Wallace Collins Under Fire for Walking Grocery Sales Tax Vote

Norman Democrat Wallace Collins, House District 45 Representative, is under fire in Norman for skipping a vote pertaining to the elimination of the grocery sales tax and then falsely claiming he didn't. In a letter to the editor of the Norman Transcript in March, Slaughterville resident Bobby Cleveland accused Collins of walking a vote to allow an amendment to HB 3358 that would have eliminated the grocery sales tax, a measure Collins claimed to support in his 2006 campaign against Thad Balkman. On April 13th Collins replied that he never "walked any votes." Contrary to that claim, however, the legislative record shows Collins registered as "Excused" on the vote at issue, indicating he was absent from the chamber during the vote. Collins was present during the votes immediately preceding and following the vote he skipped. In those two votes he voted "Nay" on the bill.

When other letters to the editor pointed this out, Collins again responded, accusing the authors of being filled with "hatred" and ignoring his previous attempts to eliminate the grocery sales tax. Nevertheless, Cleveland and others still want to hold Collins to account for missing the vote on HB 3358. According to Cleveland, Collins has yet to respond to a direct e-mail asking him to clarify the situation and explain why he was "Excused" during the vote to allow the grocery sales tax amendment despite his denial that he never "walked any votes."