Durant Daily Democrat
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Candidates for Oklahoma governor took the stage at a town hall-style forum on Thursday at Southeastern in Durant.
Gubernatorial candidates
- T
hold first town hall in Durant
BY ZACH MAXWELL
zach@durantdemocrat.com
Seven of the 12 declared candi-
dates for Oklahoma governor took
the stage at Southeastern’s Mont-
gomery Auditorium on Thursday
for the first of several town hall-
style forums to be held ahead of
s t
the June 26 primary.
The event was hosted by the
Oklahoma Academy for State
Goals, a non-profit, non-partisan
group whose mission is listed as
. t
“improving our state, one public
policy at a time.” John Harper,
representing the Oklahoma Acad-
emy, offered questions to the can-
didates.
Three Republicans, two Demo-
crats and two Libertarian candi-
r geting.
dates participated in the Thurs-
day event in Durant. Republican
candidates were Gary Jones, Kev-
in Stitt and Gary Richardson;
Democrats were Connie Johnson
and Drew Edmondson; Libertar-
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
S
F
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D
L
Zach Maxwell | Durant Democrat
A
a
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ians were Rex Lawhorn and Chris posed two-year budget cycle, calls
v
Powell. for a transparent budget process
r
Harper presented five topics to to eliminate “backroom deals.”
c
the candidates, four posed by the Edmondson: Said the gover-
t
Academy and one from the audi- nor’s office needs to be more in-
fi
ence. Each candidate was limited volved in the state’s budget plan-
to a three-minute response and ning process.
t
there was no back-and-forth de- Powell: Proposed the legislature
v
bate-style discussion among the devote its first session to revenue
candidates. and a second session to spending.
fi
The Durant Democrat here “Having a session solely devoted
presents a summary of those top- to the budget would be a vast im-
t
ics and the candidate responses: provement.”
Candidates were asked to Stitt: Calls for changing the hir-
discuss their thoughts on ing process for those leading the
a
the state’s “broken budget various state agencies.
q
process” and the proposed Richardson: Says the state
two-year budget “Miller Plan.” should authorize the governor to
g
initiate audits of the various state
Jones: Proposes creation of an i
agencies.
office of accountability and bud- d
Summary: As an introductory
i
question, each candidate took
Johnson: Called for utilizing w
some time to introduce them-
“hidden” revenue streams includ- y
selves. Richardson warmed the
ing cannabis as well as wind and l
crowd by mentioning his family
solar power. t
Lawhorn: Opposes the pro- SEE CANDIDATES, PAGE 2
d
n
b
 Durant Daily Democrat
CANDIDATES
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
ties in Caddo. In response to Stitt’s
calls for voters to elect him as a “po-
litical outsider” who has budgeting
experience through his private-sec-
Mar tor company, Richardson said this:
“I didn’t have to come from Caddo to
10 know what a budget is. But we don’t
know what we have because we don’t
do audits to find out what we have.”
2018 Do candidates support
alternative sources to fund
Oklahoma cities and towns,
Page such as an Internet sales tax?
002 Richardson: Supports the tax.
Stitt: Not in favor of new taxes that
Clip grow the state government, but is in
resized
favor of local control of the funding
40% available.
Powell: In favor of utilizing ad va-
From lorem taxes for cities, but cautious
001 on dependence upon property taxes
from new suburban growth.
Edmondson: Supports the Inter-
net tax and the continued separation
of ad valorem taxes for counties and
e schools, versus sales taxes to the mu-
nicipalities. “We must stop the state
from giving mandates to municipali-
ties that cost money, without provid-
ing the money to do it.”
Lawhorn: Supports Internet sales
tax if it is applied evenly as com-
pared to traditional “brick and mor-
tar” businesses. “The government
has no business deciding which
- businesses make it and which ones
don’t.”
Johnson: Supports the Internet
tax if decided upon and controlled
by municipal governments.
Jones: Says municipalities have
numerous existing resources that
they may not be fully utilizing.
