Greg Bledsoe put together this list of the members of Tulsans for "Badder" Government (Greg's name for the bunch behind the at-large council scheme), what they do or did, and where they live. The number at the beginning of each line is the council district in which that person lives -- 0 means that person doesn't live in Tulsa. (I've added a few details, and cleaned up the formatting.)
9 - Chip McElroy, 1964 E. 45th PL -- CEO McElroy Manufacturing, supporter of Mayor Lafortune, hosted campaign kick-off rally, Trustee Univ. of Tulsa.9 - Ted Sherwood, 3802 S. Delaware Av -- trial lawyer.
9 - Len & Patty Eaton, 2617 E. 26th PL -- Len, former Pres/CEO BOk, Patty former Water & Sewer Commissioner under at-large system, ran unsuccessfully for Mayor as independent in 1986 against Tom Quinn and Dick Crawford.
2 - Howard Barnett, 6742 S. Evanston, just south of SHCC -- former chief of staff to Gov. Frank Keating, investment banker, managing director of TSF Capital, LLC.
0 - David Riggs, N. of Sand Springs, Osage Co., not a resident of Tulsa -- trial lawyer, former representative from Sand Springs, partner in the Riggs Abney law firm, which represents numerous government entities, mainly Tulsa County related: Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority, Emergency Medical Services Authority, Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority, Tulsa County Juvenile Trust Auth.
9 - Robert LaFortune, 4444 Oak Rd -- former Mayor under at-large system 1970s, uncle of present Mayor and on his campaign committee.
9 - Ray & Nancy Feldman, 2120 E. 46th St. -- Ray lawyer, Nancy
activist2 - Tom Hughes, 6887 S. Evanston Av, just south of SHCC, Dist. 2 -- CEO Hughes Lumber, Member Tulsa Metro Chamber Board.
9 - Jim Hewgley Jr., 2454 E. 30th, -- former Mayor under at-large system, member LaFortune reelection committee.
2 - Norma Eagleton, 3210 E. 65th St, next to SHCC, Dist. 2 -- lawyer, former Corporation Commissioner, former Finance Commissioner under at-large system, on board of Tulsa Co. Juvenile Trust Auth, along with Jack O'Brien; the authority is represented by Riggs Abney law firm.
9 - Paula Marshall-Chapman, 2427 E. 41st, CEO Bama Pies, Trustee Univ. of Tulsa, Member Metro Chamber Board, Co-Chair Finance, LaFortune reelection committee, contributed $5000 to pro-recall group.
9 - C.S. Lewis, III, 2932 Woodward Blvd. -- lawyer Riggs Abney law firm, which represents numerous government entities - mainly Tulsa County related, former OU Board of Regents and former general counsel and member of the Executive Committee of the Metro Chamber.
9 - Dewey Bartlett, Jr., 50 Woodward Blvd. -- President, Keener Oil, District 9 City Councilor, 1990-94, unsuccessfully ran for Mayor against Susan Savage 1994 & against Tom Adelson, State Sen. Dist. 33, 2004.
9 - Sid Patterson, 2642 S. Columbia Pl, former Street Commissioner under at-large system in 1950s and 1970s, founder and first president of Up with Trees.
9 - Rob Johnson, 2539 S. Birmingham PL, lobbyist, Public Opinion, Inc.
(http://election.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/ok97/lbforms04/L03333/5043/), represents Tyson Foods & others, former State Representative, Dist. 71 (overlaps much of Council District 9).9 - Kathy Taylor, 2805 S. Columbia PL, lawyer, current Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce & Tourism, married to William Lobeck, CEO Vanguard Car Rental, former CEO Thrifty-Dollar Car Rental, both are Trustees of the Univ. of Tulsa.
9 - Joe Coleman, 2645 E. 41st, former Street Commissioner under at-large system and Architect, supporter of Tulsa Project 2001.
7 - Jack O'Brien, 5926 E. 53rd St., Dist. 7, former Finance Commissioner under at-large system, 1960s and 70s, member with Norma Eagleton on Tulsa County Juvenile Trust Auth., which is represented by Riggs Abney law firm.
2 - Randi Miller, 6924 S. 32 W. Ave, current Tulsa County Commissioner, former City Councilor, Dist. 2.
0 - Chad (Charles Hughes) Moody, (Jr.), 10914 S. 188th E. Ave., Broken Arrow, former Asst. Dist. Attorney under Tim Harris, attorney at the law firm of Rodolff and Todd.
