Big Tent vs. Issue Activism

Brent VanNorman ran for Tulsa Mayor in the last election cycle, but was a victim of the municipal “nonpartisan” primary which left Tulsans a choice between a Democrat and a Socialist Democrat. A choice Oklahomans may frequently face should the communist party proposal of State Question 836 be approved.

Serving nearly a year, Van Norman resigned recently and, surprise, it became a social media frenzy with many fountains of ignorance and self-aggrandizement displayed. Exclusively here are more complete interviews.

Question: So why did you resign as Vice Chair of the Tulsa County Republican Party?

“David, it’s probably good to go back and provide a little bit of history,” VanNorman began.

“At the last GOP Convention, there were two slates running for party offices. One was Melissa Myers’s slate that was put together pretty much by the grassroots. The other was Charity Marcus’ slate. Both asked me to be on their slate.

“I declined both, respectfully. I appreciated that they’d asked me, but I didn’t run on a slate. And I was effectively running unopposed, other than Ken Molloy who came in and decided to run for vice chair so he could give a speech at the convention.

“The primary motivation that I shared in the campaign speech was that I was hoping to unify the party. I realized there were factions, as I said at the convention. I’ve got friends on both sides that I value and appreciate so I wanted to unify the party to the extent that’s possible.

“Now that may have been a very naive position in hindsight. But still, that was my goal and my primary objective. I had that vision of trying to unify the party. Melissa had a slightly different vision. Her support came from the grassroots group, and I think her view is we can build the grassroots group strong enough that Republicans can start winning elections in Tulsa.

“Obviously, at the county level, we do quite well, as evidenced by our three county commissioners. But in the City of Tulsa, we don’t do so well,” VanNorman added.

For the record, Tulsa Municipal elections are the same kind of “jungle primaries” that have destroyed California and Alaska and every other government where they have been implemented. This evil disingenuous contrivance is a popular format for wealthy elitists because it favors big money candidates and destroys grassroots candidates and issues. This is what State Question 836 will do statewide. It will destroy primaries, not open them.

VanNorman said, “I think Melissa’s goal was, let’s get that fired up as much as we can. And I don’t disagree with that. I mean, I love the grassroots groups. Like I said at the convention, I made many friends. They supported me, big time, for mayor. Conservative Journalist Karen Hardin was critically important in raising money. I have great affinity with grassroots people. I just don’t think [our party] can be exclusively grassroots.

“Melissa has made great progress in precinct training. I think there’s been probably more of that than I recall having ever seen. Now, my tenure here [in Tulsa] is short, so I don’t have the long view, but I think that there’s been a good job done in precinct training.

“Several folks like Jared Buswell have been involved in that and I think they’re doing a fantastic job. I know that there’s a candidate support group now that has scheduled interviews with all the gubernatorial candidates. They’re going to interview them, and survey, and they’re going to publish where each of them stand, which I think is fantastic. So, I applaud all of that.

“But there were a few things that went against the goal I had of unifying the party. You’re probably aware of the lawsuit that was filed against some of the former county GOP officers. I was not in favor of filing that lawsuit. Now, I understand why it was filed, because the prior administration, some of them, had not been very cooperative in turning information over that, in my opinion, they were required to turn over,” VanNorman said.

Several Attorneys reviewing the case agree that the previous administration has a legal obligation to return all material they hold after their term ends. In this case, there are web site(s) and a mobile payment account allegedly due that has not been returned. The lawsuit was withdrawn in the hope of issues being resolved. They are not yet resolved, and the lawsuit is under consideration for refiling.

“Fast forward we have the situation where the state committee voted to disavow the Tulsa Republican Club. And then. Melissa, at the last county committee meeting, had it on the agenda for the county, GOP, to disavow the Tulsa Republican Club as well. I understand that there were things done when that club started that probably weren’t ideal. And I understand why Melissa got upset about it. Some of that, I think, was inadvertent, like when they created their website, they copied some material over. from the Tulsa County GOP website because Charity Marcus had been the webmaster. She viewed that content as content she had created, so she felt she had the right to use it,” VanNorman said.

Charity Marcus had received credit for her work on the web site she built for the Tulsa GOP which is normally considered in-kind payment. However, the same day Marcus was defeated in her race to win the chair position, she pulled the entire web site offline.

