Why? Education, Healthcare, Insurance, and Solutions.

A little note about why I am running. Last year, I retired. Or something close to it. I have worked in the oil industry for most of my adult life. When oil and gas prices were down, work was slow, so I transitioned into telecom project management. Later, I was back to oil and gas in the Barnett Shale of North Texas. The last few years, I worked less and less, partly because I had “been there, done that” as a landman so many times that I was getting bored. Also, our youngest grandchild, Everlynn, was born in 2021 and is keeping me busy all the time. She and my daughter Abby live just down the road, so we see them often. And I love every minute of it.

So back to the “why”. Over the past few years, I have watched our State descend in its ranking in various categories of quality of life issues when compared to other states. I love living in Oklahoma. I want to spend the rest of my life here in my forever home. But we have got to do better as a State for our own well-being. Early in his tenure, Gov. Stitt said he wanted us to be top ten in all categories. Its almost 8 years now, and we are still bottom ten, and sometimes 50^th, in education. We are bottom ten in several healthcare categories. We hear the majority of the legislature talking about how lower taxes will move us up the ladder, how out of state companies will come to Oklahoma and bring many of their workers and their families to live here.

But they haven’t been knocking down the doors to get here. We offer tax breaks,  rebates, all kinds of exemptions to get them here. But their workers have young families. They are looking at our education rankings, they are looking at our teacher shortage, they are looking at our high home insurance rates and they ask “why should we go there?” And they don’t come.

I look at my little 4 year old granddaughter and I wonder what kind of world she will grow up in. She starts Pre-K this fall. Will she get the best education here in Oklahoma, with teachers who are valued by this State? Or is the grass greener somewhere else, away from the only home she has known?

Our current lawmakers say they are doing all they can do for education, and healthcare, and insurance costs. Many of them have been around a long time. If this is the best they can do, they need to step aside. Let someone who isn’t satisfied with the status quo pull out all the stops, look at all possible solutions, and start getting us out of this mess. If as many as 49 other states can do better, then we are asleep at the wheel. I believe our problems are from sticking solidly to an ideology that doesn’t have long term answers, which creates long term problems. What has to be done to fix it, they aren’t willing to consider.  Our children’s future, our future, and our state’s future are in need of new ideas and new leadership.

In House District 28, I want to be that new leadership. Yes, my hair is gray, I have a wrinkle here and there, but that comes from meeting challenges, creating solutions, and not being afraid to do something that doesn’t fit the old way of doing things. We have strong workers in this state, lets keep them here. We have great teachers, but we lost several to states who valued them more than our Legislature did, and they did what they had to do to take care of their families. Lets get them back. We have a lot to offer as a State. When we have a state government that is truly “of, by and for the people”, everyone else will finally see the Oklahoma that we can be. And when those companies and families that once questioned why they should come to Oklahoma take a look at us again, they will see us as their forever home.

Next time, we will discuss some of these possible solutions. Thanks for reading this far. Sorry about the “little note” statement. I tend to elaborate and go into detail a bit. I think we could use new details at the Capitol.