Senator Coburn of Oklahoma is planning to resign in January 2015, even though his term does not end until 2016.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Sen. Tom Coburn has announced he will resign at the end of the current session of Congress, nearly two years before his term is scheduled to end.
Coburn is known as Dr. No, so we won't miss him:
Coburn's thwarting of legislation that Democrats consider worthy has often frustrated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who declared in 2008: "You cannot negotiate with Coburn. It's just something you learn over the years is a waste of time."
Of course Oklahoma is about as deep red as it gets, so it's not exactly game-changing news or a great opportunity for us (others would know this better than I). Perhaps the next Senator will not be as difficult or as intransigent.
Not everything he did was bad:
His office routinely produced reports on wasteful spending, such as a 37-page report in 2011 dubbed "Subsidies of the Rich and Famous" that detailed nearly $30 billion spent annually on government tax breaks and federal grant programs for millionaires.
Hope we can use this opportunity to make Oklahoma, if not blue or purple, a lighter shade of red.
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Tired of politics? Need to escape? Try one of my Greek-mythology based novels, either the story of Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus or a trilogy about Niobe, or one of the first examples of civil disobedience, Antigone and Creon. Or, if you like mysteries and/or Jane Austen, treat yourself to The Highbury Murders: A Mystery Set in the Village of Jane Austen’s Emma very positively reviewed at the Daily Kos Monday Murder Mystery blog.