Congressman Istook and Governor Henry had their first televised debate in Lawton last night. The Congressman challenged Istook over issues such as the state of Oklahoma's economy, education, taxes, and crime. Istook warned that Oklahoma was lagging behind the rest of the country in job growth. He stressed that Oklahoma needs "growth with a purpose" to increase high paying jobs so college graduates will remain in Oklahoma after they graduate. He also said lawsuit reform is vital to bringing more jobs to Oklahoma. Congressman Istook also mentioned that he was kind of "the education father," having sent five children to public schools while in college at the same time. He said he favored a merit-based teacher pay plan over the across-the-board approach approved this year. "Everyone wants teachers to be paid, but that parent involvement and leadership are important along with instilling values in children." He also said the economy is not as strong as Henry claims asking, "Imagine where we'd be if we didn't have an energy boom going on." He also criticized Henry on the explosive growth of government under an Henry administration, saying there had been a 31 percent growth in government. Istook said he would lower taxes further including eliminating the sales tax on groceries. Asked about overcrowding in prisons, Henry said he would continue to "not only be tough on crime but smart on crime." Henry mentioned the increase in drug courts as an alternative to prison but said the state faced some "very difficult decisions on corrections." The Governor has a tough decision soon when the private prison in Hinton evicts 800 prisoners soon. He stopped short of saying he favored building new prisons but said he would work hard for a "consensus on this very difficult issue." Excuse me Governor, where else do you put prisoners? Istook said one thing Oklahoma needs to do is trust juries and blasted Henry over paroling drug dealers. Over 1,500 drug dealers have been paroled during the governor's four years in office. Posted at 10/18/2006 02:26:00 PM