Tulsa Election 2023: April 2023 Archives

2023 School Board election recap

By Michael Bates on April 13, 2023 4:17 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Some thoughts on the April 4, 2023, school board and municipal results, from my live-tweet thread. (ThreadReaderApp unroll here.)

At 7:36 pm, early results in the Tulsa school board election came from 4 of the 18 precincts in District 1, all east of the river (and thus incumbent Stacey Woolley's home turf). Woolley led Jared Buswell 366 to 67, also dominating absentee and early voting, 160-29. At that point in the Bixby election, only absentee/early votes were in, with incumbent Matt Dotson leading Julie Bentley, 79-42.

In Tulsa and Bixby, challengers Buswell and Bentley were running on platforms supporting transparency and parental rights and opposing obscene materials in school libraries.

At 7:50 pm, we were still waiting for three big west-of-the-river precincts to report, but Woolley's home precinct was also yet to come in. Woolley was leading 865-359. Buswell won the two working-class precincts on the west end of Chas Page Blvd, but not downtown-adjacent neighborhoods, like Owen Park, The [formerly Brady] Heights, and Crosbie Heights.

By 8:00 pm, Woolley had won her home precinct, North Maple Ridge & Swan Lake, 412 to 80. Buswell won the precinct encompassing Red Fork and Carbondale, including Webster HS, 132 to 61 -- dominating but by a smaller percentage and with a much lower turnout.
Buswell won his own precinct (720123), but only 100-72. Woolley won the old West Tulsa precinct, just across the river from downtown. That precinct includes the Westport Apartments and a great deal of public housing. The only precincts yet to report were the Gilcrease Hills precincts in Osage County; those also went to Woolley.

There were upsets, but not in the high-profile Tulsa and Bixby school board races. In Berryhill, challenger Danny Bean defeated incumbent Doc Geiger, 170-76. Tracy Hanlon defeated incumbent Rusty Gunn for a seat on the Sand Springs school board, 289-220. Jerald Freeman defeated Skiatook city councilor Joyce Jech, 98-77.

In Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's 4th largest city, Mayor Debra Wimpee had a good night, even though she wasn't on the ballot. Her endorsed candidates won in all three council races. Adding this election to the 2021 results, the entire council is composed of her allies. Vice Mayor Christi Gillespie won a rematch against longtime councilor Mike Lester, the incumbent she beat in 2019. Challenger Joe Franco beat incumbent Scott Eudey. In the at-large council seat, incumbent Johnnie Parks survived with 45% of the vote. William Vaughn improved his 2019 performance with 36%, but voters opposed to Parks split their votes with two other candidates once again. Some conservative organizations backed George Ghesquire, who finished third.

The award for the lowest turnout in any Oklahoma election went to the Town of Ochelata in Washington Co., which had only 10 voters. There were two propositions on the ballot that each tied 5 votes for, 5 against. The propositions were to decide whether the Town Clerk and Town Treasurer would become offices appointed by the Board of Trustees, rather than elected. Ochelata has 279 registered voters. The Town of Avant in Osage County also voted whether to appoint Town Clerk and Treasurer, and the votes also were tied 8 to 8 for both propositions, but there are only 186 voters, so they managed 8.6% turnout!

Biggest turnout was for a regular election was for a seat on the board of the Indian Capital Tech Center -- 8,029 votes over 4 counties and parts of 4 more. Challenger Mark Walters defeated incumbent Scott Chambers, 4,158 to 3,871. Ascend Action was the consulting team supporting Walters's campaign.

The biggest turnout of all was for the Oklahoma County special election for County Clerk. Republican Marissa Treat (wife of State Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat) won 52% to 48%, with a total vote of 42,410.

Last results of the night came from Washita County. All precincts in the state had reported by 9:35 pm.

As I was tweeting, I was periodically refreshing the Oklahoma State Election Board results page, which brought to mind a number of suggestions for improvements, which I tweeted out @OKElections (but with no response):

  • A visible permalink for each race, so I don't go all the way back to Achille when I'm refreshing the Tulsa results. This would also make it easier to point people (via Twitter and elsewhere on social media) directly to a specific result of interest.
  • Make it possible to look up sample ballots without needing the name and birthdate of a voter in that jurisdiction. Right now there is no simple way to see the ballot title for a proposition in another jurisdiction except to find a voter in that jurisdiction and plug his/her name and date of birth into the OK voter portal.
  • Put geographical name first in the list of entities, e.g. "Broken Arrow, City of," "Ochelata, Town of," so that all municipal elections in the results list sort by geographical name, as is the case for school districts. I don't always remember whether a municipality is a city or a town.
  • Group local results by type of jurisdiction. Right now, the city and town results are mixed in alphabetically with K-12 and technology center school districts. All results for cities are between Cimarron Public Schools and Colcord Public Schools, and all results for towns are between Tonkawa Public Schools and Tulsa Public Schools.

