Ultra-conservative former Oklahoma U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, who helped turn Oklahoma away from its deep blue Democratic roots to one of the brightest, conservative red states in the country, has died.
The 72-year-old doctor succumbed last Saturday after a long battle with prostate cancer.
The Muskogee physician, who specialized in obstetrics, was an enemy of what he often termed “reckless spending” and “government waste.”
Each year while in office he and his staff would compile a “Wastebook” of what he believed was frivolous spending by government and both political parties.
He was often referred to by friend and foe alike as “Dr. No” because of his anti-spending stance.
Coburn served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 as part of the “red wave of Republican Congress” that gave the GOP control of the House for the first time in decades.
He defeated former U.S. Congressman Brad Carson in a hard-fought senate race in 2014.
In a twist of fate, Coburn and his wife became close friends with former President Barack Obama because they entered the Senate in the same year. The two became friends after both men’s wives struck up a friendship at Senate orientation sessions.
Obama once said of Coburn: “... even though we haven’t always agreed politically, we’ve found ways to work together – to make government more transparent, cut down on earmarks and fight to reduce wasteful spending and make our tax system fairer.
“The people of Oklahoma have been well-served by this ‘country doctor from Muskogee’.”