Separating Fact from Fiction:

For some reason, a group of people in Edmond believe they know more about what’s best for our schools and our kids than we do. Sadly, in an attempt to impose their will on us, they have resorted to a campaign of distortion and falsehoods.

As the Dec. 8 election nears, it is important that we clear the air and separate fact from fiction.

Fact:  This bond issue is NOT a tax increase. Despite the gibberish these outsiders would have us believe, the school district and its financial advisors have gone to exceptional lengths to ensure improvements to our school system while maintaining tax rates at current levels.

Fact:  This proposal is a well thought-out package that has been under development for more than three years. There is no fluff or extravagance in it. Each and every item listed is essential to provide the quality education our kids need and deserve.

Fact: This bond issue will provide money to build three new schools while updating and equipping all existing sites. High on the priority list is doing away with “temporary” prefabs that have been around for decades. 

Fact: Even though this bond package is larger than in past years, it does not max out the district’s debt ceiling. Should an unexpected need arise, a mini-bond issue can be presented for voter approval.

Fact: Nowhere in this issue is there an $11 million indoor football stadium the agitators point to with glee. There is a $2.8 million bad weather practice facility that would be used by a variety of school groups, including band, softball, soccer and football.

Fact:  All bonds no matter how small or large have fees attached. They are legal requirements and cannot be avoided. The difference here is for the first time, fees earned by the bonding agent will stay in Broken Arrow and will be used for economic development purposes. The agitators would have us believe this is some kind of an evil conspiracy. In fact, it is a major positive element that makes an excellent proposal even more attractive.

Fact: This issue will provide critically important improvements to our school system and may well be the only way the district can get ahead of the fiscal curve. For full details, visit www.baschools.org.

About the author: Joe Cook is a parent who lives in Broken Arrow and is working with the Build A Better Broken Arrow Committee encouraging voters to vote YES for the schools. This loose coalition of citizens from all walks of life are ALL Broken Arrow residents who live or work in the Broken Arrow community." For more information visit http://voteyesba.com or on facebook/imvotingyes

My Friends,

Six weeks ago, I accepted the call to become Chairman of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma. As a two-time childhood cancer survivor, the mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation is very personal to me.

With three small, beautiful children in my home, I am very sensitive to the painful reality that all our children are potentially one doctor’s appointment away from having their worlds turned upside down in a dizzying array of hospital visits, needle-sticks and surgeries.

 During a family’s darkest hour, the Make-A-Wish Foundation provides a shining beacon of light; a chance to escape the bonds of sickness, if even for just a moment.

 Yet, these are extraordinary times.

Kids don’t understand the economics of a recession. Their cancers don’t share our sense of bad timing. While some charities can scale back their non-essential services, MAWFO has no non-essential services. We don’t have multiple functions and departments. We only do one thing: We grant wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses.

The average Wish costs $7000 and at this moment, there are 94 Oklahoma children waiting to have their Wishes granted. Many of these children don’t have the luxury of patience.

Please take a moment of your time right now and help make Wishes come true with a donation to Oklahoma’s Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Please call 5 friends and ask them to do the same. Forward this email. Pass a hat at your office. Call a generous friend or relative. Clean out coins from your car and home. Take a tax deduction. Call 918-492-WISH.

 Donate online right now at: http://bit.ly/OSdWW

 Or, come see me in person November 17th, 18th, or 19th at LaFortune Park in Tulsa as KRMG hosts our 4th Annual Stories of Light broadcast to benefit Make-A-Wish. All money raised goes to Oklahoma children suffering from life-threatening illnesses.

 To put my money where my ‘ask’ is, I’m personally committing $1,000 to the Stories of Light campaign this year (which is only $83/month or less than $3/day).

 Thank you very kindly for your generosity,

 Joe Kelley

Joe Kelley is the host of KRMG Morning News

On December 8th there will be a decisive vote on the Bond Issue for Broken Arrow Public Schools. We encourage you to get the word out and Vote NO on this ballot.

