NORMAN — A massive federal debt, millions of illegal aliens, moral decline and continuous assaults on individual liberty are placing the American way of life at risk, gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon told fellow Republicans Tuesday.
The Owasso state senator, who took office in 2002, said he was deeply concerned about what is going on inside the nation’s and state capitols. His speech to the Cleveland County GOP Luncheon Club followed by several months a talk by U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, also a Republican candidate for governor of Oklahoma. She’ll speak to the group again July 6, this time as a gubernatorial candidate.
Although he’s an announced candidate for governor, Brogdon’s talk seemed aimed at capitalizing on the unpopularity of Congress and President Obama. It was peppered with religious and Biblical references. He likened his race to the wall building around Jerusalem. One 87-year-old retired pastor in the audience let out a few “Amens” to accentuate the senator’s thoughts.
“I am tired of being a nation that has to apologize to the world,” Brogdon said. “Our nation is at risk. The sovereignty and will of the people is at risk.”
He repeated his call for Oklahoma to reduce ties to Washington. Free enterprise, not government bailouts and stimulus funds, should be responsible for creating jobs, he said.
Brogdon, in response to a question, said he has a higher conservative rating than Fallin, a former Oklahoma House member and lieutenant governor. He said he has spent 30 years as an owner of successful businesses.
He opposed the state budget because it contained federal stimulus funding. Fallin, he said, didn’t vote for it but got in line to secure $12 million in funding for the state.
Brogdon said voters have allowed politicians to stray from the principles that the nation was founded upon.
“We have slipped back and settled for corruption, ignorance and reckless behavior by our elected officials,” he said. “I’m afraid Washington, D.C., has become rotten to the core and it’s going to take all of us to fix it.”
Despite the speech’s negative tone, Brogdon said he was excited about the future of the nation and of Oklahoma.
He said he was running for governor to limit government and to make a better future for his children. He described himself as “about as ordinary a guy as you will ever meet.”
“Historically, we elect career politicians and trial attorneys. I’m neither. I’m a heat and air guy from Owasso, Oklahoma.”
Andy Rieger 366-3543 editor@normantranscript.com
