Day After Resignation, Cargill Promotes 100 Ideas

Lance Cargill resigned the job on Monday in shame, but Tuesday he is trying to continue an agenda he started as Speaker of the State House.  It's a book filled with the ideas of everyday Oklahomans who want to see some things changed in this state.  The News On 6's Emory Bryan reports to some degree, the big ideas in the book have been undermined by the man who helped put it together.

Former Oklahoma House Speaker Lance Cargill came to Tulsa to promote 100 Ideas for the future, but he didn't want to use the chance to explain a couple of items from his past.

"Today I want to focus on the ideas," said Rep. Lance Cargill, (R) Harrah.

Cargill helped push a program of gathering great ideas for Oklahoma's second century.  Out of 3,500 ideas submitted, 100 were selected and published in a new book with Cargill's face right on the spine of the cover.

"Sometimes I think we set our sights not quite high enough as a state and with the 100 ideas initiative, what we've tried to say is let's be willing to dream big dreams," said Cargill.      

The release of the ideas book came one day after Cargill resigned his House speaker post, and a week after the revelation the speaker failed to file 2 years of state income tax returns and is often late paying county property taxes.

"We've talked about that and taken responsibility for that," said Cargill.  "As I've said, I've taken responsibility for that and now it's time to move forward."

Cargill finally said he's now filed all of his late tax returns and was still owed a refund.

He was much more eager to discuss his collection of ideas, which will no longer have the political capital of the House Speaker backing them up.

Cargill resigned the post a week before the legislature meets, but remains a representative, he says, of the great ideas he's helped collect over the last year.

The book will soon be in libraries statewide.  There are a lot of ideas, some old, some new, some of which are already in the works through the legislature and through other groups that can help make ideas into reality.