Randy Krehbiel
Tulsa World
STILLWATER — Marriage equality, marijuana and the role of government were the defining issues in Tuesday night’s U.S. Senate debate at Oklahoma State University between Democrat Connie Johnson and Republican James Lankford.
Those may not be the most important issues in the Nov. 4 election to choose a successor to U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, but they were the issues that most clearly marked the differences between Lankford and Johnson.
Reform of drug laws, especially as they apply to marijuana, are a major element of Johnson’s campaign, and she said she “celebrated” Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear seven cases overturning same-sex marriage bans in five states, including Oklahoma.
Lankford panned legalized pot, saying he has “seen first-hand the damage done by drugs.” He also repeated his criticism of the Supreme Court regarding it non-action on same-sex marriage.
“The United States Constitution is clear,” he said. “Marriage is left to the states. For 200 years, the Supreme Court has said that it is a state issue.”
Lankford was asked later if he saw any parallels between the current situation and a 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision that threw out state laws banning mixed-race marriages.
“I don’t,” he said. “I hear that a lot, but that was still about one male and one female. It corrected something that should never have been. This is a redefinition of what marriage is.”
Johnson put her support of same-sex marriage in a broader context.
“Everybody has a conundrum about the role of government,” she said following the debate. “While we’re denouncing the Supreme Court on marriage equality, we celebrate Supreme Court decisions like Citizens United, which allows corporations to put unlimited money into campaigns, and a decision that strikes down half of the Voting Rights Act.
“Government ought to provide the things we can’t do as individuals. … The state should have no business in who people want to be with.”
In somewhat the same vein, Johnson said her advocacy of drug law was about fairness and making cannabis available to those who need it for medical purposes. She did not say she advocated total legalization.
The debate was low-key, but Lankford did get slightly worked up about the Ebola outbreak in Africa and the attention given a single patient with the disease in Dallas.
“We have one person with Ebola in the United States, and he is in isolation,” Lankford said in response to a debate question. “There are 7,500 people in west Africa with Ebola. If something isn’t done, there may be a half-million. It will spread if the United States does not engage in the crisis.”
Other issues covered during the debate included the Islamic State, the use of military drones, campaign finance reform, the Senate’s advice-and-consent duties, health care and immigration.
As he has before, Lankford urged immigration reform on several levels.
“Those who say, ‘Just build a fence’ ” are taking an unrealistic approach to the problem,” he said. The U.S. needs to revamp its work visa programs while making it clear that those who come to this country illegally will be sent home, Lankford said.
Johnson more or less agreed, saying “our policies are in need of repair.”
Independent Mark T. Beard will join Johnson and Lankford on the Nov. 4 ballot. The winner will complete the final two years of Coburn’s current term. An election for the full term will be held in 2016.
