Istook looking to take over state helm

Istook looking to take over state helm

ALTUS - U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook wants to take over the state helm from Gov. Brad Henry and return to his roots in a state that he feels is in need of direction at a critical time.

"Governors who are leaders influence national policy, not just state policy, and I intend to be such a governor," said Istook, the seven term incumbent congressman from the 5th Congressional District of Oklahoma.

Istook, who currently serves as vice chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and is the senior Republican member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education and the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, stopped by the Altus Times offices Thursday afternoon to press his goal of winning the race for Oklahoma governor in November.

The conservative Republican congressman feels good about his campaign and is happy with the solid victory he achieved in the July Republican primary against his three opponents: oil businessman Bob Sullivan, state Sen. Jim Williamson and aviation consultant Jim Evanoff.

It is a "critical time for Oklahoma," Istook said, as the state embarks on its second century - at a crossroads ... a time to "pick the right direction."

And he feels certain that it is his time to be at the state's helm as governor. "Oklahoma has wonderful people and terrific resources," he said, "but to grow we also require strong leadership, and it won't happen with weak leadership."

What with the success of the oil and gas industry, Istook points to a recent Census Bureau report that the growth rate in Oklahoma is less than half that of the national average. Mortgage foreclosures, he said, are up 45 percent in the past year. "Even though we have an oil and gas boom under way, the poverty rate is up and the per capita income is down," he said. "All this goes back to whether we have strong leadership rather than weak leadership to change the environment to attract more high paying jobs to Oklahoma."

To do that, he said, the state must start with changes in the tax code. People who create jobs in the state are the first to leave, he said, "because they feel chased out."

And, he said, "Slow motion, phased in tax cuts, which is the only kind Brad Henry would approve, don't do the job", adding that the incumbent governor has insisted on watering down immediate tax cuts approved by the House and Senate.

Besides fixing the tax code, Istook said, changes also need to be made to the legal system as well as the state's roads and infrastructure. "Otherwise, you won't build more opportunity in the state and you won't keep our young people here."
Henry counts job growth among his achievements in office, but Istook questions whether the incumbent can earnestly draw on that claim. When the state's job growth rate is less than half the national average, he said, "that's weak. When the per capita income is down, even in the middle of an oil and gas boom, that shows a ton of underlying weakness."

The governor, Istook said, "wants to pretend that he's responsible for the oil and gas boom, but we know better."

Oklahoma's governor needs to be hands-on with economic development, Istook said, adding that as a member of Congress he has brought to the state some of the highest paying jobs it has ever had. He points to his work at bringing jobs in medical research, the weather center at the University of Oklahoma and expanded aviation. "These are high paying jobs; these are part of tomorrow's jobs," he said.

The congressman said that besides job growth, Oklahoma must work to solve the problem of illegal immigration. "I want Oklahomans taking the jobs that now the illegal immigrants are taking," he said, adding that tens of millions of dollars are spent annually to house and feed undocumented immigrants in the state's corrections system, and the state's undocumented population causes huge expenses at hospitals as well as in the education system.

Henry, he said, recently announced that Oklahoma ought to consider amnesty for undocumented immigrants. "I say no to amnesty," Istook said, outlining his support for laws similar to those passed in Georgia and Colorado that forbid the hiring of undocumented immigrants and the distribution of public benefits to people living in the state illegally. "When that happens, then they'll realize there's no reason to remain here in Oklahoma and they'll voluntarily leave," he said.

Oklahoma would not be the first to enact that sort of law, Istook said, "but we'd better not be the last."

One reason for illegal immigration, the congressman said, is that the state hasn't finished fixing its welfare system. "We do not have sufficient laws for able bodied and working age people to be under time limits and work requirements for all forms of public assistance," he said, adding that if someone is of working age and able bodied, they should be getting transitional help, which may include job training, and it may include substance abuse treatment. "That's why we have the illegal immigration challenge is because we don't insist that Americans who could take these jobs do take these jobs. And so we pay twice: we pay for the public assistance and then we pay the cost of illegal immigration. Plus, that makes it more difficult to provide that assistance to the people who truly need it."

If those resources are applied effectively, Istook said, "You have more resources to go around to take care of the more difficult cases if you successfully move people into work and self sufficiency that are capable of it. We've lost that focus."

Istook also has the goal of making English the state's official language.

In short, Istook said, he and Henry "have a very different approach, both to immigration and to law and order."

When asked why he wished to return to state government after so many years in Congress, Istook said, "No matter what I might be accomplishing in Washington, if things aren't right here at home, then they're not right. Oklahoma is home, and my roots are sunk deep in Oklahoma. And I want to see Oklahoma at the top of the heap, not at the bottom."

Again, he stressed the need for a stronger economy. "You've got to quit chasing away prosperous people," he said. "I mean, it is astounding how many people have left Oklahoma for tax reasons, and they're not run-of-the-mill people, they're job-creating people."

That, he said, is the first wave of people leaving the state. The second wave, he said, is made up of students who leave because of the lack of opportunity. "You fix the first wave, you fix the second wave," he said.

As for health care in the state, the congressman said that he would work to bring up the per capita income of the workers and to spring free from government regulations. He would, he said, use his connections in Washington to get Oklahoma relieved from federal mandates that raise the cost of health care, something only a governor has the ability to do.

Agricultural communities, Istook said, must develop ways of processing the products produced on the farm here in the state. "We have to process in Oklahoma what we produce in Oklahoma, so that agricultural communities have more than the jobs of tilling the soil," he said.

A big barrier to that prospect, Istook said, is that processing facilities require capital and the state has been exporting capital because people leave the state.

He said he hopes to develop incentives for alternative fuel sources such as ethanol and wind power. "Economics are pushing us in that direction, and that's a special opportunity for Oklahoma," he said, adding that has helped with biomass research funding requests in Washington to make the conversion. "But we need to do that in a way that's taking advantage of the market forces rather than creating an artificial market through government subsidies," he said.

Istook beats a steady drum against what he calls the weak leadership shown by Henry. The incumbent governor, he said, "is the closest thing to Bill Clinton that I've seen, trying to take credit for what other people have done and shift attention away from his own initiatives, which are not going well."

Among those initiatives Istook includes the state lottery, tribal casinos and tobacco tax. "Brad Henry told people that if you'll pass a lottery that it'll bring in a net of $300 million a year for education," Istook said. "Well now he proclaims it a success if it brings in $65 million a year. What happened to the other $235 million?"

The governor, he said, misrepresented what the benefits would be and underestimated what the consequences would be, again pointing to the 45 percent increase in mortgage foreclosures. The state, he said, needs to provide more resources to aid people who have developed addictive gambling behaviors since the inception of the lottery and greater numbers of casinos.

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