Bartlett Evades Campbell's Question About Mayor

Dewey Bartlett is now running for mayor of the City of Tulsa. As such, he made an appearance on 1170 KFAQ's Pat Campbell Show on Monday. Bartlett promised Campbell that unlike Kathy Taylor, if elected he would come on Campbell's show and answer tough questions. I have a suggestion for a follow up question Campbell can ask Bartlett the next time he's on his show.

Here is an exchange that occurred between Campbell and Bartlett from the twenty minute interview. To hear the audio, click here.

Campbell: Now during your announcement the other day, you mentioned—and I want you to explain this too—if Kathy Taylor had not dropped out of the race, you wouldn’t have thrown your hat into the ring. Now why is that? Is that because she had such deep pockets, or was it because you were satisfied with the job she was doing?

Bartlett: Well…she…I think the main reason was that she has a strong support in the community. I think her election was pretty much a done deal. And I think….

Campbell: If she had run for re-election?

Bartlett: If she had run for re-election…yes. And I think it would have been very, very difficult for anybody to have a good campaign against her. She has extremely deep pockets and exhibited that in the first time that she ran for office. So I…anyway…that was the reason.

Now compare Bartlett's statement on KFAQ with the quote from Mayor Taylor's re-election campaign web site, which just hours after Bartlett's appearance on The Pat Campbell Show, has been pulled from www.taylorfortulsa.com. The link to the page is still on Michael Bates' story on Bartlett on his Batesline.com, but it now leads to an "error page." Click on the photo above to see Bartlett's glowing endorsement of Taylor, which I captured before his KFAQ performance.

Bartlett says,

"Tulsa has always had a history of great leadership from the business community. Kathy's tireless, visionary style is yet another example of non-partisan leadership that focuses on the future of Tulsa. I am proud to support her re-election efforts." Dewey Bartlett Jr., President Keener Oil and Gas Company

Can we infer from the fact that this page has been pulled from Kathy Taylor's campaign site that Dewey is no longer proud of his support for her re-election? Can we infer that Kathy Taylor is okay with his change of heart?

But the most important question now that Bartlett is announced for mayor, why is he trying convince conservative voters that he would've run against Kathy Taylor, as a republican, if she didn't have such deep pockets, when it is clear that he so enthusiastically supported her re-election?

I'll leave that for you to decide.

Are Dewey's and Kathy's Campaigns One and the Same?

Silly question that title, right?

Well Bartlett is praising Taylor and saying he hopes to continue to run things as she has done. But the same campaign? Get serious!

Well, take a look at the composite photo I created of yard signs from the two campaigns. Taylor's and Bartlett's signs are different color schemes, but check out the little graphical element in the upper-left corner. Pretty much the exact same thing!

Earth shattering? No. Intriguing? I think so.

So did Mayor Taylor merely hand over the baton?

New Show: TCMS for June 16, 2009

NEW SHOW: The latest installment of The Chris Medlock Show is in the can and ready for listening. Chris spends the entire show discussing the upcoming mayor's race in the City of Tulsa, including where he is on whether or not he'll run. Also discussed is who is officially in, who is out and who still has not made up their mind.

To download, click here.

Or listen directly using the app below:

Randy Brogdon To Appear On Bill O'Reilly

Owasso State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon will be on tonight's O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, tonight at 7 PM and 10 PM. Brogdon will discuss steps he hopes to take in the case of a McAlister judge and D. A. that gave a convicted child rapist only a one year sentence for the rape of a 5 year old girl.

I will have audio on Tuesday's The Chris Medlock Show.

Hudson, Florida Calling Mr. Medlock

Took a political phone poll today out of Florida this afternoon. First question I was asked was did I know when the Mayoral primary would be held? Second question was, "are you aware of the name, Chris Medlock?" Third question was, "Would you say you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable opinion of Chris Medlock?"

I said I knew who he was and had a VERY favorable opinion of him!

They asked about me, then about in order, Dewey Bartlett, Howard Barnett, Bill Christiansen, John Smaligo and Jim Williamson. No mention of Rick Westcott, Clay Clark or Bill LaFortune.

I'm torn between thinking this might be a poll by Bartlett and/or Barnett, or that it is one of the candidates not mentioned doing the polling to determine who is the strongest potential opposition.

