Gary Richardson's Bad Ideas

Gary Richardson, independent candidate for governor, seems to be getting increasingly desperate as his poll numbers dip from 16% to 13% in recent days. His television ads in recent days have focused on attacking his opponents, Brad Henry and Steve Largent. Richardson's anti-Largent ad was in particularly poor taste as he sought to attack the Congressman for being on a hunting trip in Idaho on 9-11. The ad in question showed the twin towers ablaze and used music he had failed to get the musicians' permission to use. Richardson had to pull the ad when the artist threatened action. The point Richardson tries to make, that Largent should have stayed in DC for 9-11 is as nonsensical as the rest of his agenda. Was Largent supposed to put the upcoming 9-11 tragedy on his calendar?

Richardson has also called for drastic cuts in funding for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, the state agency that is responsible for recruiting new business to come to Oklahoma. The 150-person department also operates a wide range of programs designed to assist Oklahoma businesses to grow, to export, and to stay in Oklahoma. The agency also oversees the funneling of federal money into communities in Oklahoma for infrastructure development. It's actually one of the better run agencies in the state and is widely reported to be doing a good job of growing the economy. What does Richardson want to do? For unknown reasons he wants to hand over the funding to chambers of commerce around the state. Richardson doesn't understand the different roles the Department of Commerce and chambers of commerce have. Chambers of commerce represent the interests of the businesses that are members while the Department of Commerce mission is to work for the economic development of the entire state, its communities and businesses. Sometimes their missions converge but sometimes they don't. Not infrequently, what's good for a small number of businesses is not necessarily good for the wider community. Existing businesses, for example, often don't want new competitors recruited to come into the state. Ironically, Richardson the populist, would hand over economic development to a minority of business interests. This is another of Richardson's plans that he has not thought through. That should be cause for concern for voters. Leaders need to be able to think through to unintended consequences.

The idea of an independent as governor is appealing and I hope someday we get a good independent non-partisan governor. Richardson isn't the right one. He would be a disaster for Oklahoma with his poorly researched ideas and shoot-from-the-hip policies.