The race for State Senate District 16 is heating up this week as the two hopeful candidates, Democratic incumbent John Sparks of Norman and Republican challenger Sharon Parker of Norman, call and visit with residents in last-minute efforts to win over voters.
The incumbent
Sparks said OU students should vote for him because he wants to do whatever he can to make the education they are getting at OU affordable, marketable and enriching.
As senator for OU’s district, Sparks said he views education as his No. 1 legislative concern. He has worked with higher education as a member of the Senate Education Committee and Finance Committee and hopes to enact a bill to eliminate state income tax for college and career technology students.
“It aggravates me that some of my colleagues at the legislature complain about colleges raising tuition, yet we are not dedicating the required funds to higher education,” Sparks said. “The Legislature is obviously not doing our part to fund education so they don’t have to.”
Sparks is a member of the Senate Education and Policy Committee, Education Subcommittee for Appropriations, the Finance Committee and the Retirement and Insurance Committee.
Sparks grew up in Sulphur on a family owned ranch and attended Sulphur High School. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 1991 and earned a law degree from OU in 1994.
The challenger
Identifying herself as being fiscally conservative, Parker said she wants to make government spending more responsible.
She said OU students should vote for her because she is interested in good law for her district and Oklahoma.
Currently as the Norman Regional Hospital’s Legal and Regulatory Services director, Parker manages health care compliance, regulatory rules, claims management, and contracts for the three hospitals in the health network.
She has worked in many different areas of nursing, including critical care and administration.
“I’m a nurse at heart, but I’m able to bring another dimension with my law experience,” Parker said.
Parker moved to Oklahoma in 1971 where she began working as a registered nurse at Norman Regional Hospital. She has a registered nursing diploma, a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from Cameron University and a law degree from OU.
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