LARGENT WILL TACKLE 'MISERY INDEX'

At a time when state government is under siege by financial conditions,
Oklahoma has an opportunity to bring forth a man with a new vision of
governing the state. I am impressed with Steve Largent because he is a
uniter, not a divider. Largent is no know-it-all to the problems of state
government, but is open-minded enough to consider a statewide suggestion
program to employees and citizens to improve state government. He feels
that the true experts perform the jobs every day, and a good manager will
tap into that reservoir of experience.

As a member of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, it alarms me to see
23,000 people in the system. The cost to the taxpayers is enormous, as is
the hidden cost of families on welfare. Largent wants to truly implement
community sentencing that has never been put in place in our state for
non-violent offenders. If a person is hooked on drugs and willing to seek
treatment by being supervised in the community, he will not go to prison.
This will save Oklahoma millions of dollars -- $30,000 per inmate per year
- -- and more importantly keep families together.

He believes that Oklahoma should leave no child behind by giving the power
to local school districts and boards to administer with local communities,
and stop giving state mandates without funding programs. He believes that
we need to get back to basics with implementation of the "Three R's," teach
citizenship and eliminate social promotions.

His main objective is to get Oklahoma out of the No. 1 position on the
"misery index," especially concerning women incarcerated per capita,
methamphetamine lab production, a high-school dropout rate of 25 percent
and a high divorce rate.

These problems did not occur overnight, but they are on his radar screen.

Confucius said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," and
Largent wants to march toward the light.

Ballard, an occasional contributor to these pages, is historian in
residence at Langston University.