Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
It is time now for our community connection. Right here on K one,
the one you trust and on the telephone with me is Wendy Steerman,
who just filed to run for Oklahoma State Senate. Good morning, Wendy,
how are you? Good morning, Tom. I'm doing great. Thanks for
the invitation. Not a problem, not a problem. So you've tried the
House, now you're gonna go for the Senate. What to your motivation to
run for Senate? My motivation is always the same, to defend the rights
of individuals, to promote liberty, and to limit government. What about taxes?
You like limiting taxes too? You know that I do, yes,
obviously, the burden of taxes is the direct oppression of the government on the
people, and anyway that that can be limited at any time is what I
will support. Now. When you were in the House, you made headlines
not only in Oklahoma but around the United States and around the world on the
abortion bill that you put forth and got passed. Tell us a little bit
about that, sure, well, that was just amazing that the whole process,
how it all occurred and it actually passed. It was the most effective
built legislation in the country. It shut down the abortion clinics in Oklahoma,
ending surgical abortion in Oklahoma, and it did it from the civil side.
So the bill didn't even do anything. It just gave opportunity for citizens to
have standing in court to sue someone who provided an abortion. It was never
meant to stand alone. The criminal side is also important, So there were
two bills at the same time that went through. One limited abortion on the
criminal side, which is extremely important, but the civil side gave the opportunity
for individuals to sue, which are You know, the individual, a private
citizen is so unpredictable, So a business, the corporation, the abortion providers
could not predict what the individuals might do. You know, you can sometimes
predict criminal the criminal code, the enforcers of that, but you can't predict
the people. And that's where that's why it was so effective. And you
bet on the people and that carried the day. Now when it comes to
our everyday living. You talk about keeping government out of the way of people
government, but don't rule that that is something that you've talked about a little
bit in the past. Bring us up to date on that, sure,
Well, you know, I love our founding documents, the Declaration of an
Independence, recognizing our rights do not come from government, that they come from
God. And then our Constitution, which was written expressly to limit government.
Congress shall make no law. Everyone knows the first Amendment. So the Constitution
is there to limit government only, never to limit the citizen. Unfortunately,
our Oklahoma Constitution is not as beautifully laid out as our federal constitutions, so
there's always a battle there. But I love allowing individuals to do what they
do best, the free market, allowing the free market to fully function absent
government regulation, absent taxation. That is what I will always support. That
is, you know, those are the values at my core, and that
is reflected in legislation. So when I am you know, I read every
single bill before I vote on it, and you know there are thousands of
bills that come through every year, so that's it's a busy session. But
what I do is I look at the bills and I determine does this bill
limit the individual? Does it limit private industry and prevent it from functioning?
And and does it limit government? And of course we all know what those
answers should be. No, No, yes, So that's that's really what
what guides me as I am working on legislation and reading the legislation and always
figuring out what affects the individual. And taxation, of course, is the
primary burden on citizens, and that affects everyone. So that's why I,
you know, I'm always passionate about reducing taxation because that is something that affects
all citizens. We're speaking with Wendy Steerman and she is put in her filing
papers to run for Oklahoma States and District twenty nine. Now, you I
had time in the state House. What have you learned in the House that
you think that you can carry forward and be effective as a as a state
senator. Well, you know, state government functions a little bit different than
cedal. We're all, you know, we all watch the news. We're
all familiar with federal government hot functions. State government's a little bit different the
agencies that are there. So just having an understanding of the process is a
huge benefit to anyone who is elected to office. But you know, the
one thing that I learned that that I saw that was more disturbing than anything
else while I was there, and it's played a big role in my campaign
this time is at the Capital. The lobbyists and the consultants are. You
know, the money is running our capital. It is that money that is
behind the bills. It is it is more powerful and more and louder than
the voice of the people. And that offended me when I saw that in
action. You know, we all know it's there, but to actually see
that in action was very offensive to me. And that's why I have told
everyone that I and I have committed to taking no packer lobbist money because I
want it to be known to any voter that my vote at the Capitol is
theirs, that I am beholden to them and no one else. And so
that is why you know I've been I've been out knocking door since September.
I am going out weekly and just talking to every voter. And it's a
three county district, so it's a widespread but that way I have the opportunity
to actually connect with each person. I am asking them to call me with
any concerns. I genuinely want feedback and I want to hear from them.
So what I earn you asked at the Capital is the money running running the
decisions that the legislators offends me, and I will reject all of that and
just listen to the voters. Well, you've been listening to the voter,
as you said, as you've been knocking on doors and wearing out the soles
of shoes illegal Yeah, yeah, what are they telling you? You know,
I've been knocking since September, so the conversations have shifted. You know,
every month, I'll get a lot of common conversations at each door as
the situations in our country and in our state change. Primarily I hear about
the border. People are so concerned about the border. People do not want
to legitimize any illegal aliens in this state. And that's pretty common among everyone
in all counties. You know, one of the number one questions I get
is what do I think about Ryan Walters? I mean, that's probably the
number one question that I get. So it's kind of popular in circles down
there. Huh. He certainly is, especially, you know, and I'm
knocking the doors of Republicans, so he does have a lot of support among
Republicans. You know, not everyone agrees with everything that he does, but
standing firm on principle, everyone appreciates and you know, finding a problem,
and going after that, it's almost unanimous. Everyone appreciates that, even if
they may disagree with, you know, a certain area that he may be
working on. That's interesting to know. It's good to know that people are
paying attention to education. Now you're a mom of six, you're an educated
yourself because your homeschooled your children. Yes, i am. I have been
homeschooling. My oldest will actually be thirty this year, so I have been
homeschooling for many years. I love education. I do talk to many teachers,
of course, who you know, there are always many things to be
frustrated in our public education system. Primarily what bothers me is that the education
is our top budget item in this state. And yet I talked to individual
teachers who do not have money. They're not given any stipend for supplies.
So that bothers me greatly. And yet you look at the state budget from
last year, which was a huge budget, the biggest in history, and
there are raises at administrative levels across the state and agencies, and the teachers
got you know, I know there was something past last year to help the
teachers, but in the classrooms, the stuff that they actually need you know,
the supplies, the books. The money is not there for those.
So that bothers me greatly when we're spending so much on education and yet the
individual teachers don't have what they need. Wow. So now that you're you're
you're in it to win it. And here you've been doing the laps around
the three county area getting a lot of feedback to the folks who might not
have been able to meet you at the doorstep. How do folks get a
hold of you to ask you questions or maybe give you their concerns? How
do they contact you? Oh? Thanks for asking. So I have a
website steermanfir Senate dot com. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, and then my
number If anybody wants to call me text me anytime. It's nine one eight
three nine eight one two. I genuinely want feedback. I am not too
busy for it. I will answer the phone. Give me a call,
text me. I can tell you. Shall I answer the phone? She
answered it pretty early this morning, when I was a pretty early call.
Wendy, thank you very much for being our guest on Community Connection and we'll
be talking soon. Thank you so much. Tom. All Righty, Wendy
chairman, running now for the