Published: August 26, 2006 12:09 am         

Cargill wants to keep House party going strong

Lance Cargill’s main priority until the next legislative session is keeping a Republican majority in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Cargill was elected House speaker-designate by his colleagues in the House of Representatives last year, and if predictions hold that Republicans will maintain their majority, he will replace Todd Hiett in the 2007 Legislature.

Cargill, from Harrah, represents District 96, which is mostly rural area but also part of Edmond.

Hiett is out as speaker due to term limits. He is currently the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor and will face fellow Rep. Jari Askins, Democrat, in the November general election.

Cargill said the Republican majority in the House of Representatives set a precedent he believes he and his colleagues can build on for Oklahoma.

“I’m very confident and proud of the majority we’ve put in place at the state house,” Cargill said on a swing through Enid this week. “Give us another four years of that majority, and there are even better things to come.”

Cargill touts several pieces of legislation as a result of the leadership of the Republican majority in the House the past two years.

“I can confidentially say the Republicans in the House did bring more fiscal responsibility and restraint, and we did do some investments.”

He specifically points to increases in funding for public education, including teacher salaries, and a plan to double funding for roads and bridges in the next five years.”

“When it comes to teacher salaries, on a percentage basis, Oklahoma has had the largest increases in the country,” Cargill said. “A lot of the spending that did happen is positive for the state.”

Cargill called tax reform and education “fundamental underpinnings of what we’re doing in the state.”

“We have to make our economy attractive to investment and capital, ensuring we have an excellent educational system, not just for a privileged few, but every kid,” he said. He said accountability and measurability has to be a part of educational reform.

“People on the political right have undervalued money toward education,” he said. “Money is important but not the end all, be all of a great education system. Most people in the state recognize there’s a third way. Yes, we do need proper funding, but that funding must be coupled with reform initiatives you often hear from the right.”

Since the Republicans have been in the majority in the House, Cargill said, there has been a “dynamics” change.

“I’m hopeful that with the first two years out of the way, we can now mature as an institution and work better together.”

He said the Republicans instituted some procedural changes that bring restraint on the power of the leadership. He said that is not true for the Senate side, which still operates under a Democrat majority.

“We’ll continue to advance a pro-growth, conservative agenda,” he said. “In some cases we’ll be able to find willing partners in the Senate and with the governor.

“The new Republican majority did good things in substantive policy,” he said. “The procedural changes we made brings about more accountability.”

He said term limits have resulted in turnover in the House, and that will bring fresh ideas and more educated lawmakers into the process.

“One benefit of term limits is we have a new generation in leadership,” he said. “You have that fresh talent coming in, they are open to doing new things. It will reinvigorate the institution.”