Auditor confirms run for governor
Republican Gary Jones, the state auditor and inspector who has been a thorn in the side of leaders from both parties over Oklahoma’s tax and budget policies, confirmed Monday that he’s running for governor.
Jones, 62, said he will formally launch his campaign in the fall, but that he will seek to succeed Republican Gov. Mary Fallin, who can’t run again because of term limits.
“My main message is that we have to be fiscally responsible, that we have to cut out all unnecessary expenses, but we also have to have enough revenue to fund core services,” Jones told The Associated Press.
Jones said he thinks many state agencies are top heavy with excessive administration, and he noted how his own agency’s budget has been slashed from $5.9 million in 2010 to $2.9 million this year.
A fierce critic of Democrats during more than six years as chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, Jones also has been critical of various fiscal decisions by the GOP-led Legislature and Fallin’s secretary of finance, Preston Doerflinger.
A former telecommunications industry executive, Jones runs a farming and ranching operation with his family in the southwestern Oklahoma community of Cache, where he also served as a Comanche County commissioner.
Jones was elected state auditor in 2010 as part of a Republican sweep of statewide offices, but he is termlimited and can’t run for that post again.
Jones acknowledged that he’ll be at a major fundraising disadvantage to other GOP candidates such as Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, who already has $1 million in his campaign account, and Tulsa attorney Gary Richardson, who said he’s willing to put at least $2.5 million of his own money into his campaign.
Democratic candidates who have announced plans to run include former Attorney General Drew Edmondson, House Democratic Leader Rep. Scott Inman, former state Sen. Connie Johnson and retired auto mechanic Norman Brown.