Tulsa Topics

!!! ATTENTION DISTRICT 2 VOTERS !!!

Paul Prather has stooped to the lowest of lows in an 11th Hour mudslinging fest. In a page directly out of "Burdge's" campaign playbook, the person that handled the Recall campaign, Prather has sent out a flier of half truths about Rick Westcott. Prather recently proclaimed his support of Recall at a District 2 Candidate Forum. His willingness to discount other people's vote is one of the key reasons this man is dangerous to the well being of Tulsa. If that's not reason enough, his campaign of dirty politics and outright lies should be the kicker!

Westcott has run a clean campaign and IS the choice for District 2. A VOTE FOR WESTCOTT, is a vote against the Good Ol' Boy network that has been driving Tulsa into ruin at the expense of wear and tear on the taxpayers' backs. A VOTE FOR WESTCOTT is a bold statement against back room deals that benefit the chosen few. A VOTE FOR WESTCOTT insures that ALL of District 2 residents' concerns are addressed and not just special interests. A VOTE FOR WESTCOTT is a vote for all of Tulsa!

Here's Rick Westcott's reply to Prather's low class campaigning.

Important Message from Rick

Dear District 2 Voters:

My opponent has sent out an extremely negative flyer that attacks my character and is full of half-truths, distortions of the truth and some statements that aren’t true at all. Like you, I am tired of negative campaign ads. I will not attack my opponent, but I have to respond to his attacks against me.

He said that I was fired by the Tulsa Police Department, and referred you to a Tulsa World article from February 19, 2006. He left out a lot of what the World had to say. Briefly, here’s the rest of the story. In 1977, twenty-eight years ago, I was a twenty-three year old Tulsa Police Officer. My daughter, Julie, who was not quite five months old, died of SIDS. While I was trying to deal with that loss, I stopped a guy for speeding one night and chewed him out. I was wrong. He complained to Internal Affairs and, initially, I denied his accusation. After a couple of weeks, I voluntarily met with the investigator again and told him the truth. The Chief of Police, Harry Stege, felt that he had no choice but to terminate my employment.

I am very proud of the fact that former Chief of Police Harry Stege is one of my biggest supporters in this campaign. He knew me then and he knows me now. He knows what happened twenty-eight years ago and he is 100% behind my candidacy. You can read his endorsement of me by clicking on “supporters” on this web page.

I have worked hard to overcome that mistake I made when I was 23 years old. I went to college at ORU when I was 32 and earned my undergraduate degree. Then I went to law school at TU and became a lawyer. I made a mistake when I was 23 years old. But, that was 28 years ago, and, quite frankly, under some pretty difficult circumstances. I am a better man, now.

I did not try to hide this story. I talked about it on KRMG in September. I talked about it with radio news reporters and newspaper reporters. I talked about it on KCFO. I talked about it with the Republican Party officers as well as Republican and Democratic City Councilors.

My opponent said that I filed two lawsuits against the City of Tulsa. He’s wrong. Tulsans for Election Integrity, a political action committee that I chaired, filed one lawsuit against the City of Tulsa when we were fighting against the recall of City Councilors Mautino and Medlock. We filed one lawsuit, not two. He also said that it cost the taxpayers over $100,000.00 in attorney fees. That’s an incredible figure. Our lawyer only charged us a little over $10,000.00. That’s ten thousand, not one hundred thousand. Apparently, the City Attorney charged ten times the amount that our lawyer charged us.

His allegations of student loan debt are, once again, less than half true. My student loans all became due shortly after my ex-wife and I were divorced. I wasn’t able to pay them at that time. Several people advised me to file bankruptcy, but I refused to do that. I reached an agreement to pay the loans and settle the lawsuits in September, 2005 and I paid them, in full. The Judge filed the Release and Satisfaction of Judgment on January 10, 2006, not me. And the loans were paid in September, 2005, not January, 2006.

You decide who you want to represent you, someone who has gone through difficult circumstances and fought back to make a good life, or someone who tries to use those difficult circumstances to attack that person’s character.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Rick D. Westcott

Last minute slime

In District 2, Paul Prather's last minute campaign postcard, which hit mailboxes today, features misleading personal attacks against his opponent, Rick Westcott. On his website, Westcott responds to the attacks with specificity. If you live in District 2, or know someone who does, please read his response (see above). Rick is a good man, he'll be a great councilor, and he deserves better than Prather's slime tactics.

In District 6, Theresa Buchert sent out a letter distorting Jim Mautino's record to portray him as anti-growth, when the reality is that Mautino has worked hard to encourage growth and development in District 6. Larry Wilson of Citizens for Fair and Clean Government posted a response which is pretty harsh in tone, but he rebuts the attacks on Mautino.

On his own website, Jim Mautino has posted his flyer and a letter from his wife. Both pieces talk about what he has done to encourage quality development in east Tulsa. His biggest obstacle has been the Public Works Department, which seems more interested in encouraging development in the suburbs than developing the rest of Tulsa. Theresa Buchert's husband Mike is assistant director of the Public Works Department.

Jim Burdge is the campaign consultant by appointment to the Cockroach Caucus. He led the failed recall attempt against Jim Mautino and Chris Medlock, and he is renowned in Republican circles for his last minute slime attacks. He has been connected with campaigns for Prather, Buchert, Zarley in District 7, Stava in District 9, Martinson in District 5, and Christiansen in District 8. There's a certain style to the postcards he designs -- almost always a yard sign image covering the whole of one side -- and he consistently uses a mail house with bulk rate permit number 2146. (Other consultants use the same mail house.) The "vote no" postcards, regarding the zoning petition charter change, look very much like his handiwork.

If you don't like these slimy tactics, the best way to deter them in the future is to defeat the candidates who use them.