Mary Fallin, Steven Perry fight for Oklahoma's 5th District
Candidates cite economy, Iraq as major issues
BY CHRIS CASTEEL
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Published: October 30, 2008
WASHINGTON — Running for a second term in the U.S. House, Republican Rep. Mary Fallin is facing Oklahoma City Democrat Steven L. Perry in the 5th Congressional District race.
Left is Steven L. Perry. Right is Rep. Mary Fallin.
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Candidates
Mary Fallin, 54, Republican, Oklahoma City (incumbent); Steven L. Perry, 56, Democrat, Oklahoma City
Area
Most of Oklahoma County and Pottawatomie and Seminole counties
Voters
180,011 Democrats; 171,402 Republicans; 51,626 independents
Fallin, of Oklahoma City, a longtime lieutenant governor, said she has found life in the House rewarding, but also challenging and frustrating.
What the House did accomplish before leaving to campaign in early October was a $700 billion financial rescue plan, which Fallin opposed at first but wound up supporting. She said people in the district are concerned about the nation’s economy.
"I just tell them that our nation is facing challenges we haven’t seen in a while,” she said. "At the same time, we should be prudent and wise about our investments, keep taxes low, control spending and promote pro-growth economic policies.”
The
House Republican leadership has used Fallin’s state energy experience to make her a prominent spokesperson for the GOP’s position that drilling should be allowed off the east and west coasts of the
United States and in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.
Perry, an attorney and petroleum land man, said he would be a centrist Democrat like
Rep. Dan Boren, of
Muskogee, who often votes against his party’s majority.
"I would try to show the differences between a national Democrat and an
Oklahoma Democrat,” Perry said.
Perry doesn’t disagree with Fallin on energy policy. And he agrees that taxes shouldn’t be increased while the economy is down.
He does disagree on the
Iraq issue. Fallin voted against bills that included withdrawal timetables, but Perry said timetables are necessary.
He called the $700 billion rescue plan "a bail-out for the wrong folks” but said he would have supported it because "we have to keep credit flowing in the economy.”
Perry said he wants to see slot machines subject to state taxes.
Related Topics:
U.S. Government,
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Domestic Policy,
Political Policy,
Politics,
U.S. Politics,
U.S. Congressional News,
Business,
Political Parties,
Economic Policy,
U.S. Republican Party Politics,
National Economy,
U.S. National Economy
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