The day after the election, the Tulsa Whirled decided to report on a Tulsa Public Schools audit finding involving $364,000 in questionably legal contracts. Although the report had been discussed in the TPS board meeting on Monday night, the Whirled delayed reporting on it until it was too late to inform voters deciding whether the school board president deserved another term. TPS board and administration deserve some blame as well -- the open records request wasn't answered until Wednesday morning. The report from the audit firm is dated March 30, 2023, the Thursday before the election.

2023 Oklahoma school & municipal elections

By Michael Bates on April 3, 2023 3:49 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Polling_Place_Vote_Here.jpg

April 4, 2023, is general election day across Oklahoma for school board races and for municipalities that use the default forms of municipal government established by state statute. Many cities with city charters that define a customized government structure still use the default dates for city elections. As is all too typical for local elections, many races failed to draw more than one candidate.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. To find your polling place and take a look at sample ballots, visit the Oklahoma State Election Board's voter portal.

Four Tulsa County school districts have school board races on the ballot. For Tulsa Office No. 1, incumbent Democrat Stacey Woolley faces Republican challenger Jared Buswell. For Berryhill Office No. 3, Danny Bean vs. Doc Geiger. For Bixby Office No. 3, Julie Bentley vs. Matt Dotson. For Sand Springs Office No. 3, Tracy Hanlon vs. Rusty Gunn.

Three Broken Arrow city council seats are on the ballot: Mike Lester v. Christie Gillespie in District 3, Scott Eudey vs. Joe Franco in DIstrict 4, and four candidates for the at-large council seat: George Ghesquire, Sonjia J. Potter, William Vaughn, Johnnie D. Parks. One Bixby city council seat, Monica Rios v. Ken Hirshey. One Skiatook seat: Joyce Jech vs. Jerald Freeman.

Below is a list of candidates running in Tulsa County school board and municipal elections. The name as it appears on the ballot is followed by the name under which the candidate is registered to vote, the party of voter registration, age as of election day, and then a list of web pages and social media profiles related to each candidate:


School Board seats

Except in the Tulsa school district, voters anywhere in a school district can vote in the election for any school board seat, regardless of election district. In the Tulsa school district, only voters in Election District No. 1 may vote.

Tulsa Public Schools, Office No. 1:

Berryhill Office No. 3:

  • Danny Bean (Daniel Earle Bean), R, 42: personal FB
  • Doc Geiger (James Conrad Geiger), R, 73, incumbent: personal FB


Bixby Office No. 3:

Sand Springs Office No. 3:

  • Tracy Hanlon (Tracy Anne Hanlon), R, 42: personal FB
  • Rusty Gunn (Rusty Don Gunn), R, 45, incumbent since 2013: personal FB

City Council seats

Three Broken Arrow city council seats are on the ballot. Under the statutory charter, registered voters from anywhere in the city can vote in all races. In Bixby, only residents of Council District 3 may vote; incumbent councilor Paul Blair is not seeking re-election. Under Skiatook's city charter, registered voters from anywhere in the city can vote in all races.

Broken Arrow City Council Ward 3:

Broken Arrow City Council Ward 4:

Broken Arrow City Council At-Large:

Bixby City Council, Ward 3:

Skiatook, Ward 3:

Endorsements:

If I could vote in the TPS Office 1 race, I would vote for Republican challenger Jared Buswell. Buswell, a member of Asbury Church, serves as chairman of the board of Favor International, a Christian ministry working in war-affected areas of Africa -- specifically northern Uganda and South Sudan -- to relieve suffering, proclaim the gospel, build churches and Christian leadership, educate, build community infrastructure, and train to empower economic development. Buswell has been involved with Favor since 2012 and has helped to build Favor's donor base from $300,000 to $6 million per year. Buswell also has a business called Look Inside Tulsa, which uses 360-degree spherical photography to provide VR views of home and building interiors. Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he came to Tulsa in 2001 to attend Oral Roberts University and has lived in west Tulsa since 2007.

