And tonight we have for you our June twenty twenty four primary forum, and
tonight is being brought to you by Phillip sixty six and Susie Hughes Vintage mal
Tonight, we're going to have three different forums all wrapped up pretty much in
one. We're going to start with our county commissioners. We'll then speak to
our senator and also we will have for you our District ten contenders. And
once again, this is a forum and not a debate. All of our
participants will be given the same question to answer. Now, we do have
a few rules here to let everybody know that we do have opening and closing
statements. There'll be three minutes each, so you're going to have a good
long time to absorb a little bit of the candidates and what they stand for
and what they're all about. And each candidate will have two minutes to answer
each question. And once again we are ready to roll here in just a
little bit. We have our timekeeper tonight, and that is Nathan Thompson,
our news director, and he's got our little flash cards here, so he'll
tell me when to hush up as well. Before we get started. I'd
like for us to all stand for the pledge of allegiance, man, my
pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Bubbly
which it says, one Nation under God, indivisible with liberty as straw.
Thank you. We do have questions and we will begin here in just a
moment. Once again, I want to thank everyone for tuning in to k
onetv dot com, Facebook Live, also k one AM, fourteen hundred FM,
ninety three point three and ninety five point one, and then again our
sponsors Phillip sixty six and Susan Cues Vintage Ball and we had a drawing.
CEO goes first and Michael Cole, Yeah, lucky recipient of NUMROO. So
you get to first of all, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Your opening statement begins now. Thank you, tom. My name is Michael
Cohlaw. I am a thirty four year resident of Washington County here in Bartlesville.
I was born and raised in Enid, Oklahoma, in a pastor's home.
I watched my dad serve our community on two separate occasions as a member
of the ended school board, and so service to the community was something that
was modeled for me in the home that I grew up in. When I
came here to go to college in nineteen ninety I went to Oklahoma Wesley University
degree in pastoral ministry. Spent the next seventeen years working in the church world
in pastoral ministry, whether that be a youth pastor, a college pastor,
music pastor transitioning to working at the university where I served as the pastor for
campus ministries, served as a professor in the School of Religion there, worked
for an administrative office in the Wesleyan Church. So seventeen years in pastoral ministry,
and then a transition happened where I began working in the corporate world thirteen
years since then in oil and gas and banking. And I feel that being
a candidate for this position, I'm uniquely positioned with the skill set of working
with people for so many years. Seventeen years in pastoral ministry allowed me to
work with so many different people of so many different backgrounds, and then being
thrust into the world of corporate America, where I was fortunate enough to work
in finance for those thirteen years and have learned the financial management skills, the
financial acumen. The analysis skills. So it's a coupling of relationships, leadership,
and financial management that I believe uniquely positions me as the best potential candidate
for Washington County Commissioner District two. And I'm glad to be here tonight and
to answer any questions that we will have. All Right, thank you very
much, Corey Shovel, you are now ready your role my friend. Okay,
all right, thank you, thanks for having us, and thank thank
everybody for coming. I'm Corey Shivel, running for Washington County District two Commissioner.
I have worked with Washington County for twenty eight and a half years.
I am currently the supervisor of the Roads and Bridges have been for the past
fourteen years. I am a graduate of Oklahoma State Road Management Program. I
have twenty eight year safety achievement. I have supervised eight new bridge projects.
I've been a part of building miles and miles of roads as well as resurfacing
miles and miles of roads. As a supervisor, I have taken on many
responsibilities that include assessing roads and bridges, overseeing the upkeep on equipment and the
buildings of our department. In District three is where I work, tracking inventory,
managing personnel, and assisting the commissioner in the budget of that department.
And with that I have I have made a I have a good working relationship
with the commissioner, so I am able to see the day to day duties
of their job. And all of this I feel like plays a great part
in my ability to know the job on day one. I have a great
understanding of the budget process. I have attended, I have attended budget board
meetings, I've attended commissioner meetings. I know where the money comes from.
I know where the money goes. So I am simply running on my experience
and my knowledge, and I look forward to continuing the management of the resources
effectively and efficiently. Thank you very much, mister Darrel Worley. Tell us
about yourself well. Thank you Tom, Thank everybody for being here. Thank
Kaywan for putting this on. Yeah. I was born in Cladmore, Oklahoma.
I was raised in a rural area about halfway between Clamwoar and Prior and
I attended Sequoia Schools and graduated in nineteen seventy three. I worked on area
ranches and as a carpenter for about ten years or maybe a little longer,
and then I decided that I needed to go to college and try to do
a little better for myself. I received my bachelor's degree from Northeastern State in
nineteen eighty nine. I passed the examination to be a professional engineer in nineteen
ninety nine. Since then, I've worked as an engineer or a project manager.
Most of my project manager experience has been in road building or environmental remediation.
I have overseen projects with very large budgets in both the private and public
sectors, and as an engineer and project manager, I currently run a one
man engineering consulting business and have since twenty fifteen. I worked in the engineering
department for the City of Bartlesville for eight years. I was a city lead
for Operation Clean House for seven of those years. I am a Christian and
my wife, Sandy, and I have been attending First Lesleyan Church for twenty
plus years. My biblical worldview is very important to me. I am vice
currently Vice chairman of Precinct eleven, and I have been a Precinct officer multiple
times since two thousand and seven, which is when we moved to our new
where we're located now. I have been preparing for a position as a county
commissioner all of my life. It is because of these previous diverse experience I
believe I am the most qualified to be the next district to Washington County commissioner.
Thank you, Thank you very much. Nice to get to everybody kind
of acquainted with one another before we have our conversation. Some people call it
a form, but we're having a discussion here tonight. We're all among friends.
We're going to start off with the first question, and it's going to
go to Cory. Now, these are questions that have been submitted by you.
I didn't write them, but we did have to modify some of these,
and we didn't use all of them because, quite honestly, we just
didn't have enough time. You guys are so good at putting these questions in.
Some of it actually been merged. This one is a very personal one
that came in Corey. It says, I live in a rural area with
a gravel road. What would be your plan for a good road maintenance for
a gravel road? Well, if you know, if the road continues to
stay gravel, Uh, you know, we assess these roads. I as
as the road form and I try to drive these roads once a week,
and I'm I'm not gonna lie to you. I don't make every road once
a week. We have one hundred and eighty six miles in District three that
I am the supervisor of. But I do try to I do try to
hit these at least once every two weeks. So if it's if it is
a gravel road, obviously we're gonna we're gonna grade that road. We're gonna
maintain it to the best of our ability. We weather dictates everything that we
do. You you cannot plan any kind of a grading schedule because if it
rains a lot, we may grade that road two maybe three times a month.
If it is hot and dry in the summertime, we're probably not gonna
grade that road. If there's potholes, we'll we will go out and and
you know, we will hit the potholes get them graded out, but we
we will not grade the entire road because it just creates more dust and people,
I tell you, people do not like dust. So yeah, that
that would be That would be my plan on a on a gravel road.
All right, same question to you, mister Worleye. I live in a
rural area with a gravel road and what would your plan be for a good
road maintenance on a gravel road. Well, I would do my best to
set up a schedule for maintenance. We would, of course, we would
be checking the roads on a regular basis, as Corey said, but when
we go out through the grating, water is what kills those roads. You've
got to make the drainage right. If you're going to keep a road and
it'll make a difference with its gravel or or asphalt, you've got to make
sure the darnings is correct. Very good and to you, mister Cola,
I live in a rural area of the gravel road. What would be your
plan for a good road maintenance for a gravel road. Well, to reiterate,
I do believe that grading the road is imperative, and as mister Chivel
said, you have to go out and drive these roads and be familiar with
them. But as a county commissioner, it would be my responsibility to work
with our road foreman, to work with our crew to make sure that they
have everything that they need in order to make sure that these roads are graded,
that they have the gravel they need, the right type of gravel they
need for these roads to keep them in the proper state that they should be
in for a safe environment, and as well for the constituents on their roads.
Alrighty, our next question is, and it's gonna good, it's going
to go to Darryl, how will you reduce spending? And we're toward leaner
budgets? Well, last night we all had a forum and we kind of
got similar questions. I've been looking at that today. One thing I think
I would look at to begin with, and probably I'm not saying that could
happen, is look at some privatization and maybe go away from us having all
the personnel and maybe look for having contractors. Of course it had to be
with bids and we'd have to show that we would save money, but that
would be one of the things I would look at. Okay, very good
to you and mister Kla. How will you reduce spending and have leaner budgets?
