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.”