The votes are in
Forgive me if I'm a bit terse tonight. I'll be up again early to slice and dice the election results on 1170 KFAQ, starting at about 6:10.
I'm encouraged, and I'm disappointed. It looks like we're going to have a very solid City Council, but the prospects for mayoral leadership are bleak.
Jack Henderson is back, and Roscoe Turner and Jim Mautino won renomination despite big money behind their opponents. Don't know how active a campaign Roscoe's Republican opponent will run, but it's a heavily Democrat district.
District 6 is more evenly divided, and Mautino's Democrat general election opponent has a very similar background to Jim's -- longtime American Airlines employee, active member of the TWU. Jim's right-hand campaign man has been sidelined, taking care of an ailing family member, so Jim will need help, and I plan to do what I can to help him win re-election.
Congratulations to Councilors-elect Rick Westcott and John Eagleton! Westcott beat the last minute slime attack from well-financed Paul Prather in the race to succeed Chris Medlock as District 2's councilor.
Eagleton won District 7 on his third try, with over 70% of the vote. He got slimed as well -- Zarley's campaigners would tell anti-recall voters that Eagleton was LaFortune's puppet and would tell pro-recall voters that Eagleton was Medlock's puppet. Anyone who knows John knows that he's nobody's puppet.
Maria Barnes had a clear majority in her District 4 race against a much better financed opponent. Cason Carter beat Jeff "Code Violation" Stava in District 9. They will both likely prevail in their general elections.
I'm sad that Cliff Magee fell short in District 8, but considering how quickly he put together a campaign, how he was outspent, and his lack of prior campaign experience, he should feel proud of the race he ran, and he shouldn't hesitate to try again in the future.
What about Al Nichols, Kent Morlan, and Rick Brinkley? You can't win if you don't campaign, at least not if you lack a famous name.
In driving around District 5, I saw that Jon Kirby had tons of yard signs out. He's active in the unions and clearly had their help. I'm not aware of any effort Al Nichols made to campaign.
None of the District 4 Republicans seemed to be campaigning. But wait, you say -- Brinkley and Morlan were at all these forums. Well, most voters don't go to forums. Neither Brinkley nor Morlan sent a postcard or a phone call to our house. I didn't see any Brinkley yard signs until yesterday. So when District 4 Republican voters went to the polls, they voted for the familiar name -- Bartlett -- a guy who unofficially withdrew from the race a month ago.
Of the ten Council candidates I endorsed for nomination, seven won their races. (I didn't make an endorsement in the District 5 Republican race.) Jim Burdge's candidates won two primaries and lost four, plus his "vote no" campaign got trounced. I don't have the full list of the Whirled's endorsements, but of the eight I can recall, they only won two.
I've got to stop now. Tune in tomorrow morning, 6:10 a.m., 1170 KFAQ for more, or catch me on the replay.
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Please update your links (Tulsa Government) to reflect Jim Mautino's current webpage. The URL is www.jimmautino.com. I update this site, but please verify this with him, if you have any concerns.
Michael, thank you for all you have done, and continue to do, to help take our city back. You are a warrior on the front line, and a very important one, I might add.
I heard a sound bite of LaFortune from last night, that pretty well sums up the mind of the Mayor. He proudly proclaimed that he kept hearing two words "in his heart". The two words: "Continue on". Good grief! The Mayor gets an election night vision, and it's not even proper grammar. Hizzoner, you NEVER end a sentence (even a short one) with a preposition! Let the buffoonery "continue on".
I am incredibly sad. Last night, after you made the call to Chris and he conceded, it was devastating. Chris was gracious and ever-optimistic, much more so than I. My tears took me by surprise. So unfair.
So when does Randi Miller come up for re-election? I'm voting for anyone but her.
Republicans that voted for Bartlett need to be educated -- he is NO relation to Dewey Bartlett, Sr. or former councilor Dewey Bartlett, Jr. Voters obviously assumed he was with that name
recognition.
Maria Barnes who won the District 4 Democratic primary is sure to be the most popular -- especially if the Tulsa World runs photos of the two candidates and once again runs the reality that Bartlett dropped out after John Sullivan endorsed Brinkley, who is not a homeowner, in District 4. It is important to be a homeowner in District 4
as a representative on the City Council although Rick Brinkley has many connections and seemed to be a very well admired person to those who personally know him. He was the MC a few years ago at an event I attended and he had the audience attention and was very funny.
