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Good morning, good morning, good
morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.

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It is time now for our community
connection. Right here on K one,

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the one you trust and on the
telephone with me is Wendy Steerman,

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who just filed to run for Oklahoma
State Senate. Good morning, Wendy,

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how are you? Good morning,
Tom. I'm doing great. Thanks for

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the invitation. Not a problem,
not a problem. So you've tried the

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House, now you're gonna go for
the Senate. What to your motivation to

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run for Senate? My motivation is
always the same, to defend the rights

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of individuals, to promote liberty,
and to limit government. What about taxes?

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You like limiting taxes too? You
know that I do, yes,

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obviously, the burden of taxes is
the direct oppression of the government on the

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people, and anyway that that can
be limited at any time is what I

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will support. Now. When you
were in the House, you made headlines

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not only in Oklahoma but around the
United States and around the world on the

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abortion bill that you put forth and
got passed. Tell us a little bit

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about that, sure, well,
that was just amazing that the whole process,

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how it all occurred and it actually
passed. It was the most effective

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built legislation in the country. It
shut down the abortion clinics in Oklahoma,

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ending surgical abortion in Oklahoma, and
it did it from the civil side.

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So the bill didn't even do anything. It just gave opportunity for citizens to

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have standing in court to sue someone
who provided an abortion. It was never

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meant to stand alone. The criminal
side is also important, So there were

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two bills at the same time that
went through. One limited abortion on the

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criminal side, which is extremely important, but the civil side gave the opportunity

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for individuals to sue, which are
You know, the individual, a private

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citizen is so unpredictable, So a
business, the corporation, the abortion providers

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could not predict what the individuals might
do. You know, you can sometimes

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predict criminal the criminal code, the
enforcers of that, but you can't predict

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the people. And that's where that's
why it was so effective. And you

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bet on the people and that carried
the day. Now when it comes to

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our everyday living. You talk about
keeping government out of the way of people

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government, but don't rule that that
is something that you've talked about a little

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bit in the past. Bring us
up to date on that, sure,

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Well, you know, I love
our founding documents, the Declaration of an

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Independence, recognizing our rights do not
come from government, that they come from

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God. And then our Constitution,
which was written expressly to limit government.

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Congress shall make no law. Everyone
knows the first Amendment. So the Constitution

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is there to limit government only,
never to limit the citizen. Unfortunately,

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our Oklahoma Constitution is not as beautifully
laid out as our federal constitutions, so

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there's always a battle there. But
I love allowing individuals to do what they

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do best, the free market,
allowing the free market to fully function absent

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government regulation, absent taxation. That
is what I will always support. That

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is, you know, those are
the values at my core, and that

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is reflected in legislation. So when
I am you know, I read every

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single bill before I vote on it, and you know there are thousands of

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bills that come through every year,
so that's it's a busy session. But

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what I do is I look at
the bills and I determine does this bill

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limit the individual? Does it limit
private industry and prevent it from functioning?

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And and does it limit government?
And of course we all know what those

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answers should be. No, No, yes, So that's that's really what

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what guides me as I am working
on legislation and reading the legislation and always

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figuring out what affects the individual.
And taxation, of course, is the

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primary burden on citizens, and that
affects everyone. So that's why I,

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you know, I'm always passionate about
reducing taxation because that is something that affects

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all citizens. We're speaking with Wendy
Steerman and she is put in her filing

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papers to run for Oklahoma States and
District twenty nine. Now, you I

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had time in the state House.
What have you learned in the House that

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you think that you can carry forward
and be effective as a as a state

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senator. Well, you know,
state government functions a little bit different than

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cedal. We're all, you know, we all watch the news. We're

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all familiar with federal government hot functions. State government's a little bit different the

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agencies that are there. So just
having an understanding of the process is a

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huge benefit to anyone who is elected
to office. But you know, the

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one thing that I learned that that
I saw that was more disturbing than anything

