Bob Doucette: 2022 campaign a Wild West of ideas of how to govern Oklahoma – Tulsa World

How often do you get to talk to district judges? Who can name your county assessor or commissioner? Ginnie Graham and Bob Doucette give their endorsement of the idea of opinion section endorsement. Voters will become more aware of candidates at the bottom of the ballot. Plus, could a "Day of Citizenship" staffing volunteers at local precincts help on Election Day; and support for the idea of moving the animal shelter

The campaign season brings forth hundreds of people, complete with personalities that range from the bland to the bizarre, and everywhere in between.

But this election season has given me a front-row seat into the views associated with the folks who covet your vote.

In between the soundbites and talking points, Im hearing a variety of ideas. If a democracy is a marketplace of ideas, the shelves are pretty full in 2022.

Education is a front-and-center issue across the state. Most people agree that Oklahomas public schools arent where we want them to be.

The two schools of thought here would have us either invest more in schools higher teacher pay, more money into the classroom, less heavy-handed legislative regulation of the profession or create competition through more school choice.

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School choice means a lot of things, but in 2022 it seems to revolve around public funds directed toward private school vouchers. Vouchers are championed by Gov. Kevin Stitt and state Secretary of Education Ryan Walters, who is campaigning for the state superintendents job.

Joy Hofmeister and Jena Nelson, Democratic candidates for governor and state superintendent, respectively, are on the opposite side of that divide.

For what its worth, vouchers failed in the Legislature last session, unable to get a majority vote in the Senate and not being heard at all in the House.

In any case, its the defining issue of this campaign cycle. Every candidate for the Legislature that the Tulsa World has talked to said education was one of the two most-mentioned issues by voters.

Another biggie is the state grocery sales tax. This has bipartisan agreement, with almost everyone Ive talked to saying it should either be temporarily suspended (as an inflation relief effort) or scrapped entirely.

The only reason it hasnt happened yet is it would create a $300 million-plus hole in the state budget. Thats easy to dismiss when the state is sitting in almost $3 billion in cash reserves, but gets tricky in lean times. Memories of those lean times are what have prevented other tax cuts from being passed lately.

But the grocery sales tax cut, first championed by Democrats, then later embraced by Republicans, seems to hit the right spot in that it helps the little guy, who just so happens to be getting squeezed the most in these high-inflation times.

These arent the only issues, though. Dive deeper into the weeds and some surprisingly interesting and sometimes unusual policy stands stick out.

Tulsa City Councilor Crista Patrick, who won re-election in August, said she wants to tackle the citys housing shortage with zoning changes. Her idea: Start a pilot program encouraging construction of more duplexes, quadplexes and manufactured homes. The city is facing high occupancy rates and rising rents, to the point where some Tulsans cant afford to live here anymore. Its also a factor in the citys growing homelessness crisis.

Patrick says the citys current zoning laws make these types of developments difficult to get off the ground, and a change there could provide more affordable housing options.

Another popular theme: Make shop class great again. As it stands, most students cannot start taking CareerTech classes until theyre well into high school. Back in my day, we were doing spot welds and making furniture in middle school.

Again, theres bipartisan agreement that having classes in the trades starting earlier would help students who might not want to go to college, but rather find jobs in manufacturing, construction and other high-demand roles that were desperate to fill.

There are other ideas, some of which come from voices not currently represented at the state Capitol.

The Libertarian Party rode a small wave of popularity a decade ago, much in part to Ron Pauls insurgent campaign for president in 2012. Since then, the partys numbers have grown, though not enough to see a member of the party get elected to a state office.

But they keep fielding candidates, and some of them have intriguing views.

For Libertarians, the less government, the better. Thats not an easy task for a country that is a global superpower with more than 330 million people, but their message does resonate with the crowd that wants public officials to leave them be.

Will Daughtery, who is representing the party in the labor commissioner race, would like to see occupational licensing fees eliminated for businesses until they start seeing a profit.

I dont want those things to be a barrier to starting a business, he said during a recent phone interview with the World.

Hed also advocate for lower taxes on businesses who pay their workers higher wages.

Then theres Chris Powell, a current Bethany City Council member running for lieutenant governor. His platform may be the most unique in the field in that he wants to abolish the position hes running for.

His beef with the office is that he believes it isnt needed. The secretary of state, the Senate president pro tem, or just about anyone else could do the job, one which he feels is more about propelling the office-holder to a better gig down the road.

Mary Fallin did just that, using the platform of lieutenant governor, then Congress, to ultimately claim the Governors Mansion. The lieutenant governor doesnt have much power, but does have some leeway in what the office tackles, and that sort of mushy job description doesnt set well with Powell.

We dont need a statewide office thats a choose-your-own adventure, he said.

It would take a change to the state constitution to see Powells plan become reality, something for which hed lobby the Legislature in an attempt to wind down the lieutenant governors office for good.

In any case, its good to see that there is more to these candidates than the carefully managed and curated campaigns were used to. Educators, engineers, ministers, business owners and more are running for office, and some of them are bringing fresh ideas to the table.

How will it all shake out? Well find out in a few weeks.

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Bob Doucette: 2022 campaign a Wild West of ideas of how to govern Oklahoma - Tulsa World