Monroe Nichols PAC, philanthropocrats and minions fund Tulsa Council races

Only three of 17 active candidates for Tulsa City Council have filed the required pre-election contributions and expenditures report with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Tanisha Bowen (District 3), Adam Burnett (District 5), and Ben Johnson (District 9), all Democrats, filed their ethics reports by today's 5:00 pm deadline. All three have received donations from Tulsa Forward PAC, the political action committee established by Mayor Monroe Nichols and headed by his chief of staff, Dana Walton. Bowen received $1,000 from Tulsa Forward PAC, Burnett received $1,000, and Johnson received $750.

Attorney Adam Burnett, who is challenging incumbent District 5 Republican councilor Karen Gilbert, also received donations from Oklahoma Democrat Party chairman Erin Brewer, Democrat Congressional nominee John "Flaky" Croisant, Kalyn Free, Linda Jordan, Margaret Kobos, former Attorney General Steve Lewis, Vince Lovoi, American Theater Company president Bob Odle, Don Smolen. Burnett is a partner in Frasier, Frasier, and Hickman, a personal injury law firm, and he received donations from the name partners, Jim Frasier, Frank Frasier, and Steven Hickman. Jim Frasier is a former Democrat National Committeeman and a former member of the Democrat National Committee. Burnett has raised $15,520.00.

One additional candidate, Pete Regan (District 9) has been filing Continuing Reports of Contributions, but has not filed the required Report of Contributions and Expenditures. Continuing Reports of Contributions are intended for reporting large contributions that arrive after the close of the pre-election reporting period two weeks before the election. Collectively, the Continuing Reports of Contributions total $29,583.96, including $3,000 from incumbent District 9 Councilor and former State Representative Carol Bush, and $3,500 from Cherokee Composites founder Lisa Surritte of Claremore, $3,500 each from FC Tulsa executive director Ryan Craft and Lauren Craft, $3,500 each from Association of Oklahoma General Contractors executive director Bobby Stem and Tiffany Stem of Edmond, $3,500 each from William and Linda Price of Price Family Properties, $1,000 from OSU Center for Health Systems Innovation executive director William Paiva, $1,000 from Tulsa attorney Robert Blakemore.

Three more candidates filed Statements of Organization but did not file the Report of Contributions and Expenditures that was due today: Mareo Johnson and Corinice Wilson in District 1, Shawn Tiemann in District 9. Johnson and Tiemann filed their Statements of Organization today, Wilson filed hers on August 4.

UPDATE 2026/08/18: Corinice Wilson (District 1) filed her Report of Contributions and Expenditures at 11:53 pm on August 17.

Effective November 1, 2025, municipal candidates in large cities (population of 10,000 or more as of the last Federal decennial census and a general revenue fund expenditure budget in excess of $10,000,000) are now required to file electronically with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission instead of with their local city clerk.

While the mechanics of filing have changed, the basics of filing are the same as they were over 20 years ago. Reports of Contributions and Expenditures are due at 5:00 pm Monday eight days before the election, to cover all contributions and spending (as well as loans and other transfers) through the Tuesday two weeks before the election. Anyone who has raised or spent at least $1,000 must file reports.

Here are direct links to each of the candidates on the Oklahoma Ethics Commission's Guardian website, with the amounts each has reported raised.

• Mareo Donnell Johnson, District 1, no report
• Corinice Wilson, District 1, $19,318.00 (late report)
• Tanisha Bowen, District 3, $4,300.00
• Adam Burnett, District 5, $15,520.00
• Ben Johnson, District 9, $6,495.00
• Peter Regan, District 9, $29,583.96
• Shawn Christopher Tiemann, District 9, no report

Several candidates, including most of the City Council incumbents, had filed earlier statements of organization and quarterly reports through the temporary local campaign filings portal. Click that link and type "Tulsa" or the name of the candidate into the search box to pull up all filings for a candidate. Click a filing to see the individual summaries and schedules that constitute a filing. As awkward as the old Guardian system is, this is even worse. As of June 1, 2026, the Guardian system has been expanded to cover county, municipal, and school board candidates, and all future filings must be through Guardian.

