A couple of days ago, I first heard about Bank of Oklahoma and Mayor Taylor’s scheme to give 7 million dollars of Tulsa Taxpayer’s money to BOK. The reader’s digest version is that Great Plains Airlines went bankrupt leaving a 7 million dollar debt to BOK. Unable to get their money from Great Plains, BOK filed suit against the Tulsa Airport Improvements Trust. TAIT wasn’t really in the position pay up so former Mayor LaFortune tried to step in to get Tulsa to pay. Problem was, Tulsa didn’t owe the money and it was illegal for Tulsa to pay BOK. Fast forward to the 25th of June and unveiling of Mayor Taylor and BOK’s near Machiavellian scheme to get the money from Tulsa.
How do you do that when Tulsa doesn’t legally owe the money, and aren’t apart of the suit? Easy. First you get BOK to add Tulsa to the lawsuit, then you get and “independent” council to tell Mayor Taylor that it is in the best interest of Tulsa to pay up, and then you unveil the plan to the public and the Council. (All on the 25? Wow that’s fast!!)
That leads us to last night’s Council meeting. Mayor Taylor showed up for her Mayor’s Report, and gave a quick explanation of why Tulsa had to pay this money. She said “This lawsuit has been following Tulsa for years.” This is not entirely true because Tulsa was not part of this suit until recently…June 25 recently! Unless 1 day = over a year somehow, "years" is not how I’d put it...The truth is that Tulsa, and the Mayor’s office in particular, have been following this suit for years, eager to give BOK money that we don’t owe.
When she was finished, Taylor abruptly left, basically telling the Council that a lawyer would answer any further questions they had when it came time to vote on the release of the funds. She did not stick around and listen to the gallery of concerned citizens who went to the trouble of coming down to the council, she left!
The Tulsa City Council, powerless to stop the deal, were basically forced to release 7 million dollars from the sinking fund. The only bright point in the night was that the Council did not approve the emergency clause, thus delaying this deal for 30 days.
Taylor, BOK, TAIT, and their lawyers say this is a good deal for Tulsa. I’m not entirely sure I buy that. If it were, this deal would have been made in the light of day, and there would have been no rush to push it through, in just 3…THREE short little days. I call Shenanigans!
Technorati Tags: Tulsa
Great Plains Airlines
BOK
Kathy Taylor
Tulsa City Council
2 comments:
I had to work so I was not at that meeting. THANK GOD they started the afternoon program on KFAQ. This is the only way I knew about this payoff. She cannot find monies to pay for streets, lights and infrastructure but she can pay 7 million of a debt that we did not owe.
I'm glad there is enough media out there to get the word out.
cancelling my bok account tomorrow!
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