WEBVTT

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This is Later with Lee Matthews,
The Lee Matthews Podcast more what you Hear

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Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive. Always
great to have Governor Kevin stint On.

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And we haven't had a chance to
talk in a good while, Kevin,

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Governor Stitt because there's a lot going
on. But let's just start with the

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tax cut you've been wanting to secure
for all of Oklahomans. I know I

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want one. Well, yeah,
just so Oklahomans understand this. You know,

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first off, Oklahoma used to have
a seven percent income tax rate.

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Think about that for a second.
It used to be at seven. We've

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been on this path to get it
down to zero for the last thirty years,

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and now it's four point seventy five. I've already cut it once.

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I want to cut it again.
And the reason we do is we believe

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in smaller government, lower taxes that
spurs the economy. And it's not the

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tax it's not the government's money,
it's the taxpayers money. And we can

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absolutely afford it. We have plenty
of revenue in the state. We have

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the largest savings account we've ever accumulated. And I don't want to just keep

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growing growing government when we have excess
revenue. We got to give that back

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to the people. And that's what
I'm asking for. Yeah, I was

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wondering about that because I've heard so
much about that, that huge amount of

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money we've got. What is the
reticence with the legislature to even talk about

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it? Man, it's weird.
I mean you some people there's just a

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philosophical difference. They believe in bigger
government. They want to spend your money,

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and they think they can do it
better than you can. I fundamentally

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disagree with that. Government is not
the answer that I've been up here as

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the businessman governor. I've been here
now, this is my sixth session,

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and government is too big. Another
government program is not going to help the

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economy grow. It's not going to
help people. We need to give that

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back to the taxpayer. So and
the other thing I remind people, I

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would never cut revenue below our are
ongoing expenses, right, But when we

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have excess revenue, that's what I'm
saying. I'm saying, let's let's modestly

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grow government, but let's give the
rest of it back to the tax payer.

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It makes perfect sense to me.
I'll tell you this. The House

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of Representatives has passed it. Every
single time I've asked this special session.

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All I said was, hey,
put it up for a vote. So

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the protim of the Senate said he
would comply with my order. He's never

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put it up for a vote yet
on special sessions. Hopefully the Senate will

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just put it up for a vote. That's all I'm asking for. Well,

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I can tell you the callers to
this program, Governor Kevin Stitt agree

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we are over text. It seems
like every time we turn around, they're

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talking about a new text. Whether
it's an increase in turnpike fees, whether

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it's a per mile tax rather than
a gas tax, whether it's income tax

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increases, whether it's utility bills going
up and then going down and then going

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back up again. The legislature has
to be hearing this as well, I

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hope. So that's why I'm on
the radio today. I just want to

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try to explain it so everybody can
hear it from my point of view.

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If we have a five billion dollar
savings, if I have extra revenue,

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let's cut, let's cut. Let's
give it back to the taxpayer. It's

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not the government's money. Uh.
And and remember this money doesn't disappear.

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It just stays in the tax in
your pockets, and then you get to

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use it for uh, go to
the grocery store, taking your kids to

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a ball game, going to the
buying them a new bicycle. So that

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money spends in our economy. That
is the most efficient way that we can

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grow our economy and be the most
business friendly state by giving that back to

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the taxpayer. Governor Kevin stits with
us. Are you speak speaking specifically of

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income tax cut or are you looking
at are there other options you would consider?

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Oh, listen, Uh if it's
if it's a tax cut, I

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will absolutely consider it. But this
specific session, I've called three different special

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sessions over the last three years for
tax cuts of all kinds. I've asked

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for to remove the grocery tax.
We're one of only twelve states that taxes

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groceries, and you talk about a
regressive tax that hurts people on the lower

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income brackets worse than anything last the
state of the state. Last February,

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in February of twenty three, I
called for three quarters of a point tax

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cut because we had a billion dollar
surplus. Well what happened. We ended

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up spending all of that money and
did not give the tax payer any kind

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of tax cut. I asked for
seventy five basis points last year. So

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the citizens are gonna have to push
and call your representatives, call your senators,

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and just tell them listen, we
need a pay raise. And think

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about this. Think about inflation.
If you haven't got significant increases in your

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salary over the last few years,
and you've actually lost money, you've actually

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got to pay cut because everything costs
more. Does that make sense. Inflation

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is hurting and is damaging your ability
at the grocery store and your ability to

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buy goods and services. Because inflation
is harming everyone, Let's give Oklahomas a

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pay raise now. Governor Kevin stits
with us talking about the special session he's

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called for that will butt right up
against the regular session. And this is

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the type of thing that is necessary
in a special session. Or could the

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legislature pick it up in the in
the real session. Well they could,

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but they haven't the last two years. So I'm trying to have specific focus

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on it. Now is the time. Why do we want to wait.

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If we get it done now,
it doesn't get gummed up in the regular

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session and then you know exactly what
you have to spend in next session.

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And by the way, a quarter
of a point is only one hundred million

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dollars hit to the revenue in this
budget cycle, which is called fiscal year

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twenty five, So it's only one
hundred million in fiscal year twenty five.

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Let's get it done. Let's get
it done before we even go in.

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All I asked was, here was
my call to the legislature. Put it

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up for a vote. That's it. Do you want to vote it down?

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Vote it down? Put it up
for a vote. One of the

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critics, vote is popular. We
know it's popular with the citizens, and

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so if they put it up for
a vote, then you know it'll pass

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because nobody would actually vote against it
except the Democrats because they believe in bigger

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government. Or it's going to flush
out who believes philosophically that the government should

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be raising new government programs versus giving
it back to the taxpayer. Govinor Kevin

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stick with us and the special session
that he's called for to lower taxes.

