Meet Oklahoma’s new lawmakers
November 15th, 2004With term limitations kicking in, the State House will see many new faces in the upcoming legislative session.
By MIKE W. RAY
Oklahoma House of Representatives Media Division Director
OKLAHOMA CITY — The 39 new legislators in the Oklahoma House of Representatives are an eclectic group that includes a former member of the New Hampshire legislature, a doctor and two veterinarians, an ex-prosecutor, and a couple of ministers, one of whom played on OU’s legendary national championship football teams in the Bud Wilkinson era.
The group includes a grocer, a sign maker, a strawberry grower, half a dozen lawyers, four real estate agents, a former undersheriff, and 10 educators, including a young man who is trilingual and a woman who once qualified for food stamps but now teaches college-level courses and travels throughout the country delivering motivational speeches.
Eight of the new lawmakers previously worked for the Legislature or elsewhere in state government, and 16 others have political experience in federal, county or local political arenas. Two of the lawmakers are sons, and one is a nephew, of current or former legislators.
For biographies…
** Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, is the owner/operator of Northeastern Oklahoma Sign Co. in Tahlequah, an enterprise he founded 25 years ago. Brown, 47, and his wife, Tammy, have two children and five grandchildren. This was Brown’s first time to appear on the ballot as a candidate, but he has helped in other political campaigns and his family has been active in local political affairs.
** Doug Cox, R-Grove, is a doctor. He has been the medical director of Grove’s Emergency Medical Service for 22 years, and volunteers his services at Grove Christian Clinic. He received Delaware County’s “Humanitarian of the Year” award for his work with physically and developmentally disabled children. Cox formerly served on the Grove school board. He received a bachelor of science degree at Oklahoma State University, and earned his M.D. degree from the University of Oklahoma. He and his wife, Drenda, have three adult children.
** Larry Glenn, D-Miami, has had a varied career. A Miami native who was reared on a dairy farm, Glenn was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force in 1970 after nearly four years of active duty, including 11 months in Southeast Asia in 1969. He attended Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, worked at the B.F. Goodrich plant in Miami until it closed in 1986, operated an equipment repair business in Miami for 10 years, and worked in retail sales for three years. Glenn was a Miami city commissioner in 1991-97; his tenure as a city father included two terms as police and fire commissioner and one term as finance commissioner. He became Ottawa County Undersheriff in 1999, a post he held for five years until he resigned late last month; Glenn has completed certification and continuing education courses required of Oklahoma law enforcement
officers. He and his wife, Janet, who is a social worker at a hospital, have four children.
** Ben Sherrer, D-Chouteau, is an attorney and worked as a staff auditor for the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office while attending law school. He also has been Town Attorney for Chouteau and City Attorney for Pryor. Sherrer, 35, received a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University and earned his law degree at Oklahoma City University. Sherrer is a Rogers County native who was reared on a farm at Tiawah. He and his wife, Margo, who is a certified public accountant, have two young sons.
** R.C. Pruett, D-Antlers, owns a grocery story and once was cited by the Pushmataha County Chamber of Commerce as its “Citizen of the Year.” Pruett previously served on the judicial nomination board for the state Supreme Court. He and his wife, Barbara, have been married 40 years.
** Wade Rousselot, D-Wagoner, has been a rancher for nearly four decades and has owned a small business for the past 15 years. He is president of the Wagoner County Cattlemen’s Association and of the Wagoner County Farm Bureau, and serves on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s board of directors. The Joplin, Mo., native also served on Governor Henry’s Transition Team. Rousselot attended Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and was graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor’s degree in animal science.
** Steve Martin, R-Bartlesville, is a Realtor who formerly was a teacher, rancher, and energy producer; he received a bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Oklahoma. The 56-year-old Bartlesville native has lived in far eastern Osage County for 23 years. He and his wife, Barbara, have three children.
** Jerry McPeak, D-Warner, is an agriculture and psychology teacher who has been on the faculty at Connors State College for 27 years; he was Connors’ “Teacher of the Year” in 2001. McPeak owns AGletics, Inc., and operates show cattle and lamb camps. He received a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Oklahoma State University, and earned a master’s degree in education at Northeastern Oklahoma State University.