Why do we ask this?  It is really very simple and straightforward:  There are “needs” and there are “wants”…and there are too many “wants” in this bond.

1.    Broken Arrow is the highest taxed city, in the highest taxed county in the state.
2.    This bill raises property taxes even higher over the next 15 years. In this economy – enough is enough!
3.    This is a $295 million tax increase, which is believed to be one of the largest school bond requests in state history.
4.    It is full of frivolous fees (wants):
·    Nearly $3,000,000.00 is allocated for undefined “fees” alone!
·    $11,000,000.00 for a new indoor football stadium!
·    Larger media center: $21,375,000.00
5.    It is a long term burden for schools: They will be left to pay huge interest amounts for years!
6.    This bond essentially maxes-out Broken Arrow’s debt ceiling.  What if a need arises later?  Where will Broken Arrow turn to raise those funds?  More taxes?
7.    This is a mis-prioritization of the budget. The Broken Arrow police department can’t even afford to hire new officers, and they want to build an indoor football arena?  
8.    Citizens are the only ‘check’ on the spending habits of school boards.  Spending other people’s money is the most addictive thing in the world.
9.    This bond goes to show that once a tax is implemented – it never goes away!
10.    This is a package even Santa wouldn’t deliver! 

Under the guise of providing for a growing community, the Bond is an enormous debt!  The real needs are lost, and pushed to the background when, instead of honing in on what is really important, this bond serves as a one stop shop for the wants of school districts.

It is true that Broken Arrow schools have needs, such as permanent classrooms to dispose of portable classrooms and better technology, but this bond covers erroneous wants. This is your chance to hold the local government’s feet to the fire and let them know that you want efficiency and integrity in their handling of your hard earned dollar.

Here’s what you can do to help:  
·    Get to the polls on December 8th and Vote NO!
·    Visit our website: http://nobabonds.com/  and sign up for e-mail updates.
·    Tell your friends about this bond – and take them to the polls on Dec 8th!  
·    Spread the attached 10 points about the bill to your fellow activists.

The Chamber recently sent around an e-mail asking employers to “identify those living in the Broken Arrow Public Schools area and encourage them to vote yes.” Something must be amuck if they are taking the risk of asking people to “persuade” voters to cast their ballot this way. What does the Chamber stand to win if this bond passes?

To protect your community and make sure that education, and not money, is the focal point of the Broken Arrow Public Schools.  Please join your fellow community members and raise awareness about the vote on December 8th!  

Remember to visit: http://www.NoBAbonds.com/ for the most up to date information!

Americans For Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates, engages, and mobilizes citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth.

Dewey Barttlet, Jr. becomes

Tulsa’s next mayor December 7 and Pearl Harbor Day is an
appropriate beginning.  Recent reports of
city budgeting stupidities, corruption within the Public Works Department, city
police operating a military drug mafia, and the firefighters union illegally
campaigning for select city councilors – thus betraying democracy – suggest the
old joke may be truer than we knew.

The joke goes:  “We have no organized crime in Tulsa.  We have disorganized crime provided as a service by city government.”  

Bada bing, bada boom.

First on the boring budget, know that “City government has 50 different
annual sources of revenue all of which shows either no growth or a
negative return from the last fiscal year” according to Terry A.
Simonson, Director of Development and Governmental Affairs for Tulsa
County.  The city is broke while continuing to spend more than it earns
and this comes even after current-Mayor Kathy Taylor has raised every
fee and permit rate she could find.

City Councilor Bill Martinson said at last Thursday’s council meeting, “The economy didn’t create this problem.  It’s an existing problem due to public safety unions holding the city hostage.”  In short, he suggests that Democrat Mayor Taylor is protecting unions at the disadvantage of the taxpaying citizens of Tulsa.  What a surprise.  We wonder if ACORN and SEIU is feeling the love.

