I'm very happy that Dewey Bartlett, Jr. has found some Republican support for this candidacy for mayor. I was getting a little worried for him.
At a press conference called Tuesday night, Bartlett, Jr. announced the support of Todd Hiett, Fred Jordan, Mike Mazzei, Brian Bingman, Dan Sullivan, Ron Peters, Terry Simonson and Don Burdick.
This "unprecedented" action, which happens all the time, deserves very little time, but it does deserve a quick analysis. So let's take a look at who stood by him.
- Four of the endorsers, Hiett, Jordan, Mazzei and Bingman don't even live in Tulsa and can't vote for Dewey.
- Sullivan and Peters are the two Mid-Town Tulsa state reps. It would be political suicide to not support the candidate from Dewey's source of votes.
- Former county chairman Terry Simonson now works for the County Commissioners. I'm out there calling for the voters not to renew the Vision 2025 tax when it comes back up for a vote. Vision 2025 is a county tax, so no surprise there.
- Then there's Don Burdick (aka Little Donny Downtown), a man who lives downtown, moved Republican headquarters downtown for two years and moved the Tulsa Republican Men's Club to the Summit Club downtown.
Throw in that Mazzei represents Bixby, Jordan represents Jenks and Bingman represents Sapulpa, and you get a pretty good idea who they think will support the regionalism that helps the suburbs to the detriment of Tulsa.
There is statewide conservative group that gives Republican legislators ratings on their voting records. To give you some perspective, Owasso State Senator Randy Brogdon scored a 90 rating from this past session. Mazzei scored a 32, while Bingman and Peters rated a much more impressive 40!