I visited the state Capitol in the mid-1990s, and it was pretty cold that morning. The entrance steps were icy, and climbing those steps was tricky. A lady slipped and hit her head. I helped her to her office, where she was an assistant to Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

The instant Edmondson saw this injured lady, I knew by the look on his face that he had a heart of pure gold.

He wants to be our next governor, the one charged with growing our state economically and socially.

Edmondson is a state hero. He has battled to keep our water clean. He set up a workers comp fraud squad that reduced costs by millions a year. He conducted a corruption investigation against now former state Insurance Commissioner Carrol Fisher. Edmondson is a champion for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Edmondson is a national hero for his crusade to hold cigarette makers accountable for the 1,200 graves America was digging every day to bury the victims of smoking.

Because of Edmondson’s good deeds, he has proven he is a champion for the people. He and others like him do raise the average of humanity.

But for whoever becomes our next governor, I have two requests:

Do whatever it takes to remove from our state’s image the level “judicial hell hole.” That label is a job killer.

Tax casinos 50 percent. They do not need $9 million a day that they are sucking out of gamblers’ pockets. Even if they owned everything, where would they put it? That extra $4 million or $5 million a day would solve all our state’s budget problems.

David Oliver

Oklahoma City