His opponent, incumbent Democrat Stacey Woolley, has presided over the continued decline of Tulsa Public Schools, which badly underperforms the rest of the state by every measure. The Whirled's endorsement is inadvertently damning. The Whirled says that, "Among her top accomplishments is refocusing school meetings to student achievement and simplifying operational votes to a consent agenda." This was a move against public transparency and accountability: Last July, the consent agenda was used to hide the board's acceptance of a grant from a non-profit funded by the Chinese Communist Party; it was only exposed because board members E'Lena Ashley, Jerry Griffin, and Jennettie Marshall voted against the consent agenda as a whole.

The Whirled also applauds Woolley for "help[ing to] update the superintendent's evaluation, making it among the nation's few based almost entirely on student outcomes." If that's so, why does Deborah Gist still have a job, when student outcomes continue to be abysmal? And yet Woolley has repeatedly voted to extend Gist's contract.

Election District 1 includes all of the Tulsa school district west of the Arkansas River, plus downtown Tulsa, the neighborhoods along Charles Page Blvd west of downtown, the southern portion of Gilcrease Hills, Brady Heights, Pearl District south of 6th Street, Tracy Park, Swan Lake, North Maple Ridge, and Riverview. Like most of his prospective constituents, Buswell lives west of the river, in a modest home valued by the county assessor at $119,221, located in Woodview Heights near 61st and Union. Woolley lives in the wealthiest neighborhood in the ward, North Maple Ridge, in the extreme eastern extent of the district, in a home valued by the county assessor at $585,301. It is a sadly frequent redistricting technique to gerrymander a few exclusive neighborhoods into an otherwise working-class, middle-class district, so as to maximize the number of the connected and wealthy on an elected board or council.

In the Bixby school board race, I would vote for challenger Julie Bentley over incumbent Matt Dotson. Bentley is a certified teacher who has taught 13 years in the Bixby district and is the mom of a current Bixby High School student. Dotson appears to be a subservient rubber stamp for superintendent Rob Miller, who has expressed his contempt for concerned citizens who speak at board meetings. Dotson refused to take a firm stand against inappropriate books in the curriculum and the library, preferring to invest total confidence in the district employee he's supposed to be holding accountable. (Miller's blog View from the Edge, which he ended in 2017, shortly before he was hired as Bixby superintendent, reveals his hostility to public accountability for the performance of public schools.)

Endorsements from conservative groups:

  • Tulsa County Republican Party: Jared Buswell (Tulsa schools, Office 1), Julie Bentley (Bixby schools, Office 3).
  • Bixby Parents Voice: Julie Bentley (Bixby schools, Office 3).
  • Moms for Liberty: Jared Buswell (Tulsa schools, Office 1), Julie Bentley (Bixby schools, Office 3).
  • Oklahomans for the Second Amendment (OK2A): Jared Buswell (Tulsa schools, Office 1), Julie Bentley (Bixby schools, Office 3); Christie Gillespie (Broken Arrow Council 3), Joe Franco (Broken Arrow Council 4), George Ghesquire (Broken Arrow Council At-Large). William Vaughn (Broken Arrow Council At-Large) also had an A-rated survey.
  • Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights: Jared Buswell (Tulsa schools, Office 1), Julie Bentley (Bixby schools, Office 3); Christie Gillespie (Broken Arrow Council 3), Joe Franco (Broken Arrow Council 4). George Ghesquire and William Vaughn in the Broken Arrow Council At-Large election each had an A-rated survey, but OKHPR did not endorse in that race.

2023 Tulsa School Board campaign finances

By Michael Bates on April 2, 2023 11:58 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

The incumbent and challenger in the Tulsa School Board District 1 race have each raised over $50,000 according to campaign contribution and expenditures reports filed with the Tulsa Public Schools district clerk.

As of the March 20, 2023, close of the pre-election reporting period, Democrat incumbent Stacey Woolley had raised $51,798, while Republican challenger Jared Buswell had raised $58,643.

Woolley's donor list includes contributors connected with the foundations whose influence has propelled Tulsa Public Schools toward its abysmal academic performance. Maximum $2,900 donors include the Lynn Schusterman Revocable Trust, the Stacy Schusterman Revocable Trust, Frederic Dorwart (attorney for the George Kaiser Family Foundation and related entities), and Philip Kaiser (son of George Kaiser). George Kaiser made a personal donation of $500. Big Democrat donors George Krumme and Burt Holmes also gave maximum donations. Attorney Robert A. Curry gave $1,500 in aggregate, and Joseph Parker Jr. and Robert Thomas each gave $1,000. Employees of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Tulsa Community Foundation, Zarrow Family Foundations also appear on Woolley's list of contributors. Other notable names include left-wing Democrat Tulsa City Councilors Laura Bellis and Lori Decter Wright, former Democrat Mayor M. Susan Savage and her ex-husband Grant Hall, Democrat State Reps. Melodye Blancett and Suzanne Schreiber (also a former school board member), and Democrat former school board member Cindy Decker, head of GKFF-backed Tulsa Educare. "Friends of Shawna Keller," the campaign committee of the east Tulsa school board incumbent defeated a year ago by E'Lena Ashley, gave $1,000 to Woolley.

