Speaker 1: And good morning.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Community Connection here on K one AM fourteen
Speaker 2: hundred f M ninety three point three ninety five point one,
Speaker 2: as well as online at kwetv dot com. I'm Nathan
Speaker 2: Thompson and I'm joined by a gentleman that I have
Speaker 2: known a very long time, Earl Sears.
Speaker 1: Of course we all.
Speaker 2: Know him, former principal at Central Middle School, and that's
Speaker 2: where I wasn't at Central, Earl, I was at the.
Speaker 1: Unimatic Great Cup. There you go.
Speaker 2: I was a Mustang instead, but I won't hold that
Speaker 2: against you. Was also on city Council, and then of
Speaker 2: course in my professional life he was in the House
Speaker 2: of Representatives and dealt with him quite a bit. And Earl,
Speaker 2: thank you so much. It's always good to see you.
Speaker 3: Well, Nathan, it's lackwise. We're excited to be here, and
Speaker 3: I'll introduce my guests in a second, but I just
Speaker 3: always have to give a shout out to the Potter
Speaker 3: family that allows the community connection that you know, people
Speaker 3: talk about their nonprofits, but they also have that segment
Speaker 3: that allows community members to bring people in in regards
Speaker 3: to the political world, because we do have people and
Speaker 3: we want good people in public offices. And that's why
Speaker 3: I'm here today is we have a guest in Barterersville today.
Speaker 3: It's John Eccles. John Eccles is running for the Attorney
Speaker 3: general the great state of Oklahoma. John and I served
Speaker 3: in the House of Representatives and then he was the
Speaker 3: floor leader in the House for eight years. But just
Speaker 3: he has a great track record in regards to moving
Speaker 3: Oklahoma forward and just a wonderful individual, has a great family.
Speaker 3: But he's made a decision to run for Attorney General
Speaker 3: and so I've asked him come to barswaw today meet
Speaker 3: and greet some people. So John, welcome to Barsville, Oklahoma.
Speaker 3: And I'm going to turn it over to you. And
Speaker 3: I'm just I know you're going to be very successful
Speaker 3: in this campaign, and I know you're going to make
Speaker 3: a great attorney general. So John, welcome to Marsall.
Speaker 1: Absolutely and John, yes, I echo. Earl welcome to Barlows Villa.
Speaker 2: Course, you were the House leader up until you returned
Speaker 2: limited in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: And Oklahoma City boy, right.
Speaker 4: I am yeah, born and raised in South Oklahoma City
Speaker 4: and went to ou Fondergrad OCU Law School. Actually married
Speaker 4: my high school sweetheart who's in Oklahoma. But my family
Speaker 4: goes back in Oklahoma five generations. We as a matter
Speaker 4: of fact, still have the land run far and we
Speaker 4: got Cherokee outlet out in Oking.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 2: And so you are also worked for Crow and Dunlevy.
Speaker 2: Correct in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 4: Right out of law school, I went to work for
Speaker 4: Crow and don Lovey. I you know I when I
Speaker 4: tell my story, I married my high school sweetheart, had
Speaker 4: our first child in law school. To the listeners, I
Speaker 4: don't recommend that well. She was finishing her elementary education degree,
Speaker 4: did fortunate to do well in law school, went to
Speaker 4: work at Crow, and then later left there and started
Speaker 4: my own business and really enjoyed that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And so you are seeking the Republican nomination for Attorney
Speaker 2: General of the State of Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: Right, I am.
Speaker 4: After turning out in the Oklahoma House Representatives, I was blessed.
Speaker 4: I got to serve eight years as majority floor leader,
Speaker 4: got to serve with some credible people like my dear
Speaker 4: friend Earl.
Speaker 1: Except for your dear friend, I will.
Speaker 4: Tell you there is nobody in the state that knows
Speaker 4: more about the budget than Earl series.
Speaker 1: It's very sure.
Speaker 4: I mean nobody, and the more we listened to them,
Speaker 4: the better we did. But really excited when we went
Speaker 4: embarked on this campaign four months ago. We're talking about
Speaker 4: making a safer, free, or stronger Oklahoma. I want to
Speaker 4: take that background as a small business owner, as a
Speaker 4: conservative legislator that knows how government works and knows how
Speaker 4: to be a good steward of the taxpayer dollars, and
Speaker 4: take that into the attorney General's office.
