Tulsa City Council District 3: For Susan Frederick

This is the first time in 30 years (and only the second time in the history of the City Council) that someone named Patrick has not been on the Tulsa City Council District 3 ballot. Mike Patrick ran in that first election in 1990 and lost the Democrat primary to Dorothy DeWitty. When DeWitty opted not to run again, Patrick won the 1992 primary and the seat, but was killed, with his father, in a freak electrical accident on their oil lease. Darrell Gilbert was appointed to replace him and won a full term in 1994, but Mike's brother David Patrick beat Gilbert in the 1996 Democrat primary, then won a second term in 1998. David Patrick quit to run for State House, and his sister Synna Patrick ran in the November 1998 special election to replace him, but lost to Sequoyah neighborhood leader Roscoe Turner.

The Turner / Patrick rivalry began in 1996 and ran until 2011, when Dewey Bartlett's gerrymander cut Turner's core precincts out of the district. David Patrick challenged Turner in the 2000 primary but fell short. In 2002, Patrick won the seat back in the primary. In 2004, voter irregularities (Republicans who didn't have a city primary were given Democrat ballots, more than the margin of victory) forced a revote, which Turner won. Turner prevailed again in the 2006 primary over Patrick. In 2008, David Patrick changed tactics and ran as an independent, beating Turner in the April general election. Turner won the seat back at the November 2009 election, during Tulsa's brief spell with elections in the fall of odd-numbered years (where they belong). In September 2011, David Patrick took advantage of the gerrymandered district to win the Democrat primary over Turner. Another charter change, to three-year rotating council terms, meant that the seat would not be up for re-election until November 2014.

Roscoe Turner died in January 2014, and David Patrick won the 2014 non-partisan election overwhelmingly. When the calendar changed again, Patrick won the 2016 race outright in the June primary. In 2018, David Patrick decided not to run for re-election his daughter Crista Patrick ran and won, and won again in 2020 and 2022.

The city establishment loves the Patrick family dynasty, because the Councilors Patrick could be counted on to vote against the interests of District 3 and for whatever the downtown folks wanted. That's why David Patrick has a street renamed in his honor, while Roscoe Turner, who actually represented his constituents' concerns, has nothing named in his honor. This year, Crista Patrick is endorsing her fellow Democrat Jackie Dutton, a former liquor store owner who became noteworthy for allowing graffiti artists to use the building's walls as a canvas. The fact that Patrick and the Tulsa Whirled editorial board have endorsed Dutton is a a good indication that they believe she will continue to be a rubber stamp for the interests of Tulsa's Money Belt rather than District 3's working class residents.

The Republican in the open race is Susan Frederick, who has lived in her current home on old Route 66 for nearly 40 years. She is retired from UPS and was involved for many years in raising and breeding horses. She is a lifetime member of the American Quarter Horse Association and the Palomino Horse Breeders of America, having raised, bred, or shown 25 World or Reserve World Champions. She was instrumental in launching the Go for the Gold Stallion Auction & Futurity, an Oklahoma event which, she says, opened the door for small-time breeders to compete against large operations. Frederick has one son, now an adult, whom she raised as a single mom.

Susan Frederick has been particularly concerned with the growth of drug trafficking and human trafficking operations in north and east Tulsa, the growth of homelessness across the city, and the impact of illegal immigration on the city's resources. She wants to see Tulsa less dependent on strings-attached grants from the Federal government and "public-private partnerships" with non-governmental organizations; instead, Tulsa's elected officials, who are accountable to the voters, should maintain control and accountability for our city's direction. She believes that government at all levels should stay within its constitutional limits.

Susan Frederick is proud of her deep Tulsa roots. Her father was a TPD chaplain and Korean War veteran. Her great-grandfather, Sam Walker, served as Tulsa's chief of police and appointed Barney Cleaver as Tulsa's first black police officer in 1908. We can count on Susan Frederick to support Tulsa's law enforcement officers as they work to keep us safe from criminals.

District 3 was created as a second North Tulsa district, but its boundaries continue to shift east. It now includes all residents north of 11th Street from Yale to 145th East Ave, plus Sequoyah, Louisville Heights, Springdale, and the part of Kendall-Whittier north of I-244 and east of Lewis. Whoever wins the election on August 27, for the first time ever, the District 3 City Councilor will live south of I-244. (The fact that distinctive sections of Tulsa, like northeast Tulsa and Tulsa west of the Arkansas River, no longer have enough population to sustain a council district is a point in favor of increasing the size of the council to 13 or 15 to ensure that the geographical diversity of Tulsa is represented.)

August 27, 2024, will decide who will be the first non-Patrick District 3 councilor in 13 years. I encourage my readers in Tulsa City Council District 3 to vote for conservative Republican Susan Frederick.