Saturday was the 2004 Tulsa County Convention. It was a showcase for elected officials and candidates, with speeches from all three Republicans who are running to succeed Don Nickles in the U.S. Senate -- former OKC mayor Kirk Humphreys, Linda Murphy, and Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony.
The only real order of business was adoption of this year's platform, which had been unanimously recommended to the Convention by the Platform Committee. The platform was adopted unanimously, without even a hint of disagreement, which has never before happened in my memory. Here are some highlights from the local government section:
3. We oppose spending Vision 2025 tax dollars on projects other than the 32 approved by the voters. We urge the County Commission to end the tax before overage dollars have been collected.
4. We support strengthening protections for homeowners against arbitrary zoning changes, which damage property values. We urge the Tulsa City Council an dthe Mayor to retain the existing law requiring a supermajority of the City Council to approve a zoning change over the formal protests of nearby property owners. The process for filing zoning protest petitions should be clearly defined and fairly applied.
5. We oppose the use of eminent domain (condemnation of private property) by any government for private benefit.
8. We believe that public safety -- police and fire protection -- should be the first item funded in the city budget, using existing sources of revenue. We oppose a special tax increase to fund public safety.
12. We urge prompt adoption by the City of Tulsa of the Performance Review recommendations, and the prompt implementation of the wining ideas in Tulsa's Competition for Better Government.
13. We urge the introduction of free-market competition to our public transportation system. We oppose increasing taxes to fund public transit.
I hope local Republican officeholders will support these ideas with the same unanimity displayed by the grass-roots Republican activists.
