State Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond, said he intends to focus on an economic development plan for the state if elected.

“I want to be a very aggressive ambassador on behalf of the state of Oklahoma,” Todd said in a campaign stop here Friday.

His priority as lieutenant governor would be economic development. He said he has a three-pronged approach to keeping and developing business for the state.

“First and foremost is business retention,” he said. “Everybody wants to talk about recruiting business, and that is important,” Lamb said. “But my first priority is business retention. We have entrepreneurs in Oklahoma, moms and dads who have set up shop employing other moms and dads. We can’t look past them or look over them.”

He said he would visit with the existing businesses to see if there’s help the government can give them or whether government should just stay out of the way of business.

The second part of his plan would be business recruitment. He said he has experience in that field, having gone to all of the state’s 77 counties, about half of the United States and two foreign countries when he worked for Gov. Frank Keating’s staff from 1994 to 1998.

The background he has acquired in business by working as in-house counsel of an Edmond energy and wireless company also should serve him well in recruiting businesses to the state, Lamb said.

The third point in his plan is tourism development, he said.

“Oklahoma will continue to be a wonderful destination place,” he said. “I would like to dovetail that with economic development as well. Companies always have to have a conference. You can only go to Vegas so many times before it all looks and tastes the same. You can only go to New York so many times before it all looks and tastes the same.”

He said he wants to invite companies from throughout the nation to have their conferences in Oklahoma. Giving them the opportunity for a positive experience here would put Oklahoma in the picture when those companies decide to relocate or expand, he said.

He said Oklahoma also needs to develop a public policy in competing with other states for economic development as its expectation that Oklahoma football teams will beat Texas teams.



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