Governor hopefuls stay on the road, on the air
DEL CITY — After a year on the road, it's probably understandable that a candidate might forget what day it is. Or even month.
On Friday evening, gubernatorial candidate Mick Cornett told Republicans attending the Oklahoma County GOP picnic that it was the one-year anniversary of his campaign launch on January 1st.
With some prompting from his wife, Terri, in the
audience, the former Oklahoma City mayor corrected the date to June 1st and gave the day’s itinerary.
“Today was not atypical,” Cornett told the GOP group.
“I got up a little before 6 and Terri had already been up an hour. Pretty soon we were off headed to Bartlesville. We then went to Owasso. We then went to Claremore. We then went back to Owasso. And we arrived here just about 30 minutes ago. Tomorrow is not much different.”
It is fair to say candidates are counting down the days to the June 26 primaries.
“We’re 24 days away from the election,” Kevin Stitt, a Tulsa businessman and one of Cornett’s rivals for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, said at the Friday picnic.
“We’ve been running this for the last year, so we’re getting down to crunch time. I’ve been to all 77 counties. It feels like I’ve met the whole state at this point. It really does.”
In a brief interview after the event, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb said, “We’re excited about where we are, with the momentum, the endorsements we’ve had ... the most important endorsement is June 26. Our message of reform and detailed action plan is really resonating.”
A run-off in the race is a near certainty. A candidate would need to get 50 percent plus one vote to win outright. Otherwise, the top two finishers will be on the Aug. 28 run-off ballot.
Lamb, Cornett and Stitt — the three leaders in most polls taken this year — have made significant purchases of television ad time for the next three weeks.
Cornett’s latest spot seeks to contrast his 14 years as mayor approving balanced budgets with the state government “swimming” in red ink every year (though the state budget is also balanced every year, by constitutional mandate).
In the ad, Cornett appropriates the platform plank of candidate Gary Richardson, who has called for auditing every state agency.
“We audited every department, every year,” Cornett states in his new ad.
Stitt has also adopted Richardson’s position on audits.
Stitt’s latest spot promises more transparency.
“As governor, Kevin Stitt will shine a light on government spending, posting every penny of state government spending online so you know where your taxes go, and we can cut government waste,” the narrator says.
At the picnic, Stitt gave a new example of how he would seek to assert more executive power.
Stitt said he would ask the Legislature for the authority to hire and fire the heads of agencies that currently serve at the pleasure of boards or commissions. Gov. Mary Fallin and previous governors have made the same case, and the Legislature has taken steps in that direction.
Last month, Stitt said he would use the power of judicial appointments to impose an anti-abortion litmus test on judicial nominees.
Lamb, who has called out his opponents for being vague, has been running a television spot pledging a detailed plan that will include reforming the budget process and education.
“We’ve had funding for education but no reform in education,” Lamb said at the picnic Friday. “It’s time we reform education in two areas. Fiscal reform. As governor, we’ll require a minimum of 65 cents of the appropriated education dollar to go inside the classroom.
“Rigor reform. Last year, of all the high school graduates that went on to college, 40 percent had to be remediated ... It’s time we required rigor reform, third-grade reading and third-grade math requirement.”