** Jerry Shoemake, D-Morris, serves on the Okmulgee County Fair Board and is a member of the county Farm Bureau, the county Cattlemen’s Association and the state Cattlemen’s Association. He serves on the Agriculture Committee of the Okmulgee Chamber of Commerce, too. Shoemake also is a member of the Morris Lions Club.
** Ryan Kiesel, D-Seminole, was an aide to ex-state Sen. Kelly Haney and worked for the Oklahoma Senate for nearly a year in economic research and policy analysis. Kiesel, 24, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2002, with a major in political science and a minor in history, and is a third-year law student at OU.
** Shane Jett, R-Tecumseh, is a Pottawatomie County native who is fluent in three languages and has international business experience. Jett, 29, was graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration; he majored in international business and minored in Spanish. Afterward, Jett worked in Brazil for an Oklahoma market research and consulting firm, and currently is director of the Shawnee English Institute, which is housed at St. Gregory’s University and is where English is taught as a second language. Jett and his wife, Ana, had their first child just recently.
** Wes Hilliard, D-Sulphur, is a Murray County native who is adult programs coordinator at the Southern Oklahoma Technology Center in Sulphur. The 31-year-old newly elected legislator is a nephew of outgoing House Speaker Pro Tempore Danny Hilliard. Wes Hilliard was graduated from Sulphur High School in 1992, received a bachelor’s degree in political science and public administration at Oklahoma State University in 1997, and earned a master’s degree in education at East Central University in 2002. Hilliard has been active in local and area community affairs and was proclaimed Sulphur’s “Citizen of the Year” two years ago.
** Dale DePue, R-Edmond, was a minister for 30 years at churches in Guthrie, Edmond and in Texas after a career with Continental Oil Co. While living in Guthrie he was president of the Chamber of Commerce and of the school board. In 1993 he was elected president of the Pan American Medical Mission Foundation, which provided free medical care for people in Mexico, Honduras and Bolivia; he has led several medical and construction projects to those Latin American countries. DePue, 68, an Oklahoma City native, attended the University of Oklahoma on a football scholarship, and played on the national championship teams of 1955 and 1956. He was graduated from OU with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, and earned a master’s of divinity degree from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. DePue and his wife, Barbara, have two adult children.
** Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, was the mayor of Sapulpa for 10 years; he is a fourth-generation resident of the Creek County town. He attended the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a background in petroleum land management. Bingman, 50, is vice president of a small oil and gas company, Uplands Resources Inc.
** Lee Denney, R-Cushing, is a veterinarian and teaches anatomy, physiology and physics at Central Tech in Drumright. Denney, 50, is a lifelong resident of Payne County who served on the city council for nine years and was mayor. She was graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and a doctorate in veterinary medicine. Her husband, Frank, also is a veterinarian. The Denneys have two adult children.
** Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, previously was a Tulsa County prosecutor. He joined the Army National Guard 25 years ago, transferred to the Army Reserves in 1990 and underwent Special Forces training at Ft. Bragg, N.C.; in 1999 he transferred to Oklahoma’s 45th Infantry Brigade. He served on active duty for 16 months, including more than a year in the Mideast participating in Operation Enduring Freedom. Duncan, 43, now is operations officer for the Oklahoma National Guard Regional
Training Institute in Oklahoma City. The Perry native received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma in 1985, and was graduated from the Oklahoma City University School of Law three years later. He has been in private practice for the past decade. Duncan is a licensed pilot, an avid hunter and a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.
** Marian Cooksey, R-Edmond, worked for Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin for eight years, rising to deputy chief of staff; in that post she prepared the office budget, served as purchasing agent and health care coordinator, and was international liaison for the Lieutenant Governor. Cooksey worked for oil and gas exploration companies in 1975-83, and for a real estate company the next 12 years; currently she is a sales associate for a realty company in Edmond. Cooksey, 61, attended the University of Central Oklahoma. Her daughter and son-in-law live in the Edmond school district and have one son. Cooksey was born in Ada and was reared in a military family.