The following city candidates showed up on the Ethics Commission's temporary portal. The candidate's most recent filing on record, plus the amount raised by that date, plus any carryover from the previous campaign committee, is listed with each name:

• Vanessa Hall-Harper, District 1, 2026 2nd Quarter, $473.76 + $8,370.07 carryover
• Anthony Archie, District 2, 2026 1st Quarter, $100.00 + $6,954.80 carryover
• Jackie Dutton, District 3, 2026 2nd Quarter, $500.00 + $3,679.68 carryover
• Laura Bellis, District 4, 2026 1st Quarter, $12,272.00 + $15,773.95 carryover
• Karen Gilbert, District 5, 2026 2nd Quarter, $525.00 + $12,041.71 carryover
• Christian Bengel, District 6, 2026 2nd Quarter, no activity reported
• Lori Decter Wright, District 7, 2026 2nd Quarter, $1,695.00 + $8,762.67 carryover

Of interest from those reports:

Decter Wright received $500 each from billionaire George Kaiser and his son Philip Kaiser.

Bellis's summary shows $12,272.00 raised during the 2026 1st Quarter, including $1,250 from Susan Nichols, manager at Main Square Properties, $1,000 from Aaron Bean, Managing Director of Asemio, $750 from Grant Bumgarner, affiliated with various GKFF initiatives, $500 from former Mayor Kathy Taylor, $250 from Lynn Schusterman, $250 from George Kaiser Family Foundation employee Annie Van Hanken, $250 from Maxine and Jack Zarrow Family Foundation executive director Monica Basu.

Asemio is a company that facilitates data sharing between government agencies and non-profits. From one of the case studies on their website:

In 2019, Asemio teamed up with the Birth Through Eight Strategy for Tulsa (BEST), supported by George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) and Blue Meridian Partners, to support community outcomes improvement initiatives by making data sharing easier....

"The health department is committed to the health and well-being of all of Tulsa county. This particular project has helped us expand into serving all of Tulsa county--people who may or may not have ever interacted with the Health Department." -- Monica Rogers[, Division Chief of Data & Technology, Tulsa Health Department]

The report doesn't describe any positive outcomes benefiting the public, but the quotes indicate how delighted all the stakeholders are with being able to share data.

The overarching impression is that left-wing interests -- philanthropists and their non-profit minions -- are funding Tulsa's city candidates, while traditional Republican donors and groups are simply not involved. Here's a theory: Republicans are spending all their money and attention on highly contested statewide races, while Democrats, with few primaries and runoffs and little chance of winning statewide, are directing their funds and focus to "non-partisan" municipal and school board races.

MORE: One PAC related to Tulsa has filed with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. North Tulsa for Change PAC filed a statement of organization on August 4, 2026, the same day that Corinice Wilson's statement of organization was filed. Sharmien Watkins is listed as the chairperson of both the Wilson campaign and the North Tulsa for Change PAC, and both list the same address, 2250 N. Main Street. The following statement was posted on Wilson's campaign page on Facebook the evening of August 17, 2026:

Good evening, District 1,

We want to provide the full facts about the newly registered North Tulsa For Change PAC and its relationship to the Corinice Wilson campaign.

Public records show that individuals working with the campaign are also registered with the PAC. We are not attempting to obscure that relationship. However, the PAC has received no contributions, made no expenditures, purchased no advertising, and funded no campaign activity.

The PAC was established as a long-term vehicle to support principled local leaders and policies that strengthen North Tulsa. It was registered in advance so the proper reporting structure would exist before any money was accepted or spent. The PAC and Dr. Wilson's campaign remain separately registered committees, and all financial activity will be publicly reported as required.

We also want to clarify Dr. Wilson's initial response reported by The Black Wall Street Times. She returned a call from an unfamiliar number. During the approximately one-minute conversation, the caller did not initially identify himself as a journalist, name the publication, or specify the PAC. Once he identified the PAC, Dr. Wilson explained that she was entering class and needed time to "research," meaning she needed to verify its filing and financial information before responding accurately. A campaign representative was later contacted only an hour before the reporter's deadline.

Scrutiny of political money is fair and important, but context also matters. We have provided these facts to The Black Wall Street Times and formally requested an update.
The facts are straightforward: the PAC exists, there is personnel overlap, and it has received no contributions and made no expenditures.

In community,
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The Black Wall Street Times article is here.