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else while I was there, and
it's played a big role in my campaign

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this time is at the Capital.
The lobbyists and the consultants are. You

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know, the money is running our
capital. It is that money that is

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behind the bills. It is it
is more powerful and more and louder than

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the voice of the people. And
that offended me when I saw that in

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action. You know, we all
know it's there, but to actually see

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that in action was very offensive to
me. And that's why I have told

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everyone that I and I have committed
to taking no packer lobbist money because I

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want it to be known to any
voter that my vote at the Capitol is

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theirs, that I am beholden to
them and no one else. And so

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that is why you know I've been
I've been out knocking door since September.

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I am going out weekly and just
talking to every voter. And it's a

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three county district, so it's a
widespread but that way I have the opportunity

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to actually connect with each person.
I am asking them to call me with

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any concerns. I genuinely want feedback
and I want to hear from them.

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So what I earn you asked at
the Capital is the money running running the

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decisions that the legislators offends me,
and I will reject all of that and

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just listen to the voters. Well, you've been listening to the voter,

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as you said, as you've been
knocking on doors and wearing out the soles

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of shoes illegal Yeah, yeah,
what are they telling you? You know,

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I've been knocking since September, so
the conversations have shifted. You know,

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every month, I'll get a lot
of common conversations at each door as

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the situations in our country and in
our state change. Primarily I hear about

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the border. People are so concerned
about the border. People do not want

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to legitimize any illegal aliens in this
state. And that's pretty common among everyone

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in all counties. You know,
one of the number one questions I get

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is what do I think about Ryan
Walters? I mean, that's probably the

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number one question that I get.
So it's kind of popular in circles down

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there. Huh. He certainly is, especially, you know, and I'm

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knocking the doors of Republicans, so
he does have a lot of support among

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Republicans. You know, not everyone
agrees with everything that he does, but

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standing firm on principle, everyone appreciates
and you know, finding a problem,

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and going after that, it's almost
unanimous. Everyone appreciates that, even if

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they may disagree with, you know, a certain area that he may be

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working on. That's interesting to know. It's good to know that people are

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paying attention to education. Now you're
a mom of six, you're an educated

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yourself because your homeschooled your children.
Yes, i am. I have been

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homeschooling. My oldest will actually be
thirty this year, so I have been

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homeschooling for many years. I love
education. I do talk to many teachers,

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of course, who you know,
there are always many things to be

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frustrated in our public education system.
Primarily what bothers me is that the education

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is our top budget item in this
state. And yet I talked to individual

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teachers who do not have money.
They're not given any stipend for supplies.

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So that bothers me greatly. And
yet you look at the state budget from

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last year, which was a huge
budget, the biggest in history, and

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there are raises at administrative levels across
the state and agencies, and the teachers

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got you know, I know there
was something past last year to help the

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teachers, but in the classrooms,
the stuff that they actually need you know,

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the supplies, the books. The
money is not there for those.

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So that bothers me greatly when we're
spending so much on education and yet the

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individual teachers don't have what they need. Wow. So now that you're you're

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you're in it to win it.
And here you've been doing the laps around

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the three county area getting a lot
of feedback to the folks who might not

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have been able to meet you at
the doorstep. How do folks get a

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hold of you to ask you questions
or maybe give you their concerns? How

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do they contact you? Oh?
Thanks for asking. So I have a

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website steermanfir Senate dot com. I'm
on Facebook, Instagram, and then my

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number If anybody wants to call me
text me anytime. It's nine one eight

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three nine eight one two. I
genuinely want feedback. I am not too

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busy for it. I will answer
the phone. Give me a call,

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text me. I can tell you. Shall I answer the phone? She

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answered it pretty early this morning,
when I was a pretty early call.

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Wendy, thank you very much for
being our guest on Community Connection and we'll

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be talking soon. Thank you so
much. Tom. All Righty, Wendy

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chairman, running now for the