Maybe Kathy Taylor IS a Republilcan?

Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor apparently hates paying taxes so much, that she and her husband, Bill Lobeck, have established the holding company for their investments in the State of Nevada.

As postulated in the post below, 1132 Investment Co., which is the official owner of "Mayor Force One," is a Nevada company. The following is a screen capture and link from the Nevada Secretary of State's web site [which is a heck of a lot more citizen friendly and transparent than the joke of a site Susan Savage oversees].
1132 Investment Co. link.

I have heard it often speculated that Mayor Taylor doesn't take her salary for the Mayor's job, because if she did all of her income might be subject to Oklahoma income taxes. I'm not an accountant, so while this sounds logical to me, I can't be 100% sure it is true.

We also know that Taylor and her husband don't have two Homestead exemptions on their two mansions; one in Mid-Town Tulsa near the Lortons, and one in the Ft. Lauderdale area. What I don't know is which mansion has the exemption. I'm pretty sure the Florida abode is the winner on this one, though. Why?

To make an educated guess, let's ask the question, what states don't have a state income tax?

Answer: "Seven states have no state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Two others, New Hampshire and Tennessee, tax only dividend and interest income."

Let's see...mansion in Florida which is your primary residence for income tax purposes...Nevada based investment corporation that owns one of your "his and hers" private jets. Sounds like a well thought out strategy to limit your taxes to me.

To which I say, Bravo!

As a Republican and admitted Randian Objectivist, I think such behavior is what makes our capitalistic system churn. Keep your dollars invested in states that don't squeeze you. Put aside your ambitions to be Governor of Oklahoma some day. There are other, less expensive ways to maximize your political potential, like...I don't know...like spending the money of taxpayers stupid enough to not place their assets in shelters.

Most Democrat politicos believe, "There is no joy greater than the spending of other people's money."

That is, unless it's is the joy of keeping other Democrat politicos from spending YOUR money!
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The Nevada Secretary of State lists Kathy Taylor and her husband as two of the three officers in 1132 Investment. The third is Joshua C. Miller of Nevada Holding Services. Miller and NHS are decent supporters of George W. Bush. See link here.

NHS provides services for Nevada subsidiary corporations, sometimes called "holding companies."

A cached web link says the following about the company which now operated under the name of The Key State Companies:

• Nevada Holding Services, Inc.
  Eliminate corporate taxes on income by maintaining a wholly owned Nevada Subsidary.
  www.nevhold.com

I think that pretty much ices any speculation that the Mayor and the First Mister's Lear Jet is owned by a for profit tax shelter in another state.

Mrs. Susan J. Miller, also of NHS is a very solid GOP donor as well as a woman who likes to cover her bases. She gave the maximum $2,300 contribution to John McCain, Fred Thompson and Rudy Guilliani! Apparently she doesn't believe in covering her bases with the Democrats, though.

I guess Mayor Taylor likes working with Republicans when they can save her some cash. Never know when you're going to need a spare $4,500 for jet fuel to fetch a city councilor or two.

Is Taylor's Jet a Sub-Sonic Ethical Question?

Some time last week, Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor [as I expected she would] blocked the ability of the public to track her private jet, "Mayor Force One," on the Internet. Apparently, she has become concerned about the increased interest that I and other constituents have been showing in how she uses this rare asset to affect public policy.

I first had my interest piqued when I heard several councilors refer to trips they had taken with BOk President Stan Lybarger and others to visit ballparks in Memphis, Toledo and Indianapolis. They did this during the July 1o, 2008 City Council meeting during discussion regarding the proposed Business Improvement District [BID] for a new Tulsa Drillers baseball stadium. That measure passed the Council that night by a 6 to 3 vote.

I heard rumors last week that Kathy Taylor had used "her jet" to fly to Colorado to fetch her most loyal councilor, District 3's David Patrick. Seems, I was told, she thought she might need his vote to rush the BID resolution through to passage before opposition to the BID could mount. During my show on Friday, July 18, while talking about how Mayor Taylor had blocked the tracking of her plane, I purposely slipped in as one of the reasons she might have done so, her potential desire to send a plane up to Colorado to pick up David Patrick. [Hear the relevant audio here]. I like to do such things to see if it shakes anything up.

Lo and behold, the very next morning, the Tulsa World miraculously has a story on the occurrence of just such an event!

The story goes to great pains [not to be confused with Great Plains] to explain that the trip had been vetted for any legal and ethical questions that might have arisen. The more cynical among us could almost assume that the Tulsa World reported the story as part of Kathy Taylor's special "spin included" clause that comes with her premium subscription to her friends', the Lorton's, family newspaper.

