House District 5 Candidate Forum to select a replacement for Rep. Cox
| By Elaine Nickelson Representative Doug Cox (R-Grove) is term-limited and there are three candidates vying in the Republican Primary for his position. On Monday evening, May 23, the Republican candidates took part in a forum with questions fielded by Pastor Robert Carter, Chair of the Delaware County GOP. Approximately 80 people attended the event at NewSong Church located between Grove and Jay. Each gave opening remarks and then answered the same questions presented.  - photo: Elaine Nickelson | They are:
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| Question 1: What would you consider to be the three most important issues facing Delaware County? Russell - Education, Economy and Family Structure because they are all tied together; without an educated workforce, corporations can’t find employees to do the jobs; and when jobs are not available, divorce rates rise. Delaware County has one of the highest divorce rates in the State. Wilhelm - Healthcare because our population is the oldest population in the State and we have to make sure we provide for senior citizens and that they are taken care of; Education because every student deserves the right to get a quality education equal to other cities in the State, and Tourism because we need to focus on bringing people to our area and more money to provide for our children and seniors. West - Education and if we needed to pay higher taxes it would be for education and we need to find out why we are so underfunded because that’s not a democrat or republican problem and every teacher he knows went to Oklahoma City and picketed for higher pay and we have the same thing now and we need to fix the problem. The money put into education was eaten up by insurance rates. Local Economy - Grove leads in this area and it is important but we need jobs outside of tourism. Infrastructure - the roads are in bad shape. Question 2: Education is at the top of everyone’s mind right now, made more complex by the shortfalls we experience. Are you in favor of Boren’s state question that would add 1% sales tax? Wilhelm - That is a very hot topic and the last thing to do is raise taxes, but it will be up to a vote of the people to determine what they want to do. As an educator, I would love to have more money, but with a 9.3% sales tax now that would go 10.3% we would be losing money because people could easily drive across the state line to make purchases. I am excited to see what people will do. West - I agree that people will drive out of state and I want to know if Boren will lower tuition if the tax passes. Those in border towns will go other places. I do not support the tax increase. Russell - No, I would not support the sales tax increase for the same reasons as the others and I believe there are other ways to put money in the classroom without raising taxes. Having Oklahoma as one of the highest sales tax states in the nation would make it hard for our economy to compete with other states. We need to find another way. Question 3: What are your thoughts on how to advance teacher salaries without incurring additional taxes? West - Over 50% of the budget does to education and teachers are the backbone of our education system. We need to make it more about teachers and children and if you look at over half of the money spent goes to non-teaching jobs and schools are cutting 60 admin jobs and 140 teaching positions, the priorities are messed up. I am not sure of the answer until I get elected. Russell - One thing we could do is find additional sources of revenue to subsidize oil revenue and also find out where the money is going. It doesn’t seem like teachers are getting the money they should and administrators are way up there. Maybe some cuts off of that so we can add dollars to the classroom. Wilhelm - Over 50% of the budget is education, but 50% of what budget? We have a $1.3 billion shortfall and in three years it will be over $2 billion. The budget is not big enough to begin with. One example is Pryor, OK where they have a Google substation. They are adding positions in Pryor because their ad valorem tax has gone up. Dallas has information hubs and we have to look at those type jobs instead of just oil and gas. Question: What is your position on consolidation of school superintendents and reduction of positions? Russell - We need to look at this because we spent $500,000 on an administration building full of administrators and in our district we can look at being able to consolidate districts in a manageable range. Wilhelm - Right now if you fired all the superintendents in the state you would save roughly $40 million and that would only be a drop in the bucket. We won’t do that. We need to look at where the money is going. The public schools are so mandated with A to F report cards; the data on data it takes to actually figure out an A, B, C, D or F are administrator jobs. There is a lot of waste right now because of the mandates. West - We have 511 schools in the state and all have superintendents. There are 140 with 150 kids or less and 80 with 100 kids or less and that is something to look at. Some counties could go to one superintendent in the county. It is good that we are getting rid of end of instruction exams. I just have to get there to get enough information. |  Delaware County GOP Chairman, Robert Carter, moderated the event. - photo: Elaine Nickelson Question 5: What are your thoughts on federal mandates on states about transgender bathrooms? Wilhelm - 19% of American citizens are disabled and only 0.3% is transgender. You tell me which one we should focus on. We need to talk about better ways to educate our children and the government should not be involved. It frustrates me as a Republican to see Republicans getting involved in this. West - it is not a federal issue and they have no right to tell schools about bathrooms. It is a waste of time and there is a lot more to be doing, with four days left to get a budget together, focus on the real thing. Russell - I agree with both. Transgender bathrooms should not be mandated or an issue. Growing up I never thought we would have this issue. We have lots of other problems, education, healthcare, prisons, but not transgender bathrooms. Question 6: Regarding school vouchers, do you support a plan for voucher programs? West - Parental choice is important and I don’t care where people send their children. Parents should be able to send her kids wherever they want. I have never supported a voucher system and, in fact, it would be taking money from rural schools and I just can't support that. It is more of a rural versus urban issue. Russell - I do support vouchers because, coming