Republican challenger Jared Buswell raised $57,643.55, including $6,573.55 in in-kind contributions. Buswell received maximum $2,900 contributions from H. Michael Krimbill, L. Avery Krimbill, Christie Glesener, Tom Culver, and Vivienne Culver. The latter two contributions were in-kind as office rent reductions. Buswell received several large PAC contributions: Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC), $2,350; Women Working for Oklahoma PAC, $2,000; Oklahoma Realtors PAC, $1,000. Other lare donors include Brian & Pauline Robinson, $2,500; Kent Glesener, $2,500; Rob Prulhiere, $2,000; Julia Sublett, $2,000; Suzanne Behr, $1,500; Frances Fleming, $1,500; Michael Phillips, $1,500 (including $250 in-kind for yard signs); Jody Tell, $1,200; Matthew Watson, $1,000; Ken Sellers, $1,000; Thomas Carruth, $1,000; Michael Ross, $1,000; Reed Downey Jr, $1,000; Alvin Loeffler, $1,000. Former District Attorney Tim Harris, who ran unsuccessfully for the District 7 board seat last year, contributed $250 to Buswell. Buswell reports giving $2,750 to his own campaign, plus another $349.48 in in-kind contributions, purchasing push cards, yard signs, and other printing for the campaign.

The initial set of documents sent by inquiries@tulsaschools.org in response to my Open Records request did not include the full list of Woolley's contributors. Melissa Remington of Tulsa Parents Voice observed that the sum of itemized contributions in Schedule A was over $30,000 less than the reported contribution total. Remington also noticed that the list of contributions abruptly ended on January 17, 2023, despite a well-publicized fundraiser hosted by Democrat former Mayor Kathy Taylor and Democrat State Rep. Monroe Nichols on February 16. Remington called the discrepancies to the attention of Woolley, the school board clerk, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, and others.

Remington and I subsequently received an update to our separate open records requests from Emma Garrett-Nelson, whose email signature gives "pronouns" "(she/her/hers)" and describes herself as Executive Director of Communications & Strategy, with the following statement: "We uncovered a glitch in our Adobe PDF reader that we've since addressed, so please use these rather than the files we sent you on March 28. This is everything responsive to your request." The attachment was an oddly-formatted report of contributions only, in which the page header appeared at different places on the page and contribution amounts appeared in a variety of font sizes, including unnecessarily small. The original version was clearly a scan of the filed hardcopy report, complete with the Tulsa Public Schools "RECEIVED" date stamp. The new contributions-only report has no scanning artifacts -- text is selectable and there are no date stamps.

The explanation of "a glitch in our Adobe PDF reader" doesn't fit the evidence. In the original version there are no indications that the reverse sides of pages were not scanned or that consecutive pages were missed by a scanner. An explanation more consistent with the evidence is that the Woolley campaign failed to submit a complete report by the deadline, whether or not accidentally.

This raises a concern with the current process. The "Executive Director of Communications & Strategy" is likely to depend on the goodwill of her boss, Superintendent Deborah Gist, for her continued employment. She would have some incentive to help cover over the mistakes of an incumbent candidate who has been an unquestioning supporter of her boss. It would be best for all concerned if all campaign ethics reporting, for every office and proposition in every political subdivision at every level, were through the Oklahoma Ethics Commission's Guardian system, rather than forcing citizens to make open records requests to access campaign filings that should be accessible to the public the instant they are submitted.

To its credit, for the first time in a long time the Tulsa Whirled reported on the pre-election ethics filings, but reporter Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton failed to notice the discrepancy in contributions and didn't find any significance in the maximum donations to Woolley. The Whirled reporter found it interesting that current school board member E'Lena Ashley contributed to Jared Buswell's campaign, but not that former board members Suzanne Schreiber, Cindy Decker, and Shawna Keller (via her campaign fund) did.

FILES: The following are the files provided by the Tulsa Public Schools district clerk in response to my open records request. I have run each through optical character recognition and changed file names to improve consistency and searchability.

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This page is a archive of entries in the Tulsa Election 2023 category from April 2023.

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