Why Politics Can Be More Dangerous Than Fire

Brandon Andres Green, host of Good Neighbor Podcast Tulsa, sits down with Representative Stan May of Oklahoma House District 80 to talk about firefighting, public service, state politics, child safety, and what really happens behind the scenes at the Capitol.

Stan shares how he spent more than thirty years with the Tulsa Fire Department before making an unexpected jump into public office. He did not originally set out to run, but when fellow firefighters wanted someone at the State Capitol who understood public safety, retiree issues, and the realities first responders face, they helped push him onto the ballot.

This conversation gets into the real work of being a state representative: long days during session, committee assignments, caucus leadership, listening to people on every side of an issue, and learning how to move a bill from a real community problem into actual legislative language.

You’ll also hear Stan talk about the issues he believes Oklahoma families and leaders need to pay closer attention to, including internet safety, artificial intelligence, parental rights, public safety, and how fast technology is changing the world our kids are growing up in.

We also discuss his support for anti-trafficking legislation, the importance of ordinary citizens contacting their lawmakers, and why better leadership often starts with active listening instead of assuming you already know the answer.

If you care about public safety, Oklahoma politics, civic engagement, child protection, or what actually happens after someone gets elected, this episode gives you a practical look behind the curtain.

Sometimes the fire is not in the building. Sometimes it is in the decision-making room.

Transcript

Show Welcome And Guest Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Brandon Andris Green.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Representative Stan May. Stan has spent more than 30 years serving with the Tulsa Fire Department before continuing his public service in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, where he represents House District 80. He's also a proud husband, father, and grandfather, Stan Huswin.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

How are you doing today?

From Firehouse To Statehouse

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Doing so well. It looks like you'd already spent a full career in the fire department. I'm so curious. How did that transition work? At what point did you were like, I want to run for office?

SPEAKER_02 1:06

That's not how that worked. Uh several of my friends on the fire department decided they wanted somebody representing them in the state capitol, and they decided I was gonna run. So and they did a good job of campaigning. I didn't think they could pull it off, but they did.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Wow. So not only did they nominate you, but they also handled your campaign.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Yes, they they walked me through that whole thing. They did a great job. And now we've got several firefighters and police officers serving in the legislature. So it uh and it has helped. It's helped with you know the biggest things we couldn't get passed. Now we're getting them passed. We've got a bigger vote, a bigger voice down there.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

What was going on in the first place? What was going on behind the scenes that the fire department was like, man, we need a rep.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Oh, you've got retiree issues, health issues. There's there's a there's several things that happened during your career and after your career, and they won't they didn't feel like they were getting a fair shake that that their message wasn't being heard, and if you're not listening, you're gonna make poor decisions. So they wanted to make sure everybody was listening to what was really happening.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

What would you say is uh more dangerous working in the fire department or working as a representative for the state of Oklahoma?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Personally, it's probably as a representative, but uh you know uh the fire department that's it's it's a different danger, you know. Uh as a representative, you can say the wrong thing at almost any time.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

So you have to watch yeah, and I'm I'm and I'm curious how that even works behind the scenes. So, what what have you what were you most surprised about once you actually won and moved from campaigning for the job to actually doing it? How did that uh transition work?

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Uh the year I got elected, we had out of the 101 House members, there were 35 new people came in. It was a big change down at the Capitol. People were upset over the teachers, the school situation, several things at the state of Oklahoma that the uh common citizen they were fed up with. So there was a big change. So I wasn't the only new one there. And uh found out that uh, you know, you don't always get your way. Sometimes you have to vote for something to get somebody to vote for something of yours. You know, I mean, that's what you're never gonna find something that 100% of the people want. So that's that's the trick is balancing those things and make sure that anything that you have to accept to get what you want is not more detrimental than what you're getting or what you had.

The Real Schedule Of Session

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah, it's a and how how long have you been a representative now? Eight years. Eight years, and what's it like day to day actually being uh representative for the house?

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Well, for four months, you're down at the Capitol four days a week. So you either have to drive every day or find a place to stay down there, and and uh that's kind of disruptive. I wouldn't wish that on anybody that had young kids at the house. It's much too it just ruins your consistency there. But mine were gone, you know. I've got grandkids, so I've you know uh I had that that leeway to be able to go down there. Now, once session's over, after that four months is over, uh, it's not too bad during the summer, and then as you get closer to November, December, things start ramping up. That's when you start looking at legislation, people start sending you ideas and and a lot more it starts to really ramp up pretty fast. And by January, you're back to pretty much every day.

