Published: April 25, 2008 11:53 pm         

Benge speaks about his challenge as speaker of the House during a Vance Air Force Base visit

Serving in the Oklahoma Legisla-ture can prove a roller coaster ride, but the ups and downs of doing the state’s business couldn’t prepare House Speaker Chris Benge for his ride in a T-38 Friday at Vance Air Force Base.

Benge spent the morning getting ready for his flight, being fitted with a helmet, parachute, G suit and oxygen mask, and learning how to quickly exit an aircraft in case of emergency.

“It was a matter of getting me familiar with all the things I’m going to have to deal with in the airplane,” said Benge, who lives in Berryhill, near Tulsa, and represents House District 68. “I’m excited about it. It’s not anything I’ve ever done.”

The speaker flew with Capt. Michael Pickett of the 25th Flying Training Squad-ron.

This was the speaker’s first visit to Vance, and his first to any of the state’s military facilities.

“You can’t replace the opportunity to experience something firsthand,” Benge said. “Especially taking on a

position as speaker, where it is more of a statewide position. Something like this is obviously very educational.

“Obviously with some of the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Com-mission) issues we’ve worked on at the state level, it kind of helps put that in perspective, also.”

At the state Capitol, Benge said, there is “a lot of pride in the fact we have a strong military presence here in the state. I know the legislators all take a lot of pride in that, even those who are not necessarily from the areas that have military installations. We feel like our state’s making a contribution to the security of the country.”

The 2008 legislative session began contentiously with the sudden resignation of former speaker Lance Cargill after records surfaced showing he had been late two straight years filing state and federal personal income taxes and had failed to pay property taxes on his law office for six consecutive years.

Speaker Pro Tempore Gus Blackwell, R-Goodwell, was next in line to be speaker, but he removed himself from the running because he was late paying his own property taxes.

Benge threw his name in the hat for speaker, just hours before the deadline, and was elected by acclamation over Reps. John Wright, R-Broken Arrow, Susan Winchester, R-Chickasha, and Dale DeWitt, R-Braman.

Benge said the job was everything he expected and more.

“It’s been every bit as challenging as I expected it would be,” Benge said. “It’s obviously a very challenging job. Trying to keep a pulse on members in the House, trying to work with all the different, diverse viewpoints and trying to bring all those together to develop policy that is good for the state, is very challenging.”

After getting off to a rough start, the session has proven a productive one, Benge said.

“Things have calmed, as far as the session goes,” Benge said. “I attribute a lot of that to the members. They realize that, in spite of all of the circumstances that happened leading up to the session, once we got into the session it was time to get down to business and do the people’s work.”

Highlights of the session thus far, Benge said, include a budget agreement and passage of a tax incentive package designed to help lure the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.

“That is something that will be beneficial for the state as a whole,” Benge said. “Even though the basketball team will be located in Oklahoma City, I think it brings some exposure to the state that we don’t have, currently. That’s bound to be good for us in the future.”

There is still much work to be done, Benge said, before the Legislature’s scheduled adjournment May 23.

“We’ve had a lot of work on trying to advance the road maintenance program,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to do something to continue to build on something we started three years ago, putting more funding into roads.

“Most of the other key issues are still pending. There’s a lot of key decisions made in May. The revenue picture being slim has kind of kept us from doing a lot of things we’d like to do. It’s going to cut down on our options, having less revenue this year.”