Tulsa Topics

Note: Since the primaries I have rec'd numerous emails asking what I thought about the Mayor's race, which I basically ignored. When the GOP had it's "Kum Ba Yah" meeting where Medlock and Harper threw their support behind LaFortune, I had a major influx of "in your face" emails asking what I thought about Medlock. Again, I basically ignored these emails too. Most of the authors of these emails were not really interested in what my true thoughts were, but they basically wanted to tout their "I told you so!" mentality. The following is something that I authored for fellow members of the Tulsa Bloggers group. I've redacted it to protect the innocent and not so innocent alike. These are my thoughts about Medlock and the upcoming Mayoral election--

Throughout this election the Tulsa Bloggers probably have had better coverage at political functions than most of the MSM, and a lot of us have helped out with campaigns of a few candidates in our own chosen way.

I personally helped with Eagleton's, Westcott's, and Medlock's campaign. Not a lot mind you, but I did what I could because I was passionate about what these particular candidates represented and the principles they stood on.

I think all of these gentleman have the ability to "spark" an interest in people that seem to get them involved in local affairs who normally wouldn't get involved. Add the Michael squared factor (Bates and DelGiorno) to the mix and you get even more people involved.

A couple of years ago I would have never guessed that I'd have so much interest or follow local politics as much as I do now, but once you get involved and stop being spoon fed your news from the Tulsa Whirled, you get a different perspective than most Tulsans.

I've met some good people along the way with my involvement, for example; all of the Tulsa Bloggers and others. Some which are included in the later group I would classify as extremist and conspiracy theorists. In other words, they see a communist or GOB behind every tree and every action that our government, schools, and leaders take.

Maybe extremist and conspiracy theorists is a little too harsh of a classification. Maybe a better term would be "Black and Whiters." There is no middle ground or compromise. I personally think they associate compromise with getting screwed and sometimes they're right.

Unfortunately, most things in life don't have the luxury of being so cut and dry, and politics is an area that doesn't lend itself well to cut and dry definitions. How many times have we heard the following: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, or the devil we know is better than the one unknown?

I'm severely disappointed Medlock didn't make the cut in the primaries. If anyone deserved to be Mayor more than Chris Medlock, they'd have a hard time convincing me otherwise, but the fact of the matter is he didn't win. Medlock was my "black and white" candidate and it was an easy choice for me.

We fought the good fight with basically impossible odds, and Medlock made a respectable showing in the primaries with nothing to be ashamed of. He ran a clean and professional campaign with very little resources and I am proud I supported him in his bid for Mayor. If/When he runs for public office again, I'll ask him how I can help.

Since Medlock didn't win, we are presented with a three horse race; two contenders and one loooooooooong shot. We're already having to make a compromise since our candidate of choice didn't make the cut. The people that live in the "Black & White" world are having a hard time making the transition to compromise. Fortunately for me, my compromise only consists of having to vote (or not vote) for some candidate that wasn't my first choice. In the "big picture" of things, not a lot of compromise on my part.

Medlock's compromise in the "big picture" of things was really a "no brainer" and really the only thing he could do if he wanted to survive in the Republican Party to fight another day. All the static and flak that he is getting for his decision is unwarranted as well as undeserved IF you truly want to see him continue to be a player in local politics.

I don't envy the decision that Medlock had to make, and I'm not going to fault him because of it. When Medlock said he was going to support LaFortune he was speaking solely for himself and not his supporters. I believe this is more than clear to LaFortune. The proverbial ball is in Bill's court now, but 11th hour plea for votes does not appeal to me.

Depending on what happens between now and April 4th will decide my vote, but I will tell you that I'm not voting FOR Taylor, Faulk, or Tay. If LaFortune wants me to vote AGAINST that trio he'll have to earn it and quick. I can easily not mark anyone at all on my ballot.

In the "they'd have to shoot me before I'd vote for them" category is Taylor and Tay, and although I like Faulk personally and even agree with some of his viewpoints, I think he'd be an ineffectual Mayor for many reasons.

Some of the "black and whiters" have latched onto him like he is the "great white hope" which is kind of ludicrous if you really think about it. I've told a few people this and the debate was on! The first debate point was the mythical 34% of the vote number that some were touting. Some of the B&Wer's were saying that all Faulk needed was 34% to win the election which is completely CRAAAZY, stealing a Taylor word for that theory.

Faulk winning with 34% assumes that Taylor and LaFortune are magically going to split the vote evenly at 33%. NOT going to happen! The second thing that I mentioned to the B&Wer's was that if for some unforeseen chance that Faulk did win, it would be like throwing a sheep smack dab in the wolves den. Tulsa's GOB machine would destroy him totally, completely, and without remorse. They tried to do this with Mautino and Medlock, but with Faulk I feel they would succeed.

The B&Wer's debated the point that Faulk could surround himself with battle hardened staff, namely Medlock. I can just hear the howls from the Tulsa Whirled and their Editorial Staff on this one. If this scenario happened, not only would Faulk be destroyed, but Medlock would be dragged down as well. There is absolutely no way that the "powers that be" in this town would let a figure head Mayor (Faulk) with a strong staff member (Medlock) rule the roost. I'd probably have to agree with the GOB's on this one as well. There is something that feels incestuously wrong about that prospect. It just doesn't jive or work for me and I feel it mocks our political process. I believe the majority of Tulsans would feel the same way.

To summarize my drawn out dissertation, I believe there were two definitive choices that Medlock could have made

A. Ride quietly into the sunset and be folded back into mortal 9 to 5 everyday human life.

OR

B. Survive to fight another day in the political arena.

I'm glad he chose "B"

AND

If you plan on voting for Faulk, you might as well go ahead and vote Taylor, because the end effect will be the same.

THE END