Committees And Caucus Leadership

SPEAKER_01 5:02

And uh, how does it work with the committees? Are you on? Do you just get a choose your own committee? How many committees are you on? Will you tell me a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_02 5:13

The committees are chosen, leadership, and whatever parties in control, they'll they'll assign you uh different positions, leadership positions, committees. Um, of course, I was in a lot of public safety committees uh just because of my background. And then as the as the years have gone by and you gain trust with some of those people, you start moving out. Uh I was the for the last four years I've been chairman of the Republican caucus, which uh sounds easy, but it's uh to get 80 people to agree on anything is it's pretty tough. So, and that's I my job there was not to create policy, it was to get make sure that everybody had their voice heard in our Republican meetings so that we could present a good face when we went out before the people and represented our constituents. And uh that was pretty challenging, actually.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

And how how do you go about getting 80 people to actually agree on stuff? Is that uh just a lot of coffee and donuts, or um how does that even work?

SPEAKER_02 6:21

No, I don't do I I don't deal with individuals hardly at all with that position. That's my job is to run the meeting and make sure that everybody gets their voice heard. So you've got to be just as short with your best friend as you are with somebody you don't really value their opinion, but you have to give them their say and make sure that they get the time they need to voice that. And that's that's the difficult part, even though you may want to hear more from one can one legislator more than the other, you you can't you can't buy into that. If you're gonna get everybody to buy in, you've got to treat them all fairly, and that's the hard part.

Public Safety Priorities That Persist

SPEAKER_01 7:02

I'm sure you have a lot of issues uh come across your desk. Have there been some issues that you've encountered that kind of matter to you most personally?

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Uh the public safety things, of course, always catch my attention. Uh there's a lot more to that than just it sounds easy public safety, but you've got everything from police to fire to EMS, uh you know, rural, urban, well-funded departments, people that can't get money for anything and have to volunteer and spend their own money. So there's a lot of issues, and that does take up a lot of my time. But uh once I was down here for a while, and you know, I've got grandkids now, I've started seeing how that how society affects not only your kids but your grandkids. And so I've been kind of migrating towards those issues here in the last few years.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

And what have you learned about taking a real problem in the community and turning it into something the government can actually address?

SPEAKER_02 8:09

Uh, that's you're kind of that's a trial and error thing early on. Um somebody or you come up with an I idea, or one of your constituents, a friend comes up with an idea, and you start working on that and you write up some language, and then we have uh lawyers that take a look at it and go back with their opinion. No, that's not constitutional, that'll never work. You need to word it this way. Uh it's a pretty steep learning curve those first couple of years. But once you start seeing where everything, the direction everything's going on every subject, uh, you can avoid a lot of those pitfalls and you can shorten up that time it takes to write legislation.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

So I love some of the wisdom that you've gained.

Internet And AI Parenting Dilemma

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Um, from where you sit, what should Oklahoma families, business owners, community leaders, what do you feel like we should be paying closer attention to?

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Yeah, right now it's uh it's the internet and AI that that's what's causing most of our problems, our family problems. It's not what's causing every problem, but uh it it was easier, I think, to shield your family from a lot of influence years ago when I was growing up than it is now. I mean, they everything is right there at their fingertips. And it doesn't matter what the subject is and or whether it's moral or immoral, they can get to it, and there's almost no way to prevent that. So uh we need to start paying attention to how we're gonna govern AI and uh we're gonna have to start governing the internet a little bit. Um, I'm not saying that we're gonna stomp on the freedom of speech, but I do feel like a parent has a right to decide what his his or her children have access to on a daily basis when they're not there. So it's fine line, but I think we're gonna have to deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Is that stuff that's actively being discussed behind the scenes? Because I I know that um it's like a weapons race with the AI, it's just changing everything so rapidly. I would think that um everyone would have uh an opinion on it one way or another.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Oh, yeah, every it's it it's talked about every day. Every time you see something on the news or something hits you wrong, you you know, it immediately goes to the internet and AI, and and how are we gonna how are we gonna adjust this to where we can live with it? Um yeah, it's discussed quite often.

How Citizens Get Heard

SPEAKER_01 10:50

And and knowing what you know now, what advice would you give just an ordinary person who's wanting to make uh let's say a meaningful difference, but doesn't have you know, let's say a fancy title or political experience or really even connections? Where do they start?