Summary: Most candidates were
OK with the idea of taxing online
sales, giving examples of inequi-
ties like Target. Target has stores in
Oklahoma who charge point-of-sale
. taxes, but its online components re-
main largely untaxed.
Candidates were asked to
give their ideas on criminal
justice reform.
Johnson: Calls for an end to a
“body quota” in private prisons
and for a deep examination of laws
related to marijuana. “The laws on
cannabis in this state are directly re-
lated to our levels of incarceration.”
Lawhorn: Says more than half of
.
those jailed in Oklahoma never hurt
an individual or stole an item, but
are jailed on simple drug possession
charges. Says jailing addicts teaches
them to be harder criminals, and
this must change through treatment
programs.
Edmondson: Says the list of
crimes requiring mandatory mini-
mum jail sentences has tripled since
e
the minimums were enacted, and
u
this must be changed. Says more
mental health infrastructure will
bring down the prison population.
Powell: “The Libertarian Party
has been for ending drug prohibi-
tion since 1971. Prohibition does not
work.” Prefers the concept of “re-
storative justice” over punitive mea-
sures.
Stitt: Sees a “county-by-county”
inequity in Oklahoma as it pertains
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
to meting out fines and sentences.
“There are no good outcomes when
we just throw people in prison,
throw them away.”
Richardson: As a former state
prosecutor and US Attorney (ap-
pointed by Ronald Reagan, as he
pointed out twice), Richardson was
on the front lines of the “War on
Drugs” when sentencing and prison
beds were on the increase in an at-
tempt to curb crime. But he noted
Thursday that criminal justice re-
form enacted in Texas has resulted
in prison closings, while Oklahoma
is planning to build more. “It’s time
to put people in prison that we’re
afraid of, not the ones we’re mad at.”
Jones: Says the Department
of Corrections is “warehousing”
people, not redirecting them to
treatment and job improvement
programs. “You have to make invest-
ments in those programs to bring
down that prison population.”
Candidates were asked to discuss
the state of education and their
ideas to meet Oklahoma’s
occupational talent needs.
Stitt: Invoked the “trickle-down”
idea when pointing out that the
Trump tax cuts have lowered corpo-
rate tax rates from 35 percent to 21
percent. He sees this as an opportu-
nity for businesses to invest in Okla-
homa.
Powell: Says he supports local
schools and would propose less leg-
islative oversight and state-mandat-
ed teaching, freeing up teachers to
manage their own classrooms more.
Edmondson: Proposes to roll back
the gross production tax to 7 per-
cent, eliminate the capital gains tax,
utilize Medicaid funding to support
state education including teacher
pay raises. He also proposed an ad-
ditional $1.50 tax on cigarettes to dis-
courage youth smoking.
Lawhorn: Says he would focus on
industry partnerships and career
tech to update an “outdated industri-
al model” which is sending too much
talent out of state. He also seeks a
solution to state scholarships going
to out-of-state students, who many
times return to their home states
with virtually no benefit to Okla-
homa.
Johnson: Urged voters to support
State Question 788 (also on the June
26 ballot) to legalize medicinal mari-
juana. It would be taxed at 7 percent
with funds going to education and
other areas of state government.
Jones: He says society encour-
ages too many youths to attend col-
lege, resulting in a run-up of student
debt, when a portion of these youths
may not be ready or even willing to
engage in a university setting. His
solution is more career tech and job
readiness programs, which he says
would open the state to more diverse
business opportunities.
Richardson: Supports local school
control and is against forced consoli-
dation of districts. “Raising taxes
is not the answer. It helps cover up
what’s going on in our state, which is
corruption, waste and foolish spend-
ing.”
Summary: A wide variety of re-
sponses ranging from support of
legalized marijuana to curbing
state mandated testing, but overall
the candidates were in favor of in-
creasing career tech programs and
providing increased oversight to
streamline past budgeting mistakes.
Audience question: What do
the candidates plan to do
about Oklahoma’s crumbling
infrastructure?
Lawhorn: He would significantly
reform (or eliminate) the Okla-
homa Turnpike Authority. He said
the issue goes back to accountabil-
ity where private contractors are
operating “under the protection of
government” with little oversight or
incentive to do a good job.