So, first of all, I would look at the budgets, see
what we have and what the different line items are appropriated to figure out where
we are being ineffective, where we're being inefficient. I've had the opportunity to
talk with people who live in District two and people who work in District two,
and I think it's imperative for us, all three county commissioners to work
together, or if we're going to buy gravel, let's work together on a
bid to buy gravel from the same location so that then we'll get it at
a reduced cost rather than buying gravel from a different location based upon the district
that you work in. So that's one way specifically that I think we could
lower costs for the district. Again, it's about being effective. It's about
being efficient with our resources and the time and the main or the equipment that
we have. And to you, Corey, Corey Shivel, how will you
reduce spending and have leaner budgets? Okay, well, I guess advantage me
I have. I've been in budget board meetings. I see the budget.
I know what we have. The money that we receive is what operates the
county and there's really nothing more or nothing less to that. I don't see
that there is any kind of overspending on anything from the experience that I have
had that I have so as far as reducing spending, I'm very open minded
and if someone can show us where we are overspending, and we could fix
that. I would be all in favor of that. Very good. We
go back to Michael Cohlaugh here for next question. Being a county commissioner,
many people seem to think it's roads, roads, bridges, and roads,
but it's not. How do you see the position of county commissioner. I
see the position of county commissioner as the chief administrator and manager of everything that
happens within the county. You are correct. I do believe most people think
roads and bridges when they think about a county commissioner. That is a portion
of the job. The job is working with the other elected officials, working
with hired people or individuals who live or work in the county. We set
the budget in Washington County. We have a budget board, and so the
county commissioners are the chairman of that budget board. They again are the chief
administrators of everything that happens in the county. If we need more money for
our Sheriff's department, it's going to go through the county commissioners, our county
fair grounds, our county Courthouse, the annex building just next to it behind
us here. So they are the chief administrators of everything that happens in the
county and it is their job to be the stewards of the tax dollars and
to do that to the best of their ability. Very good, Corey Chivel.
Do you more than just roads? How do you see the position of
county commissioner? Yeah, I would echo what mister Colaw has said. He's
done his homework over there. Good for you. Yeah, you know that
the county commissioner, they oversee the upkeep on all of the buildings that they
have. There's there's the Sheriff's department, there's the fair grounds, there's the
administrative building, there's the courthouse. I mean, there's a lot of property
that that has to have upkeep constantly. So there's that, and then you
know, as as mister Kohla was saying, they are they're on the budget
board, they have their commissioner meetings, they are approving purchase orders, they're
approving payroll, they're approving salaries, they are awarding contracts. So yes,
there is there's a lot more to roads and bridges. Although I would I
would disagree about the ten percent roads and bridges. I've heard that many times.
I think I think that is a big, a big part of their
job. You know, that is a that is over a one point five
million dollar budget that that one commissioner has total control over. So I think
that warrants a pretty good percentage of his maybe not physical but mental attention.
And so yeah, I'll leave it. I'll leave it there. I'm getting
a yellow sign. I'm kind of proud of that, mister Daryl Worley.
Again, more than just roads. How do you see the position of county
commissioner? Well, I believe that as a board of county commissioners, they
can act as the strong mayor for the whole county. Yeah. If you
know what a strong mayor system of government is that they are in charge of
all the administration and the buck stops with them. All right, very good,
We're going to go on to Corey here. When it comes to a
county government and being a commissioner, how do you see the expansion of certain
things like say maybe a new facility, perhaps an expo center or something like
that. How do you perceive seeing that coming about if that would even be
in your purview or your plans? Sure, yeah, I know that the
commissioners were working on an expo building. I think the biggest question on that
is can it be self sufficient? How is it going to, you know,
pay for itself? Can it pay for itself? I am I'm one
hundred percent open to that. I think it would be a great thing for
Washington County. I think it would bring in outsiders who's going to spend money
in our county. I think that's wonderful. I would like to see a
proposal as far as are we going to be able to fill that facility week
in and week out? And will it pay for itself? Very good?
Same question to you, mister Willie, how do you see the expansion possibly
of something like the new facility as a commissioner along the lines of an expot
building, say well, I'm a big believer in the free market, and
I believe that the government should stay in their lane and the capitalism should stay
in their lane. I would not be for a have an expost center.
Very good, same question. So this comes up a possible expansion of facilities,
say an exposed center. Where would you stand on an issue like that?
Well, again, as mister Chivell said, the commissioners have looked at
it and it was definitely a very hot conversation topic for quite wayside and doesn't
look like at this point time it would come to profession. I would not
have a problem with a new expo center as long as it's not a tax
burden, an additional tax burden on the constituents and the people of watchcount I
would agree one hundred percent with what mister Chivel said. We would need to
fill that each and every weekend. We would need to see an economic impact
on our community, a positive economic impact on our community in order for me
to fully support that. But if we could do that, if we could
find the proposal, and we could find the land, and we could find
a way to do that, I would have no problem with that whatsoever.
Okay, It's true, Worley, and this comes from someone who's seen a
lot of signs. Okay, as a commissioner, do you support the laws
of the state of Oklahoma, specifically I dot, and if so, have
you made sure that none of your signs violate the placement along the highway rights
of ways. I've done my best. My wife is the biggest sign put
outer that I have. I've given her a certain's instructions that not used and
not the end to stay on the right of way, not to put them
in people's yards. All right, mister Cola, I would absolutely say I
respect all of those laws. You will not find a sign of mind that
is not placed where someone has requested or why I have requested and received permission
to put a sign at that location. Mister Schill, absolutely, I echo
what mister Coe Law says. Every sign that I have out, I have
either been asked to put a sign there, or I have asked to put
a sign there, or they have taken a sign from a setting like this.
And if I'm nearly one hundred percent certain that they have not put them
where, they're not supposed to be very good for our closing statements here,
and we are going to start off. Where is Keeler here? Where do
we go here? Okay, Daryl, it's time for your closing statement here,
So you have three minutes. Okay, I do on get three minutes.
My life experiences and education have prepared me to be a county commissioner.
I am running on a platform of property rights, individual rights, and election
integrity. Property. Property and individual rights are granted by God. They are
not granted by the governments. The Constitution are to ensure those rights are not
violated by the government at any level. I've read and marked up the Republican
Platform. The reason to say to all this that I know the people.
Let the people know that I will support the principles stated in that platform.
In all my deliberations, I will use biblical principles, principles found in the
US Constitution, the Yoklahoma Constitution, and I will take my oath to preserve
and protect the constitutions very seriously. While I have no evidence to suspect voter
fraud has occurred in Worston County, I do believe the elections can be made
more transparent. I believe all elections should be open to independent audits, and
I would be in favor of handcounts at precinct level with observers loud. I
also believe the results of all malian and early voting ballots should be putted in
the first fifteen minutes following the close of the actual precincts. In my working
career, I've always prided myself in being able to communicate and work with all
people, from the labor and the ditch, to the chairman of the company
to the mayor of the city. I have always been able to come to
an understanding with people without compromising my principles. I will not be afraid to
be the lone descending book on an issue that is important to protect the rights
of the people. When elected, I will serve my con constituents to the
best of my ability. And in closing, I ask you for your support
in the upcoming election. Thank you very much, Krey Chivel your closing stevements.
