Mayor Dewey Bartlett and former-Mayor Kathy Taylor are headed to November’s ballot in a general election mayoral contest. Tulsa’s first nonpartisan city election has generated humor, but little lowering of partisan perspectives. In fact, the joke going around Tulsa Today’s office is the question, “So how NOT nonpartisan are you?” The feeling that Tulsans made a mistake in changing to this nonpartisan form is a growing opinion throughout the city.
Tag Archives: David Arnett
Election Preview: The race for mayor
By David Arnett, Publisher
Analysis: Tuesday the City of Tulsa will vote to decide who will lead the city as mayor. The three top contenders are incumbent Mayor Dewey Bartlett, former-Mayor Kathy Taylor and former-City Councilor Bill Christiansen. All are well known and, from internal polls provided to Tulsa Today from multiple sources, voter support of each candidate is not moving much despite a barrage of direct mail and broadcast advertising.
Bartlett and Christiansen both interviewed with Tulsa Today and you may read those interviews for detail on their positions, click here for Mayor Dewey Bartlett and click here for former-Councilor Bill Christiansen.
Former-mayor Kathy Taylor, despite claims of transparency and openness, failed to respond to repeated requests for an interview. Taylor has focused on limited interviews, glittering generalities and paid public pronouncements. The joke during her term was a question of how many lawyers does a lawyer need to serve as Mayor of Tulsa? The answer for Taylor didn’t matter as the Oklahoma Supreme Court set aside Taylor’s payback of tax money to the Bank of Oklahoma for the Great Plains Airline debacle – so much for competent council.
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Why Benghazi matters
By David Arnett
Analysis: Even loyal fans of President Barack Obama agree questions must be answered about the American response to the terrorist attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi September 11, 2012. Who ordered the military to “stand down” rather than go to the aid of embattled diplomats, staff and security? What was the thinking for such a decision? Why not save your own people? To Leftist loyalists, it is a central question.
This cuts to the core of all things Left. The “government knows best” crowd believes, as a matter of faith, that government will always provide the correct response. As President Obama has said of many things, “only government can solve this crisis” and Benghazi was a security crisis.
If the government is shown in Benghazi to have thrown away their own employee’s lives, and the life of the President’s Personal Representative in the name of domestic politics – who would ever want to work for or trust them in any crisis? Would you work for someone that would kill you to win an election? Oklahoma’s Senator Jim Inhofe will speak on this Friday at the Tulsa Republican Club.
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