But questions are still beginning to bubble to the surface. First, who owns the Lear Jet that fetched Patrick? The newspaper refers to it as Taylor's "private jet," which explains more who uses it than who owns it. If a reader somehow becomes confused by the reference so as to believe that Taylor is the sole, private owner, that can't be the World's fault.

The actual owner of the jet is 1132 Investment Co. As the graphic below shows, this is apparently not an Oklahoma corporation, but rather one from Nevada.

It remains to be seen if this is significant. I did some checking on the Oklahoma Secretary of State's website to see if 1132 Investment had any apparent registration with the State of Oklahoma. I could not find any. This isn't conclusive in itself, since the website, ultimately controlled by Mayor Taylor's good friend, former Tulsa Mayor Susan Savage, isn't exactly user friendly.

But let's assume that 1132 Investment isn't domesticated in Oklahoma, but is fully a Nevada corporation. Let us further assume that, as the name implies, the company is a for-profit venture. What then makes the use of this jet to fetch loyal councilors any different than if American Airlines had sent a jet up to get Patrick? In both instances, you would have a jet owned and operated by a out-of-state corporation, flying across state lines for the express purpose of bringing a vacationing elected official back home for a key vote.

I'm wondering if the State ethics experts were told about some of these wrinkles when they were asked their opinion. Or were they simply told that it was Kathy Taylor's "private jet?"

I further wonder if there are any federal ethical questions involved in this?

When I was a city councilor, we were not allowed to accept gifts in excess, if memory serves me right, of $50. By her own admission, Taylor gave Patrick something [a quick and timely trip home] that was far in excess of $50, unless you don't think $4,500 in jet fuel and hours on the road don't rate.

If 1132 Investment Co. is a for-profit corporation, can we assume that the corporate accountant will depreciate the Lear Jet 31a as a result of the trip? Doesn't that take tax payer dollars from the company's tax bill?

Patrick was not in Colorado on official business. He was there on a semi-vacation tending to private property he owns there. It cost him his own money to get to Colorado, so any expense saved in getting back from private activities is a net benefit to his personal wealth, hence a gift! Or are they telling us that Taylor then spent an additional $4,500 to fly him BACK to Colorado after the meeting?

I wonder if the IRS will have some interest in this matter?

One more thing troubles me about the Tulsa World's account of what happened. The paper writes:

Patrick said he and his grandson, who has never flown, traveled back in the jet with the pilot and Stacy Kymes.

Kymes, director of capital markets and mergers and acquisitions for the Bank of Oklahoma, is one of several people who has worked behind the scenes on a proposed downtown baseball stadium for the Tulsa Drillers, the city's Double A baseball team.

Why is a mergers and acquisitions specialist for Bank of Oklahoma made available for several hours to lobby a city councilor? Why is such a specialist working on a ballpark issue for the city and the Mayor, during the same period of time that the Mayor and Bank of Oklahoma were hammering out a $7.1 million settlement in the Great Plains Airlines debacle? Just two weeks prior to the ballpark vote, the Tulsa City Council had voted 5 to 2 to certify that money existed in the city's Sinking Fund, sufficient to pay the $7.1 million to none other than Bank of Oklahoma!

Oh yeah...before announcing her run for the position of Mayor of Tulsa, Kathy Taylor had been a member of the Board of Directors of Bank of Oklahoma!

George Kaiser, the principal shareholder of Bank of Oklahoma has been throwing a lot of money and weight behind much of what the Mayor has been involved in of late. If downtown property owners will benefit from the building of an new downtown ballpark, and if George Kaiser is the owner of downtown property [which he is] then can't we assume that Stacy Kymes, Mr. Kaiser's employee, will be advising Patrick more toward what is in BOk's best interest, rather than the City's? Or are you so naive as to delude yourself that what is good for BOk is also good for Tulsa?

I'm not sure what we can do with this, other than to begin to pressure a city council made up of city councilors who have been enjoying high roller treatment through the generosity of 1132 Investment Co, to change the Council's Ethics Ordinance to stop future activity of this nature. Not likely.

Maybe it's time to put together a petition to publicly censure the Mayor and her jet setting City Council?

Is Randi Miller the Only One Who Closed Bells?

The simple answer is of course not.

Randi Miller was just one of five people who refused to put Bell's lease onto the Fair Board agenda. By refusing to consider a new Bell's lease, each board member cast a de facto vote. As Miller pointed out on Pat Campbell's show, there were four others who are for the most part, equally at fault.

The question Miller keeps postulating is, "Why am I being singled out?"

