Oklahoma workers demand lawmaker apology for terrorism quip

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma state workers are demanding an apology from a legislator who compared them to “terrorists.”

Television station KOCO reports Republican Rep. John Bennett of Sallisaw made the comments Wednesday on the state House floor.

Bennett said state agencies that threaten to cut services to the most vulnerable Oklahomans are committing “terrorism” and that lawmakers should not negotiate with “terrorists.”

Tom Dunning of the Oklahoma Public Employees Association says Bennett should apologize. Dunning says people who work for the Department of Human Services or the Department of Corrections should not be downgraded in any way.

Gov. Mary Fallin also called for an apology. She says it’s unacceptable behavior for a legislator “to call state agencies and their employees terrorists.”

Bennett says his comments weren’t about individual employees but agency heads.