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Um you start with your city officials and move up and your state officials, and you know, you're paying for those federal representatives also, so you shouldn't be afraid to voice your opinion, whether that's write an email or make a phone call when you see them out in public. You know, have those discussions. What's important to you? Uh that's who they represent, they represent you. I mean, they're working for you. So uh some of them don't act like it, but you know, in the back of their mind, they understand that every time they do something, it could cost them votes. And uh advice is get involved and and say something.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Um those voices matter from from my perspective. Um, I it would be hard for me to just reach out by like email or call um the various representatives. In my mind, I would think that they're just too busy, they don't even care what I have to say. But as a representative, do you feel like it's actually different behind the scenes?

SPEAKER_02 12:17

It's a little different than everybody thinks it is. Um uh the chances of you having that one great idea and you're the only one that's ever thought about it, and the only one that feels that way, that's pretty slim. Uh, when you start seeing emails and and notes come across your desk, there's gonna be a theme over a few weeks of what's important to the people of Oklahoma and and also to Bixby and you know this part of the broken arrow. And I also have a little bit of union. So you see what's important to them because there'll be a cluster of ideas, and they're all gonna they're gonna be pretty close. Um, or they're the subject's gonna be close, they're gonna be from one end of the spectrum to the other. So you have to you have to take the time to go through those.

Listening Skills For Tough Problems

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Um, I would imagine uh working in the fire department for 30 years, you've seen and heard your list of like tragic stories. Um, do you feel like that it's more heart-wrenching to be um in the fire department dealing with all of that, or actually behind the scenes working with politics?

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Politics is definitely harder. I mean, as a public safety official, you come, you solve the problems that you can solve right then. You know, you you mitigate that situation, and then you're headed back to the station and on to the next one. You don't have to stick with one thing for weeks and weeks at a time. And with politics, it's not like that. When when somebody's child gets in trouble or is hurt or is being you know abused somehow, that doesn't go away. Those people are still there the next morning when you wake up and you still have to deal with those same complaints. And like I said, it's never one person, very seldom is it ever one person? It's a problem that is well much wider than I would have ever thought it was on almost every instance.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

And uh, what advice would you give a young person or an adult that was actually considering uh taking the same path, like actually trying to run for office or anything like that?

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Education is important uh at anything you do. Make sure you've got your education taken care of and you I know it sounds hard, but you practice listening to people. Just because you're the one that's running to represent those people doesn't mean that you get to tell them what to think. You have to actually listen and figure out not only what they need, but what they want, what they just you know, what they desire to make their lives better. So, yeah, that's what you gotta practice that that active listening thing. That's that's pretty important when you're in politics.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

And is there one thing that our listeners that you would like for our listeners to really remember any uh gold nuggets of of wisdom you can share with these upcoming generations?

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Everything you do and say affects somebody. So as you start voicing your opinion on certain subjects, you you need to stop and think about how many different segments of society that one statement can affect. I used to, I mean, the tribal issues in the state are huge. Okay, I'm not a tribal member, you know that, you know, but my grandson and granddaughter are. So now I have to take into consideration well, how's this gonna make their lives better or worse? And uh as compared to the other grandchildren. I can't, you know. There's just a lot of things you gotta look at. How's it gonna affect your citizens, your constituents, the ones that pay you to be there day in and day out?

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Well, Stan, I really appreciate you giving us an honest look at the path in the public office and what that work is really like, and the advice that you shared, you've learned along the way. It means a lot.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Thanks for having me. Uh and thanks for your encouragement along the way on some other issues too. So it it helps, it does help.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

So thank you. I sure appreciate

Anti-Trafficking Wins And Farewell

SPEAKER_01 16:47

it. Yeah, and in full transparency, you've um you've actually helped me previously with some bills. I was one of those individuals that first came into your office at the Capitol um requesting help with an anti-trafficking bill that you ended up uh helping me champion, and we were able to get passed unanimously in both uh for the Republicans and the Democrats. So I really appreciate your help in the anti-trafficking movements and and just all your personal support.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah, and we're not done with that work. It's just but that was a subject that I knew went on, and you know, you see it on TV, you hear about it. But until somebody sits in that seat and starts telling you what's really going on in your district, uh makes it makes a huge impact. So I've got to stop and think, what if that was my grandchild or my child? So makes a huge difference when you s when you speak up.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

So thank you, Representative Stan Mayor. I so appreciate you and and I wish you the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Thank you very much, sir.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gmptulsa.com. That's gmptulsa.com or call 918 301 6356.