Let me answer this first by stating that three of the Fair Board members responsible are no longer on the board. Bob Dick, Wilbert Collins and Clark Brewster are no longer members. Dick chose not to run for re-election, perhaps seeing electoral inevitability on the proverbial wall. Collins lost his election to John Smaligo just days before the Fair Board made it clear (through a unanimous non-vote) that Bell's had to go and had to go fast. Brewster was not reappointed by the County Commissioners, thus keeping half of a campaign promise that both Perry and Smaligo had made before they were elected, which was to remove Democrat activists Brewster and Orbison from their seats.

Assuming that Perry and Smaligo will fulfill their entire campaign promise when Orbison comes up for re-appointment, that leaves Miller standing as the only one of the five with any potential long term future on the County Fair Board. Unlike Orbison, Miller's future does not lie in the hands of Smaligo and Perry, but rather in the hands of the voters of District 2. If she is going to be replaced, now is the time to do so.

Miller is also selling the myth that the only reason voters want her out of office is due to the Bell's situation. As Michael Bates pointed out last week in Urban Tulsa Weekly, there is a laundry list of issues that has Miller teetering on the edge of electoral defeat. In fact, Bates' list isn't even complete, but that's stuff for a future posting, perhaps.

Given all of this, Randi Miller is asking the wrong question. Rather than lamenting that she is being singled out as the only official being blamed for the Bell's debacle, she should be asking a far more accurate question.

Why should Randi Miller be the ONLY one of the five Fair Board members to NOT be asked to return to private life?

For those Republicans that believe the Bell family got a raw deal at the hands of the Fair Board, now is the only time they will get a chance to ensure [1] that all five members' service will come to an end, and [2] that the District 2 County Commission seat will not fall into the hands of Democrat Karen Keith.

It remains to be seen if Miller will be successful in selling her "why me?" defense.

My Taylor Sign Contri

Qui Tam Booty?

This is a photograph of Kathy Taylor's private jet [actually, it belongs to 1132 Investment Company, which is owned by Mr. Kathy Taylor, aka Bill Lobeck]. What do you think this Learjet 31a [serial number 28] would fetch should the citizens be successful in hitting the city in a tax payer's law suit, more appropriately known as a "Qui Tam," action?

This jet also serves as an iconic reminder that millionaire Mayor's have no problem with transferring a mere $7 million over to a billionaire.

Just in case she might decide to fly the jet to another locale to keep our mitts off it as possible settlement assets, I'll be giving the taxpayers a weekly update on The Chris Medlock Show as to where the jet is, and where it has been that week.

If you would like to do this yourself, you can do so at:

"The 411 on KT's 31a." Enjoy.

Richard Studenny Off the Hook?

[Note: I ran the audio from the video that I shot at the Airport meeting and then ran it through a graphic equalizer. With the audio cleaned up and headphones on, I realized I miss heard the Airport Board's position on this. The Board will retain their claims against Studenny. This doesn't mean that Studenny doesn't get a free pass. The best friends he has within city government are at the airports. We'll see if they ever press the courts for his money.]

I attended the special meeting of the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust that was held at 8:30 AM in Room 1101 of the Tulsa City Hall. Even though this was on the same floor and mere feet from Mayor Taylor's office, Kathy Taylor never appeared during the meeting.

All board members were present in the room with the exception of Meredith Siegfried, who was on a speaker phone as she was in Singapore on business.

The meeting was late starting and relatively brief. There were few surprises, but one jumped out at me. Richard Studenny, the attorney for the Tulsa Industrial Authority AND TAIT [the lender AND the borrower] back when the Great Plains deal was cooked up, will potentially be given a free pass. 

TIA, and indirectly BOK, was going after Mr. Studenny's malpractice and/or errors and omissions insurance to recoup their financial losses. Studenny was fired, after a too lengthy drama in the media, by then Mayor Bill LaFortune. It was always speculated that Studenny knew where "all the bodies" were buried at the Tulsa Airport. 

Now with Kathy Taylor's rushed and hushed settlement, the word is that both the bank, and TIA will waive any claim to Studenny's insurance. This let's him off free and clear, unless the City Council and/or the mayor muster the political will to pursue him in court. Remember though, this will be a brand new law suit and the clock and the cash machine will have to begin anew.

What's that smell? Can you smell that smell?

Council Powerless to Stop Taylor?

I have it on very good authority that the Tulsa City Council can do nothing to delay Mayor Kathy Taylor from giving away $7 million in Tulsa taxpayer funds to the Bank of Oklahoma. The resolution the Council will be voting on Thursday night is to "survey" the Sinking Fund, to see if there are sufficient monies available to cover the Mayor's action.