Okay, I'm going to keep this on the county commissioner level here and
go with What makes me the best candidate for this job is my experience and
knowledge. I work well with others. I have built good relationship relationships with
the people that I work with and with the people that I will be working
with. I am invested with the county. I care about the future of
the county. I am committed. I have the ability to talk to people
and the ability to answer their questions, and most importantly, I have the
ability to listen to people. So that is why I feel like I am
the best candidate for this job and with one hundred percent appreciate your support and
vote on June eighteenth. Thank you. Thank you, Michael Colach, your
closing statement. Please, First of all, I'd like to thank you Tom
for moderating tonight, thank you Bartseol Radio, Potter family for hosting and putting
on this forum tonight. And I would be remiss if I did not thank
the Washington County Republican Party for the forum that they hosted last night, as
well as the Washington County Republican and other Conservatives who hosted a forum a week
ago. Thank you very much for allowing us all to have the opportunity to
share. I believe I'm the best candidate for this position because for me,
this is first infantionment understanding financial management, understanding setting button airing to budgets,
and being stewards of the taxpayer dollars. It's about leadership. And when I
say young age, I mean in my twenties, I was thrust into leadership
positions I wasn't expected to be in. And I've led teams of one,
teams of three, teams of two hundred, and I do not have a
problem working with people. The Greeks have a word for service and it's called
do loss. Do loss is translated servant leader, and so leadership for me
is about serving the people. It's about working with the people who are around
you, which leads me to the final thing, and that is relationships.
Relationships are so very important in life. We have to have proper relationships with
those around us. We have to be able to get along with people that
we don't agree with and have decorum and have upright relationships with them. It
has been a privilege to go through this campaign and to get to know mister
Chivell. I've known mister Worthley for years and years and years and we were
neighbors. It has been a very civil and respectful campaign. I'm grateful for
that. And so relationships and building those relationships with the constituents, building relationships
with the other commissioners, with the other elected officials and those who work within
the county is imperative to being a good county commissioner. And so I think
all of that sets me apart to be the ideal candidate. And I again
would appreciate your vote on Tuesday, June eighteenth, Thank you very much.
A reminder that we do have early voting that takes place on Thursday and Friday
upstairs, fourth floor, can't miss it, and also on Saturday as well,
and then of course on the traditional election day would be Tuesday the eighteenth.
Also, want to thank all of you for being up here with us
here voters. You got your work cut out for you. These are three
fine men and they all present very well tonight. Let's give them all a
hand. Will be right back after these commercial messages. You are watching and
listening to our political forum for twenty twenty four from City Hall right here in
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a quiet day across bunch of southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. We're looking for
quiet weather again tonight. One more night of pleasant weather. Tempertures dropping down
to the low sixties. Great start to get you going out the door on
your Wednesday Wednesday afternoon party. Sunny, Unfortunately getting a lot warmer, some
call it hot hinds me around ninety. We're being a load of mid nineties
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R Forum and I like I'm traveling and Susie C's vintage mall right here on
k one AM fourteen hundred FM, ninety three point three FM ninety five point
one and on k ONETV dot com, Apple TV and Roku. And once
again we have Senator Daniels here tonight for our forum. And first of all,
Senator, we're going to start you up with your opening statement. You
have three minutes to address the crowd. Thank you Tom, Thank you kwo
In and the city for allowing us to use the City Council chamber, and
everyone here in the live audience. My name is Julie Daniels, and I'm
a candidate for State Senate to represent Washington, Nowada and the northern half of
Rogers County. Government of Buying for the People is about people. This entire
job is about people. It's the eighty four thousand different residents who live in
this district, many of them Native Oklahomas. Many more I'm discovering recent transplants
to the state of Oklahoma. Just this week, I've met someone from Missouri
and Colorado and a Native San Franciscan, all of whom have chosen our state
as their residence because we represent the values that they hold. Dear. We
believe in limited government, we believe in attracting business and having strong jobs.
We are a really attractive place for people to want to come. And part
of this was COVID, but many others are coming just because they've reached a
stage in life that they want to go someplace where they feel that they are
unfettered, they can live more freely and express themselves more freely than where they
were before, and for that reason they've come to my state. I'm a
native Oklahoma, born and raised in Oklahoma City. I graduated from the University
of Oklahoma. I attended my first year of law school there before I married
Charlie, who will be here in a moment. He's been out all day
doing his thing. Forty six years ago and he was a lawyer for Phillips
Petroleum Company. So I moved up here and commuted to the University of Tulsa.
For the last two years of law school, I interned with the DA's
office. I wanted to be an assistant district attorney. That may be still
why I have some feeling for the das and what they do. But Charlie
got transferred to London so we went there immediately after I took my last final
exam, and we came back nine years later with two little boys, and
I decided that, being out of Bartlesville for almost a decade and wanting to
stay home and raise my kids, that I would take advantage of, as
you all know in this audience, the multitude of opportunities in this community to
be of service as a volunteer, whether it was in the school's parents support
group, band orchestra, choir, booster club, many nonprofits, including my
beloved Boys and Girls Club, and then coming here and sitting behind this table
for eight years, a couple of years in Tom's seed as mayor and serving
on our city council. And I did that intentionally because I'm a conservative,
a lifelong Republican with very conservative values, and I wanted to apply my political
philosophy to governing and I did that here and it worked out very well.
And so when I had the opportunity in twenty sixteen, I ran for the
state Senate, and I have had the extreme honor of serving you for eight
years. I would like to serve the last four because all the things I
said about volunteering in this community and all the things I bring to the table,
you can add even more to that after eight years as your state senator,
and I hope to get into more of what I have been able to
do. And I appreciate very much being here, and i'd appreciate your vote
on June eighteen. Thank you. We have our first question. These were
formulated and set in via email to us at the radio station. We've condensed
a few for time, and first one is about water conservation, water protection,
and even perhaps finding new versus of water. It's a big issue in
our part of Oklahoma. As we grow and expand more people are finding us
here. From the position of a state senator, what can you do to
protect our interest in these efforts? And what can be done in your position
proactively? I took some experience with water issues with me to the Senate.
We all know about the drought of two thousand and one and our twenty plus
year effort which is gaining even more steam now to ultimately resolve our water supply
problem up here in Marshton County. But I was allowed to serve on the
Energy and Natural Resources Committee the first two years in the Senate. A natural
fit for somebody from Bartlesville, USA. But also because of the water experience,
I was able to engage on the conservation issues and the great need to
expend dollars on water infrastructure issues in our state just this past session. I
do not recall if we ended up putting all of it into the budget,
but we were looking to put an initial one hundred and twenty five million dollars
into water infrastructure repairs and construction in our state. Because the best way to
conserve water is to make sure you're not losing it as you treat it and
transport it to people's homes. So it's a big state wide issue, and
it's a bipartisan issue, solder treatment plant upgrades. And I'm also very very
proud of the fact that now putting in place the science, we're measuring progress
of individual students and so in the public education system. I think that's the
best thing we can do for parents, teachers, and children. And also
of course always looking at the overburdened sie. So, will you ever support
driver's licenses for illegal aliens? Thank you for the question. It's come up
a lot. On May the twenty fourth of this year, we passed the
Anti Illegal Immigration Act in Oklahoma, we're already being sued by the Department of
Justice. Which is not a surprise to us, but a bill to allow
people who pay income to acts with a taxpayer ID number to become eligible for
a driver's license, so that they would buy insurance and cut down on the
problem of uninsured drivers on our roads, which is also a public safety problem
for having people for whom you have no identity when they are stopped contributing to
hit and run accidents. That language was attempted to be put into our bill
on May the twenty fourth, and the entire Senate Republican caucus voted it down,
including me. Now, this is the fourth time that bill has been
introduced. It's had three different numbers, but the same subject matter was put
before us in twenty twenty two, and at the time, the great concern
was making sure if you adopted this policy that those folks would not have voter
registration services, would not be allowed to register or vote. Many groups were
in favor of the policy. Again, looking at the problem of uninsured drivers
in Oklahoma, we have a large percentage of that. It is a problem
which I've just described, So I voted to send it to the House,
because I thought if the House addresses it, it means both sides of the
legislature think it's an important issue and perhaps this is a policy that would help
it. The House didn't act. That bill did not pass. There are
people today who think it is in effect, but it did not pass,
and I told the author in March of twenty twenty two, I won't vote
for this again. I gave you a chance to put the policy to the
House. We all agreed it is a problem in Oklahoma, but that's not
the appropriate way to solve it. In twenty three, twenty four, I
helped make sure it didn't get to the floor as an assistant floor leader,
and then on April the twenty fourth, along with my Republican colleagues, I
voted that amendment down. So I'm not in favor of illegal residents having driver's
licenses. Senator, the authored bills regarding gender transitioning in children. Can you
explain them to the audience? Yes. I was put as chairman of the
Rules Committee left year specifically to take up legislation where the Republican caucus wanted to
speak with one voice, and I had the opportunity to direct the drafting of
a bill that would prohibit gender transition procedures in minor children, children under the
age of eighteen, because in Oklahoma, once you're eighteen, you can make
your own medical decisions. And I took great care in crafting it. My
goal was to make sure it could stand up in court, and so far
we have prevailed in federal district court and we're awaiting a decision from the Tenth
Circuit right now. We said that we are not doing anything about behavioral care,
mental health care, anxiety depression. Those were not involved in this bill.
