KRMG’s Mayoral Smashup

If you missed last night’s Mayoral Smashup, then you really missed out. While you can listen to the event online, I suspect that it will be nowhere near what it was like in person. This was by far the best candidate forum/debate I have ever attended or witnessed.

There were not really any rules with regard to time allotted for responses, order of candidates, or allowances for retorts/responses. This is something I think the candidates did not take full advantage of. The debate, by design, was loose on structure, rules, and formality. Only Independent Mark Perkins figured out, about 3/4ths of the way in, that he could pipe up and challenge the response of his opponents, and in part lead the direction of the conversation.

There were not any rules for the folks in the gallery either; but unlike the candidates, we took full advantage of the freedom we were provided. There where cheers, jeers, and tears from the crowd. Not being a supporter of any candidate provided me the freedom to clap and cheer when a candidate said something I liked, as well as the freedom no shout and boo when they said something that made me mad. It was awesome; I had a great time.

Things that made me shout and boo:
During a true/false question, Democrat Tom Adelson said agreed that Obama was a great president. BOOOO!!!

During a true/false question, Perkins would not answer whether Tulsa needed more gun control laws. BOOOOO!!! Someone behind me shouted, “Come on man! This is Oklahoma!”

Again during a true/false question Republican Dewey Bartlett Jr agreed that Taylor had been an exceptional Mayor. BOOO!!!!!!

All three of them when asked if people from mid-town were more Tulsans that Tulsans outside of mid-town they all said no, I shouted, “Tell us what you really think!”

All three said that moving City hall was a good idea, BOOOO!

While it did not make me boo so much as roll my eyes, Bartlett had to bring up is pecan farm AGAIN, UGHHH!! (He is starting to make me not like pecans!)

Things that made me cheer:
The next day, I am having trouble remembering what Adelson said that made me cheer. I know I did once or twice but I did not do it very often. Sorry Tom.

Perkins made me cheer several times, although again, I can’t remember too many instances where I did. When asked to say something nice about the other two candidates he said, I appreciate their PAST service. I cheered at that.

Bartlett, despite saying many things that made me boo, said were several things that I cheered for. I really liked what he had to say about the Mayor’s pay. He said “Why would someone want to take an extremely serious job that's going to consume my entire four years and my family's and not get paid for it?” I have to agree with that. Cheers!

I liked what he had to say about not raising taxes, and what he had to say about finding savings in the budget through the use of performance and energy audits. Cheers!

When asked whether or not he supported diversifying our revenue stream away from sales tax he said no. His made a point that if we could find away, through the aforementioned audits, to live with in our means and find millions of dollars of savings, why would we want to? Cheers!

While I don’t like the volatility of our sales tax stream, I have to say that I’m extremely worried that if Tulsa was ever provided the means to levy both sales tax and property tax, they would use both to their full advantage and our at our expense. As such I am extremely wary of any change to our tax structure so I really liked Dewey Jr’s answer. Cheers!

I also really liked what he had to say about Tulsa cops. He suggested that we could replace fully sworn cops that sit behind a desk with civilians. This would allow those formally desk bound cops to get on the street. He also suggested that we should make greater use of our reserve force. He proposed that we expand the reserve force my making it easier to become a reserve officer. As long as we do not let the riff raff in, I think that is a great idea. Cheers!

Who won?:
While I booed them all frequently and equally, I do think I found myself cheering for Bartlett more than the others, so if I had to call a winner for the Smashup, I think I’d give it to Dewey.

If I were to judge the winner based on the crowd’s reaction I think the prize would have to go to Perkins. The crowd really liked Mark, giving him more cheers that jeers, and certainly more cheers than were given to the other candidates.

I had a really great time, I am glad I decided to head down there to experience it live. Kudos to KRMG and everyone involved in setting this up, I really really enjoyed it.