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Chamber Leaders: Legislature’s Social Agenda Hurts Oklahoma’s Economic Development

A small group of protestors, who did not want to give their names, stand outside the state Capitol during the first-ever Muslim Day in Oklahoma City, Friday, Feb. 27, 2015.
Sue Ogrocki
/
AP
A small group of protestors, who did not want to give their names, stand outside the state Capitol during the first-ever Muslim Day in Oklahoma City, Friday, Feb. 27, 2015.

Chamber of Commerce officials from Oklahoma's two largest cities told lawmakers Wednesday focusing on social issues can harm economic development in the state.

Tulsa Regional Chamber Senior Vice President of Economic Development Brien Thorstenberg told House and Senate members who gathered for a joint interim study that his organization constantly receives phone calls from businesses about Oklahoma's stance on issues like North Carolina's bathroom bill and Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

“This is a workforce talent attraction aspect, and being able to attract talent,” Thorstenberg said. “They want diversity, and they want inclusion. And that is almost in all major companies' core values."

State Sen. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, asked Greater Oklahoma City Chamber vice president Kurt Foreman if events like State Rep. John Bennett's interim study about radical Islam on Tuesday harms the state's business recruiting.

"Absolutely. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have a variety of opinions about things, but I don't think we should be fearful of differences,” Foreman said. “I was very disappointed to see that. To call Oklahomans terrorists and stuff is a pretty harsh path.”

Foreman also said he has an openly gay daughter who thought twice about staying in Oklahoma after college because of some of the rhetoric she’s heard.

Susan Winchester, a former state Rep. who’s now the director of the Research Insittute for Economic Development (RIED), also advised against putting other issues on the backburner to focus on a social agenda, eCapitol’s Shawn Ashley reports:

She said her organization's members were concerned early in the 2016 session about members' focus on "guns, guns, guns and other issues that took up a considerable amount of time" when lawmakers should have been working on solving the state's budget problems without hurting businesses.

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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