Conservative mayoral candidate Larry Heikkila discussed his 2022 campaign in a Sept. 10 Facebook video.
After Mayor Breea Clark announced in April that she would seek a second term, Heikkila was the first to announce candidacy on July 9. A press release on his website wrote, Heikkila has lived in Norman since 1978, where he and his wife Janet raised two daughters.
Heikkila retired as a Command Master Chief after serving for 26 years in the U.S. Navy, according to the release. He also worked for the City of Norman for 17 years and retired in 2014 as Safety Manager. Currently, he serves in Cleveland County as chairman of the excise board, the equalization board and the vice chairman of the tax roll correction board. Heikkila is also a member of the Cleveland County Industrial Authority.
Heikkila said he believes the City of Norman has “lost their focus,” citing the city charter’s preamble as an example of how Norman needs to “get back on track.”
“It’s a bunch of buzz phrases,” Heikkila said. “What is the job of the City of Norman? It’s to run sewers, roads, pick up trash, police, fire, all those kinds of things. Yes, we’re here to protect the civil rights of everybody and everybody has a right in this country, but we already have federal law, state law that tell us how we must operate. We don’t need city law to be able to do this.”
According to the release, Heikkila believes Norman deserves a government that serves the local needs of its citizens.
“I want to return our city government back to our citizens,” Heikkila said in the release. “City government is not a master, it is a servant to its citizens. I want to protect our freedoms and end the government overreach into faith, family, and business. I will also facilitate economic growth, ensuring our businesses prosper.”
Heikkila said in the video that Clark has tried to shape the city into a “progressive utopia” that “drastically contradicts most traditional Oklahoma values.” He said he hopes to change this.
“We citizens must reverse (city) council’s decisions to govern us through a left-wing totalitarian national agenda that is designed to steer this country into line with what they label a progressive lifestyle,” Heikkila said in the video.