** Lisa J. Billy, R-Purcell, was once impoverished — “We were too proud to apply for welfare, but I’ve stood in a commodities line before.” — but now teaches college-level courses. She was graduated from Northeastern Oklahoma State University with a double major, in business and in fine arts, then earned a master’s degree in education at the University of Oklahoma. She has been teaching in OU’s Department of Continuing Education for a little more than a year, and travels throughout the nation as a professional motivational speaker. While at NSU she founded Peacemakers Inc., a small business designed to encourage young people; “my real love is empowering students,” she said.
For approximately 10 years she has been a consultant to the Sooner Flight Academy, which sponsors week-long camps where school children are taught about the history of aviation and space, and where principles of math and science and the laws of gravity and aerodynamics are demonstrated in hands-on events for the youngsters. Billy was twice elected to three-year terms as a legislator for the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. She has been a Girl Scout national board member for the past eight years, previously sat on the board of directors of the McClain and Garvin Youth and Family Center, and was inducted into the NSU Hall of Fame.
The new Representative was born in Purcell and is a third-generation McClain County resident; her Irish great-grandmother arrived in a covered wagon in 1889, while her Chickasaw ancestors
settled in what is now Oklahoma in 1832-33, she said. She and her husband, Phillip, have three children, two of whom are school-age.
** Mike Jackson, R-Enid, was a northwest district field representative for U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe for more than two years, and before that was a public information officer for the Oklahoma Department
of Agriculture. Most recently he has worked as a telecommunications consultant with Cadcom elesystems in Enid. Jackson, 26, was graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture communications and a minor in agriculture economics. Jackson is a native of Burlington.
** Terry Hyman, D-Leon, raises pecans and cattle on about 150 acres in southern Oklahoma; his farm is at Grassburr four miles south of Leon, within shouting distance of the Red River. Hyman, 52, was coordinator of freshmen programs (such as orientation and enrollment clinics) at Oklahoma State University for 10 years, and also was coach of the OSU rodeo team, which won two national championships under his guidance. He served one term as a Love County Commissioner, and served two years on the Leon school board. Hyman was appointed to Governor Nigh’s Commission to Reform Government, and to the Oklahoma Task Force for Rural Farm Stress which was empaneled during Governor Bellmon’s second administration. Hyman was graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture education and a master’s in political science, majoring in public administration and budgeting. He and his wife, Linda, are the parents of two daughters.
** Randy Terrill, 35, a Republican from Moore, has an extensive background in Oklahoma politics. Terrill was a press intern for former Gov. Henry Bellmon, a legislative assistant to the House Republican Caucus and then-Minority Leader Larry Ferguson, director of legislative research and special projects for former Gov. Frank Keating, and special assistant to State Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau. Terrill also served as political director of the Oklahoma Republican Party, co-founded the Republican State House Committee, and did research for Tom Coburn in his 1996 congressional campaign. Terrill, an Alva native, was graduated summa cum laude from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1991, with a major in political science and a minor in economics, and obtained a law
degree from the University of Oklahoma. For the past couple of years Terrill has worked as a business and legal consultant. He and his wife, Angela, have been married almost 11 years and have a new baby daughter.
** Paul Wesselhoft, R-Moore, is a retired Army chaplain and ordained minister employed most recently by the State Health Department as state coordinator of abstinence education projects. He also has been a member of the Governor’s Interagency Coordinating Council for Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of Oklahoma County. Wesselhoft formerly was administrative assistant and office manager for
Oklahomans for Children and Families, a non-profit organization devoted to reducing sexual violence, victimization of women, and child pornography. He also is treasurer and former chairman of Oklahomans for Integrity in Government, a bipartisan group of citizens “working for a just and moral government.”
Wesselhoft received a bachelor’s degree in speech and drama at the University of Central Oklahoma, a master’s in religion from Southern Nazarene University, and a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts; he also has done graduate work at the University of Oklahoma, in public administration, and is working toward a degree from OU in creative writing. Wesselhoft, 56, had a much-decorated 18-year career in the Army; during Operation Desert Storm, to liberate Kuwait, he was the 75th Field Artillery Brigade Chaplain. The 57-year-old Oklahoma City native and his wife, Judy, have two children.