Speaker 2: And what wasn't really that motivated you to take this
Speaker 2: next step?
Speaker 1: I mean, public office is a harder.
Speaker 2: Thing to do, but as far as what meets you
Speaker 2: make the decision that you were going to put your
Speaker 2: name out there for attorney general?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I get that question a lot too, especially with
Speaker 4: my background. I didn't come from the political or social elite.
Speaker 4: I wasn't politically connected before I ran for office. I
Speaker 4: didn't work for a congressman or a senator. I was
Speaker 4: a frustrated dad and husband that wanted things to be better.
Speaker 4: And as I served twelve years in the House and
Speaker 4: then eight years as floor leader, one of the things
Speaker 4: I saw over and over again is we needed to
Speaker 4: make sure that while we passed laws in the state legislature,
Speaker 4: the government is being accountable to the citizens. Well, in
Speaker 4: the legislature, that's not one of the things you do legislature,
Speaker 4: you make policy. But in the attorney General's office, I'm
Speaker 4: going to take that same level of responsiveness and conservatism
Speaker 4: and faith that always guides me and take that into
Speaker 4: the attorney general's role. And I'm really excited about that possibility.
Speaker 2: What are the biggest challenges that you feel is facing
Speaker 2: the state of Oklahoma right now and what would the office.
Speaker 1: Of Attorney general in those those circumstances.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you know, in the legislature, I say all the
Speaker 4: time there are two types of legislators. There's there's work
Speaker 4: courses and the show ponies, and I'm a work course. Well,
Speaker 4: what we're going to bring into the oklahom Attorney General's
Speaker 4: office is somebody who's going to focus on public safety.
Speaker 4: I'm proud to have endorsed by twenty six sheriffs and
Speaker 4: the Faternal of Police already. We're going to focus on
Speaker 4: protecting your freedoms. I'm endorsed by SEAPAC, the largest conservative
Speaker 4: organization in the nation. And then we're going to focus
Speaker 4: on making a stronger Oklahoma, which is fiscal responsibility, and
Speaker 4: those are what I see the Attorney general can do
Speaker 4: to be responsive to the citizens of the state of Oklahoma.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and are current Attorney General getting A Drummond kind
Speaker 2: of a local boy here for us you he has
Speaker 2: made the decision to run for governor for the state.
Speaker 2: But I do know that you did work with Attorney
Speaker 2: General Drummond last leg the last Legiscay Lader session before
Speaker 2: you were turned out on some important immigration reform as
Speaker 2: well for Oklahoma and how to deal with that.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: So I ran the bill to support President Trump and
Speaker 4: making illegal occupation in the state of Oklahoma a crime,
Speaker 4: an Oklahoma crime. I ran that bill on the Oklahoma
Speaker 4: Representation four for three hours, taking questions from Republicans, mostly
Speaker 4: from Democrats. And one of the things I said, I'm
Speaker 4: going to stand with President Trump as that and I'm
Speaker 4: going to stand with him and enforcing our illegal immigration
Speaker 4: laws and get a Drummond was critical in drafting that bill.
Speaker 1: He helped get that drafted. We worked work closely together.
Speaker 1: We also worked closely together.
Speaker 4: On illegal medical marijuana inside the state of Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't even say.
Speaker 4: Medical illegal marijuana in the state of Oklahoma. The Attorney
Speaker 4: General's office now does a lot to go after those
Speaker 4: illegal actors, and that's something I'm going to continue on
Speaker 4: doing as attorney general.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: And here within the recent months, maybe even the past
Speaker 2: couple of years, we've seen some disagreement between Governor Stett
Speaker 2: and the executive office, as well as with the Attorney's
Speaker 2: General office, and even with the state school Board. We're
Speaker 2: not going to get into that with you today, but
Speaker 2: but you know, conflict like that even within a supermajority
Speaker 2: Republican administration, as well as for the chief law enforcement
Speaker 2: officer for the state of Oklahoma. What are your thoughts
Speaker 2: on that friction that's going on right now.
Speaker 4: So a little bit of friction is a good thing,
Speaker 4: a little bit of friction inside government. I don't like
Speaker 4: the Twitter wars going on right now, and.
