On November 12, the good people of Tulsa will rubberstamp another tax increase – almost two-thirds of a billion dollars – without any serious debates on the merits of the proposals or how to have accountability over those who spend the money.

Why are Tulsans voting for higher taxes every time?

The first answer is poor leadership. When Tulsa changed its municipal government from a commissioner form to a council form, we insured that all public works’ projects would cater more to politics than need.

Why don’t the streets with the highest traffic counts get fixed first? The answer is that road money has to be split nine ways in nine council districts. You then have beautiful new streets with minimal traffic (like in North Tulsa) and rotten conditions for high traffic streets like Memorial Drive, Sheridan Road and Yale Avenue (in South Tulsa).

Tulsa used to have a street commissioner. If you didn’t like the condition of a street, you could call him and get something done. If you call a councilor, they tell you to call the mayor and nothing much is done.

The second big mistake was making elections for mayor and City Council “non-partisan.” This is a clever smokescreen to trick conservatives – especially fiscal conservatives – into voting for liberal Democrats. It works every time.

For the most part, Republicans are conservative and Democrats are moderates or liberals There are no elected conservatives left in Tulsa government.

When you toss in the manipulation of the “news” by the local media, it’s impossible for the public to accurately see what is going on.  When was the last time the Tulsa World interviewed someone who opposed a tax increase?

Tulsa is changing and the change is not for the better. That’s why we will approve a $639,000,000.00 tax increase with little opposition.