“Folks, we’re living in the land of Oz,” Martinson said.  “I hope Tulsa’s flying monkeys realize that I’m not implying that someone dropped a house on the mayor’s sister, but parallels do abound.”  He added that the police and fire budgets consume more than the total revenue generated this fiscal year by the 2-cent sales tax, the primary funding source for the city.

Councilor John Eagleton said the budget “train wreck was as predictable as the sunrise.”

Tulsa’s Public Works Department – a huge city budget consumer – does not require “change orders” when contractors exceed budget on city projects.  Tulsa County government does, but the city does not.  That allows individuals within Public Works to approve overages on their own authority, which recently led to a prison term thanks to a Federal investigation.

The newspaper’s Omer Gillham broke the news of another secret Federal grand jury investigation targeting the Tulsa Police Department’s (TPD) Special Investigations Division.  In fewer words than Gillham used, police are alleged to be stealing drugs, money, guns, and other personal property using full-blow SWAT raids and individual officer intrusions into private homes.  

If true, they are operating as a military styled mafia South American drug cartels would envy.

Tulsa Firefighters (IAFF Local 176) leading up to the November 10 election campaigned as representatives of the Tulsa firefighters union (with bright yellow t-shirts) – not private citizens – to remove city councilors critical of their budgets.  They scared people at private homes with comments suggesting that “votes better go the right way or your house might burn down.”  This verbal abuse, these lies, this intimidation enrages this editorial writer.

For years, Tulsa Today has known that our city is unique in the parity between firefighters and police.  Most cities have far more police for obvious reasons.  We extended grace to the Fire Department on that issue because we appreciate their good works, but those days are over.

Why does the Fire Department and Emergency Medical Service Authority (EMSA) both respond to every call.  Just a few weeks ago, a drunk was sleeping on the sidewalk downtown and I called 911.  The police could have sent one car to roust the wayward, but no, a huge fire truck and ambulance arrived – 4 or 5 public employees.  I wonder how much that one call cost taxpayers?

Firefighters have falsified continuing education and certification attendance records. In September, Fire Chief Allen LaCroix admitted 16 firefighters could not account for their emergency medical training records.  An engineer or attorney could not get away with that and neither should firefighters – lives depend on them.

So the Firefighters Union believes it is their right to swing elections so they can have a passive and compliant gaggle of city councilors approve their budget without regard to detail or oversight.  Maybe the daily newspaper will not badger them on the subject, but Tulsa Today will continue to write about it and we are calling for a full audit and complete public disclosure.  It’s time to “check their shorts” or short reports if you like.

Every individual firefighter and any union official guilty of election coercion should go to prison.  The city councilors they supported must also recluse themselves from any vote on the Fire Department budget or any budget that includes a fire department allocation.

As for our new mayor Dewey Bartlett, Jr., one long-time city government observer suggested that, given the issues facing the city and the union stooges elected to the city council, he should refuse to take the job on mental health grounds – one would have to be a bit crazy to take that job.

Less cynically, I believe Mayor-elect Bartlett has an opportunity to truly and deeply repair the ongoing operation of the City of Tulsa, but it will take dramatic – if not traumatic change.  All of Tulsa should wish him well, our community’s future depends on his success.

Tulsa is not corrupt.  There is no grand conspiracy of evil.  If there was I would have been found floating in the Arkansas River long ago.  

Tulsa is just the victim of little stupid(s) of self-interest and institutional power which unlink sanity. There would be less stupid in public if the Tulsa Tribune (local afternoon newspaper closed in1992 to explain to our national readers) continued today, but Tulsa Today will stand in their stead as best we can online.  Our readers help by sending this story to others and talking about it with friends.  The "coin of the realm" within a democratic republic is an informed engaged citizenry, thus Tulsans get the local government they deserve.

Agree or disagree, you can register free on this site and add your comments to this or any story at any time.

