Pubdate: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 Source: Oklahoman, The (OK) Copyright: 2002 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318 Author: Currie Ballard 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom