Published: October 13, 2008 02:27 pm      

Inhofe visits EOC

Eastern Oklahoma County had an important visitor last Wednesday when U.S. Sen. James “Jim” Inhofe flew into Tinker and spent the day in the area.

During his trip, the senator spoke at the new Boeing building, made an impromptu stop at Rose State College and even stopped by the newspaper office. The visit came a day after Inhofe debated State Sen. Andrew Rice for the national Senate seat that will be decided in November’s election.

Inhofe, a Republican, is the senior Senator from Oklahoma. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994 after a seat was made vacant by David Boren. Prior to this, he served in the Oklahoma State Senate, as the mayor of Tulsa and also was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He has also been re-elected to his current position twice, first in 1996 and again in 2002.

One of the reasons Inhofe was drawn to the area was to encourage Boeing to make use of the old GM plant. Inhofe said he sees Boeing as a major factor in the development of future weapons technology, specifically in “future combat systems” (FCS). Inhofe sees this, and particularly the development of a non-line of sight cannon, as vital in maintaining America’s technological lead in the world.

Another stop during his visit to Eastern Oklahoma County was a quick layover at Rose State College.

Dr. Erin Taylor said that Inhofe’s visit to the campus was a complete surprise and the school had no idea he was coming.

“We were delighted that one of our representatives was interested [in visiting the campus],” Taylor said.

During his stop at Rose, Inhofe attended the state-wide student veterans conference that was being hosted by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. According to Taylor, the senator briefly spoke for about five minutes and talked about such subjects as the importance of the GI Bill.

The senior senator also stopped by the offices of Eastern Oklahoma County’s newspaper, The Sun.

During his visit he spoke about his recent campaigning, his debate with Rice, the presidential election, economics and other issues specific to Eastern Oklahoma County. Inhofe said he opposed the recent bail out proposal and maintained the position that Oklahoma’s economy is strong.

“We are probably number one in the nation in terms of our economic health,” Inhofe said. “The backbone of the economy here is Tinker. It’s dynamite [the local economic situation], no way to go but up.”