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Neither Crain nor Jordan are eligible for District Attorney

Article 5, Section 23, of the Oklahoma Constitution: No member of the Legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any office or commission in the State, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during his...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 25, 2014 4:10 PM

Senate District 39 candidates on Vision2

Both candidates in the closely contested Oklahoma Senate District 39 race have taken a position on Vision2. Incumbent Brian Crain enthusiastically supports the Tulsa County 13-year, 0.6 cent tax scheme; challenger Julie Hall has expressed skepticism about the plan and the hasty, opaque process that produced it. Sen. Brian Crain...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 25, 2012 10:54 PM

Busy week in Tulsa: Music, politics, movies, and more

I'm really not trying to encroach on Tasha Does Tulsa's territory -- she has the definitive guide to Tulsa area pumpkin patches, by the way -- but there are so many interesting things to do in and around Tulsa this week that I decided to put a bunch of events...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 9, 2012 12:37 PM

State exchanges unwise? Probably. Blameworthy? Maybe not.

I learn all sorts of interesting things at blogger conferences, and some of the most interesting are incidental to the official program. And sometimes you have to go a thousand miles away to learn about something in your own state. Back in April, I was at BlogConCLT, sponsored by FreedomWorks...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 21, 2012 11:32 PM

Oklahoma House Republicans abort pro-life bill in secret caucus vote

Oklahoma Speaker of the House Kris Steele has pulled a pro-life bill from the House calendar, effectively killing it for the year. SB 1433, which establishes the principle that personhood begins at conception, was, figuratively speaking, poisoned and dismembered by Steele, who claimed the support of a secret vote in...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 24, 2012 1:31 AM

People who need beating (at the ballot box)

An edited version of this piece was published on May 31, 2006, in Urban Tulsa Weekly. The archived version is no longer online. Posted on the web, with hyperlinks to related articles, on August 18, 2010. "No man's property is safe while the legislature is in session." So goes the...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 31, 2006 12:22 AM

City Hall update: HB 2559, SB 1324, Susan Neal, and non-partisan elections

An edited version of this piece was published on May 10, 2006, in Urban Tulsa Weekly. The archived version is no longer online. Posted on the web, with hyperlinks to related articles, on August 18, 2010. We're now a month past the city election, and it's time to follow up...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 10, 2006 1:18 AM

Scary bypass

An edited version of this piece was published on April 26, 2006, in Urban Tulsa Weekly. The archived version is no longer online. Posted on the web on August 18, 2010. It appears that Tulsa's development lobby, discouraged by the results of the Tulsa City Council elections, has decided to...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 26, 2006 12:59 AM