OKLAHOMA CITY – Congresswoman Mary Fallin, a Republican candidate for governor in Oklahoma, released the following statement after Governor Brad Henry’s State of the State speech:
“I appreciate Governor Henry’s positive outlook during these difficult times and I fully agree with him that, despite a difficult recession and an ongoing budget crisis, Oklahoma will prevail and continue to move forward. That said, we have some serious work ahead of us. With our economy faltering and more and more Oklahomans worried about their futures, our state government needs to focus on measures that will promote job growth and economic stability. We can start by addressing the skyrocketing workers compensation costs and legal fees that hurt business, further developing and educating our workforce, and addressing the rising cost of healthcare which continues to stifle job growth and chip away at our pocketbooks. All of these measures will encourage job creation and leave us with a more prosperous state. We also need to immediately get down to the difficult job of trimming waste in our state budget and dramatically improving government efficiency. Emptying the state's 'savings account' by draining the Rainy Day fund amounts to kicking the can down the road and will make future cuts deeper and more painful. The time to seriously reduce unnecessary spending is right now.
“Governor Henry is right to encourage our legislators to move forward immediately, but it’s important to remember the problems we face now did not develop overnight. Our current budget deficit has been a long time in the making and we have now been operating in an economic downturn for over a year. If I have the honor of being elected our next governor, you can be sure that I will lead an energetic, forward thinking state government that anticipates these crises and acts earlier to protect our families and our businesses.“
