His daughter being a rising figure in the opera world, Senator Tom Coburn had this to say in a 2008 story by the Washington Post:

"'I've fallen in love with opera,' the often irascible, hard-line conservative says. Does he cry at the opera? 'I have before,' he admits."

But as the author of all three anti-arts amendments during this report card cycle – no funding for the arts in the stimulus bill, no money for public art in general spending, and no money for museums in general spending – arts organizations in Oklahoma and around the country would be the ones crying if he had his way in eliminating federal arts funding.  Even the venue where he went to see his daughter perform in May 2008, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, received nearly $40 million in federal funding in 2008. If Coburn loves the opera as much as he says, he sure has a funny way of showing it.

Arts Economic Impact in Oklahoma

22,249 jobs

$314.7 million

View report card grading criteria.

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