Final Countdown

Final Countdown

Hopefully, if all goes as planned, by the time this hits your mailbox or your computer, we will be at the end of this year’s session. This session, for me, has been one of the most stressful in my career. I have always considered myself a little bit of a workaholic but I think I managed to reach the saturation point even for me. It seems like this session has had the feel of those times when you just cannot quite catch your breath. Part of my problem is that I am not very good at saying no. I had a favorite book when I was a small boy. It was one of those little golden books that parents read to their kids when they are two or three or so. The book was called Tommy’s Camping Adventures. I think it appealed to a budding outdoorsman and it was one of my absolute favorites. In the book, the main character, Tommy, wanted nothing more than his own camp job. It seemed like the older kids and his parents all had specific camp chores that they had to do. Tommy just wanted a duty, something to make him feel like he was part of making the camp run smoothly. What Tommy did not realize was that with chores come responsibility and you can soon become overburdened with that and it can take the fun out of it pretty quickly. Of course, in the book Tommy’s camp job was to get the family back to camp when they got lost on a hike because Tommy unburdened with all the responsibilities was able to think and observe all the landmarks around the forest and the lake where they camped. When the family went off on a hike and could not find their way back, Tommy realized his camp job was to lead the lost family back to the security of the well-organized campsite.

I guess that I am the antitheses of Tommy in this year’s session (you might have to look that one up). This reality show that we call the Oklahoma legislature has for me been loaded with camp jobs and not much of an adventure. I have been the director the page program for about seven years and I love working with those kids. As I have grown into leadership, I have also taken on numerous other duties. My new chairmanship this year has been very interesting but I have spent several years as the Chair of the Agriculture Committee and this year the Speaker assigned me to the Natural Resources and Regulatory Agency Subcommittee which is the subcommittee that appropriates money for the Agriculture Department, Department of Commerce, and has oversight for all the regulatory agencies like the Wildlife Department, Department of Consumer Credit, Insurance Department and numerous others. It has been a very steep learning curve as I have always chaired committees on the policy side and now that I have moved to the appropriations side, I have had to go back to school so to speak. Another duty that I enjoy is serving as one of the presiding officers which means I sit in the Chair and preside over the House. It is a natural fit for me after 27 or 28 years in the auction business but it is also very confining. All these duties are on top of all the legislation we carry and staying up on issues that are important to my constituents. This year, the icing on the cake was redistricting. It is an honor anytime the Speaker asks you to be in charge of something and this year he asked me to be the Chairman for the Southwest region which stretched all the way up to the South Oklahoma City area and a little bit east. I found out rather quickly that redistricting is much more than just drawing lines because each district has a personality in it and that personality is an elected official. I have been amazed at the contentiousness of that process. I found out, which should have been no surprise, that not everyone would be happy with the final outcome and the shape of their district. Many of those meetings and tussles occurred in the basement in the redistricting office away from news cameras and reporters and far away from public view. To the untrained eye or the casual observer in the gallery, it still looks like we are just sitting around, drinking coffee and pushing a button.

I feel a little bit like a pack mule that is on the verge of being overloaded. While it is an honor to serve as your State Representative, I am just a little rung out and ready to get out of the Capitol. I realize things will not be a lot slower at home but I am ready to see about it. It has been a tough year with a tough budget. Thank goodness, we are tough people and we will survive it. I will get recharged and things will look better. Back to Tommy and his camping adventure, Tommy be careful what you wish for because son, I am here to tell ya’, too many camp jobs can spoil the camp.

“Nobody ever drown in his own sweat.”

If It Rains On Easter

Like most of you, I grew up here in Southwest Oklahoma. I have met a good many colorful, old timers with lots of sayins’. Some I can repeat, some I can’t. We have all heard “it’s gonna rain if a turtle is crossing the road” and “if a hurricane hits Brownsville, Texas, the moisture will catch us in Comanche County”. Most recently, I heard one that I had not heard in a long time “if it rains on Easter Sunday, it will rain for seven Sundays in a row”. The catch seems to be so far, how much is it going to rain? It is crazy to think that where I live, between Lawton and Faxon, we look like the Australian Outback, still feeding hay and protein, trying to hang on to cows that should probably already be gone. Just 20 minutes southeast in Cotton County, they seem to be in “rain alley”. I think the last spell that went through, they got something like four inches. For some reason, we cannot buy more than a shower for any amount of money. We have ponds that are in jeopardy which have never gone dry before. I even have a little spring on my place that I noticed Sunday had quit seeping. Plus, the extreme high temperatures and hot wind are just making the problem even worse. So far though, the saying has held true. We have had a little shot of rain the last 2 Sundays since Easter but it has not been measurable. It is going to take a big one, at least in our corner of the world, to turn this thing around. I know that it will come, I just wish I knew when.

