Tulsa Topics

Recently someone asked me what I thought of the Citizens' Commission on City Government....... Their mistake.

Personally, I feel that the CCCG is a quasi-legislative body that wasn't elected, nor does the group have any basis in our City Ordinances. I think the group should be disbanded immediately. Since Tulsa's legislative branch, the City Council, is the body that should be dealing with changes in City Government, I believe the formation of this group is basically trying to short circuit the will of the people. Proponents of this Commission will no doubt state that any changes the Commission recommends will ultimately need approval of the City Council to go forward. Here's the scenario I see in my crystal ball:

1. CCCG, "a blue ribbon" handpicked group of outstanding citizens, makes some recommendations for subtle changes to our City Government.
2. The City Council has basically two choices..... agree with CCCG's recommendations or disagree with CCCG's recommendations.
3. If City Councilors disagree with the CCCG's recommendations, it's a sure bet that the Tulsa Whirled will slam them in the local press since the Whirled was the biggest contributor to Tulsans for Better Government.

Tulsa’s ‘Citizen’s Commission on City Government’ (CCCG), handpicked by former Mayor *Bill LaFortune, and an organization called the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals have a lot in common.

Out of this 25-person commission, one-fourth of its members share membership in another organization –

The Oklahoma Academy for State Goals.

(In this article an *by a name denotes membership in the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals, hereafter referred to as the Academy.)

The Academy goes back to about 1985, holding annual, by-invitation only, Town Hall conferences, the focus of which is public policy and ‘what to do next in Oklahoma.’

The 1995 focus was the “Restructuring of State, County, and Local Government”.

The charge of the members of the Citizen’s Commission on City Government was to study Tulsa’s city charter, review the governmental structures and make recommendations for change.

Q: A coincidence?

*Ken Levit, (OU-Tulsa, pres.), *Hans Helmerich, (Helmerich & Payne), *Thom McKeon, (TCC, pres.), *Gary Trennepohl, (OSU-Tulsa, pres.), *Steadman Upham (TU-Pres.), *Howard G. Barnett, (TSF Capital, LLC) were each appointed to the Citizen’s Commission by former Mayor *Bill LaFortune in December 2005.

Six members of the CCCG are also members of the Academy.

A few other individuals in the Academy are *Bill LaFortune, *Roger *Randle, *Susan Savage, *Ken Neal, *Susan Ellerbach, *Margaret Erhling, *Steve Turnbo, *Jay Clemens, *David Boren, *Kirk Humphries, *Mick Cornett, *Jeff Cloud, *Michael Turpen, *Scott Meacham, and Rep. *Ron Peters – all headline-making names.

Of these, *Susan Savage, *Roger Randle, *Kirk Humphries, and *Jeff Cloud have all been guest speakers at the CCCG monthly meetings.

So, Mayor *Bill LaFortune, six (6) members of the Citizen’s Commission on City Government, and four (4) of the guest speakers are colleagues and all belong to another organization together; and yet this commission was touted as a ‘broad-based citizen’s group.’

A: Not a coincidence

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