Congratulatons to Batesline for outstanding news coverage on the candidates!
If Randi Miller did not have Richard Roberts (ORU) pulling his weight to the ORU faculty, staff and student body to vote for Randi, Chris Medlock could have very well have had MORE votes than the very wealthy Kathy Taylor (thanks to her husband, Kathy's $100,000 contribution she also contributed to get herself elected and wealthy people that contributed to her campaign). She moves to Oklahoma from Florida at the end of 2002 and suddenly is the best choice for the state secretary of c. and tourism? All that from helping in her husband's business? I still wonder what businesses she can bring to Tulsa that are better paying jobs she talks about that can make up for all the lost jobs during Mayor LaFortune's time.
This race reminded me of David and Goliath. He went into a race for Mayor of Tulsa with the strength of his his character and hard work ethic. He appeared to be one of the hardest working councilors never being afraid to fight for answers that Tulsa citizens wanted. Here you have Chris with a small amount of funds to work with for publicity. He was worked toward his master's at the Univ. of Tulsa except for one class. I think if he went that far on his coursework through the Univ. of Tulsa, and it is very expensive to go to TU, and he worked his way through himself, it speaks highly he has what it takes to dig in help Tulsa in another important capacity. The next Mayor should hire Chris.
If Kathy Taylor gets elected, she is sure to give Tom Baker a job, and he was a horrible representative for District 4.
While the name The Tulsa Whirl is a clever one, it is not strong enough to describe the devastating The Tulsa World has had on this community. Tulsa WART would be a more appropriate name.
When the next Presidential electin and the next Oklahoma election for Governor rolls around, the Republican party should definitely hire Michael Bates and his fantastic news reporting on BATESLINE.
Istook would be wise to hire Batesline for advertising on speaking out on important issues in Oklahoma.
Rather than Michael's gentle characterization of the Tulsa Whirled (for their newspinning), I prefer to see it called the Lorton's World.
The Lorton's World is the view of Tulsa from the vantagepoint of 4th Generation Oil mega-millionaires. It's the view from their family mansions near Philbrook, or the short drive up the hill on Terwilliger Drive where the top bananas of our Banana Republic seek their humble abodes. Don McCorkell is their neighbor.....
The Lorton's World is their personal mass-media propaganda organ, used to advance their agenda of building on their Fortunes while controlling our local government: Oil fortune, followed by real estate fortune, followed by the only daily newspaper left in Tulsa.
While rarely caught outright lying, they are the accomplished master of the Half-Truth, and the editorial masquerading as a news article.
They reached their nadir of any pretense of objectivity during their leading the drumbeat for state tax credits and direct assistance from TIA and TAIT to fund Great Plains Airlines. Of course, they failed to disclose until YEARS later when the airline was near failure that they had a direct financial interest in GPA.
And that significant financial interest amounted to a majority equity ownership in a start-up airline that they were shilling for "economic development" purposes.
Their coverage of city council "squabbling" and "dissension" is not born out by T-Gov viewing. The truth is they hated the Reform Alliance for wanting to make to some necessary changes.
The Lorton's World likes things exactly the way things are........
I appreciate everything you do to get the truth out. I am depressed about the mayoral race, but optimistic about the council turnout. I don't know who I will support for mayor now that Medlock is out. I actually find myself leaning towards Kathy Taylor, but I think I'm just bitter right now. I work at one of the few financial institutions that hasn't been robbed on LaFortune's watch (knock on wood), so the crime rate hits a little closer to home with me then most. Am I wrong thinking Kathy Taylor would fight crime better than LaFortune, or is that the bitterness talking? Also, I know LaFortune has no leadership, but how would Kathy Taylor stack up? She has experience running a major company, and LaFortune is just another trial attorney.
Mayor LaFortune needs to work a lot on damage control. First he needs to apologize to Chief Been. More leaders of companies should make sure they know the true facts before they try to fire superior employees.
I have a feeling Kathy Taylor is going to win and be our next Mayor of Tulsa. I wonder if she will replace Sam Roop?