It was simply the physical treatments on minor children that we wanted to avoid
because you're making adult decisions as a child, and I believe that parents have
been put in a very awkward position. Some of my colleagues actually wanted the
bills right to be written to prosecute the parents, and I said, no,
absolutely not. The parents themselves are at a loss in some of these
situations, so we need to show compassion for both the kids and the parents,
but just make sure that in Oklahoma we don't perform these procedures on children.
And got that passed fairly handly, and again we have prevailed thus far.
And other states that have done it our way, just clear and not
tried to muddy the waters by putting too many other things in the bill have
also prevailed in the courts, and that is my goal. Good policy that
can stand up in a court of law. Senator, can you explain Senate
Bill eight thirty four and whether it allows more abortions back in Oklahoma? Thank
you. No, it was not intended to do that, and we did
not take up the bill in the end. I regret so much that there
is a division in the pro life community in Oklahoma at the time that we
are facing two very fierce foes. We are facing the Oklahoma Supreme Court,
which declared a right to abortion in the Oklahoma Constitution in March of last year,
at the very same time that I was trying to get eight thirty four
passed. To make all of the language and all of our statutes having to
do with abortion and pro life read the same. Every definition should be the
same, every exception should be the same, so that our state Supreme Court
could not pick the laws apart and find a weak link. But they found
a week link because we took no action, and now we are facing the
abortionists themselves, who will be coming to Oklahoma for our unborn children, And
we have not done enough to protect the unborn from the ad campaign that is
going to be coming our way that has swept other states, other pro life
states just like ours. Eight thirty four was intended to say, if the
exception exists in this part of the law, exist over here. I was
the author, the Senate author of House Bill for three two seven. That
was the Steerman Daniels bill that did shut the abortion clinics down in Oklahoma.
It was because you could sue the abortionist rather than the criminal law you could
sue. And that was the bill that had the rape and incest exception in
it for the very first time in our statutes. So I simply took that
and said, along with ectoptic presidency and our definition of contraception and our definition
of save the life of the mother, we're going to make all of our
statutes sound the same so that the abortionists and the pro abortion Supreme Court cannot
pick them apart. We didn't take that action. We've already suffered in the
state Supreme Court, and I fear we will suffer when the initiative petition for
abortion on demand up until the time of birth in our constitution comes our way,
and we better be prepared to fight for life at that time. Senator,
do you agree or disagree with using tax payer dollars for economic debs de
elepment instead of allowing the free market to function. When I served on the
city council, I remember going to our economic development people over the chamber early
on and saying, I don't like incentives. Why can't we get rid of
these incentives, to which he said, that's fine. When everybody else gets
rid of them, we can get rid of them. But to be competitive
sometimes you have to have incentives. Here in Bartlesville, we have what a
quarter cent economic development sales tax that we have renewed every five years for over
three decades and it has worked exactly as it's supposed to. Jobs, bring
it to the BDA, bring it to the city council, have the format
for the rebate or the incentive baked in before the money goes out the door,
and then if you don't achieve what you said you're going to achieve,
the money comes back into the kitty. It's the same the state level,
it's a little more complicated and the numbers of dollars are larger than they are
for a city, but I believe in a certain instant incentives are justified.
We have a Quality Jobs Act, and Oklahoma's been here a long long time.
That is all practically on autopilot. Over in the Department of Commerce.
I know Chronicle Phillips benefited from it. ABB's benefited from it. But these
one off, one time things do come to us. I much prefer rebates
to putting money out the door and then hoping that you get the return on
the investment. We are looking at how our Department of Commerce is structured to
make sure that we couldn't do it better. It was proposed that we should
create an entire separate Department of Commerce for economic development this last year. I
opposed that. I told the author I wasn't going to do that, and
in the end the bill was simply to set up a committee to study how
can we do economic development better in Oklahoma? So if we do use tax
dollars, we do it in the most sophisticated, well researched way possible.
Our next question came in to via emails. We well, why is our
legislator are allowing a bar association which is a private organization. Why they give
them the right to appoint members of the important judicial nominating commission. Gosh,
Tom, I didn't send a question, but it could have been from me.
My biggest reform effort this year, and I've been building on it for
several years, is judicial reform, which is changing the way we appoint our
appellate justices in Oklahoma. I want the people to decide whether or not they'd
like to move to the federal system. The President vets and appoints, the
Senate confirms, and then they get life tenure. We have life tenure now
with this retention ballot. We've never thrown any justice off. But given what
I've just said about the pro life issue, I suggest you vote off Couger
and Edmondson when you have the opportunity in November. They are two of the
five pro abortion justices who found the right to abortion in our constitution. I
want to change it so that we take this elected commission out of the loop.
Right now, people apply to be a justice, which I've always thought
is rather odd. But you apply to be a justice, you're vetted by
this commission that is unduly influenced by the bar Association because they're the only lawyers
allowed on the commission. So when you turn to somebody and say you're a
lawyer, you know more than me. That's been entirely controlled by the Bar
Association electing its members to the Commission. It's been in place for almost fifty
years. Before that, we had partisan elections of justices. And so I'd
like to give the folks the opportunity to say, yes, the governor's elected
by all the people. The Senate is elected by the districts. So you've
got the two elected branches should be the ones making the appointment and the confirmation,
and then set this independent judiciary on its way. I think we would
get much better decisions from our court. They would be much more reflective of
the people of the state of Oklahoma. Sadly, even though the Senate got
it, I'm very proud of by Senate colleagues, the House did not.
They it failed. The House didn't want the people to get to vote on
this. But I'll be back to try again because I think it would get
a much better result for us in Oklahoma, particularly when they act as legislators
in black robes. I have two more questions for you here before we wrap
up center. If a pandemic were to occur again, such as COVID nineteen,
would you vote to require masks in public building? Thank you not.
I drew the line on telling private employers what they must do, anything that
prohibited government from demanding a vaccine or a mask. I was absolutely all for
that. I'm very proud of the fact that we already had in place in
Oklahoma very limited emergency powers for our governor. What other states were looking at
as model language. We already had a thirty day emergency. It had to
be re upped by the legislature. They could take it away at any time.
So the pandemic with the tools in place to make sure that our freedoms
were not unduly affected by that very tumultuous time. The other thing I was
able to do then with one of my colleagues in the House, was to
write the bill that gave liability protection to business owners. When we were starting
to open up again, people said, what if we're sued? So we
made sure that as long as you were following one guidance from the Department of
Labor or the Centers for Disease Control or the Oklahoma Department Health if you were
following one of those guidances, you would not be liable if somebody claimed they
contracted COVID in their place of employment or in the business. And that was
another thing that helped get us open a lot quicker than some of the other
states. Senator, what steps would you take to end the state income tax?
I have tried to do that already, and along with judicial reform,
I will continue to work on it. I'm frustrated that we have not yet
adopted a formula by which we can gradually reduce the income tax depending on state
revenues. We did it before, but did it in such a way that
as soon as revenue went up a little bit, it triggered the cut.
And then we faced the budget shortfall of twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen, and
people got completely cold feet about the trigger that was in place, and so
they repealed it. I've been on a tax reform task force, hard to
say, for the last two years, where we've studied how all the other
states do it, and we've had the Tax Foundation in here, We've had
ALEC in here, We've had the state and the US Chamber of Commerce talking
about how different states construct their tax code so as to figure out a way
to gradually go to zero. I authored the quarter cent reduction in twenty three.
