Mental health choice on the mark

Gov. Kevin Stitt made a solid choice this week in formally appointing Carrie Slatton-Hodges to serve as commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

The departure in January of former Commissioner Terri White was a concern, because White had done so much during her 13 years in the job to benefit those fighting mental illness and substance abuse. Yet Slatton-Hodges, who has been serving as interim commissioner since January, is a worthy successor.

She spent 12 years as the agency's deputy commissioner, dealing directly with providers of contracted treatment and recovery services, and helping to launch several cutting-edge programs at DMHSAS. As a result, she is well versed in the way complex budgets and service systems work together.

Slatton-Hodges has been a licensed professional counselor for 29 years. She has worked at every level of health care, from responding to front-line crisis calls at all hours early in her career to becoming chief operating officer at the state's largest Community Mental Health Center.

Kevin Corbett, Oklahoma's secretary of health and mental health, said Slatton-Hodges “doesn't see challenges. She sees opportunities.”

“She has dedicated her life to this work and has an impressive record building public-private partnerships that support Oklahomans with mental health and addiction issues,” Corbett said. We wish her well in the top job of this important state agency.

Reasonable resolution to incitement case

Five people charged with incitement to riot after a clash with an Oklahoma City police sergeant in June pleaded guilty to a reduced charge this week. The original charge was a felony; the five, ages 19 to 31, pleaded to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a police officer in the performance of his official duties. They will serve two years' probation. The group was painting a mural on the street in front of police headquarters when the sergeant, who was transporting someone to the building in his cruiser, moved a barricade that was blocking his access. According to a detective's affidavit, the sergeant for a time couldn't move his vehicle in any direction, and three of those on hand screamed obscenities at him and pursued the car as he backed up. The five aren't happy with the district attorney, although there is something to be said for his point that this deal allows them to resolve the cases “without ruining the remainder of their young lives.”

Pelosi's stimulus intransigence on display

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants a $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus deal. President Trump has offered $1.8 trillion — a gigantic sum by any measure, and an increase from his side's previous offers. This week CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Pelosi why she wouldn't accept it. “When you say to me, `Why don't you accept theirs?' Why don't they accept ours?” Pelosi replied. Blitzer countered that Americans “really need the money now” and asked what she would say to someone like California Rep. Ro Khanna, who is among the Democrats urging Pelosi to compromise. “What I say to you is I don't know why you're always an apologist — and many of your colleagues (are) apologists for the Republican position,” Pelosi said. Really? Trump was criticized when he ended negotiations (for a time). Yet Pelosi certainly deserves her share of blame for her intransigence, which was on full display during this testy exchange.

Are Barrett-ACA concerns overstated?

Opponents of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett argue that if confirmed, she will rule to strike down the Affordable Care Act in a case coming before the court in November. Jonathan Turley, constitutional law professor at George Washington University and a liberal, is among the legal scholars who believe that's too great a leap. Turley says the ACA is unlikely to be jettisoned, and that instead the “core question … is whether a whole statute should die if a certain part is removed or struck down.” He was referring to the ACA's individual mandate provision. Most close watchers of the Supreme Court, Turley said, “believe they don't have close to the votes to strike down the entire act.” We'll find out when the court rules whether Turley is right.