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I mentioned the per mile tax that
is being studied right now by the legislature.

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Would you have any thoughts on that
that that's it's silly. There's no

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way that I'm going to I'm going
to put my name to increasing fees or

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taxes on Oklahoma's here's the deal,
let's give there's also people studying. Let's

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give government employees another pay raise.
I'm like, no, I am not

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going to give government employees a pay
raise until we give Oklahoma tax payers a

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pay raise. And one of the
criticisms of of from the legislature that I've

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read Governor Kevinstead is that they say, you are not coming to them with

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a specific plan. How much more
specific can I be? I've listen.

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If I was too prescriptive, they
say, oh, you're getting into our

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business and you're telling us how to
legislate. Okay, So that's the other

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thing I hear. So I've called
three special sessions on tax cuts. I've

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given them a smortgage board. I've
just said cut taxes. I've just said

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considered everything this time. I've changed
the tactics, and i just said,

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just put it up for a vote. One quarter of a percent. That's

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all I'm asking for. Put it
up for a vote. I don't know.

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You tell me how I could be
more prescriptive. The bottom line is

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they're trying to spend the Oklahoma people
in a circle and make confuse them on

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the real issue. Here's the facts
that Oklahomas need to know. We have

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the largest savings that we've ever had, over five billion dollars. We have

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excess revenue this year over our expenses. So what are we going to do

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with it? Are we going to
increase to grow government or we're going to

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give it back to you. I
want to give it back to the Oklahoma

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people. And there's some people philosophically
that believe bigger government is the right answer.

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I just disagree with that. Well, especially now you know we've got

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the income. I mean, I
gather a lot of this surplus came from

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the increase in oil prices. Well
it's been it's because Oklahoma's elected a business

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guy, business than governor. Our
economy's boomy. We've been fiscally conservative.

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I've been hammering not to raise expenses
at the state level, so we have

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been saving over the last couple of
years. We have all this savings account,

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and I wanted to first build our
savings account before we started cutting taxes,

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to make sure that we could weather
any kind of downturn. Just like

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in your personal budget, you need
to have you know, the financial planners

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tell us that we need to have
three at least three months worth of savings

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and our savings account just for a
rainy day situation. So Oklahoma's maxed at

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our any day, we have a
large savings account. I would never put

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us in a bad situation, but
we need to give some money back to

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the taxpayer now and keep this momentum. Governor Kevin Stitt talking about a special

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session, So that's what you were
hoping that will be different this time,

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that they will just actually put it
up for a vote. Correct. Yeah,

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And just to remind everybody, I
mean, the House has passed it

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every single time. The Senate just
in my opinion, just keeps playing games

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and trying to confuse people and saying
that we don't have the revenue or But

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philosophically, just be honest. If
you think that you want to spend people's

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money and you want to grow government, then just say that. So Oklahomas

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know really where you're at, But
don't act like you're for smaller government and

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not even put it up for a
vote. That's where people need to actually

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be involved. Call your senator,
Call your House member, make sure you

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tell them that you stand with Governor
Stitt for smaller government. And they will

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answer, by the way, because
they're getting ready for this session as well.

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It's just another couple of weeks.
That's that's exactly right, That's exactly

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right. Uh. But let's get
this done before we go into SPA,

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go into regular session, so we
know exactly how much money we have to

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spend. That's all. That's what
we need to do. Govin Kevin Stead,

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I wanted to ask you about the
job Ryan Walters has done so far

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and your thoughts on that. Yeah, you know, Walter's in Oklahoma.

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We have a separately elected superintend of
Education that's in charge of all education.

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And so he's doing a great job
as far as I'm concerned. He's really

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getting after getting after quality. He's
looking at reading programs. Sometimes he uh,

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he riles up folks with some of
his statements, but that's just you

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know, he's separately elected than I
am. But I support Walters. And

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and the main thing is let's make
Oklahoma top ten in education. Let's give

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parents more options, more choice and
uh and and we're doing that. Last

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year we passed the largest and the
best school choice, education freedom plan in

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the entire country, and so now
we need to get that over the finish

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line and get more charter schools,
more Christian schools, more specialty schools like

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my aviation school in Norman, because
not every kid learns the same way,

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and not every kid is going to
go to owe you and get an engineering

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degree. We've got trade schools and
all of these options are really good for

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Oklahoma kids. Comor Kevin Stead,
you've already kind of done this, given

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me a preview of what you plan
to hit on in your State of the

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State address that opens the session.
Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, obviously,

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the thing that I always remind people
is we're all Oklahomans. Let's make

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Oklahoma top ten state. That's what
I always talk about in everything that we

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do. And I truly believe that
if you let DC play the politics,

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we're just Oklahomans and I'm just trying
to improve education. I'm trying to make

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sure we have the best infrastructure,
best quality of life with commute times,

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the best economy. I believe if
we have the best economy and we're top

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ten and the best places for business, then that's going to help everyone parks

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and entertainment, and education and infrastructure, healthcare. Everything benefits when we have

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our economy booming, and so all
of my policies are focused on being a

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business friendly state, a free market, free market state. Get government out

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of the way and let businesses go
compete against each other. That's all they

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want, Governor Kevin Stittz. We
will see what the legislature does on the

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coming days, and we thank you
for joining us today and lining out your

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side of the story. Excellent.
Well, thank you so much for having

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me. Thanks for listening to Later
with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast,

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and remember to listen to The Drive
Live weekday afternoons from five to seven

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