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BatesLine retrospective: The "bickering Tulsa City Councilors" narrative

In writing the previous entry about the Covington Catholic High School students, I wrote about how local Tulsa media pushed a narrative that Tulsa City Councilors, particularly those elected with grassroots support over the objections of the chamber of commerce, developers, and other special interest groups, were bickering troublemakers. This...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 28, 2019 6:12 PM

Tulsa's yacht-guest subculture

Once in a while I come across a phrase that captures in 20 words what I've tried and failed to say in 2,000. It's an aphorism by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod (@gapingvoid @hughcards on Twitter), tweeted by former Louisiana Governor and dark-horse presidential candidate Buddy Roemer: "Real success comes not from...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 8, 2012 11:10 PM

Introducing the Tulsa Complacent Council

KRMG ran a story recently contrasting the approach that outgoing and incoming members of the Tulsa City Council take to their jobs. The story features outgoing councilor Jim Mautino and incoming councilor Karen Gilbert. When asked about controversy over the trash contract, Gilbert demurred: "I'm not going to talk trash,"...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 15, 2011 7:20 PM

Old, rich Republican lawyers and developers for Ken Brune

Democrat Ken Brune sent out a mailer to Republican voters in Tulsa District 4 with a list of 74 "Republicans for Ken Brune (1 MB PDF)." Ken Brune seems to be liked only by an elite and elderly class of Republicans. A BatesLine analysis of the 74 names, using voter...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 5, 2011 1:12 AM

The Chamber weighs in; TulsaBizPac issues endorsements; Ewing responds

TulsaBizPac, the political action committee formed by Tulsa Metro Chamber, a city contractor, to influence the selection of the public officials who will decide whether those contracts will continue, has announced an odd assortment of full endorsements, partial endorsements, and non-endorsements that nevertheless come with a tidy sum of cash....

Posted by Michael Bates on August 21, 2011 11:47 PM

Council-suer, SOT member announce picks for City Council (UPDATED)

We're beginning to see components of Tulsa's establishment coalesce around certain candidates for City Council, the candidates they believe will best represent the establishment's interests at City Hall. Burt Holmes and Ben Latham have selected a partial slate of candidates, according to an email from Latham soliciting contributions for their...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 3, 2011 7:52 PM

Prayers, please: Tulsa 2011 election season about to debut

I have a list of 15 topics that I want/need to write about, but this afternoon it seemed more appealing to work with my five-year-old to pick up and put away the Hot Wheels, Magformers, Puzzibits, Lego and Duplo pieces littering his bedroom floor. The long list of topics I...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 9, 2011 10:59 PM

How Sarah Palin busted Alaska crony capitalism

Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal describes in depth how Sarah Palin, first as an oil and gas commissioner and then as Governor, busted up an insider sweetheart deal involving a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the lower 48. Here's the heart of the story: And so it...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 6, 2008 12:55 PM