Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, Janet Barresi, has face quite the uphill battle since being elected. She has had fights with the self-avowed omnipotent School Board, has had to answer questions about her hires and how those hires are funded, but in the midst of it all, she is winning in the court of public opinion and other statewide elected officials should follow suit.
Barresi is maintaining her social networking pages such as Facebook and Twitter - and she's providing elements of substance rather than photographs of herself with supporters and other elected officials. Her Facebook page continues to thrive and on Twitter, she's linking stories about her and the implementation of her ideas and campaign promises for followers to enjoy.
Barresi has surrounded herself with people on the cutting edge of technology, people who have the ability to put together video and podcasts and her popularity is soaring as a result. I'll admit that I was a skeptic in the beginning - wondering aloud whether or not a dentist would make a good Superintendent of Public Instruction and already her leadership and innovation is proving that she means business and she is sincere about her campaign promises.
Other statewide office holders would be well served in following her lead. Doak, Costello, Jones, Lamb, Murphy, Miller and even Fallin should consider creating a similar environment of transparency.
