Mayor Dewey Bartlett (left) and City Councilor G.T. Bynum debate Friday at the Tulsa Republican Club. KEVIN CANFIELD/The Frontier
During debates last week, Mayor Dewey Bartlett and City Councilor G.T. Bynum clashed on everything from low-water dam financing to who they would support in the presidential election.
Bartlett and Bynum debated twice Friday — once on the Pat Campbell radio show and once at the Tulsa Republican Club. Here are some of the statements the mayoral candidates made at those events and their responses to follow-up questions from The Frontier.
The mayoral primary is June 28. The other mayoral candidates are Tom McCay, Paul Tay and Lawrence Kirkpatrick.
Bartlett has not agreed to attend a mayoral candidates forum on June 15 scheduled by the League of Woman Voters of Metropolitan Tulsa. That debate, co-sponsored by The Frontier, will be held at Tulsa Community College Center for Creativity, 909 South Boston Ave. Bynum has confirmed he will attend the event.
1. BARTLETT ON THE CREEK NATION’S FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO LOW-WATER DAM CONSTRUCTION:
“Some of the councilors, G.T. and others, jumped the gun a little bit and assumed that they were going to jump in with all feet and say, ‘OK, we’ll help you out.’ That’s not the case. They needed to be treated with respect.”
Bartlett was responding to a question from Campbell about what the Muscogee (Creek) Nation will provide in funding to assist in the construction of low-water dams. The tribe has yet to make a commitment to fund the project.
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: For the past three years you have advocated for building dams in the river. As mayor, why didn’t you discuss with the Creek Nation what their contributions to the dams might be?
BARTLETT: “I had multiple discussions and correspondence with the leaders of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to try and see if they were willing to devote funding toward a dam in South Tulsa. I was there and active in the process.
“What I did not do, is make the claim that the Creek Nation was on board when they had yet to make any type of commitment. I never believed that it was our place to make a promise on their behalf. They are an independent and sovereign nation and speak for themselves, which we should recognize.
“This all goes back to having common business sense and building relationships with our neighbors. You have to know how to bargain effectively and make the best choices for the taxpayers of the city of Tulsa. We cannot afford to be presumptuous about an outcome that we desire from businesses or our valued neighbors, like the Creek Nation.”
2. BYNUM ON WHAT THE CITY SHOULD PAY COUNTY TO HOLD INMATES IN TULSA JAIL:
“I don’t think what we pay today is fair.”
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: What do you think is a fair amount, and how do you determine it?
BYNUM: “That is I think the conversation that has to be had.”
Bynum said that after conversations with county commissioners and Sheriff Vic Regalado, he’s convinced the city is not paying a fair amount.
“We have to work together to identify what the specific dollar amount is and the time in which that is implemented, and that is one of the things I will do as mayor. … We represent the same people. We shouldn’t be fighting and suing each other.”
3. BARTLETT ON BYNUM’S REFUSAL TO SAY WHETHER HE WILL VOTE FOR U.S. REP. JIM BRIDENSTINE AND DONALD TRUMP?
“I think that the statement should be made about who you do support in these races, G.T.”
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: What is the concrete benefit for the residents of Tulsa in knowing which presidential candidate a mayoral candidate is supporting?
BARTLETT: “It could be an example of what one might think of Obamacare, for example. and how that would affect the entirety of the city.
“It would have an immediate effect upon what one person might think of the energy industry. …. For him to not to say something like that, to me, brings into question — does that mean he is for trying to get rid of our oil and gas industries as the Obama administration is trying to do? That has a tremendous impact.”
4. BYNUM ON UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESIDENT DAVID BOREN’S PROPOSED 1-CENT SALES TAX FOR EDUCATION:
“We have to recognize, our schools are in a serious crisis right now, and I applaud President Boren for trying to find some way to address it. … Sales tax as it stands right now is not a long-term solution, but as a short-term solution, I support it.”
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: How do you assure Tulsans that the proposed education tax would not go on forever?
BYNUM: “There are a range of approaches you can take to assure that it is temporary. We do it all the time. …The only reason it would be a concern is if you have people in office who aren’t willing to (show) the leadership and do the work that is required to repeal it once we’ve identified and put in place an alternative.”
Bynum said that if the tax passes in the fall, “it basically gives us an oxygen line so we have time to evaluate a better, long-term solution.
“When we have that in place … we can then come forward with that alternative, and part of that alternative is sun-setting the stop-gap.”
5. BARTLETT ON BYNUM’S PUBLIC STATEMENT TO THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE THAT HE WOULD WORK TO IMPROVE THEIR PAY AND BENEFITS TO KEEP THEM COMPETITIVE WITH POLICE OFFICERS IN OTHER COMMUNITIES
“You can’t pander.”
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: Were you pandering to the Republican base when, on the Pat Campbell show, you asked Bynum whether he would be voting for U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine and presumptive Republican nominee for president Donald Trump?
BARTLETT’S RESPONSE: “No, I think it is a legitimate question, I really do. Because in my view it’s a good judgment of what your political philosophy is. That’s not pandering.”
6. BYNUM ON HIS PLAN TO USE 1 PERCENT OF THE CITY’S BUDGET TO FUND OVERSIGHT OF THE OTHER 99 PERCENT
“Right now in America there isn’t a single city that spends 1 percent of its budget making sure the other 99 percent is well spent and efficiently utilized. I think Tulsa could be a national leader in that regard. I think we ought to be the first city that sets that standard.”
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: How would your proposal work?
BYNUM: “We know what we need to do. We need to adequately fund the Management Review Office and our Audit Office and our Finance Department to make sure all the other funds are being efficiently and effectively overseen.”
https://www.readfrontier.com/league-of-women-voters-forum-happening-with-or-without-bartlett/
