WAURIKA — Having twice been elected o the Oklahoma State Senate, Don Barrington has made Waurika and Jefferson County a frequent stop on the campaign trail. But the Republican, who represents District 31, would probably find his way to the area often, even if he weren’t a politician.

“My wife Jennifer and I were both raised with rural roots, and we love to come to Waurika and Jefferson County just because of the hometown feeling we get,” Barrington said. “We both feel comfortable being with the kind of folks we represent, and we always look forward to coming that way.”

The Barringtons’ next visit to Waurika won’t be quite like the informal times they’ve dropped in for a hamburger cookout at Jefferson County Fairgrounds or to listen to music at Claypool Community Center or to have lunch at a Waurika Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Saturday night, Sen. Don Barrington will be the featured speaker at the 2010 Waurika Chamber Banquet, and that’s a little more formal setting than on some of the past visits.

Still, Barrington remained pretty down-home in reacting to a question about being the keynote speaker at the 6:30 p.m. banquet in the all-purpose room at Waurika Grade School.

“Y’all must be hard up for a speaker! Guess I better start thinking up something to say,” Barrington quipped.

Since Barrington is into a second term representing District 31, his address won’t be a political stump speech. However with the Oklahoma Legislature getting set to open session on Feb. 1, he won’t be able to avoid mixing some politics into the address, especially with the state knee-deep in an economic malaise.

“I think the primary concern when the Legislature gets in session is obviously going to be budget issues,” Barrington said, when asked about the session that looms in the near future. “There will be about 1,200 bills presented on the Senate side, but a lot of them probably won’t get heard. One thing we want to do is prioritize things in the direction we’re going to go economically.

“Keeping funding going to agencies that deal with education, public safety and the elderly are among those priorities — at least, they’re on my priority list.”

Acknowledging a lot of belt-tightening is coming up, Barrington hoped Gov. Brad Henry can assist in reducing the impact of cuts on some of those priority agencies.

“The governor has some discretionary spending money, about $105 million, in fact, and we hope to convince him to use some of that for common education and higher education, because there are so many things in education that are (state and federally) mandated,” Barrington note.

“Some of that could have already been taken care of if (Gov. Henry) had already released some of those funds. But one thing you learn in situations like this is that you sometimes have to settle for the least best deal to get something done.”

As the process of adjusting the budget begins in earnest, Barrington also felt representatives of state agencies will have enter the budget debate with a cooperative spirit.

“There is going to have to be cooperation and there’s also going to have to be some cooperation and understanding, not just between the two (political) sides, but between the different (state) agencies,” he said.

“I realize the people in the state agencies have to be passionate about wanting the best for their agency, but what happens with one agency is going to affect another agency.

“As a state, we’re going to have to adjust our (spending) priorities, just the way people have to do in their private lives.”