Smaligo's name was a bit of a surprise, as I haven't heard his name mentioned in connection with the race until this poll.

If you see a phone call from Hudson, Florida, take it. It's a poll.

Flattering Results From Two On-Line Polls

Some interesting and flattering results from the very non-scientific Internet polls conducted by the two talk radio stations. Both stations put a listener poll up on Monday morning and I waited at least 48 hours before commenting, but the numbers have remained pretty consistent for the past 24 hours or so.

Obviously I'm as aware as anyone that these are fuzzy snapshots that indicate a percentage of avid supporters and not the more passive voter that isn't a talk radio listener. The numbers can also be skewed by campaigns that actively try to drive supporters to the site to vote. But one can argue that such networking is also an early indicator of a candidate's ability to get out the vote on election day.

I'm not surprised that I am leading in the KFAQ poll. After all, I was on the air on the station relatively consistently for the past five years. However, I must admit to a bit of a happy surprise that I'm doing so well on KRMG, which was my competitor station for two years. I guess it goes to show that a conservative is a conservative, regardless of which station they prefer.

My favorite, non-scientific number from the KRMG poll is derived from adding the numbers for Bill Christiansen, GT Bynum, Rick Westcott, Bill Martinson, all current city councilors. Their combined support in the poll adds up to 18%, six percentage points behind my numbers. Again, worth nothing really, more than just a smile.

Word is that GT Bynum has been meeting with some of Bill LaFortune's people to discuss a run. Most speculated that Bynum, because of age and experience, would hold off for another four years before making a run for the Mayor's office. But Kathy Taylor's departure has obviously caused him to re-look at a race this year, fearing that the winner this time might be a fellow Republican who could prevent him from running from eight or more years.

This rumor about Bynum makes his "deciding" vote to support the money interests behind the downtown baseball stadium look even more disappointing to the cynics out there.

It's going to be interesting to see how the next few weeks shake out with regard to who gets out and who stays in. For my part, I've been actively making calls as time allows and am giving a lot of thought and prayer toward whether or not I should enter the race.

The numbers from these listener polls are encouraging, though.

TCMS: Susan Savage and St. Sen. Randy Brogdon

The newest edition of The Chris Medlock Show is now available. Is former Tulsa mayor Susan Savage spouting Kathy Taylor's talking points? Audio from an interview with Joe Kelley on KRMG suggests she is.

Is the Tulsa Chamber wanting to change more than just the strength of the mayor, in Tulsa's form of government? Is all the chatter coming out of Mayor Taylor's camp indicative of an attempt to do away with partisan elections in the city? If you can't beat the Republicans, fix it so no one knows the candidates running are Democrats.

All this, plus a half hour with State Senator Randy Brogdon, who is running for governor. He talks about the race, the past legislative session and Governor Henry's vetoes.

To Download, CLICK HERE.

TCMS: Friday, June 5, 2009

The latest edition of TCMS is available with an extensive discussion of Thursday's announcement that Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor will not be seeking re-election. Why is she not running? What if anything does she have up her sleeve? Will she challenge John Sullivan? Who will be running for mayor now that she isn't.

Plus discussion of Thursday's vote by the City Council on the downtown ballpark assessment district and who lost a great opportunity to prove his conservative chops.

Also, if you listen to the show before the next Tulsa World comes out tomorrow, or perhaps on Sunday, you can hear whether I will or will not be considering a run for mayor.

To download, Click Here.

Kathy Taylor Bows Out

KOTV the News On Six is reporting that Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor will not seek re-election. The station's website reports that Taylor will be making an official statement in a television spot to begin Friday. In it, she states that she is "a business person not a mayor."

Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Taylor was interviewed in Tulsa by representatives of the Obama administration for a position in the Commerce Department. Taylor had served as Oklahoma's Secretary of Commerce in the Brad Henry administration prior to running for mayor. In fact, it is something that I had publicly speculated upon as far back as two years ago, that she might be seeking such a post, should a Democrat win the seat.

Obviously, this takes what was considered to be a tight race with few GOP candidates eager to take on Taylor's money, to a race that could draw several Republicans seeking the nomination.

More on this as facts become known.