all of our state employees who serve our state every day. Both of my parents were dedicated state employees."Bennett replied to Fallin's Facebook post in the comments section saying, "What is sad, Governor, is that You are holding the legislature hostage to Raise Taxes on our citizens. Remember what you said in 2010?"Instead of posting about something I said that you and the media took out of context, maybe You should be holding Your agency heads and agencies accountable (maybe start with the Health Dept and the millions they criminally misappropriated?)"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way. The calling agency employees terrorists issue... You know as well as I do that I was calling out Your agency heads for holding our citizens hostage, NOT the outstanding State employees we have. Nice try to divert the real attention from Your responsibility to ensure our agency heads are accountable for our tax payer dollar. Of course this plays right into your desire to tax lower and middle income earners into oblivion. That's easier if you convince everyone 'the sky is falling!'"