** Phil Richardson, R-Minco, is a farmer and veterinarian. He was a captain in the U.S. Army and served a tour of duty in Vietnam. He served on the Canadian Valley Technology Center board and on the Minco School Board. Richardson has been president of the Grady County Cattle Producers Association and as president of the Oklahoma Pork Council. The Oklahoma State University graduate has been a director of the OSU Alumni Association. Richardson, 61, and his wife, Janalee, have three children
and six grandchildren.
** Richard Daniel Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, previously served in the New Hampshire Legislature, worked for the Oklahoma Senate, and is an attorney who specializes in “helping the poor and underprivileged.” Morrissette, 48, was reared in New Hampshire — “I grew up in a blue-collar environment.” — and cut his political teeth on the Eugene McCarthy presidential primary campaign in 1968. In 1976, at the age of 20, he was elected to the first of three consecutive two-year terms in
the New Hampshire legislature while attending college. “Since our legislative pay was only $200 a year, I served in the Legislature and attended college classes during the day, and at night I drove trucks for the Teamsters.” Morrissette received his undergraduate degree in economics and political science from the University of New Hampshire in 1979. He moved to Oklahoma in 1981 to attend law school at the University of Tulsa — “I shopped around for a private school in an urban location, with a good reputation.” — and was graduated in 1984. Morrissette was employed on the Oklahoma Senate staff in 1985 and part of 1986 as a committee coordinator in the fields of judiciary, jurisprudence and public safety, and he worked for Legal Aid of Western Oklahoma in 1987-92. He has established a general, private law practice and has a teen-aged daughter
** Ryan McMullen, D-Burns Flat, was director of the El Reno Chamber of Commerce for almost two years. Previously he was employed as an adviser to the National 4-H Youth Directions Council, and he has been an adviser to the Washita County 4-H Teen Leaders. McMullen served an internship in the Legislature a few years ago, during which he assisted the House and Senate on agriculture and rural development matters. The 25-year-old Burns Flat native, who was reared on a farm, worked for a
Hobart radio station, too. McMullen received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University in 2002.
** Jeff Hickman, R-Woodward, was special projects coordinator and press secretary for David Boren. The new legislator earned a degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and previously was vice president of a broadcast media company in Woodward. Hickman, 30, was born in Alva.
** Rob Johnson, R-Kingfisher, was a legislative assistant to then-Congressman Wes Watkins and was a field representative for U.S. Rep. Tom Cole. Johnson, a fifth-generation resident of Kingfisher
County, received a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University in 1996, and earned a law degree at the University of Oklahoma in 1999. The 30-year-old Representative is the son of Sen. Mike Johnson.
** Ann Coody, R-Lawton, was reared in a military family and retired after 39 years as an educator, including nine years as principal at Lawton’s MacArthur High School. She received her bachelor’s degree at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, and earned a master’s degree at the University of Oklahoma. Coody, 66, and her husband of 45 years, Dale, have two adult children and live on a farm where they raise ostriches, goats and miniature donkeys.
** Ken Miller, R-Edmond, is an economics professor who was appointed chairman of the Legislative Compensation Board by then-Gov. Frank Keating. Miller, 37, and his wife, Tina, as well as his brother
and sister-in-law, all teach at Oklahoma Christian University. Miller, a Tennessee native, moved to Edmond six years ago to work at the school. He acquired a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from Lipscomb University in Nashville, a master’s in business administration from Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oklahoma, in international political economics.
** Daniel Sullivan, R-Tulsa, is an attorney and served as a Tulsa County reserve deputy sheriff for five years. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Northeastern Oklahoma State University, and earned his law degree at the University of Tulsa. He is vice chairman of the NSU Foundation and a member of the Kiwanis Club of Tulsa. Sullivan, 41, is a Tulsa native and fourth-generation Oklahoman.
** Jabar Shumate, D-Tulsa, worked for the University of Oklahoma for six years in a variety of posts, including press secretary to President David Boren and on recruitment at the school’s Tulsa campus. Shumate, 28, holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration from OU. He has been involved in several community groups, including the NAACP, the Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemoration Society, the Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League and the Red Cross Diversity Committee. He worked on the campaign staffs of two state Senators and a former state Representative.