from a business standpoint, and you need to look at other options. Oklahoma ranks in the bottom 10 and education and it is something that competition opens up and it would open up other ways of approaching the way to do something different. If that does pass it would hopefully improve education. I agree with homeschooling as another way to improve education and private schools with help with the expense. Wilhelm – I am patently against vouchers and we would lose over $900,000 per year from education and it would drive a wedge between lower and higher students. I don’t care where kids are sent but do not want public money going to private school. When attendance goes down the public school would be losing money and charter schools don't even have to have a building. Money should go to public schools and nothing else. Question 7: What is your opinion on school choice? Russell - I agree 100% because a parent knows the best way to educate his child. We homeschooled our son in first grade and he is now in Grove School and it gave him a leg up. Wilhelm - I have no problem with it, but sometimes children come back to the public system and they are lost and the teacher has no idea how to reach the student because they have no idea what level they are. There needs to be home school accountability. West - Yes, I support parental choice. Question 8: Last week the legislature voted to dramatically reduce abortions in our state and the Governor vetoed it. How would you have voted and would you vote to override the veto? Wilhelm - I am 100% pro-life, but how we got to that subject is purely a political move simply because the legislature wanted to challenge the federal government and at times like this when we have a budget deficit, we don't need to do something that would bring another lawsuit with the federal government simply for political game. The Governor had the right to veto. I would have voted no for an override. West - I am pro-life and would have voted yes, but it has already been deemed unconstitutional by the Governor. I would still have voted to override, but if a federal judge deemed it wasn’t constitutional, we would' have wasted money on. I always take the position of pro-life and I would vote yes to override the veto. Russell - I am 100% pro-life and I would have supported the bill to stop abortion. Oklahoma is a state and we have a right to make our own laws and if citizens want to end abortion, I don’t believe the federal government can tell us what we can or can't do in our state. We should have fought it. We were on sound ground. If we want freedoms, we have to fight for them and can't roll over every time and I believe other states would have joined with us in the fight. |
At that point, Robert Carter pointed out that any money to fight the bill was already funded by Liberty Counsel and it would not cost the state any funds.
| Question 9: The State is currently considering several options as pertain to Medicare and Medicaid in working with Obamacare. In general, what are your thoughts on managing the spiraling costs? West - I can understand why people voted not to expand Medicaid because it cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop it and the constituents and Oklahoma have said no. I am for helping people in need him, but there's a lot of fraud and waste in that system. I would, however, agree with the sin tax of $1.50 on cigarettes because that would help people from losing their insurance and I would probably have supported that. Russell - Healthcare is a huge topic and the problem is, with any government program, we have become too dependent on it. Obamacare has destroyed the healthcare industry and I don’t like federal mandates placed on states. I would not have supported any mandate for Medicaid. Wilhelm - It was a very hot topic and after speaking with physicians across Delaware County on the left and on the right, I see what is happening with senior citizens losing money because we are turning away the funding. We are in too much of a budget crisis to say no. We have to fix healthcare for senior citizens and I want to make sure that they take care of me. [This writer believes that with this comment by Wilhelm, he was confused between Medicare and Medicaid when he answered the question, or he was saying we should have accepted Medicaid expansion to begin with – not sure.] Question 10: With regard to the Second Amendment, there is a proposal that any adult over 21 without a felony conviction can open carry without a license, background check or training; open or concealed now have to have firearms’ training. How would you vote on that proposal? Russell - I support the Second Amendment and would support an open carry bill, but it’s hard to prove they don’t have a felony when carrying and there is really no way around it, but if you go by the Constitution, I need to do everything by the Constitution and I would support an open carry bill. Wilhelm - I fully support the Second Amendment right to carry, but you have to be smart. You need to get certification. I don’t want a doctor working on me without certification so I would have no business being a doctor. It’s up to common sense that you should have some type of certification and background check. West - I believe open carry is fine if you have been through class. I have defended the Constitution in the military but I think we need to use common sense. A person needs training, so it's common sense. I would have to actually see the bill before deciding for sure how I would vote. Question 11: The NRA seeks a statewide public vote amending the Constitution to make it harder for the legislature to regulate firearms, tax on firearms or ammunition, but supporters of hospitals and business, including the Oklahoma City Thunder oppose it. Wilhelm - I am a strong proponent of the Second Amendment, but we have to make sure we don’t’ have somebody with a lethal weapon without certification and businesses should not be running government. The legislature should be running government. West - I need more information on the topic. You can’t legislate the Constitution and you have to use common sense. Russell - I support the Second Amendment and love the NRA and what they do, but I don’t support changing our Constitution. If we start doing that, we open it up to anyone coming in to change it to fit their needs. Question 12: Last week GRDA announced they failed to reach an agreement with REC concerning power provided by GRDA, and it could result in higher utility costs. Should the state legislature step in? West - GRDA is a great asset to this area. I have seen the talking points from GRDA but I haven’t seen both sides. I don’t think legislators should be involved they are two