This surveying of the Sinking Fund is considered to be a "ministerial" action which a previous City Attorney, Alan Jackere told the Council when I was a member, that the council is duty bound to certify the figures, if they are true. Ironically, Jackere is the same City Attorney that told the Council in 2005 that the city had no legal obligation to make good on Bank of Oklahoma's bad loan to TIA via TAIT. Doubly ironic is the fact that Jackere was run out of his position early in Taylor's term of office because she alleged that Jackere and Larry Simmons (another staunch opponent within city legal to giving money to BOK) mishandled a law suit against a man improperly prosecuted, which (triply ironic) cost the tax payers millions of dollars from the city's Sinking Fund.

With these two gentlemen gone, can then rely on her appointee as City Attorney, Deidre Dexter, to tell her everything is hunky-dory with the transfer of funds. Remember too, that Dexter is the first City Attorney in recent memory that is employed as one of Taylor's sixteen at-will employees. This means she can also be fired at will. Draw your own conclusions.

The last time the council voted down a "ministerial" action was when it voted not to approve the plat for the F&M Bank that was eventually built at 71st and Harvard. When the Council took that action, F&M filed suit against the councilors individually, threatening their personal assets. Since it took a majority of councilors to deny the plat, a majority of the council were named in the suit. As such, no majority of the council could be mustered to vote to give the councilors [me included] the legal services of City Legal. As such, each councilor was forced to hire their own counsel.

It is quite doubtful that the current councilors will take such a risk to stop this action, given the determined legal actions BOK has been taking to get their money back. Thus, Kathy Taylor will be able to claim that she made the transfer of money with the blessings of the Council.

At best, the council could safely delay the action for a week or two, giving the voters time to muster some political pressure from the public to stop the Mayor.

There will be an 8:30 AM special meeting of the Tulsa Airport Improvement Trust in Room 1101 of City Hall. This is the Mayor's main conference room. It is ostensibly open to the public, but also very likely that they will move to enter executive session to handle the really dicey stuff the Mayor doesn't want the public to know.

Later that evening, the Council will meet at 5 PM to "survey" the Sinking Fund and then will vote on it as a "Mayors Item," during their regular Thursday night meeting.

The citizens of the city of Tulsa need to pack the place and speak out against this waste of our tax dollars. Give the City Council some political cover to delay this, thus assuring the Mayor will pay a political price if she proceeds.

Kathy Taylor to Pay Off Great Plains Despite Former BOK Ties?

The hot scuttle-butt down at City Hall is that Kathy Taylor is planning to sign over millions of Tulsa tax payer dollars to the Bank of Oklahoma for a questionable loan made regarding the Great Plains Airlines fiasco.

Word is that Friday morning she will meet with the Tulsa City Council in a special meeting to inform them of the deal. She will be using her full authority to bind the city to a contract, so she can act without the approval of the City Council.

Since the meeting is not regularly scheduled, it will not appear on TGOV. Anyone with a video camera and some time should plan to be at the meeting.

The timing of the deal on a Friday is obviously intended to minimize media attention. It appears she's planned this for a time when many Tulsans will be on vacation.

My sources have been telling me this has been coming for some time, but the speed of this move astounds those I have spoken with today.

For more on this, tune in to the Chris Medlock Show today at 2 PM on 1170, KFAQ AM.

Rick "Choo Choo" Westcott

I've been making a great deal about Rick Westcott's seeming obsession with Amtrak and light rail. Seems he's more concerned and spends more time trying to get an antiquated mode of transportation brought to our city than he is in optimizing the current mode of transportation in his district.

Where are we, Councilor Westcott, on the widening of Lewis Ave from 61st to 76th streets? Randi Miller first got that project into the 3rd Penny in 2001 and I had to fight to get it refunded in 2006 when the '01 tax fell short. I was promised it would be among the first projects funded in the new tax, and yet the downtown streets are getting repaired ahead of them.

Why aren't you screaming to the heavens?

I understand that the project would've hurt the city's ability to host the PGA Championship last Summer, but we should've seen orange barrels first thing this Spring.

Time for you to review your priorities, Councilor.

Oklahoma Gay Democrats Pushing Boudaries of Good Taste

This ad appeared recently in the Oklahoma Gazette [basically OKC's version of Urban Tulsa Weekly].

What do you think? Offensive? What if you're a WWII vet or a Marine? Does the radical gay lobby have to pervert every iconic image important to traditional Americans?

I know I won't interview any of the candidates listed as being supported by this group without asking them for an apology to our vets, first.

Wonder what Andrew Rice is thinking about this? Given that he has a Masters Degree from a Unitarian-Universalist divinity school, it can't be helping his chances to have such extremist ads making him look anything but the centrist.