The ProTem took it away from me, but that's okay. We got
it passed, and this year with the Speaker, I authored that again without
the cut, but just the formula. But again there's just too much disagreement
on which is the right way to go for the Republican Party in both houses
to unite. So I will continue to work on that. Senator, it's
down time for your closing statement. Thank you. So tax cuts, judicial
reform, protecting the Republican reforms that were put in place when my party finally
took the majority in both houses after one hundred years of rule by the now
minority party. It's important to protect those reforms, lawsuit reform, workers comp
reform, pension reform, because they impact every decision that we make, particularly
the monetary ones at the state level. And because of term limits, which
I do support and voted for. I am now the institutional knowledge for those
reforms because when the pro tem turns out this year, there won't be anybody
left except those of us who were working through the Republican Party to get legislators
to put those reforms in place, so I will continue to work on those.
I'm very interested in rolling regulations. We have far too many. Even
in a state that doesn't overly regulate, we could improve greatly, and I
believe this would be a great help to small business owners in our state who
employ most of the people. Standing up for individual freedom will continue to be
very important to me. Having passed bills on campus free speech, free exercise
of religion, donor privacy, election integrity, I continue to be asked to
run those sorts of bills, and I will continue to work with all those
advocates that want to protect our freedoms and so in closing, it's been the
honor of a lifetime to serve these last eight years. I've had some opportunities
the last six years to be in leadership which allows me to have a larger
voice and input at the table about what happens in our state and therefore what
happens in Senate District twenty nine. I think those opportunities are ahead of me
for these next four years and appreciate your vote. On June eighteen. Danielsokasenate
dot com, Facebook, Senator Julie Daniels message bing or you can text or
call me at nine one eight three three one seven two sixty seven. Thank
you, kwo In, Thank you Bartlesville. Thank you Senate District twenty nine.
Thank you very much, Senator Julie Daniels. Once again, folks say
you can catch all of our podcasts from all of our candidates on our website
at Bartlesville Radio dot com. It's called the campaign Corner. It's enter the
demand tab, so if you want to go there. And also a reminder
that we have early voting on Thursday and Friday upstairs fourth floor. Saturday as
well, shortened time. I believe it's eight to two and that's upstairs two
on the fourth floor as well. Again, thank you Senator Daniels for being
our guest here tonight. Folks, you are watching and listening to our forum
for our twenty twenty four primary. It's right here at City Hall in Bartlesville,
and it's being brought to you by Phillip sixty six and Susie use Vitage
Mall on AM fourteen hundred KWN Bartlesville, FM ninety three point three K one
Bartlesville and also at ninety five point one kW and Paul Husk as well as
K one TV dot com. We'll be back with more after these words on
K one the one you trust. Joe Riddle for Susie Q's Vintage Mall.
I've been a collector of my whole life, and if you ever went to
the Tulsa Flea Market on a Saturday morning at the fairground, You're gonna love.
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jewelry, home decor, antiques, and collectible susie Ces Vintage Mall, a
small mall with large variety just southeast from the radio station at two twenty five
South Command Gee susie Qs Vitage Mall. Attention Bartlesville. As residents of the
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screened now visit screen your lungs dot org. Today it's been a quiet day
across bunch of southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. We're looking for quiet weather again
tonight. One more night of pleasant weather. Temperatures dropping down to the low
sixties. Great start to get you going out the door on your Wednesday Wednesday
afternoon party. Sunny. Unfortunately getting a lot warmer. Some call it hot
hides me around ninety. We're being a load to mid nineties Thursday and Friday,
and mid nineties for the weekend. HID index values around one hundred.
So summer's making a big surge into the area. With all the clouds and
showers staying down in Texas, from the Bob Mills Weather Center. I'm News
on sixteen as meteorologist Travis Meyer. I'm back to Barmarial City Hall. I'm
Tom Davis and this is our June twenty twenty four primary forum and it's being
brought to you by Phillips sixty six and Susiccu's Vintage Mall. It is now
time for our state representatives to take to the stand here today for our forum
and this is for District to ten. And first off, we want to
hear from our candidates. Are opening, Stevens, Chad McCarthy, you won
the drum. Let's hear from you. Introduce yourself. Thank you. It's
a privilege to be here today. Quick introduction. I've been married for twenty
eight years. My wife Heather, and my son may be here. My
youngest son, So married for twenty years, father to six children. We
currently live on a farm outside of Dewey, Oklahoma. Most of my life
has been spending Christian ministry, church planting, doing missionary work. During that
time, I also built half a dozen businesses in order to support us during
Christian ministry, built and sold, so I've got some quite a bit of
business experience. I have an earned Masters and PhD. I'm currently an interim
pastor Whipperwell in Osh County, and so I just want to be clear where
I'm coming from my biblical worldview. I clearly unequivocally confess the Creator's right to
guide our lives. I'm a conservative by conviction and as such, and as
such let me reflect on the Oklahoma GOP platform. As Republicans, we believe
our rights of life, liberty, and property are natural rights granted to us
by God, protected by the Constitution, to be defended by our elected officials,
even during a declared emergency. We believe that God is the author and
creator of life, and that all human life, both born and in the
womb, should be protected. We believe that economic freedom is the cornerstone of
individual liberty. The private sector and free market principles are the best means to
stimulate economic development, not government programs. It is the right of every parent
to act in their children's best interests, including the health decisions and choosing the
form of education, whether at private or public schools, or education by other
means. By this of conviction, I would say representing you as a representative
in host District Keen is not about fixing potholes, economic development, or service
not primarily that is the job of the free market or the county commissioners.
As we heard from earlier, We're not a socialist or a top down government.
We are a constitutional republic, and so therefore supporting and protecting your rights
as citizens will be my primary responsibility if elected. Now, the Republican Party
requires the candidate support the GOP platform. In order to receive GOP support.
I have read and marked that platform. I have a copy with me today.
It's spread out in front of me. I've marked and read up the
platform. You will hear me cite section and page number this evening. This
platform represents the belief that we as Republicans hold dear. The platform truly does
represent conservative biblical values, and I will proudly stand with the OK GOP platform,
and we'll fight to protect, to protect and defend these values. On
your behalf. Thank you very much, John Trump. Yes, sir,
turned for opening remarks. Thank you. I have to apologize. I'm somewhere
between a sneeze and a cough going here. I am Judge Strom. I
have I live right now where I came, just about a mile from where
I came home from the hospital too. So I've spent my entire life in
District ten. I went to Bowery School, I went to Okenhma State University.
My family and everyone I've growing up with, we're very service oriented.
We're very community oriented. I tell people, you know, my dad's been
the president of the Bowering School Board for forty five years. My grandpa helped
build the water district. My dad and my family we help build the rural
fire Department up there and we've served on it. I've actually been a firefighter
for thirty years. I was a certified firefighter before I had a driver's license.
And that's really what stemmed one of my directors to move me towards Wood
government then was we were having trouble out in the rural areas as so much
a District ten was getting what we needed to help those communities. The rural
fire departments, the rural water departments. A lot of those came apart as
federal government programs, and when those went away at the state level, we
didn't have the help we needed, and so that's where I went in.
One of the things I say is I appreciate people that live on a platform
I also have kind of a little different platform that I exist on. But
one of the reasons I ran I ran against a guy that was a great
man. He was a family man, he was a loving man, he
was a very intelligent man. He come from a great family and everything.
But his entire philosophy for governance came from a platform that I didn't think aligned
with the majority or the overwhelming majority of the people of District ten. Kind
of an alternate idea to my opponent, I suppose, was that we did
want good roads, we did want good bridges, we did want good schools.
We were tired of being a left behind to the big cities. We
wanted those opportunities out here. And I wanted to see what I could do.
I wanted to go to work at the state level to see what I
could do to help my community. And in the six years I've been in
this position, I have spent four of those years in leadership, and I'm
very proud of the job we've done and the resources we've brought back to District
ten and the job we've been able to do. And a lot of that
has been even relinquishing some of that power from the state and giving that back
to the counties, given that back to the cities, bringing that back to
local control, which is a big party platform thing. So I'm proud of
that job. I appreciate and I'm proud of the six years I've served.
I'm honored to have served the people for six great years, and I would
like to serve for two more at least. Our first question goes to Dudstrom
water conservation, water protection and even perhaps finding new sources of water, big
issue in our part of Oklahoma as it grows. From the position of state
representative, what can you do to pact our interest in these efforts and what
can be done in your position proactively. I think in the last two years,
three years especially, we have been very proactive. You know, I
have a great friend that's represented from lot and I used to send them snapchats
of all the water fallen off in the watershed lakes and said, this is
what we do with our extra water. Well that come back and bit me.