Meanwhile, back at the Capitol, Monday afternoon, we voted the House redistricting map out of conference committee. There will be some drastic changes in far western Oklahoma where Representative Purcy Walker’s district will basically disappear and will move into Canadian County. Nobody including Representative Walker really wanted that but with him terming out next year, it seemed the logical place to make the move. While I hate to see it, the Constitution is pretty specific on what needs to happen and for the remaining Representatives to be able to gather up enough population to hit the magic number which is 37,000 plus or minus 3 percent. It became pretty clear to those of us on the committee that there may not be a good alternative. My contention is that Representative Purcy Walker will be remembered for the extremely good person that he is and how well he cared for the people of western Oklahoma, not only in his district, but as a good solid rural Representative for all of western Oklahoma. Purcy Walker is just plain good people and about as nice a guy as I have ever met. I think long after the district lines are redrawn and fade into the western Oklahoma landscape, those that he served will always remember that some politicians really are good people. I think he is disappointed as are a lot of us but again, the Constitution is pretty specific and those rural districts had to grow to meet the guidelines. The good news for my particular constituents is that I was able to keep almost everyone and more specifically, Tillman County will remain intact and that was pretty important to me to keep some continuity in that area.

We are winding down this year’s session and I have to say, as bad as I hate to wish my life away, I am ready to get this one over. Coming back home may be tough if it does not rain because it will be a lot of work no matter what. But, I am ready to hang up the coat and tie and get back into some work clothes. Three weeks and counting…

“Timing has everything to do with the success of a rain dance.” –Cowboy Poet Baxter Black

Been a Long Time Comin'

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of session, we struggle with this article. It seems that some weeks it falls right in my lap. This, my friends, was one of those weeks. I had struggled last week to piece together enough information to put together this week’s message and had a rough draft in mind. It was so so. As I got to my apartment in Oklahoma City on Sunday night and turned on the TV, I realized that one of the biggest events in U.S. history had occurred. Our military had succeeded in taking out Osama Bin Laden.

It is one of those “you know where you were when” moments. Some of us remember the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I was three and cannot really say that I remember that day but I remember growing up with the news on the magazine covers about everywhere you looked. Through my life, there have been several of those moments that seem to crystallize in your memory and you can remember little details about where you were, who you were with, etc. The space shuttle disaster, the OKC bombing, just to name a few, and of course, the granddaddy of them all, the Twin Towers. I was on the treadmill at what used to be Gold’s Gym in Lawton that morning and I will never forget watching the events unfold. One of my most vivid memories is a lady who was on the treadmill next to me that I had seen several times but had never really spoken to. We all just stopped and watched in horror, not able to fully grasp what we were seeing but knowing that it was a dark moment in our nation’s history. I will never forget what she said as we stood there she said “I know people in those buildings”. She grabbed her towel and left. As that morning progressed, it got much worse and our world was forever changed.

That turn of events set off one of the largest man hunts in the history of our planet. One of the most evil beings to ever walk the earth seemed to be as elusive as a ghost. It took ten years to finally search him out and probably almost everyone in America would have been just fine with pulling out all the U.S. people and turning the desert into glass. But, that is not how we roll. We have spent a large number of U.S. lives in the search for Bin Laden and the war on terror and finally, thanks to our awesome military and the men and women who suit up everyday, public enemy number one was brought to justice. Many will beat their chests and take credit but you and I know who deserves the credit and it is our armed forces. It was interesting that he was very quickly buried at sea and I think that was probably the right decision because it keeps his grave from becoming a shrine to others who hate America. It would have been real easy to carry him through the streets but again, that would not be the right thing to do. To assume that the war on terror is over would be pure folly but to assume that the iconic leader of that war has finally been taken out and that it will, to some degree, send a message is right on.

Bin Laden, you attacked the most powerful country in the world and your buddies better be on notice. This is an awesome country and we are not going to tolerate those who attack us. May your eternity be miserable. It’s been a long time comin’. God bless America.

“Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower