Tulsa restaurateur Rusty Rowe campaigns for Oklahoma House District 66

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On Monday, April 9th, nearly two hundred female attorneys descended on the Oklahoma State Capitol building to lobby on behalf of public educators. Among them was University of Tulsa student Colleen McCarty, whose trip to Oklahoma City inspired her husband, Rusty Rowe, to make the drive two days later. 

Rowe, 35, took the opportunity to file for candidacy in the race for State Representative of District 66. He will take on Angela Graham in the Democratic primary on June 26. Sandite Pride News recently sat down for an interview with Rowe.

Rowe and McCarty will celebrate their tenth anniversary in July. The two have a six-year-old daughter and an eighteen-month boy. The couple owned and operated Mod's Coffee and Crepes in downtown Tulsa for seven years before closing in December. During his time in the restaurant industry Rowe was Vice President on the Art Deco District Owners Association Board for six years. 

"I've been running other peoples' restaurants and my own restaurants for fifteen years and I never really had time to jump into the political realm. This is the first time everything really lined up and I felt a calling to do more than I've been doing."

Rowe identifies as a moderate, and has voted for both republicans and democrats in recent elections. "If it's a good idea, I don't care if there's an 'R' or a 'D' next to your name. It should be supported and fleshed out." 

"I don't think they did enough," said Rowe, regarding the most recent legislative session.

Last month Governor Mary Fallin signed into law House Bill 1010xx, creating $447 million in new revenue and generating an average pay raise of $6,100 for public school teachers.

"The only reason it's historic that it got that much, is because of how much they've cut out of education," claims Rowe. "They lowered the budget 28%, and now they're bragging about raising it 19%. That's not an accomplishment."

Education isn't the only department to take a hit in Oklahoma. According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, the Fiscal Year 2017 budget is 15% less across the board than the budget for 2007 when adjusted for inflation. In that stretch of time, Oklahoma public school enrollment has risen by 50,000.

"We don't have reliable revenue sources anymore. You need to be investing in things that bring in money. If you don't have a good education system, you don't have people getting good-paying jobs and buying things. That's our two biggest sources of revenue, income tax and sales tax."

Rowe was also wary of HB3375, legalizing craps and roulette at tribal casinos, and an increased cigarette tax included in HB1010xx. "I'm happy for any revenue streams, but we're counting on people's addictions to fund our state, while battling addiction. It doesn't seem sustainable."

Consolidation of school districts is a cost-saving solution often proposed by Oklahoma conservatives, and is something Rowe is at least willing to consider.

"I think we need to look at everything, every aspect of it. Look at what other states have done that have had success. Base it off proven policies, not just armchair quarterbacking."

"I'm not opposed to looking at how many superintendents we have over how many schools. There's probably consolidation that would help. I don't want to consolidate actual schools, because a lot of time schools are the identity of the town."

"But, if there's a superintendent that could be over multiple schools and the data proves that it would not hurt the schools and would save money to do that, I think that's worth looking into."

Criminal Justice Reform was another cornerstone of Rowe's concerns. 

"We need to up revenues everywhere we can, and a lot of the time that's not raising taxes. My father went to drug court for a DUI. He would get called in randomly for tests to see if he had anything to drink. It removes the danger he posed, but it kept him in his community. If he would have went to prison, when he got out he wouldn't have his apartment, he wouldn't have his job, and he'd be in poverty."

"Instead of making him a tax burden forever and making us pay to house him, he continued to work, continued to buy groceries, continued to generate income tax, continued to generate sales tax, and continued to pay into the system and into his community."

Regarding medical marijuana, Rowe believes it should legalized and regulated similarly to any other prescription medication. Not a recreational marijuana advocate, he is open to legalization with regulations similar to those leveled against cigarettes and alcohol.

Rowe is a big proponent of social services due to his own familial reliance on government assistance during his childhood.

"My parents got a divorce and my mom raised my brother and me. She had to use Emergency Infant Services to get me diapers and formula. She had to use Domestic Violence Intervention Services. She's an extremely strong person. She asked for help when she needed it, and she was able to work her way up to not needing it anymore."

Rowe wants to bring reform to government assistance programs and introduce sliding scales for assistance based on income, so recipients don't need to maintain low income to receive help. 

He splits with his party on minimum wage, believing that the "Fight for $15" campaign is unrealistic and should be somewhere closer to $10-12.

"I owned a small business. Mom and Pop shops can't afford to pay somebody $15 an hour. You're going to shut down small businesses, bigger businesses are going to automate half their workforce, so you've just had a big net loss of jobs."

Rowe believes in ending tax incentives for the wind energy industry now that farms have been built throughout the state. 

"When I owned a restaurant, I wouldn't put my best-selling menu item on sale. People are already buying that. You take the new one that you want people to get interested in, and you put that on sale. And that sale only lasts a certain amount of time."

He also wants to raise gross production tax on new oil wells to 7% and wants the government to avoid subsidizing dips in the oil industry. 

"It's not the government's job to bail out your company because you didn't do what other companies have to do and pivot. Take your welders that are used to building pipelines, have them build wind farms. Take your engineers that are used to building loops, have them start working on solar efficiency. A company needs to be smart and start investing in that other stuff."

"People are different, but there are some core things that we all share. We all want safety for ourselves and our family. We all want the opportunity to pursue our own happiness. These are common things that both sides want."

Of the 125 legislative seats up for election this year, nineteen candidates filed completely unopposed and 99 filed unopposed within their party. Three Republicans filed for the District 66 seat, including incumbent Jadine Nollan. 

All five candidates for District 66 will be speaking at the Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce Open Forum on June 4th at Tulsa Tech's Sand Springs campus at 12:00 p.m. Rib Crib will be catered in and RSVP is required. Contact kristen@sandspringschamber.com to reserve your seat.