Editors note: Because the Watonga was not a stop on the campaign trail for challenger Joy Hofmeister, this story was held until after the election to maintain impartiality on the part of the newspaper.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt stopped briefly in Watonga Friday, Oct. 28 on a campaign swing through the northern portion of the state. About 40 members of the community and some supporters from outside the county were on hand to listen to Stitt’s stump speech, talk one-on-one and take part in a question-andanswer session.
Stitt made it clear he was not from a political family, raised rurally and whose grandfather was the head veterinarian at the Oklahoma City Stockyards for many years. He said he was inspired to run four years ago when the state was facing teacher walkouts and deficits in the state budget. He determined to take his experience as a business owner to the state government.
“The turn around is working,” he said to the largely partisan audience. He outlined his successes as teacher raises, backing police, raises for Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers and cutting taxes. The state has also outlawed the sale of farm and ranch land to foreign nationals and is cracking down on those who purchase those properties for foreigners in a straw deal.
His agenda, if elected, includes protecting rural schools while allowing students on individualized education programs with scholarships – some say vouchers- to attend a different school. He also intends to keep students whose birth certificates identify them as males from playing on sports teams whose members’ birth certificates show them as females.
Stitt also said there is a moratorium in place on medical marijuana license sales for two years to get the industry, in his words, under control. He pointed out that California charges more than $180,000 for a license to grow, process or sell weed.
“We were just so stupid,” he said. “We charged $2,500 so we got all the riffraff.” He hopes to control recreational marijuana ahead of the curve, so that if it is passed the state can avoid mistakes and issues it encountered when medical pot was passed.
“We learned so much from medical, I hope we can do better with recreational, if we get it,” he said.
Stitt answered an audience question about ESG – environmental, social and governance – investing by the state pension plan. ESG is the refusal of a financial institution or investment firm to involve itself in industries, businesses and governmental entities with which it does not align.
Stitt said going forward, the state pension funds would not do business with companies that eschew oil and gas as investment vehicles. Those funds already on deposit with such companies will remain there until the state has a way to remove them without loss of value to the pension holders.
Stitt was victorious over former state superintendent of education Joy Hofmeister in the Nov. 8 election. Swearing in for the governor will be Jan 9.