Edmondson: “We absolutely have
to stop stealing money from the
Department of Transportation.”
He said this method has been used
by the state to fill budget holes, us-
ing gas tax money, at the expense
of county commissioners who are
left with few options to repair their
roads and bridges.
Powell: He would order an audit
and long-term strategic planning to
seek a remedy, but noted that Okla-
homa is the only state whose diesel
fuel tax is lower than motor car fuel
tax.
Stitt: Says he called one of the
state’s bridge building contractors
to learn more about the process,
and was told he was one of the only
candidates ever to call them for such
information. “If we keep doing the
same things since 1907, nothing will
change.”
Richardson: If elected, he plans
to “take down the toll gates” on the
state’s turnpikes. He is suspicious
of the bonded indebtedness process
which funds the turnpikes and sug-
gests a forensic audit of OTA. “All
the covers will come off. As gover-
nor, I want to see where that money
is going.”
Jones: He said his experience as a
former county commissioner helped
his perspective on roads and bridges.
But mistakes at the state level were
negatively impacting the state’s
bond rating, which in turn makes it
more difficult to secure funding for
improvement projects.
Johnson: Her infrastructure con-
cerns included the electrical grid,
water resources and broadband
Internet access. She proposes new
funding methods to combat big high-
way contractors and their industry
trade groups from influencing state
agencies.
Summary: All candidates seemed
to agree that the state’s infrastruc-
ture issues all go back to flawed bud-
getary practices. After this question,
candidates were given two minutes
each for closing remarks.
Some of the candidates used this
time to call out the five men who
didn’t attend the forum in Durant.
Richardson summed it up this way:
“If you’re applying for a job, and
that’s what we’re doing, you should
show up for the interview.”
Declared candidates who did not
attend the Thursday event in Durant
were Norman Brown (D), Mick Cor-
nett (R), Dan Fisher (R), Todd Lamb
(R), and Joe Maldonado (L). Candi-
date information is from Ballotpedia
as of Friday morning.
 The Lawton Constitution

NEW
CITY
CITY/IN BRIEF
Edmondson will speak
at Democrat meeting
Mar Drew Edmondson, candi-
11 date for governor, and state
Sen. Anastasia Pittman,
candidate for lieutenant
2018 governor, will be in Lawton
Monday for a meeting of
the Comanche County De-
Page mocratic Party.
A006 The meeting will be at 6
p.m. in Building 100 at
Clip Great Plains Technology,
resized 4500 W. Lee.
48%
Steve Fair will speak
to GOP Women
The Great Plains Repub-
lican Women’s monthly
meeting will be at 11:30
a.m. Thursday in the
Prairie Building at the Co-
manche County Fair-
grounds, 920 S. Sheridan.
Scheduled speaker meet-
ing is Fourth District
Chairman Steve Fair of
Duncan. Fair is a longtime
activist and office holder
and writes a weekly col-
umn for several Oklahoma
newspapers.
Reservations are re-
quired for lunch, which is
$12. Participants don’t have
to eat, but reservations are
required. Contact
text/call/email Mary Jane
Jones, 512-0900 or busy-
bee22653@aol.com. Dead-
line is Monday.
Republican men are wel-
come and may be associate
members.

County Republicans
n
m- will meet Tuesday
n Comanche County Re-
d publicans will hold their
y regular monthly meeting at
s- 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the au-
e ditorium of Building 100
d- Great Plains Technology
or Center, 4500 W. Lee.
d Scheduled to speak is
Matt Pinnell of Oklahoma
d City, a candidate for lieu-
r- tenant governor. Also
et speaking will be John Colli-
e son, president of No New
p- Oklahoma Taxes, a newly
r- group. Collison, now head
o- of the Collison Group, pre-
l. viously was with U.S. Sen.
nt Jim Inhofe and the Okla-
ge homa Farm Bureau.
at For information about
’t the Comanche County Re-
m publican Party call Chair-
re man Ed Petersen, 355-7100.
of
— The Constitution staff

Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.