** Jeannie McDaniel, D-Tulsa, has been involved in civic affairs for nearly 25 years. She was affiliated with the Citizens Crime Commission in 1981-91, serving as director for five years and
coordinating with the Police Department programs such as Alert Neighbors and Crime Stoppers. Also, for more than 10 years she was coordinator for the Mayor’s Office for Neighborhoods. Most recently she worked in community affairs for the Tulsa Public Works Department, concentrating on neighborhood beautification programs, code enforcement, recycling and traffic. She chaired the Tulsa Habitat for Humanity, served on the Council of Advisors for the Tulsa Metropolitan YMCA, and was a Safe Place volunteer for Youth Services of Tulsa County. McDaniel attended Tulsa Community College and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma. She and her husband, Joe, have four children and
six grandchildren.
** Guy Liebmann, a Republican, was the Ward 8 Oklahoma City Councilman for the past nine and one-half years. In his role as a councilman he was chairman of the Oklahoma City Water Trust. Liebmann was graduated from Classen High School and served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an officer. Liebmann, who has a degree in business management from the University of Oklahoma, was president of an ice making company for 22 years; he now has his own investment and consulting business. He is a member of the Men’s Dinner Club, the Oklahoma City Boat Club, and the Rotary Club. Liebmann, 68, and his wife, Judy, have three daughters and seven grandchildren.
** Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, teaches the principles of American government to high school students, most recently at Northwest Classen. Outside the classroom Kern coaches girls’ golf and volleyball and is co-adviser of the Impact Club, a student religious organization. Before moving to Oklahoma in 1996 she was a substitute teacher in Boise, Idaho, and in 1985-88 she taught government at Daingerfield, Texas. Kern, 57, attended Wayland Baptist University and received a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1971 from the University of Texas at Arlington. She has been married for more than three decades to Dr. Steve Kern, pastor of Olivet Baptist Church; they have two adult sons.
** John Auffet, D-Stilwell, is a strawberry grower and planner for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. Auffet, 59, is a Stilwell native who received a bachelor of science degree in business from the University of Arkansas. He and his wife, Shirley, have two children.
** Trebor Worthen, R-Oklahoma City, succeeds his father as the District 87 state Representative; because of constitutional term limits, Rep. Robert Worthen retired this month after 18 years in the
Legislature. Trebor (which is his father’s name spelled in reverse) Worthen will be 25 in January. He attended Putnam City schools, the University of Montana, and the University of Oklahoma, and has been
working as a real estate agent.
** Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, has been employed as constituent services coordinator for an Oklahoma County Commissioner. Previously he was a medical analyst and claims adjuster for the State Insurance Fund (now CompSource Oklahoma). Shelton, 31, a native of northeast Oklahoma City, was graduated from Langston University. He worked with the Boy Scouts of America and tutors to elementary school students who have trouble reading. He also was employed by the State Democratic Party, coordinating several political campaigns. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Clarissa, who is an electrical engineer at Tinker Air Force Base.
** Mike Thompson, R-Oklahoma City, is a real estate agent and formerly was a field aide to Congressman Ernest Istook. Thompson earned a business degree at Oklahoma City University, where he once worked as an undergraduate admissions counselor, and received a master’s in public administration at the University of Oklahoma. The 28-year-old northwest Oklahoma City native was endorsed by the National Rifle Association, which gave him an “A” rating. His wife, Hayley, is a drama teacher at Bishop McGuinness High School.
** Gary Banz, R-Midwest City, retired after a 28-year career as a public school teacher and basketball coach in Putnam City, Midwest City, and Ada, and was appointed by then-Gov. Frank Keating to the Rose State College board of regents in 2001. Banz, 58, received a bachelor’s degree from Southern Nazarene University, and earned a master’s degree in education at the University of Central Oklahoma. He was the founder last year and president of the board of directors of “Defenders of Dreams” Heritage Center Foundation. Banz spent a year and a half on active duty in the U.S. Army, and almost eight years in the Army Reserve. He and his wife, Linda, have three children and three grandchildren.
