As we correctly stated recently, elections seem to always bring out Democratic politicians at African American churches and symbolic events. Governor Henry has gone a step beyond the usual pandering by signing basically meaningless legislation yesterday at the Capitol. The legislation the good governor signed, clears the way for developing an African-American Centennial Plaza on the grounds of the state Capitol. How can we say that legislation establishing an African American Centennial Plaza is symbolic and meaningless? It's meaningless because the development is estimated to cost 4 million dollars with half the costs required from private donations. Here's the rub. The legislation Henry signed forbids supporters from asking the state for money to help pay for it! How much have supporters raised so far- $30,000. According to The Oklahoman, civil rights activist Clara Luper "scolded" the Governor saying, "They should give us respect. It's not their money, we all pay taxes." Henry further patronized the African American's in attendance by saying, "I think the African-American Centennial Plaza is an extremely important project for Oklahoma." It was so important Governor - that in a year with record budget surpluses and your high approval ratings - you didn't feel it was important enough to use a little of your political capital to secure SOME funding for the project. Some things never change! *More* From Today's New York Times: Democrats Fear Disillusionment in Black Voters From the Powerline blog: "If black Americans don't feel especially motivated to vote for Democrats, as the Times fears, maybe it's because they've noticed that several decades of voting for Democrats has done them no perceptible good. Or maybe it's because the black candidates with whom voters want to identify are Republicans like Michael Steele." Posted at 10/27/2006 11:44:00 AM