Turner, Neal elected Council Chairman and Vice Chairman
In a departure from recent tradition, Council Vice Chairman Tom Baker was passed over for the chairmanship of the Council, which rotates each April between political parties. Instead, Roscoe Turner was selected by the Democratic caucus on the Council (Turner, Baker, and Jack Henderson) to take the party's turn with the gavel, and the whole Council approved him by a vote of 7-1 -- Susan Neal cast the only "no" vote.
The Republican caucus, now dominated 3-2 by associates of the Cockroach Caucus (Neal, Christiansen and Sullivan, against Mautino and Medlock) chose Susan Neal as the nominee for Vice Chairman. Neal was approved by the Council by a 5-3 vote, with Mautino, Medlock, and Turner dissenting. It's ironic that in April 2003, Sam Roop and Chris Medlock offered to support Neal as Vice Chairman, because they did not want to see Randy Sullivan becoming Vice Chairman and then Chairman. Medlock and Mautino opposed Neal's nomination this year because of her refusal to join nearly every other Republican elected official in the Tulsa area in opposition to the attempt to recall Mautino and Medlock from office.
In other City Hall news, the City will not pay the legal expenses of the five councilors being sued by F&M Bank for their vote rejecting the final plat on the 71st and Harvard property. The topsy-turvy reason: Because the five being sued constitute a majority of the Council, any vote by the Council to cover their legal fees would lack a quorum, because the five would have to recuse themselves. So an official action of the City Council, approved by the majority of the Council, will not be defended by the City. The acting City Attorney, Alan Jackere, who should be working to defend the official action taken by the Council, refuses to do so. Mayor LaFortune continues to demonstrate his contempt for the rule of law and for fairness for all Tulsans by allowing Jackere to continue as acting City Attorney. There are some excellent candidates who have applied for the job, and it's about time LaFortune acted to fill the vacancy.
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It's my understanding that the reason the councilors are liable on the plat issue is because, unlike a lot of other council decisions, it's not discretionary. The people behind the plat made an effort to meet all the legal requirements, and it was rejected anyway. The company can now make a strong argument that discrimination is involved.
If you have an attorney on staff who recommends you'd better go a certain direction, you'd better consider it seriously or face the consequences. That's what he's paid for: to know the law and warn when the council might be stepping into a legal cow patty. It's the same in business. If you own a company that's producing widgets, but your engineer finds a defect in the widget design that could affect many customers, then you'd better do your best to correct it. That's why companies and municipalities hire experts. You ignore them at your own risk.
Let's see now, Where and When did Alan Jackere, "acting" City Attorney, get his law degree?? He likes that question, we know....because we have heard him say it to others!! How arrogant and rude he is, each time we see him "perform".
Surely the Mayor doesn't want Mr. Jackere to be the official legal representative for our great city! Mr. Jackere clearly lacks integrity, honesty and accountability, which are the values that we need so desparately within the City of Tulsa administration. And to think that "an official action of the City Council, approved by the majority of the Council, will not be defended by the City", is outright ridiculous!!
Come on, Mr. Mayor, select someone from the excellant candidates for City Attorney, that will serve Tulsa proudly and honorably!!