Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Wipeout: Four Tulsa Councilors Lose Their Seats

AltTulsa doesn't focus much on local politics, but even we can't overlook the "throw the bums out" results of Tuesday's primary elections.

The good news is that some of the cranks went down in flames. The ornery District 7 incumbent, Republican Jim Mautino, could only muster 347 votes in a losing campaign against Byron Steele, who tallied 571. 

Former councilor Sam Roop, also from the crank side of the aisle, lost his bid to regain the District 5 seat, which was won by Karen Gilbert. Thankfully, Gilbert appears to be a reasonable person, exactly the kind of person in short supply at city hall in recent years.

Some other candidates also fell by the wayside last night, including Steven Roemerman in District 7 and our musical friend Rocky Frisco in District 4, though Frisco wasn't really a serious candidate.

Happily, G.T. Bynum won the Republican primary in District 9, to the chagrin of local blogger Michael Bates.

In fact, Bates-endorsed candidates fared poorly in Tuesday's voting, not a good sign for his power base, such as it is. If we recall correctly, seven Bates-endorsed candidates lost last night, including Turner in District 2, Barnes in District 4, Roop in District 5 (see above), Mautino in District 6 (see above), Roemerman in District 7 (again, see above), Gibbs in Dictrict 8, and Pinney in District 9.

As we said in the headline, wipeout.

We are only speculating here, but maybe cranks have worn out their welcome at city hall. After years of bickering and feuding among themselves and with the mayor, Tulsa voters seem to want a few more reasonable people on the job. Can't say we blame 'em.

3 comments:

Tulsan said...

"...maybe cranks have worn out their welcome at city hall..."

Amen!

TedTheCat said...

Alternative Tulsa takes the side of Karl Ahlgren, Dewey Bartlett and the plutocrats. Unbelievable. You are not an alternate voice. You are a shill for the plutocrats. Shame on you.

Alternative Tulsa said...

Ted: We beg to differ inasmuch as we intentionally did not endorse Mayor Bartlett or Karl Ahlgren. Our beef is with councilors who are intentionally and unreasonably contentious, who would rather grandstand than work for the good of the city. As for plutocrats, we have no automatic bias against blue bloods and evaluate them on a case-by-case basis. Like the contrarians and everyone else, they sometimes have worthwhile ideas.