Bartlett voted for, praised Tulsa paying $7.1 million to BOk for Great Plains
A lot of Tulsans were outraged last summer when Mayor Kathy Taylor allowed the City of Tulsa to be added as a defendant in the Great Plains Airlines loan default case -- the Bank of Oklahoma's suit against the Tulsa Airport Improvements Trust -- then, within less than a day, agreed to settle said suit for $7.1 million. (If you've forgotten what that was all about, click through that link.)
What you may not know is that mayoral candidate Dewey Bartlett and his campaign treasurer, Mary Smith, as members of TAIT, also approved that $7.1 million settlement, with Bartlett praising Mayor Taylor for finding a way to get the City to cough up the money -- money that the City of Tulsa did not owe and money that is being paid by an increase in your property taxes. The Tulsa Beacon has the story in its current issue.
The story provides a quote from Bartlett at the TAIT meeting:
"It's something we need to do and I applaud the mayor and the Bank of Oklahoma for working out a deal... a lot of work went into this thing. It was a waste of energy. It's a new day and that's good news.
Here's the video of the entire seven-minute special meeting. The video has annotations to explain who the people at the meeting are, what they're doing, and the context of financing Great Plains Airlines -- the defunct airline that was supposed to provide non-stop service from Tulsa to both coasts.
Bartlett's question, "Is there any land involved?" is a reference to the original collateral used to secure the loan which BOk guaranteed -- a convoluted deal that the FAA inspector general condemned. There were several different parties that should have taken the financial hit for agreeing to this deal for financing GPA but none of them did. Instead it fell back, unjustly, on Tulsa's taxpayer, thanks to the conniving of the mayor that Dewey Bartlett endorsed for re-election.
The attitude that comes across in the video is, "All that matters is that all the big shots have their butts covered. Who cares about the taxpayer?"
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I had hoped for some changes with the change of ownership. Today's Tulsa World story on the mayoral election and Kathy Taylor's Great Plains airlines settlement has undermined that hope. One positive change -- the pictures make all of the candidates l... Read More
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Wow, if you think this guy is bad, let's start digging into Kaiser Toadie Lakin's record.
When did republicans stop being republicans in this town?
Another non TGOV'd event of TAIT
If Dewey-Cheatham-and-How Bartlett, Jr. is elected Mayor of Tulsa, we'll have FOUR MORE YEARS of Mayor Kathy Taylor's tax-and-spend road to fiscal doom.
It really appears as is they are clueless. Why did they have such a hard time conducting this meeting.
If you just watch their body language they are either clueless or they are very nervous. The chairman can't stop playing with this pencil and the guy on the right stays in a defensive posture the whole meeting.
It all seemed very strange to me for a meeting of people who should be used to the mechanics and pressures of such a meeting.
There are 2 things that are being overlooked by these people. 1st. There is a Qui Tam that has been filed preventing this from occuring.How come the legal dept seems to be dismissive about it?
2nd. On May 17 1992, Fed Judge,Donald C. Lane had the same issue before him on the TAA,TAIT asking for the city of Tulsa to pay for their incurred debt. The decision was Tulsa WAS NOT responsible for that debt.
Since that decision,no one has appealed ,requested it to be set aside or tried having it overturned.
To me , that money going out was illegal.Can anyone help my understanding on this?
So that's how easy it is to make money in this town. I'm in the wrong business. I thought these people made their money based on markets, understanding consumer behavior and strategic planning by honest financial data. All I see is a bunch of moochers. I'm filing a complaint. I want my money back. Your product is defective!