Honoring My Friend and US Senator, Jim Inhofe

Oklahoma's historic senior Senator is stepping down at the end of 2022 after an illustrious and eventful career. I am honored to have been a part of it, at the beginning

The Wall Street Journal and other media reported Thursday that James Mountain Inhofe, 87, is retiring from the United States Senate by the end of 2022, well before his 6th six-year term ends in early 2027. This November, a special election coinciding with the general election will determine who fills his substantial shoes.

Senator Inhofe is irreplaceable. He’s one of a kind. I will miss him in the US Senate.

Before his upset win to the US Senate in the GOP landslide year of 1994, he served six years in the US House from a Tulsa-based district. Before that, he was mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s second-largest city, for six years (1978-84) after ten years in the Oklahoma legislature, including eight years as a State Senator.

Jim won more campaigns than he lost if you add them all up. But he lost a few. It never deterred him. I learned early that Jim Inhofe is, if anything, resilient.

My first experience with Jim Inhofe was a piece of paper - a ballot in the basement of Washington, Oklahoma’s First Baptist Church. As a newly-minted 18-year old first-time voter in 1974, my very first vote was for Jim Inhofe for Governor. As a registered Democrat, he was also the only Republican I voted for in that election. Why? I had a penchant for underdogs, and as a student pilot active in Civil Air Patrol, I liked his aviation focus.

Little did I know that I would get up close and personal with Jim and his flying 20 years later.

Aviation is a big deal in Oklahoma, the home of the legendary Wiley Post and the (former US Senator) Mike Monroney FAA Aeronautical Center and Academy. He was the GOP nominee for Governor in a heavily-Democratic post-Watergate election. While he would lose badly to his friend and fellow reformer David Boren that year, he would later succeed Boren when he stepped down early from the US Senate in 1994. Boren would serve as a very successful president of the University of Oklahoma, turning the Norman-based institution into a school that a football team could be proud of.

Inhofe is Oklahoma’s longest-serving GOP Senator, eclipsing my former boss, US Sen. Don Nickles, himself an upset winner for the Senate in 1980 (the youngest Republican ever elected to the US Senate) and a harbinger of Inhofe’s future success.

I first met Inhofe in 1986 as he began his second campaign to replace Democratic US Rep. Jim Jones (Inhofe lost badly to Jones in 1976), who would lose his race to unseat Nickles. As a political field director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Inhofe was one of three “open seat” campaigns I was assigned in 1986. The other two were in Louisiana, including GOP candidates Richard Baker (Sixth District, based in Baton Rouge) and “I talk to plants” nurseryman Clyde Holloway (8th District, based in Alexandria). Every time I came to Tulsa to meet with Inhofe - who had survived a brutal primary campaign - and his campaign manager, Richard Soudriette, I would always spend time traveling with the candidate. We immediately bonded.

Despite 1986 being a challenging year for Republicans, we won all three campaigns, and despite a few business and family controversies that Inhofe had to bat away. All three turned out to be terrific members of Congress.

But none more so than Jim Inhofe.

When David Boren announced he would depart his US Senate before his term ended in 1994, Inhofe jumped into the race as an instant underdog. Well into October, he trailed the Democratic nominee, the polished and erudite US Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-Norman). A combination of shifting political winds and brilliant campaign ads produced by nephew Fred Davis resulted in a 150,000 vote-winning margin for Inhofe on November 8th that year.

Inhofe’s historic win was noted for counties he carried in heavily-Democratic, working-class eastern Oklahoma that had never voted Republican. For anything. Some credit Inhofe’s election for breaking the Democratic party’s stranglehold on the Sooner State. It has voted GOP reliably for nearly every federal and statewide office since. Inhofe, along with GOP presidential candidates John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Donald Trump (twice), would win every one of Oklahoma’s 77 counties in subsequent elections.

Senator Jim Inhofe makes a point about climate change while holding a snowball on the Senate floor.

A quick story or two about that 1994 Senate campaign: I took vacation time from a job in the US Senate to help Jim. I took on two tasks: to schedule a solid finish to the campaign and travel with the candidate. I was shocked that no one would travel with him.

I noticed one thing about Jim in 1994 that differed from when I first met him in 1986. He’d found faith in Christ. He was a calmer, more confident, more centered person.

I soon found out why no staff member wanted to travel with him. Inhofe, the owner of several airplanes and an accomplished pilot, they found flying with him. . . intimidating. But as a former student pilot and someone who genuinely liked the candidate, I was thrilled to help accompany him on the trail. His biggest challenge was dealing with the media and his penchant for bluntness. Who lets Senate candidates travel by themselves, I thought. Once asked what the election was about, he said, “God, gays, and guns.” It wasn’t the first time he’d said that.

I would brief him, keep him on schedule, and watch out for reporters looking for a story. I would use our considerable time in the air to share observations, provide counsel, and keep him loose, comfortable, and on message. I was the go-between to the campaign. Our relationship not only worked, but we had fun. Everything clicked.

We sensed the winds shift to our back and had a terrific time as October turned into November. But we had our moments. On a pre-dawn flight in his twin-engine Cessna from Tulsa’s Riverside Airport to Lawton one morning, I noted that despite flawless weather conditions, he was holding “the stick” as far left as he could turn it. I asked why. “The left gas tank leaks,” he responded. All the fuel was in the right tank. He had to compensate for the weight imbalance. Okay. . .

As we landed at another airport a few days later, the plane didn’t stop until the end of the runway, brakes screeching. “I really should get the brakes replaced,” he noted. Okay. . .

As the father of two very young boys at the time, I didn’t share those stories with my family until several years later.

Inhofe would experience a couple of “accidents” with some of his planes. Like when a propeller spun off his Grumman Trainer on his way to join President Clinton to inspect tornado damage. Or when another plane he was flying veered off the runway in a thunderstorm, nearly missing a deer.

But Inhofe rightly will be better remembered for his brilliant three-decade career in the US Senate. Aside from being a champion for general aviation, he chaired the Senate’s Environment and Energy Committee on two occasions and took dead aim at the climate change movement. He authored the book “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.”

Inhofe would later serve as chair and as ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. It is perhaps here where he made his most substantial mark. Oklahoma is home to several military bases, including Fort Sill and three Air Force Bases: Altus, Tinker, and Vance. It has had others. Inhofe remains a highly respected advocate for a robust national defense. I strongly suspect he will miss the opportunity to chair the Committee if the GOP wins control of the Senate in the November elections.

Inhofe’s influence isn’t just felt at the Pentagon. He made his mark internationally as well. He led CODELS (Congressional Delegation trips) worldwide, including one to Ukraine in 2014.

Inhofe’s penchant for bluntness and conservative ideology led some to perceive he would be, a best, a footnote in the US Senate. His 30-year career and record of accomplishment strongly suggest otherwise. Thank you for your outstanding service to God and country and the great state of Oklahoma. Godspeed.