In the last few years as we did face droughts, we worked very
hard with the Okamororo Water Board or the Water Resources Board to get the things
we need to keep the water going. But we've we've worked since then to
look to the future, and you have to have a plan, you have
to do studies, you have to know what we need to do when that
comes around again. We've looked at raising the levels on the lakes that we
do have where our water sources are. We've looked at pipelines that run to
other lakes and water sources. We've looked you creating new lakes for water sources.
I don't know if you'd say it's lucky or not, but Martlesville was
built with the water source that was adequate and we haven't grown much past that.
But that's in good years. When you have years like we had the
last two years or three years when we were in the worst drought that we've
ever faced, not only were our lakes down, but our aquifers were down,
our ponds were down, with led to problems with livestock and livestock watering,
and we hit that head on. We created the Drought Commission. We
came in and I think that my district or District ten, really got the
most help from that commission that any other district did. We drilled wells,
we cleaned out ponds, we cleaned out waterways, and Luckily, we got
about twenty five inches of rain over the next winter and springtime. So what
we have to do now is we have to make sure that we have alternatives
that allow for that to never happen again. The situation we were in last
year, and we have worked on that problem for three years and we will
continue to work on that problem. Same question, do you, mister McCarthy,
what conservation would water and protection and perhaps even finding new sources of water
big issues of course here in Oklahoma. But from the position of state representative,
what can you do to protect our interest in these efforts? And what
could be done from your position proactively? So as I've been knocking doors and
speaking with county commissioners around District ten, one of the comments that's come up
in a number of situations has been the inefficiencies of our water lines. And
I don't remember exactly which part of Noada County, but there are areas of
Noada County where, in order to save money, water lines were put in.
My wife can tell you. At our home we have a motto and
then, which is do it right the first time and just do it once.
And in order to save money, they used water lines that were not
appropriate for rocky ground, and now not long after the water lines have been
put in, they're losing upwards of fifty percent of the water. It's catastrophic
for the people of Noada County, especially in areas where they're where they don't
have as much revenue coming in. So on practical, you know, practically
speaking, we can address issues such as water loss if necessary, try and
find funding to put new water lines in and see if we can be efficient.
In addition to as representatives strong mentioned, look at issues such as raising
water levels and on the lakes. So all right, mister McCarthy, this
question is for you. House Build forty three to twenty seven. It's a
bill that effectively ended surgical abortion in Oklahoma. Where do you stand on that?
Well, I appreciate you raising that question. On page two of the
ok GOP platform, it says this. It says, we believe that children
are a special gift from God and their safety and protection are paramount. We
have a responsibility to protect children. Elsewhere we read that on page three.
Page three, number three says we believe that intentional abortion is a contrary to
the word of God and its murder. The incumbent voted again against HB forty
three twenty seven, a bill which would have which would have effectively ended surgical
abortion. I stand, I stand against all forms of abortion. Abortion is
murder and we should have nothing to do with it, period. Mister Strong,
same question to you. House Bill forty three twenty seven, a bill
that effectively ended surgical abortion in Oklahoma. Where do you stand on that?
Well, I voted against it. I'll tell you why. When Roverts's Way
felt and we knew that was coming, Oklahoma immediately reverted back to a nineteen
ten bill that made giving or providing an abortion of felony and made it illegal
in the state of Oklahoma. That happened as soon as Rob Versus Wave felt.
We've had several options in my six years. I voted every year,
it seems, on some bill, and I voted for every bill that limit
or ind abortions everything that's come up. But the problem I had with House
Bill forty three twenty seven was that civil and criminal line that got crossed in
our criminal justice system or our legal system in most of the United States,
and certainly in Oklahoma, you offend the state, you affect your neighbor.
So if you offend the state, you're guilty of a misdemeanor, a felony.
You're punished. You affect your neighbor, which is civil law. You
back over the fence, you owe me twelve hundred dollars, you run into
my car, you owe me something. But we don't cross that line to
say you did something that I'm offended by. I consue you, and it
has to go to court. A judge would throw that out. So if
that doesn't affect you, so with I didn't believe that it was going to
actually end abortion. I did believe it was also probably unconstitutional because of discussions
we had where every other person in the House of Representatives said, well,
we can't possibly vote against that. That's an abortion bill. You can't do
that. I said, I can, And it's because I'm not up here
to stand on to be a show voter or show people at home what I
can do. I'm I'm p here to do real work. And I think
that while this has a great title, it has a great name, it's
very popular, I think it will do more damage to our legal system than
it would do good. And I really I didn't think even then I was
right. It came back in both sides of it were found to be unconstitutional
and then therefore unenforceable. So there's a fine out there, there's a not
a fine out there. There's a punishment out there that's not really attached to
any other law. And so again when roversus Well fed Roe versus Way fell,
we reverted back to a nineteen ten bill that made it a felony to
provide an abortion in the state of Oklahoma. Next question is to you,
mister Strump, do you agree or disagree with using taxpayer dollars for economic development
instead of allowing the free market to function. You are absolutely right that I
agree with taxpayer funding to create businesses or to help to create jobs. But
the problem that has to be is it has to be a strategic and it
has to be a good investment. We can look at those we can look
at the path and see what failed or what worked. Sometimes we need a
boost. And I'll tell you this, if we want to bring big businesses
in that have great jobs, that have high wages, that keep our kids
that have grown up here and gone to school here in Oklahoma, we have
to try to help that come along. We can move along slowly and hope
the market works. But maybe the market works in Oklahoma City, but it
doesn't work in Tulsa. Maybe it works in Tulsa, but it doesn't work
in Bartlesville. And we don't do what we used to do, which is
just write you a check and hope that you come here and do a good
job. Right now, what we do in Oklahoma's we have a quality jobs
program. You have to prove that you have created a certain number of jobs
ad or above the regional pay and keep those jobs for a certain time,
for a certain amount of time, and then we will reward you back.
But in the end, we actually become the winners, not only because we
keep our kids here in Oklahoma and bring great people in here that are highway
journers, but we set ourselves up for the long term. Kind of the
business begets business idea that comes about everything brings the feeder businesusiness is in.
So I think if we can use that money to strategically invest it, and
then the return on our investment is, you know, more jobs, more
taxpayers. We'll have the opportunity in the future to have more taxpayers paying fewer
taxes. And I think just almost everyone in this room would appreciate that same
question. Do you, mister McCarthy, do you agree or do you disagree
with using taxpayer dollars for economic development instead of allowing the free market to function.
That's an excellent question. Again. I'm going to refer to the Oklahoma
GOP platform, and I want to be clear, You're gonna hear me over
and over tonight refer to the platform. It's because I believe the platform represents
the values of the Oklahoma Republicans and states. We believe that Oklahoma's efforts to
attract industry should be grounded upon the establishment of favorable and friendly economic climate rather
than upon tax and government subsidy. I'm running on a platform of taking no
lobbyist money for the simple fact that lobbyists by politicians, and this creates a
doom loop. The encumbent supported HB forty four fifty five, which gave a
whopping six hundred and ninety eight million dollars to an unnamed corporation. Is this
is systemic corruption. It's legal, it's legal corruption, but it's systemic corruption.
Whereby our legislatures make special laws. Now, how do they get around
this? They make special laws by not naming the corporation, but they make
it so narrow that only one corporation can meet can meet those qualifications. These
special laws then result in donations, and this is how a large majority of
our politicians get elected. It's corrupt. We shouldn't do it. It's forbidden,
it's forbidden by the constitution, and it's against the platform. The free
market is the best solution. Our next question involves money again, and this
goes to humanster McCarthy. Now that the state has quote billions in savings,
should the taxpayers be entitled to some sort of refund. That's an excellent question.
But two and a half years ago, the Biden administration passed a one
trillion dollar infrastructure bill. This infrastructure bill is pretty amazing, and there are
hundreds of millions of dollars, if my memory is correct, that were allotted
to the building of electric charger stations. Two years into this process, how
many charging stations were built? I think the I think the number was zero.