VanNorman continued, “Recently, Melissa crafts a press releases in opposition to the data centers and encourages Republicans to show up [at a public meeting] to oppose the data center. It is my view of the Tulsa County Republican Party that, overall, we’re not an advocacy group. Our goal is to help republicans get elected. Not necessarily taking positions on issues.

“Now, there’s some issues we need to take positions on. For example, state question 836. No problem with us taking a position on that. I think all good Republicans agree that’s a bad thing and we need to oppose it. But on the data center issue, for example, there are people on both sides of that issue that are Republicans. Once that email went out, my phone’s ringing off the hook from several elected officials saying, Brent, are you supportive of this?

“I was not. I had to admit. I saw it when it went out in email. I didn’t vet it. It was not part of a conversation. And so, again, I’m trying to unify things. This, I think, is much more of a grassroots position. There are other Republicans that are in favor of data centers, including Governor Stitt.

“And that is the underlying reason why I just felt, OK, probably time for me to exit stage right as a party official. I’m still supportive of the party. I’m still supportive of what they’re doing. I still will be a part; I just won’t be an official part of it. But I can tell you, I’m still working with Melissa. Melissa and I get along fine,” VanNorman said.

This then appears to be VanNorman’s core complaint. He loves everyone, but he is not the one in charge. The authority for managing the party lies with the Chair, not the Vice Chair.

Question: How did the news get on Facebook seemly critical of Melissa’s leadership?

“Just so you know, I had no contact with E’lena Ashley [Facebook poster] on the issue. So I’m not sure exactly, I mean, grapevine goes crazy after something happens. Friday was a Tulsa Republican Club meeting. I did text Charity Marcus and I told her I had resigned. And I told her I wanted to let her know so she didn’t announce me. Because she always recognizes me at her club meetings. So I did let her know in advance. And I don’t know what happened beyond that.

“And David, let me be clear. I don’t agree with the way the [leadership] transition [in party administration] occurred. And I’ve let Charity Marcus know. I didn’t think she should have taken the website down. On the day of the convention, I believed that the material that was on the website was owned by the Tulsa County GOP, not Marcus personally. That was my view. I’ve shared that view.

“I was adamant with Ronda [former chair] that information needed to be turned over and was working to get that information turned over. I will say that Bob Jack turned information in his possession over very quickly. But there was other information that people had that didn’t get turned over very quickly. And under the party rules, it was supposed to be turned over. I worked diligently to try to get that information so that we could reconcile the books,” VanNorman concluded.

Tulsa County Chairman Melissa Myers said, “Brent and I worked well together, and I believe that will continue as the party moves forward. In the eleven months he served as Vice Chair of the Tulsa County Republican Party, he helped in many ways, and I respect and appreciate his efforts. We disagreed on some points, but that simply demonstrates the ‘big tent’ our party of common sense has become. We have procedures for replacing leadership and we will continue to follow those procedures.

“I want to be an avenue for information on issues, we invite people to participate in public policy discussions. People love it when we communicate,” Myers added.

In the spirit of full disclosure, this writer has long been active in the Republican Party and campaigned unsuccessfully for County Chair in 2022. After that party convention, the elected Vice Chair almost immediately disappeared, did not return calls or email, and has not been seen at party events since. There were no “questions” or complaints on social media from that abandonment. A published review of that convention by this writer was posted on Substack under the title, “GOP Turmoil in Tulsa; Invalid Leadership Vote?” in July of 2022. The current dispute is comparatively calm and polite.

To be clear, the top two roles of the county party are to grow membership and raise money. As of this writing, Chairman Melissa Myers has built grassroots participation, planned and executed the most successful Tulsa State Fair outreach in party history, raised over $30,000.00 with more fund-raising events planned, and led on public issues important to the County.

Are Republicans an advocacy group? If so, does that limit fund-raising opportunity or run-off prospective members? Apparently not during Chairman Myers’ term to date. Former-vice chair Brent VanNorman, the record shows, did not raise money and membership gains cannot be attributed directly to his efforts, but he remains a respected voice and leader of the Tulsa County Republican Party.

About the author: David Arnett’s beginning in print journalism was not planned in 1985 but covered by Rebecca Martin writing for the Columbia Journalism Review in 1987. After 11 years in print, he established TulsaToday online in 1996 and Straight Up on Substack in 2022 providing both paid and free email subscriptions to the latest news and opinion. This article was first published on Straight Up on Substack Wednesday January 28th.