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About the author:

David Arnett began a career in professional journalism in 1985 and
has published Tulsa Today since 1996 – online years before Al Gore invented the
Internet.  He has won two national awards as a First Amendment
Publisher.  Arnett is a Conservative Media Critic, Antiauthoritarian Conservative and a proud pain in the political derriere of
the disingenuous. This analysis may be reproduced without charge with
links to the original source. Arnett is
available for interview and speaking engagements.

Twice this week, friends asked how voting went for local office last Tuesday.  Surprise:  Our election is this coming Tuesday November 10 when the mayor, city council and City Charter change proposals will be decided.  National media may not cover our local debate, but national debate is expected to have a huge impact on Tulsans voting.

For mayor, Democrat candidate Tom Adelson is most identified by his admiration for President Barack Obama to which he says he gave over $100,000.00 for the 2008 campaign.  It was not – in the earned sense – his money.  His family wealth comes from his grandfather.  Adelson is ill-tempered and was unremarkable after he got elected state legislator.

Without Obama’s grace of speech or ability to make friends, Adelson supports the “government should manage all life on the planet” style of Democrat.  He’s advised by former-Mayor Susan Savage’s political crew.  If you liked Limousine Leftists Mayor Savage and Mayor Kathy Taylor, you will love Tom Adelson.

For the first time in recent history, an independent candidate for mayor is making a credible run for the office.  Candidate Mark Perkins is also an attorney and is best described as liberal light.  Damning both parties in a campaign is easy at this point in time, but there is no public history on Perkins to suggest how he might operate as Tulsa’s chief executive.  His votes will come largely from protest voters looking for a “none of the above” selection willing to give a blank check of power to an unknown.

Republican candidate for mayor Dewy Bartlett, Jr. also benefits from multigenerational oil wealth, but in contrast to Adelson, he actually works in the industry and has grown the family business.  He served on the City Council and has been involved in many public policy debates, but that is his greatest weakness.

Before George Soros’ money turned the Democrat Party into full-blown Marxists, many Conservatives would listen and work with Democrats.  Not so much anymore.  If anything, that bygone era of compromise could burn Bartlett who, over the decades, has supported some Democrats.  However, Bartlett is a pro-life conservative with visible heartfelt enthusiasm in resistance to government spending now threatening the market economy worldwide.  He pledges no new taxes.  Bartlett has a better basic personality, foundation of principle, and grasp of the issues facing Tulsa.

Dewy Bartlett, Jr. is our choice for Mayor.

For city auditor, Republican Preston Lee Doeflinger is challenging Democrat Phil Wood who has held the office since it became an office.  Wood works about two hours per day and some report he sleeps during most of that time.  Wood has failed, as it was promised, to operate the auditor’s office as a counter balance to Tulsa’s Strong Mayor form of government.  Wood does not instigate audits and is a Democrat Party stalwart.

Preston Doeflinger is young, aggressive, conservative, and successful in owning several private businesses.  He has worked harder in this campaign than any candidate running for office in history.  Ok, so he has an odd name, but it is memorable and he pledges to analyze local government from a critical rather than politically covering perspective as Woods has done repeatedly.  If voters want to bring transparency to city government, an auditor with business experience and an attitude is a great place to begin.

Preston Doeflinger is our choice for City Auditor.

Many City Council races were decided in the primary, but those to be decided Tuesday are still very important.

Council District 3 includes areas of northeast Tulsa beyond Tulsa County (Rogers County).  Incumbent David Edward Patrick is running as an independent in this heavily Democrat area.  Former-Councilor Roscoe H. Turner, Sr. is the Democrat and again inspires voters to pine for a candidate senility test.  Yes, that should not be done in our Democracy, but many think about it when remembering Turner’s incoherent contrarian tirades that embarrassed many.  Turner may be the closest local equivalent to Obama’s best religious friend – Chicago’s Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

David Patrick is our choice for City Council District 3.

