Kelly Barlean

Biography

Hi. I’m Kelly Barlean, a retired attorney. Our lives have been turned upside down fighting the virus. Unfortunately, once the pandemic has run its course, there will be a fiscal fallout resulting in economic hardship for far too many Oklahomans.

We are at war. We now need more than ever legislators who are work horses and not show horses. Partisanship and tribalism must be suspended until we are well on the path to getting our lives and Oklahoma’s economy back in order. But, to win a war, warfighters with combat experience are essential.

We have no choice but to be proactive and creative in crafting our next state operating budget. The budget must a policy driven instrument that lays the foundation and sets forth the path to the state’s economic recovery while ensuring the sustainability of the ever expanding state safety net for our hurting neighbors.

Being retired at 58 has its perks, but we are in a conflict with an insidious enemy. My Air Force Academy duty concept compels me to come out of retirement to serve my neighbors and the rest of Oklahoma. I was a state representative twenty years ago when I lived in the state of Washington, a state with no term limits.

For four years, I looked out for 120,000 people. I did my best to keep the state off their backs and to not let their interests be bullied away by Seattle and Tacoma.

Before I was a legislator, I was the managing partner of my law firm, a city councilman, an Army Infantry Officer (101st), and a USAF Security Service Intelligence Analyst. After I was a legislator, I was a Colorado city attorney and then had the hardest job of my life, stay-at-home-dad.

You will not be rolling the dice on me. I have a legislative record and I own it. I will not attempt to insult you by blowing smoke or spinning what I did when I was in office. For an unbiased account of my time in office, I’ll let the newspaper reporters of the day tell you what they told my former constituents about how Kelly Barlean took care of them.

I would be honored to receive your vote to let me be more than your voice in the Legislature.