Now we're two and a half years into it, I think it's seven
hundreds, hundreds of millions of dollars and we have seven charging stations. Governments
are corrupt because of the lobbyist. The lobbyist tie with politicians. But at
the end of the day, Sorry, can you repeat the question. Now
that the state has billions in savings, bions of dollars, should the taxpayers
be entitled to some sort of refund? Sorry got off track. We need
to produce spending because COVID Sorry I didn't answer that. Well, COVID has
resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money coming to coming to the
state. That's going to come to an end. Combined with Social Security hitting
a wall in twenty thirty to thirty three, our budgets can to radically change.
We need to change how we spend money. Same question to you,
mister Strom. The state now has billions and savings, should the taxpayers be
entitled to some sort of refund? Absolutely, We've worked on that. Now
we need to look at it. And again I keep using the same word,
but I think it's how a lot of us down there think now we
need to do strategically and carefully. This last year, they passed the largest
tax cut in the history of the state of Oklahoma. And I'm gonna be
really honest with you that I didn't like it. And voted against it.
I voted for thirteen other tax cuts. But the problem was they said it
was going to be a three hundred million dollar tax cut when they took your
sales tax off of your groceries. The problem with that was the very no
definition meant that only about ten percent of the food that you bought was considered
groceries. So when they were telling you you were going to make three hundred
dollars a year back, according to the Oklahoma Grocery Association, you were going
to get thirty dollars a year back. But I was there to vote on
the bill that fixed it, that come back and made the definition food and
food ingredients, so more of your grocery card you would save taxes on.
Now, the problem that we have is or something that I'm cautious about,
is something that opponent brought up, which is a lot of monopoly money's been
dropped in this state over the last four or five years since COVID, billions
of dollars. Those were all went to shovel ready jobs. Those put people
to work, that brought an income tax, and in twenty twenty five and
into twenty twenty six, that money's all going away. So we need to
be careful because I don't want to put this state back into a position where
they were in twenty eighteen, where we were a billion dollars in the hole
and scratching for what we could cut and get rid of. I think that
in the six years I've been there, we've worked to provide the services that
people expected and the services that people want, and so I don't want to
cut that back. I want to make it more effective and more efficient.
But when it comes to tax cuts or getting a refund back, there are
so many different options that you could do. I mean, I don't We've
looked at writing a check bick back to people. In the time that I
have been there, we have cut income tax, we've cut franchise tax,
we've cut a marriage penalty tax, and now we've cut the grocery tax.
So we are looking at that and saying we are ahead. And I think
people do want to pay lesson taxes, and I'm willing to work on that.
Mister Stroud, what is your stance on school choice. I've been very
firm, and I'm one of those that kind of stands out I think in
the Capitol, in my party, in the District ten, there are sixteen
rural public school districts. I have no private schools. I think I do
have thirty four kids that go to private schools. But every dollar we send
on private schools leaves my district. And I don't think the overwhelming majority of
people want to see dollars leaving their district for education. They want those dollars
spent right here in District ten. And So, while I love private schools,
and I live right next door to some wonderful private schools that we have
here in Bartlesville, I love homeschool I know a lot of I mean some
of my family and some of my best friends, and some people that are
here I think do a wonderful job at homeschools. But I think that we
should keep government dollars out of private schools and out of homeschools, because as
soon as you start to spend tax payer dollars on those entities, you become
accountable to the Oklahoma tax payer, and year after year, election after election,
and rule making or lawmaking year after lawmaking year. We have said that
we want to test our kids. We have said that we want four levels
of math. We've said we want four levels of science. We've said we
want so much English. We have made those rules because that is what taxpayers
wanted. I don't think people that have their kids in private school or people
that are teaching their kids at home want the government or the taxpayers telling them
how to educate their kids. And so as far as the scholarships for private
schools or the money going into homeschools, I think we should keep public dollars
in public schools. All right, same question to you, mister McCarthy,
what is your stance on school choice? Again, I'm going to refer to
the Oklahoma platforms you GOPEP platform. It's the right of every parent to act
in their child's best interest, including health decisions, choosing the form of education,
whether at a private or public school, or education by their means.
It seems to me that the concern for most Oklahomas comes down to the issue
of government intervention, money and government intervention. On page eight, page eight
point four, the Oklahoma platform says this, we oppose government expansion and control
by the use of public tax to fund and interfere with private forms of education.
If I'm elected, one of my primary responsibilities will be to protect your
rights as citizens of Oklahoma, I'm firmly convinced by conviction that the government should
not interfere with private education the incumbent the incumbents supported, I believe he authored
bill HB thirty five to eighty five, which if it had passed, it
did not it would have interfered with parntal rights. And so I stand with
the people of Oklahoma and the platform that government should not interfere with private forms
of education, whether public or private. Our next question goes to you,
mister McCarthy. The state of Louisiana's passing vaccine status related protection legislation? Would
you support something like this and if a pandemic were to occur again, would
you vote to require masks in public buildings? So? Can you? Can
you read that once more? Yes, this came in from a little so
I'm trying my best otor statu as well. Louisiana is passing a vaccine status
related protection legislation. Would you support something like this? And if a pandemic
were to occur again, would you vote to require masks in public buildings?
I would unequivocally stand against masks in public buildings. We had this question last
night at the Washington County Forum. The incumbent was surprised to learn that many
people have been fired from the hospital here in town, one of them which
was my wife. Yes, my wife was fired for not taking an untested
gene therapy. In hindsight, I'm so thankful that she did not. As
a nurse who works in labor and delivery delivery, she can tell you.
She could talk to you for an hour about the terrible health issues anecdotally.
She's not a research scientist, but anecdotally that she's seeing as a nurse with
twenty I don't know, almost thirty years of nursing history, I'm going to
stand against vaccine mandates without reservation. It is the role of government to protect
individual rights against business overreach, not the other way around. Same question to
you, mister Stroump. Louisiana is passing a vaccine status related protection central legislation.
Would you support something like this? And if a pandemic were to ever
occur again, such as COVID nineteen, would you vote to require masks in
public buildings vaccine status related legislation? It sounds for me like Louisiana is trying
to be more like the state of Oklahoma. We have a great system here
in the state of Oklahoma for the people, for our workers, for the
you know, our kids at school, when you go out in public,
we have exemptions that are in place the kids can have, that people can
have for the most part. One thing I will say again is when the
pandemic came the last time, there were no state laws made, There were
no state mass mandates made. We didn't. I think I was the second
person in the capitol down there with another colleague, and we said, it's
very important that we don't destroy what we have for one thing, the whole
past, the future, and a lot of what you saw during COVID in
the state of Oklahoma came down to a money deal. The same as our
hospital. We didn't say you have to do this. What happened was the
CMS rules from the federal government said if you don't do this, you don't
get money. Well, our hospital would have closed down if they didn't follow
those rules. And I worked through the pandemic from my kitchen table, which
was after we got kicked out of the capitol, and I worked every day
with the hospital. I was in touch with people every day, and we
heard all the stories about people getting fired from Jane Phillips and Bartlesville. But
every day people told me, we haven't fired anybody because they didn't take a
vaccine. We've tried to move people, we switched schedules, we've moved people
working from home, and every day that's what they reported to me. So
that's what I stand by. And you know, we don't know what's coming
in the future. We've got to be able to be on the ball and
move depending on what needs to happen. But again, I think Oklahoma did
a great job. We came out of the pandemic better than anybody else.
We come out with a stronger economy than anybody else. We went back to
work faster than anybody else. And a lot of what you saw were your
big businesses that were holding on. But I'll remind you that any rules we
made wouldn't have just been for the big companies. They would have been for
the other the ninety nine percent of our companies, which are small businesses,
and there's three hundred and fifty thousand of them, and they didn't want rules
imposed on them by the state, and we didn't make any so they were
allowed to do what they wanted. During the pandemic, and I respect that.
Our question now is to you, mister Strom, would you support something
that's called track and tax if it comes up for a boat in the next
latest slative session. You know, one of my favorite things to come out
of the Capitol when you get home and you hear things that are just described
in terrible ways track and tax, you know, And I've heard that I
support track and tax, and I want to track every mile that you drive,
and I want to know where your car's at. And it's some more
Wayian thing that I'm trying to do. I'll be straight with you right now.