Council District 4 offers the traditional Republican vs. Democrat contest in many ways and another former councilor seeking to return to the only glory they have ever known.  Thus, former-Councilor Maria Barnes a Democrat is again challenging Eric Gomez a Republican.  Barnes served one undistinguished term and while she is a sweet, nice, gracious person – she’s most famous for asking if 60 percent and 40 percent include everyone and her personal desire for Tulsa to become a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants.  Tulsa Today compared both of these candidates March 17, 2008 in a piece titled:

City race uniquely defines a difference

District 4’s current-Councilor Eric Gomez is (as all in office at every level are) struggling to understand and react to what the Obama Administration is doing to the economy and how best to deal with such gross stupidity from the District up.  On reflection, he may have been too willing to compromise with outgoing-Mayor Taylor, but in each effort, he was clear in his advocacy for all neighborhoods in District 4 including and in contrast to Barnes (who doesn’t believe downtown is a neighborhood).  Tulsa Today’s office is located downtown and I have lived downtown for 8 years.  We see Councilor Gomez riding his bicycle in our neighborhood and he stops by for coffee on occasion.  Gomez works hard and is increasingly knowledgeable on public policies.

Eric Gomez is our choice for City Council District 4.

Council District 6 may be the most difficult race.  Again, a defeated former-councilor is rising from political ashes to challenge his replacement.  Ok whatever.  In this race, the currently serving Democrat Dennis Troyer seems coherent, but most often darts from public debate like a cockroach to the shadows.  He has all the charm of a wet dishrag. 

Former-Councilor James Mautino is a fiery fellow of more passion than most issues require in debate.  He gets an idea in his head like a pit-bull on steroids which can be good for calling public attention to issues, but it may not be that effective in actually solving any problem requiring cooperation with others.  Never-the-less, Mautino is hard not to love – kind of like that member of the family that always starts arguments during Thanksgiving Dinner.

James (Jim) Mautino is our choice for City Council District 6.

Council District 9 is easy to decide.  Councilor G. T. Bynum is campaigning for a return to office and his opponent Roger Lowry is not campaigning – at all as far as we can see.  Lowry is a perennial candidate who does not offer an e-mail contact address, web site, and he does not show up to debate.  While Councilor Bynum’s youth and inexperience has bit him in sensitive public places, he may actually grow into the public leader his ego thinks he has already accomplished.  Bynum is not going to like that comment, but we like him.

G. T. Bynum is our choice for City Council District 9.

Tulsa City Charter change questions:

Proposition No. 1

“Shall the existing charter of the City of Tulsa, as heretofore amended, be further amended to require that any person filing for and holding the office of City Auditor must be a certified public account or certified internal auditor?”  (Yes or No)

At first glace, it sounds good, but the primary job of an elected City Auditor is to direct audits be done and to communicate the results of audits to the public.  Staff does the real work.  Current City Auditor Phil Wood did not have his certification when first he won the office, but he awoke briefly to lobby for this after he was challenged for office.  We endorse a “No” vote on this question.

Proposition No. 2

“Shall the charter of the City of Tulsa be amended to provide that City Councilors will serve for three-year terms, which shall be staggered so that no more than 3 council districts will have an election in any one year?” (Yes or No)

That which helps the City Council get a clue is a good thing.  Massive replacement of councilors at the same time does not provide immediate knowledgeable leadership.  Consider that these councilors work for almost nothing (relative to the mayor or even their own staff) in a job that requires 80 hours a week.  We endorse a “Yes” vote on this question.

Proposition No. 3

”Shall the charter of the City of Tulsa be amended to require that before any claim or lawsuit where the demand is equal to or greater than $1 million ($1,000,000) may be settled both the Mayor and the City Council must agree to the settlement?” (Yes or No)

Of course and thank you departing-Mayor Kathy Taylor for multiple financial disasters the next mayor and council must resolve!  We endorse a “Yes” vote on this question.

Regardless of Tulsa Today’s endorsements, we urge you to vote.  Americans still have freedom, no thanks to growing Federal power plays, but the coin of the realm in a representative republic is an informed participating electorate.  Yes, that means you so please vote Tuesday November 10, 2009.