Note that with four exceptions, everyone lives in District 9 or in the same square mile as Southern Hills Country Club, which is in District 2. Two members live out of the city, one member lives in District 7, and then there's Randi Miller, who lives west of the river. I've heard that Commissioner Miller has withdrawn her support for the plan, which makes sense because the at-large scheme would make her native westside irrelevant in both district and citywide elections. The westside population would amount at best to only a third of a district if the number of districts is cut to six.
Of the names on this list, Len and Patty Eaton, Norma Eagleton, and Tom Hughes each have a son who was a classmate of mine at Holland Hall (Alex, Rick, and Jeff, respectively), and Chip McElroy was in that same class at HH through 6th Grade -- he finished up at Edison. (Chip and I were also in the same Cub Scout den.)
I'm disappointed to see Dewey Bartlett Jr.'s name on the list. He was a neighborhood-friendly city councilor during his time in office. Under the plan he supports, his Bartlett Amendment would never have passed. It requires that any significant widening of Riverside Drive to be submitted to the voters as a separate ballot item. Perhaps he now deplores his own Council legacy.
Notice that this group includes Rob Johnson, a lobbyist for one of the companies responsible for chicken poop in our water supply. Perhaps he considers defending Tulsa against water pollution an example of narrow-minded, parochial politics.
Comments (6)
Back in the 90s, when our own Cockroach Caucus controlled Fayetteville's government, and at-large representation was a divisive issue, all the at-large directors lived in the same upper middle class neighborhood in the northwest part of town.
That's what at-large representation of any kind is designed to do. The Anti-Federalists made the same observation two centuries ago, about the effects of large Congressional districts. The "narrow, parochial interests" they were designed to exclude were farmers, self-employed tradesmen, and small business people. Only the "broad-minded" sort (mercantile and moneyed Hamiltonian Federalist swine and the landed interests) could afford to run.
Posted by Kevin Carson | October 31, 2005 3:23 PM
Posted on October 31, 2005 15:23
Did any of those people invest in Great Plains
Airlines?
Posted by susan | October 31, 2005 4:52 PM
Posted on October 31, 2005 16:52
Interesting about Fayetteville. And those "large" congressional districts had an average population of 34,333 after the 1790 census, about the size of an Oklahoma State House district today. Tulsa's City Council districts are almost half again larger.
Posted by MichaelBates
|
October 31, 2005 6:08 PM
Posted on October 31, 2005 18:08
There are a couple of University of Tulsa Trustees on this list.
As confidential as a university transcript is, did Chris Medlock ever find out how the news media found out he was one class or one credit short, and that's why he never received his Master's Degree from the Univ. of Tulsa?
The Tulsa World newspaper constantly criticizes Councilor Chris Medlock, but the Tulsa World staff writers never criticize any of the councilors that see things "their" way. It's also interesting to note in the poll that the ones the Tulsa World news staff writers do not criticize were either NOT well known or refused to answer.
Also remember, when all the many wonderful businesses closed or moved away from DOWNTOWN TULSA or in other parts of Tulsa County, none of the above list of names had the power or influence to try and keep those businesses in Tulsa. Downtown Tulsa today looks as though the Oklahoma Dust Bowl took away all the great memories and thriving businesses of better days.
Putting an almost $200 million arena might make the hotel businesses downtown get more customers (yep don't think there isn't a connection there). If they did their homework, since 2001 people aren't spending the big bucks to see entertainment the way they used to. That's
what the outrageously expensive ARENA is supposed to be good for and they are putting it in an area of Tulsa with many run down buildings.
Posted by susan | November 1, 2005 12:19 AM
Posted on November 1, 2005 00:19
Hamiltonian swine?? Better that, than an unrealistic Jeffersonian agrarian utopia.
Posted by Mark | November 1, 2005 9:02 AM
Posted on November 1, 2005 09:02
Michael,
That comparison certainly puts things in perspective. To the Cockroach Caucus, even a ward with tens of thousands of voters isn't big enough to keep out the riff-raff.
Mark,
I have to admit, the Hamiltonians were quite "realistic." The Federalist coup promoted exactly the interests they intended it to. And it solved all sorts of "problems" that existed under the Confederation only in Federalist agitprop. For a counterpoint, check out Merrill Jensen's *Articles of Confederation*.
Posted by Kevin Carson | November 8, 2005 12:50 PM
Posted on November 8, 2005 12:50