Mayor Dewey Bartlett (left) and City Councilor G.T. Bynum arrived at the Tulsa County Election Board at about the same time Monday morning but never met or spoke to each other. KEVIN CANFIELD/The Frontier
It had all the trappings of a great, impromptu, political moment. G.T. Bynum, the man who wants to be mayor of Tulsa, and Dewey Bartlett, the man who wants to stay the mayor of Tulsa, arrived at the Tulsa County Election Board at about the same time Monday morning.
They were there to file their paperwork to run for the city’s highest elected office.
Bynum pulled into the parking lot at 9:25. Bartlett arrived at 9:28.
Bynum brought along his wife, Susan, and their two young children. Bartlett was accompanied by his wife, Victoria.
As political theater goes, this election was off to a great start.
Would the candidates shake hands and engage in some polite banter before making their competition for the hearts and souls of Tulsans official?
“You go first, G.T.” “No, you go, Mayor Bartlett.”
How would the spouses handle this unexpected encounter?
“Susan, it’s nice to see you again. Cute kids.” “Thank you, Victoria. We try.”
Something like that — anything like that — would have done. But no. The mayor stayed in his car until Bynum was back in his, and the two never spoke a word to each other.
But each spoke to The Frontier about what he expects from the election, which — thanks to the filing of perennial mayoral candidate Lawrence Kirkpatrick — could be decided in the June 28 primary. That’s 11 weeks away.
“As I told him (Bartlett) when I told him I was going to run, I don’t want it to be personal,” Bynum said. “I want it to be focused on the issues, on our records and on our vision for the future of Tulsa.
“A campaign in its best sense should be about learning and communicating and trying to build the city up — not trying to tear each other down. So that is my focus.”
Bartlett described campaigns as “a little bit of everything” that can’t help but be about policies as well as the people espousing them.
“You’re not electing an idea — you’re electing a candidate,” Bartlett said.
He added: “It’s track record, it’s experience, it’s motivation — all of those things, and the future.”
Spouses matter, too, according to Bartlett.
“In this candidate, it’s the candidate and the candidate’s spouse,” he said of himself. “Because she (Victoria) is as active as any spouse ever that has been mayor of this city, as far as I am aware.”
Bynum said the focus of his campaign will be to unite Tulsans from all parts of town and all political persuasions behind his belief that the city can do better and be great again.
“If people want to be focused on being nationally competitive in the future and return to the kind of approach that made Tulsa so wonderful in the first place, then I think we will win,” Bynum said. “If they want to continue the status quo, then we won’t.
“I think that’s really what it is going to end up being about.”
OTHER MONDAY FILINGS
The filing period for city of Tulsa elected offices runs through Wednesday. Here are the rest of the candidates who filed for office Monday.
CITY COUNCIL
District 1
Jack Henderson (I)
Age: 65
Occupation: Retired, AT&T
District 2
Jeannie Cue (I)
Age: 62
Occupation: Retired nurse
Aaron Bisogno
Age: 29
Occupation: N/A
District 3
David Patrick (I)
Age: 64
Occupation: Owner, Patrick’s Auto Service
Jim Rice
Age: 61
Occupation: N/A
District 5
Karen Gilbert, (I)
Age: 47
Occupation: Parent facilitator, Wright Elementary School
District 6
Connie Dodson, (I)
Age: 48
Occupation: Photographer, owner of Connie Palmer Photography.
Skip Steele
Age: 66
Occupation: Owner, All Hours Computer Service (former city councilor)
Allen Branch
Age: 33
Occupation: N/A
District 7
Anna America, (I)
Age: 52
Occupation: City Councilor
District 8
Phil Lakin, (I)
Age: 48
Occupation: CEO of the Tulsa Community Foundation
District 9 (Open seat)
Ben Kimbro
Age: 43
Occupation: N/A
Eric McCray
Age: 35
Occupation: N/A
City Auditor
Cathy Criswell, (I)
Age: 61
Mayor
Dewey Bartlett, (I)
Age: 69
City Councilor G.T. Bynum
Age: 38
Occupation: Federal government relations consultant, Capitol Ventures
Lawrence Kirkpatrick
Age: 70
Occupation: N/A
NOTE: The city of Tulsa went to nonpartisan elections in 2011. Under that system, if only one candidate files for an office, he or she would be elected. If only two people file for an office, they would meet in the Nov. 8 general election.
If more than two candidates file for an office, a primary would be held June 28. The two candidates whose vote totals in the primary account for a majority of the votes cast move on to the general election.
If two candidates do not receive a majority of the votes cast in the primary, the three or more candidates whose vote totals account for a majority of the votes cast move on to an Aug. 27 runoff. The top two candidates in the runoff move on to the general election.