Your roads and bridges are paid for with gas tack and a diesel tax.
Their nineteen cents of gallon for gasoline and nineteen cents of gallon for diesel.
And that's how we pay for our roads and bridges. But in twenty
twenty one, thirty percent of the new cars that come into the state of
Oklahoma where electric or high hybrid. They're not paying their share. By twenty
fifty, the gas standards are forty nine miles per gallon or better for passenger
vehicles is what they have to be. So what's gonna happen in fifty years,
it's gonna get more expensive to build our roads and we're going to be
taking in less revenue to build our roads and bridges. So right now,
the state of Oklahoma said, we need to be thinking about what are we
gonna do in twenty thirty five, What are we gonna do in twenty forty,
What are we gonna do by the time we get to twenty fifty.
And I think it's important that maybe we do a study. We did.
It was the Roads or the Drive Study or whatever they come up with,
weird acronyms at the Capitol all the time. It started in twenty two,
it ended in twenty twenty three, and there was a full report. You
can see it on the see it on the internet at the dot dot website.
And I think it was a smart thing to do. Do I want
to be tracked? Absolutely not. Do most of my friends and family want
to be tracked. I don't believe so. But I also don't want to
be the guy out here in my fourteen mileigallon truck that are paying for everyone
else's roads and bridges that are be driven by heavier electric cars. More electric
cars. You know, if we're going to look into hydrogen. We're also
gonna have to figure out how do we look into hydrogen or is there a
different battery technology we're gonna have to do. I think it was very smart
to do that study now, because in the future we're gonna have to make
decisions, and I don't want to make decisions in a dumb way. I
want the facts. I want to know what's up. We didn't have info
from anywhere else, so we went out and found those facts ourselves. I'm
proud of the study. I'm glad we did it, and I'm glad we'll
be able to meet that problem head on when it gets here to you,
mister McCarthy, would you support so called track and tax if it comes up
for a vote in the next legislative session. I would not. I think
it's important to look at the world and society in which we live, both
globally and here in side of the United States. The World Economic Forum is
discussing or making statements that we'll own nothing and be happy. They are actively
talking about desiring to get rid of all private ownership of vehicles here in the
United States. Locally, we have multiple states that are introducing legislation that would
begin as a voluntary program that once it's passed. We're now seeing in other
states a move to make these same types of legislation move from a voluntary to
a mandatory law. Other states have talked about putting in a flat rate per
day with respect to how many miles that are driven. As a business owner,
I've owned multiple businesses, I've started multiple businesses. I can tell you
this idea, this idea that politicians think we're going to be mostly electric cars
by twenty fifty is a pipe dream. All you have to do is look
at our electric rid. We don't have the electric grid. You only have
to look at silver to realize that we don't produce enough silver to make the
connections in electric vehicles. We could go on and on, look at rare
earth minerals. Who owns the earth minerals China does. We are an oil
based state. We ought to pursue energy independence. We should celebrate the fact
that we have such God given abundance of resources and find better solutions while we
can know to track and tax. More importantly, let's protect all of our
rights, not just the right to travel. All righty, it's time now
for closing comments we'll start off with mister Judd Trump. Thanks sir. I
think the most important thing I said that I said earlier, which is I've
absolutely been honored to serve you for the last six years. I love my
community, I love my neighbors, my families all here, my friends are
all here, and I think we've worked. I've had the opportunity to work
really for them every year, single day. And when I say every single
day, I'm not kidding. In this job, your phone starts ringing about
six thirty in the morning and it quits about eleven eleven thirty, and then
it just buzzes and you kind of ignored a little bit. But it's all
day. It's every day, and I've loved the opportunity to do it.
There's not one moment that I've regretted doing it. I have served in leadership
for four years and I'll continue in that position. I am the chair of
General Government on a budget committee, and I've had the opportunity to really,
I think, move this state forward in a better way. We've seen this
state and the time that I've been in office, go from having a billion
dollars shortfall to hav an over four and a half billion dollars in savings.
I've had the opportunity in that to vote for over four point seven billion dollars
worth of tax cuts. We've had the opportunity to make strategic investments in our
education. Since I've been there. We've given over one point two billion dollars
to our public schools and improve those. I just I'm proud of the work
that I've been able to do when I was down there, and every time
I thought, you know, it'd be a lot easier just to come home
to the most beautiful place in the world, you know, look after my
black cows and go a little wild or relax a little more, or something
like that, I think I can't because I don't trust anyone to do the
job that I've done when I was down there. I've just I really appreciate
all the people that I've had the opportunity to serve that Like I said,
they really they call and they text, and they email, and they and
they write and they come in and every day. I think it's just been
an honor to be able to work for them, and I would appreciate the
opportunity to continue to do that. I think we're on a great path for
the first time in many years, I said, since the nineteen hundreds the
other day, and it really made me feel old. We've turned this state
around as far as brain drain. Brain drain is your kids that you spend
twenty years educating and then they pick up and leave the state. If they
want to be successful, if they want to be happy, they think they
have to go somewhere else. I said, when I was running, it
was important to me that I wanted you to be able to get a good
job and have a good life here. I wanted your kids to have a
good job life here. I didn't want their kids to ever wanted to leave.
I wanted to be able to find it right here. And I think
strategic investments we've made in workforce development and education, in science and technology and
aeronautics and even terism have really moved this state forward. And I'm proud to
have been a part of that. And I just I don't see yet that
I'm ready to give up that opportunity to keep helping because there are a lot
of great people in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. Don't tell
the Senator I said that, but they're really doing great things, and I'm
proud to be a part of it. And I would appreciate your opportunity and
your support on June eighteenth to give me the opportunity to continue what we're doing.
Thank you and your closing statement, mister McCarthy, it's been a privilege
to sit across from the incumbent both last night and this evening. One thing
I appreciate about and coming Strom is as honesty. So often politicians are duplicitous,
They say one thing and they do another. I feel that Stram has
been very honest, and I appreciate that. One thing that he has pointed
out, and I'll remind you is we are presenting two different perspectives. I
do come from a biblical worldview. I do clearly. I do clearly confess
without any shame or reservation, the Creator's right to guide our life. So
when you've seen me reference the Oklahoma GOP platform over and over both yesterday evening,
if you were there, and this evening, it's because I believe,
I truly believe as a matter of conviction, not the not the politics solves
everything, but I believe its a matter of conviction that standing up for the
rights of life liberty and property, the belief that these are natural rights granted
by God. I believe these are worth protecting. I believe that family rights,
parents rights. I think these are more important than than than than government
interventionism. I think that we should be a bottom up country, where a
constitutional republic. And I believe that the primary responsibility of an elected official is
to protect the rights of the citizens, and if elected, this will be
my primary responsibility. I unashamedly stand on the Republican platform. I'd like to
remind you that the Republican platform, specifically the Oklahoma Republican platform, this isn't
something that I wrote. This is something that you wrote. We the people
of Oklahoma, we got together as Republicans, and these are the values that
together we decided. These are the values that matter to us. And I
appreciate Stromp's honesty. He's told you yesterday, he told you again today.
I They're not his values, at least not consistently. I stand on the
platform, and i'd like to defend your rights. Given the opportunity to elect
you that if you would elect me to be your representative, appreciate your vote
on June eighteenth. Thank you, Thank you both candidates. You've been watching
and listing our District ten form and I want to think of both of our
participants tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for being here
at the Bartlesville City Chambers. Pretty much a full house, maybe one or
two vacant seats, that's okay. We have plenty of watchers on our K
one TV, also on Radio one A fourteen hundred FM, ninety three point
three and ninety five point one. We want to thank our sponsors, Phillip
sixty six and Susie Q's Vintage Mall. We also want to remind everyone that
we do have our campaign Corner page. You can review all kinds of interviews
with our candidates in this forum. Will also be a podcast form on the
page on our website at Bartlesviielle Radio dot com. We do have our early
voting coming up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, fourth floor upstairs, and
also our traditional election day which will be on Tuesday at the eighteenth. Once
again, thank you all for coming, thank you all for watching, thank
you all for listening. Make sure you vote. Make sure you tell your
friends to vote, because sometimes they forget. How could they? Thank you?
Once again, You've been wonderful. Attention Bartlesville. As residents of the
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