Good Government
Jonathan Small | March 25, 2016
Free Market Friday: A true statesman
Jonathan Small
We usually reserve the title “statesman” for those who achieve elected office. But Webster provides another definition, “a wise, skillful and respected political leader.” This describes Lew Ward perfectly, and his death this week, at the wise age of 85, deprived our state of one of its truest and most loyal statesmen.
The Ward biography is a classic tribute to hard work: an aspiring young oilman sent off to serve during the Korean War, and then back to his hometown of Enid to begin building his own oil company from scratch. Before he was through, Ward Petroleum was an industry leader, with hundreds of completed wells. His entrepreneurial work has provided economic opportunity for many and benefited the most vulnerable in numerous ways...
Jonathan Small
President
Jonathan Small, C.P.A., serves as President and joined the staff in December of 2010. Previously, Jonathan served as a budget analyst for the Oklahoma Office of State Finance, as a fiscal policy analyst and research analyst for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and as director of government affairs for the Oklahoma Insurance Department. Small’s work includes co-authoring “Economics 101” with Dr. Arthur Laffer and Dr. Wayne Winegarden, and his policy expertise has been referenced by The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, National Review, the L.A. Times, The Hill, the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. His weekly column “Free Market Friday” is published by the Journal Record and syndicated in 27 markets. A recipient of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s prestigious Private Sector Member of the Year award, Small is nationally recognized for his work to promote free markets, limited government and innovative public policy reforms. Jonathan holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma and is a Certified Public Accountant.