Power-Sharing Agreement Leads To New State Senate Costs

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma Senate's new power-sharing agreement has a price tag attached.<br/><br/>The Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders have each hired consultants at a combined

Sunday, January 14th 2007, 7:30 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma Senate's new power-sharing agreement has a price tag attached.

The Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders have each hired consultants at a combined salary of almost $250,000. The Senate's also spending about $40,000 to remodel offices.

The November elections left the Senate evenly divided with 24 Democrats and 24 Republicans. Democratic President Pro Tem Mike Morgan of Stillwater and Republican co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City worked out the power-sharing deal.

Coffee has hired former Representative Fred Morgan of Oklahoma City as a consultant at a salary of 98-thousdand dollars.

Mike Morgan has hired Vic Thompson, former state budget director, at a salary of $150,000.