Economy concerns Oklahoma state House District 47 candidates

By Michael McNutt

Published: September 5, 2008

CHICKASHA — Four months ago, Leslie Osborn and Harold Jackson had no plans to seek the House District 47 seat.

Then Rep. Susan Winchester, R-Chickasha, announced a week before the June filing period that she would not seek re-election.

Osborn, a Republican from Tuttle, said she had been planning to run for the post two years from now when Winchester would be unable to seek re-election because of term limits.

"I will admit it was a surprise,” Osborn said. "But it just sped up what we were planning on doing and moved it up a couple years.”

Jackson, a Democrat and former mayor of Chickasha, had not even thought of running for the House of Representatives.

"I wasn't prepared for her not running again,” he said. "I was approached by a group of citizens to run so we (he and his family) sat down and talked it over and decided to go ahead.”

Osborn said she can represent the more urban parts of the district in the Mustang area as well as the mostly agricultural area in the southern area of the district. She is president of a company that sells grill guards, toolboxes and other accessories for pickups owned by agricultural producers and those in the energy industry. Her husband is a third-generation family farmer.

"I'm a big proponent of small business,” Osborn said. "It's my belief that in this district and in most of Oklahoma and the United States that small business and agriculture are still the base, the cornerstone of our economy.”

Living in the central part of the district, Osborn said she feels she understands the needs of the district.

"Chickasha definitely is in need of economic development,” she said. "It definitely needs to bring some jobs in to replace what has been taken away from that community.”

Improvements to State Highway 4 have been instrumental in improving the business climate for Mustang and Tuttle as well as spurring population growth, she said. She wants to seek improvements for a seven-mile strip of Sarah Road in the northern part of Mustang.

Jackson served three terms as mayor of Chickasha, from 1992 through 1998.

Although well-known in the Chickasha area, Jackson said, "It's going to be a challenge up north.”

Jackson said he's concerned about illegal immigration, growing crime and securing new jobs and businesses for the district.

"There are three major towns in the district — Mustang, Tuttle and Chickasha,” Jackson said. "In Chickasha, in the last couple years we lost two of our major employers.”

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