Speaker 1: I don't like them either, honestly.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, what I tell people
Speaker 4: is the Attorney General's office does not belong to getting
Speaker 4: a Drummond or John O'Connor or Mike Hunter or anyone else.
Speaker 4: The Attorney General's office and every office belongs to the
Speaker 4: citizens of the state of Oklahoma. That is their office.
Speaker 4: And if you are fortunate enough to be blessed with
Speaker 4: their trust. It's your job to wake up every day
Speaker 4: and figure out what can you do for them? That
Speaker 4: is the goal of the job. And as my job
Speaker 4: is floor leader, what I will bring. If we talk
Speaker 4: in spiritual terms, my spiritual gift would be a peacemaker
Speaker 4: if we're a If we talk in nonspiritual terms, we'd
Speaker 4: say a deal maker. I'm gonna wake up every day
Speaker 4: and remember that I work for the citizens of the
Speaker 4: state of Oklahoma, and my job is to move that forward.
Speaker 2: Well, one final question for it, because I know you
Speaker 2: guys have got the r Vest Friday Forum to get
Speaker 2: to as well, so I know you probably have.
Speaker 1: Viera breakfast this morning's wonderful. There you go. That's that's
Speaker 1: incredible breakfast. There you go.
Speaker 2: You know, here in northeast so Oklhoma specifically, we've been
Speaker 2: very much impacted by the McGirt decision, and you know,
Speaker 2: Attorney General Drummond right now has really gone into and
Speaker 2: to bat for tribal sovereignty in this particular area.
Speaker 1: As your if you were elected.
Speaker 2: As Attorney general, what would you see your relationships with
Speaker 2: tribal governments here across what is now the Cherokee Reservation.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we need more compacts, less lawsuits. I
Speaker 4: think we need strong relationship and ships and to cut
Speaker 4: deals with our tribal partners, because what happens when you
Speaker 4: govern through lawsuits, You're giving all the power to the
Speaker 4: federal government. I'm a Republican. I love President Trump. I
Speaker 4: think he's doing a great job in the White House.
Speaker 4: But I think even in President Trump would agree we
Speaker 4: want Oklahoma's to govern Oklahoma. I have a great relationship
Speaker 4: with our tribal partners. Our tribal partners are like everybody else.
Speaker 4: They don't get everything they want. Hey, I'm married to
Speaker 4: my high school sweetheart, love of my life. We disagree sometimes,
Speaker 4: I change my mind. I disagree with me sometimes. But
Speaker 4: I think there's an opportunity for a reset in the
Speaker 4: executive branch and to continue to work with our tribal
Speaker 4: partners to move this state forward.
Speaker 2: Having a discussion today with former Representative, former House Leader
Speaker 2: John Eccles, running for Attorney General at the State of Oklahoma. John,
Speaker 2: where can folks go to learn more about you and
Speaker 2: maybe even support you?
Speaker 1: I would love your support.
Speaker 4: Go to www dot John Eccles dot com. That's j
Speaker 4: on Echols dot com. John eccles dot com. And we're
Speaker 4: going to be spending a lot more time in Bartlesville
Speaker 4: as we are going through out the state with our
Speaker 4: message of a safer, free, or stronger Oklahoma.
Speaker 2: All right, very good, Well, I know you got to
Speaker 2: get to that RvEs Friday Forum. Anybody who's interested in
Speaker 2: doing that over the Community room on the east side branch.
Speaker 1: Earl Seers of course here as well.
Speaker 2: He facilitates that and it's always a fire hopper over there,
Speaker 2: I tell you.
Speaker 3: Nathan again, thank you very much for letting us have
Speaker 3: absolutely have our guests today. And John again, welcome to
Speaker 3: Washington County and Bartersville, and my friend you just said
Speaker 3: you're going to come back up more and we want
Speaker 3: you to. And I'm confident once the people Washington County
Speaker 3: meet and greet you and hear more of your message
Speaker 3: that they will feel very, very comfortable in supporting you
Speaker 3: as our next attorney general. So again, Nathan, thank you
Speaker 3: very much.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, both of you. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: You've been listening to absolutely you've been listening to community
Speaker 2: connection here on K one.
Speaker 1: No one you trust