Hot Rumor: "Please Have Your Boarding Pass Ready"

I have generally shied away from retelling rumors in this blog, but as a mayoral candidate, I find that I’m getting some really good ones. Most of them deal with “who might be thinking about running, or thinking about maybe thinking about running” for this and/or that elective office.

Of course, I’ve also been given just about every name in Tulsa as a potential candidate for mayor. I generally wait until I’ve heard the name from multiple, believable sources before ever considering that rumor to be worthy of “spreading.”

However, if the source is tapped in enough and not prone to being wrong too often, then you take it as a “probable,” or at the very least, “very possible.” Such was the case with a rumor I got today.

Let’s leave it a bit vague to frustrate the lawyers, shall we?

What I was told is that the Democrats (among who past rumor mills have ruled out Kathy Lobeck Taylor and Sharon King Davis and ruled IN Tom Baker) have an ace-in-the-hole candidate waiting in the wings; someone with a track record of winning races and a source for substantial funding.

However that isn’t the most interesting factoid, because the name I was given also happens to have been a major player in Great Plains Airlines. That’s right, the latest name bandied about as “The One,” played a role in losing (or misplacing?) over $30 million in taxpayer money. With credentials like that, no wonder he’s considered formidable.

If true, probable or very possible, could this have anything to do with the Tulsa World’s full-court press on ending the City Council’s investigation into Great Plains? Could it have something to do with the desire to paint me as a “paranoid” vigilante hell-bent on finding “red meat?”

Something to ponder. At the very least, it will be fun to see if this rumor pans out, or peters out.