KINGFISHER — In Kingfisher, a couple of political candidates were worried about the federal government. Another said he wanted to curtail the power of state legislative leaders and talked of eliminating the barrier between church and state. Two candidates said they would stand firm against the concept of critical race theory while one hopeful suggested students be taught foreign languages in elementary school. Yet another candidate spoke of strengthening public schools, expanding the economy and finding ways to encourage more tourism in the state.
For about three hours last Thursday, nine Republican candidates spoke to their party’s faithful at Kingfisher Heritage School. The event, which drew about 40 people, featured a meet-the-candidate reception and a forum where candidates were given three minutes to answer a question presented by moderator and former Republican state Rep. Mike Sanders.
The event was sponsored by the Kingfisher County Republican Women’s Club.
State School Superintendent
The four Republicans seeking the GOP nod for state school superintendent all agreed that Oklahoma’s public schools needed resources and support. Then their answers went in wildly different directions.
Bill Crozier, who previously ran for the office in 2006, said Oklahoma’s schools should be the best in the country. To do this, he said, schools should expand their foreign language classes.
“One of (the ways to improve Oklahoma schools) is to teach foreign language in first, second and third grade,” he said. “Native Americans would like to keep their languages and if we wanted to do international trade as a state, we could do it. Teach them now to read and write (in a foreign language). If we get the language, we can do trade.”
Shawnee Public Schools Superintendent April Grace said she would make increasing educational outcomes a priority.
“We don’t rank very well in education, so this has to be one of the goals of the state superintendent,” she said.
She said the state already has rigorous academic standards and now needs to match that with higher performance. Grace, Oklahoma Association of School Administrators’ Superintendent of the Year for 2021, said she would work to increase the number of new teachers and develop a paid internship so student teachers would not have to work for free while they train.
“We have to be aggressive, assertive about getting student teaching paid for,” she said. “Perhaps with some type of internship, because it’s one of the few professions where people have to do an internship that’s not paid for.”
Grace said the state needs to reimagine its education system with robust career paths that start in high school.
“We have to let the local community high schools have some flexibility to present apprenticeships and internships that begin sooner than the junior and senior year,” she said.
Ryan Walters said Oklahoma schools were being destroyed by the far left.
In a heavily politicized statement which offered few details on proposals, he said concepts such as critical race theory and transgenderism were “being forced on public schools.”
Walters, who was appointed the state’s Secretary of Public Education by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2020, also serves as the executive director of Every Kid Counts Oklahoma. He has been critical of what he called “woke” school administrators.
Walters said Oklahomans should have school choice. He claimed that “the far left has lowered the standards” of public schools. He said he would work to put parents in the driver’s seat for their kids’ education.
John Cox, the only candidate who acknowledged the recent mass killing of elementary school children in Texas, called for spending $90 million to increase security at public schools, including armed guards and bulletproof glass.
He said schools should move “all the social issues out of the schools.”
“The first day I’ll walk in there I work on getting rid of all the assessments at the end of the year and instead use the growth model,” he said. He said he would work to get more parents engaged in their child’s education.
“Everything should be more transparent,” he said.
Cox said he would put a stop to materials that told elementary students about sexuality.
“When you talk about transgender and talking about all those in kindergarten and first grade and that sex with that, that has to be stopped. I am the person at the front line that can stop that. I stopped that at my school. I don’t let it in my school. I will stop that at the state department.”
State Treasurer
State Rep. Todd Russ, who is seeking the GOP nomination for state treasurer, was the only candidate from his race to come to Kingfisher.
So, Russ had three minutes – and the stage – all to himself.
He used that time to talk about his 30-plus years of banking experience. He said he served as vice president and executive vice president at banks in Chickasha and Oklahoma City. He said the position of state treasurer is essentially the bank CEO of the state.
“The state treasurer position is responsible for about $10 billion to invest and to process about $24 to $26 billion in payments to state agencies and departments,” he said. “It’s highly important to have a person in there that understands bank jargon and can look out for the investments for the state of Oklahoma.”
State Corporation Commission
Only two of the four Republicans seeking the nomination for Corporation Commission – state Rep. Todd Thomsen from Ada, and Justin Hornback – attended last Thursday’s forum.
Thomsen and Hornback are facing State Senator Kim David (R-Porter) and Harold Spradling in the four-way GOP primary contest.
Thomsen said his experience in the House of Representatives prepared him for service on the corporation commission.
“For me, what I learned and the relationships that I gained at that time showed me the vast expanse of what the commission does,” he said. “The commission touches everything we do in life, whether it’s our telephone, electricity, railroads, oil and gas — it effects everything in Oklahoma.”
Thomsen said his goal as a commissioner would be to bring people together to solve problems. Even though public utility regulation is highly technical, he said, Oklahomans should want to find a solution together.
“What it takes sometimes is just having someone in a leadership position with the skills and ability and relationships to bring people together to find a solution,” he said.
Hornbeck, a former union representative from Tulsa, said the commission needs access to good information. He said he wanted to be a facilitator for the public.
“What the commission does is not high profile usually,” he said. “I want to be there to give out that information.”
In an earlier debate, Hornback said he would support requiring utilities to submit disaster contingency plans when seeking rate increases.
Senate District 26
Incumbent state Sen. Darcy Jech (R-Kingfisher) and GOP challengers JJ Stitt and Brad Butler differed on their approach to state government.
Jech called for efforts to boost tourism and increase funding for public schools.
“We need to make sure we set a table for those teachers and administrators so they can teach our kids,” he said. “Reading, writing and arithmetic is important.”
JJ Stitt countered that Oklahomans were in a crisis and needed immediate relief from taxes on groceries and fuel.
“They need to do it now,” he said. “I don’t want to wait until next session.”
Butler said he was running to fix what was broke in state government.
Butler told the crowd he was not running primarily to fix roads or bridges, education, taxes, or the McGirt decision. Instead, he said he was running on root cause issues.
“I’m trying to get to the foundation of why is our government broke. Why do we continually have to year after year address education and roads?”
He said he would push to limit the power of legislative leaders and work to inject more religious policy into state government.
“Our government has essentially been stolen by a hierarchy that happens inside the Capitol. I believe that the Speaker of the House and the Senate Pro Tempore in each chamber have far too much power and we need to equalize that power among the 48 senators” he said. “I understand that’s a big thought, but it has to happen.”
Oklahomans will go to the polls Tuesday, June 28 to cast their votes in the primary election.