Henryetta Free-Lance

,p g See LIONS, page 10A

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r Pictured is Drew and Linda Edmondson.

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Edmondson makes
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Monday also was One Year
n Times Editor
- of the 2018 General Election.
l Oklahoma gubernatorial candi-
date Drew Edmondson and his wife
e Linda made a stop in
m OkmulgeeMondayafternoon.
d The former state attorney general
was engaged in the Take Back
Oklahoma tour through the state.
were scheduled to tour western
Out, marking one year until the day
Monday, the couple visited cities
in eastern Oklahoma, including
Wilburton and Okmulgee and ended
in Tulsa Monday evening at a pri-
vate gathering in the home of Jim
and Sally Frazier.
On Tuesday, the Edmondsons
Oklahoma with stops in Anadarko,
Chickasha, Norman ending up in
Oklahoma City.
We started in the Panhandle and
worked back through northwestern
Oklahoma which is still a little
tougher territory for a Democrat,
See EDMONDSON, page 10A

Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
 Henryetta Free-Lance
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A010 s EDMONDSON
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f tighten up those laws.
From r Edmondson said in a visit to the Okmulgee
A001 t Times office. A candidate can get misled by
- how friendly people are in Oklahoma. You
start thinking they are all for you. There is a
lot more certainty when I get back into east-
ern Oklahoma which is kind of home country
for me.
Edmondson is a native of Muskogee.
The top priority for Edmondson is fixing
n the budget.
n Schools are our number one priority, but
d we cant do anything for our schools unless
e we fix the budget, he said. Same with men-
s tal health, corrections - all of those are neces-
g sary priorities but fixing the budget has got to
; come first.
Edmondson also shared his thoughts on
- Sundays tragic shooting at a church in
n Texas.
This is a classic example of why some
s people should not have access to semi-auto-
matic assault rifles, he said. This guy had a
conviction in a military court that would have
s been a felony if he had been tried in a civil
o court. He had been turned down for a con-
a cealed carry permit and how the world he got
d his hand on a semi-automatic assault rifle -
- weve got to be more careful and if there are
e loopholes out there we need to close them. I
dont want to take anybody guns away if they
are lawfully in possession of them. But we
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
mentally impaired buying guns. We got to
While in Okmulgee, he visited the
Muscogee Creek Nation.
While there, he discussed the gaming com-
pact will be coming up in the governors term.
"They are such a good partner on economic
development, roads, health and housing," he
said. " We also had a good exchange of infor-
mation about the Murphy decision on juris-
diction. I appreciated getting briefed on some
of those situations. All of the Oklahoma tribes
do a good job and we appreciate all they do."
At the moment, there is only one other
Democrat seeking the governors position.
Former Senator Connie Johnson is also seek-
ing the post.
The Republican side is a little more
crowded, Edmondson said.
As part of his Take Back Oklahoma tour,
Edmondson is seeking change.
Our legislative leaders still have a chance
to set Oklahoma back on solid financial foot-
ing to fund education, health care, infrastruc-
ture and services for seniors, Edmondson
said. If they arent willing to stand up to their
corporate donors and their corporate lobbyists
and do whats right, Im prepared as governor
to put a plan before the people and let them
vote to secure these critical services and put
Oklahoma back on track.
The filing period for state offices will be
held in April 2018.