private entities. Russell - GRDA is a huge asset to the community. I think, without legislation, they need to try to get an agreement. That would be a last case scenario. Wilhelm - It is unfortunate they split ways. I appreciate small government and no way should the government get involved between those two entities. Perhaps a county judge could step in to moderate, but at the state level, no. Question 13: Some current budget issues are being corrected now by dipping into the State Rainy Day Fund, what are your thoughts about dipping into it and how can it be replenished? Russell - If we continue to dip into it, we would go bankrupt. We need to learn how to live within our means and our budget and make cuts where necessary. Oil and or gas are great resources to the state and it's a good thing it is starting to go back up and hopefully increasing funds to help cover the budget deficit. Wilhelm - So right now we are in a thunderstorm. Oklahoma lost money by not putting more money into the Rainy Day Fund when they could have like North Dakota did. The government taking $50 million out of the Rainy Day fund is a smart onetime thing, but we are truly in a crisis we must be smarter. We must put more money into the Rainy Day Fund. West - I support the decision to take the money out, but as a state we don't have the luxury of going into debt. We must balance the budget and we must make agencies have a line item budget showing on paper where the money is going. We have to do better by attracting other businesses. Aerospace is doing good work but as far as agriculture, the commodities in the state, is not doing well. We have to grow the economy. Don't take away all the tax incentives, but they need to give us growth. | Question 14: Would you continue tax breaks that could have a negative effect on the state budget? Wilhelm - Pryor has done something phenomenal and we have to have that happen to the entire state. We have to be responsible fiscally. Other states are doing just fine. Rising above the 2% tax break is not going to kill the oil industry when it is on the rise like it is now. West - We can't keep doing the same thing over and over. We have got to put a cap on. The oil industry is very important, but we have to put a cap on it and that extra money would help us. We need it here and Grove tourism is important, but we need to look outside the box. We need to bring in employers. Russell - Being a business owner, it is not fair to have the government interfere. Government needs to stay out of it. How we address bringing businesses in - if they aren’t in your area there is a reason for it and shouldn’t be there in the first place. Government did the same with wind energy. They have tax incentives to bring windmills and it is the least effective energy to produce and if that market crashes we will have windmills all over the state. Government needs to stay out of it. Question 15: Driving down roads in Oklahoma we know the infrastructure is out of date. How should the legislature approach improvements of roads and bridges in lieu of the budget situation we are in. West - I drive locally 200 miles a day and they aren’t good. Roads are funded from gas tax and the county commissioners make the decision. With the state it is a safety issue. People say they don’t want federal money but they sure what them for roads and highways. We need to take a serious look at the infrastructure but not raise taxes. I need to get there and look at it when in office. I need to see true numbers and how it works. Russell - The biggest complaint in Delaware County is the roads. You can’t drive on a road without hitting a pothole. It is a county commission issue. 50% of tax goes to fix roads and it is hard to say how we get more money. The state is broke. There is no money for this or for education. Answer is more money but there is no money. We have to figure out where the money is going and hold them responsible for funds used and what is going on. We need to do an audit of the office and that would be a start. Wilhelm - I always know I am in Oklahoma because of the roads. To make them better we need to make them a priority. The state and local need to make it a priority of what is worth funding instead of going in to see what they can remove waste from without hurting everything. The state does not have priorities. Question 16: The Grand River Waterways are important to us here. How much importance on protecting the watershed would you make? Russell - it is very important since we live here on the Grand River. It provides drinking water and tourism and it is a huge draw to the people inside and outside the state. One thing to do is put our money, which we don’t have, into the resources of preserving the lake, like construction around the lake to draw people in. Wilhelm - Grand Lake is a number one asset. We have to take care of it. I took a tour of Simmons a few years ago and it was a hot topic but what they've done now to improve the wastewater system is above and beyond. We have to make sure that it stays that way. West - It is a topic for me because I work for Simmons and I can’t support something that would harm my kids. Simmons has spent millions to change the wastewater facility. They were heavily fined and I will not support any harm to the lake. It is a jewel of northeast Oklahoma and the greatest natural resource in this part of the state. Question 17: Where does the Oklahoma legislature currently stand or where would you stand on an Article V convention of states? Would your opinion be to call for a convention? West - I don't know I haven't heard. I don't know what my opinion is. I think the constitution is made up of years of history and we don't want to change it right now. Russell – The Constitution is why I am doing what I am. I am against changing it in any way. If you start messing with the fundamentals, it opens it up to what will be changed and I am against that. Wilhelm - The Constitution has been changed 27 times. I am not advocating for changing anything at all, but I am a proponent of a conversation. I am okay with voting to approve discussion to see what Oklahoma wants. Question: If you could have dinner with any of the framers of the Constitution who and why? Russell - James Monroe because I really looked up to him and he was really one that stood out to me for what he did. Wilhelm - James Madison West - Thomas Jefferson just because he fought, bled and saw brothers die defending the Constitution. I am not politically savvy, but I want to serve.  Elaine Nickelson is an active part of the Delaware County GOP. She shares her account of the political forum held May 23rd, in the race to replace Dr Cox, who is termed out at 12 years in the legislature |
