Tulsa World: For many in city, election is no contest

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For many in city, election is no contest
About 40 percent of Tulsa's voters don't have a City Council primary.

By CURTIS KILLMAN World Staff Writer
Published: 9/7/2009 2:22 AM
Last Modified: 9/7/2009 3:47 AM

View the Tulsa World’s city elections Web site for continuing coverage.

Find your polling precinct.

Dan Sullivan has voted more times than most other Democrats have in Tulsa's City Council 5th District, casting ballots on 45 election days since 1999.

"I vote every election that I can," he said.

But Sullivan and thousands of other Tulsa voters won't be casting a ballot for a city councilor in Tuesday's primary elections.

For the first time in 17 years, no Democrat is running for the District 5 seat. As a result, Republicans will decide the race in the primary.

"I guess I am a little surprised nobody's running," said Sullivan, 54. "I thought there would be some Democrat running."

It's not a unique scenario. No Democrat or independent filed this summer for two other City Council seats, leaving them to be decided by Republicans. And in two other council districts, the incumbent — one a Republican, the other a Democrat — drew no challengers.

As a result, about 40 percent of Tulsa's registered voters can't participate in five of the nine council district races this year.

The problem is the lack of candidates. Only 22 people filed as candidates, the fewest number

of council contenders ever. (The mayoral race, however, continues to draw large fields of candidates, as 19 filed for the office this year.)

This year's total of council candidates continued to slide from the 25 who filed in 2008 and the 29 who filed in 2006. In 1998, the city had 48 council candidates, a number second only to the 73 who filed in 1990, the first year of the council-mayor form of government.

The lack of candidates disappointed Jack Boyte, the Tulsa County Democratic Party chairman.

Boyte said he saw two reasons for the drop in council candidates.

"You really have to be pretty dedicated to run for a City Council seat, considering the time demands and remuneration," he said.

The county Democratic Party sees it as its job to recruit candidates for city office, he said.

"We just didn't put a big enough effort into recruiting people for those districts, and I'll take responsibility for that," he said.

But not everyone thinks better recruiting is the answer.

Steve Schuller would like to see political parties entirely out of city politics.

"I would think without the involvement by the political parties we would see more candidates running in the districts and more opportunities for voters to have someone to vote for," said Schuller, who led an attempt to let voters decide in November whether to have nonpartisan city elections.

The current partisan system disenfranchises voters when one party fails to field a candidate, he said.

About one in five voters — all Democrats this year — won't be able to cast ballots in three council races this year because they have no candidates.

Schuller said polling by the group that pushed nonpartisan elections, Tulsans for Better Government, found "overwhelming support" for such a system.

That support doesn't include the head of the Tulsa County Republican Party.

"I'm an opponent of nonpartisan elections," said Sally Bell, the county GOP's chairwoman.

Bell agrees with Boyte that better candidate recruiting is needed to ensure at least a general election in each council district.

"I believe parties are important," Bell said. "The Republican and Democratic parties have two separate and diverse platforms, so to me the more information you can get on a person, the better for the voter."

John Travers is another consistent voter, having cast ballots in 42 elections since 1999.

He will vote in the Democratic primary for mayor and that's all. Travers lives in District 8, where three Republicans and no Democrats filed for the city council seat. The race will be decided in Tuesday's GOP primary.

Travers rarely gets to vote for a city councilor.

Since 1990, Democrats have been able to vote in only five of the 11 general elections for the District 8 seat since 1990.

"I would be in favor of nonpartisan elections for city offices," Travers said, "partly because, with the hope it would make it a little bit more peaceful, a little bit more thoughtful and not as emotional."

The same is true in District 2, where only two Republicans filed for the seat.

But Boyte said he didn't believe it to be fair to blame partisan elections for the dwindling number of candidates.

"I don't see the corollary there, unless it's the harshness that evolved in the civil discourse over the last year," he said. "I think it's unique to this time in society history because there are so many demands on families."

Schuller said Tulsans for Better Government had not decided what to do in light of a recent court ruling that invalidated a petition drive by the group calling for a vote on the matter.

City Council: Few want job

The total number of City Council candidates (excluding mayoral race and city auditor):

2009: 22 candidates
2008: 25 candidates
2006: 29 candidates
2004: 26 candidates
2002: 42 candidates
2000: 38 candidates
1998: 48 candidates
1996: 37 candidates
1994: 37 candidates
1992: 36 candidates
1990: 73 candidates

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Voting

In-person absentee voting for Tulsa’s primary elections will continue monday, Labor Day, at the Tulsa County Election Board, 555 N. Denver Ave.

Regular voting at all standard precincts will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

What’s at stake

Republican and Democrats will choose their nominees for Tulsa mayor, and five of the nine City Council districts will have primaries.

In Districts 2, 5 and 8, the primaries will settle the races, and in Districts 4 and 6, voters will advance one candidate from each party, Democratic and republican, to the Nov. 10 general election. In Districts 1 and 7, nobody challenged the incumbents, who are automatically re-elected. In Districts 3 and 9, the candidates will go straight to the general election.

On the ballot

Republican mayoral candidates: Dewey Bartlett Jr., Kevin Boggs, Nathaniel Booth, Anna Falling, Chris Medlock, David O’Connor, Paul Roales, Michael Rush, Norris Streetman, John Porter Todd and Michael Tomes Sr.

Democrat mayoral candidates: Tom Adelson, A. Burns, Prophet Kelly Clark, Robert Gwin Jr., Paul Tay.

Republican auditor candidates: Preston Doerflinger and Lynn Ruemler.

Republican District 2 candidates: Councilor Rick Westcott and Bart Rhoades.

Democrat District 4 candidates: Maria Barnes and Elizabeth Wright.

Republican District 4 candidates: Councilor Eric Gomez and Rocky Frisco.

Republican District 5 candidates: Councilor Bill Martinson and Chris Trail.

Democrat District 6 candidates: Councilor Dennis Troyer and Mario Choice.

Republican District 6 candidates: Jim Mautino and Tadd Weese.

Republican District 8 candidates: Councilor Bill Christiansen, Phil Lakin and Scott Grizzle.

Curtis Killman 581-8471
curtis.killman@tulsaworld.com By CURTIS KILLMAN World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment droopy, wagoner (9/7/2009 6:16:15 AM) Democrat lose, no problem, just change the system.
	Report Comment my view, Sand Springs (9/7/2009 7:06:08 AM) I'm surprised they could find any candidate willing to run, with the city budget as it is. It could get worst if the city has to find another source of funding for the ball park being built. The business owners that brought the suit stands a good chance of winning.
	Report Comment Lady Recall, (9/7/2009 8:14:46 AM) Anyone who thinks non-partisan elections would encourage greater voter participation obviously hasn't been paying attention to school board elections. They are non-partisan, and almost nobody votes, and even worse, nobody even knows who represents them on the school board! And non-partisan elections would not solve our problems at City Hall either. Many of our current problems can been attributed to one troubled individual...Chris MEDLOCK! As the leader of the wealth-envy, good-ol'-boy, bully crowd, MEDLOCK has used distortion to critcise every Tulsa leader that doesn't see the world as he does...and pulled Bates (R), Mautino (R), Henderson(D) and sometimes Turner(D) into his web of confusion. He has no track record of working constructively with anyone to make Tulsa better. Want to see a brighter future for Tulsa? Then on Tuesday, vote for ANYONE BUT MEDLOCK, and finally send this financial (laid off or fired from every job he's ever had, lives off his wife's work), political (has run and lost almost more elections than Virginia "Blue Jeans" Jenner and Accountability Burns combined) and social (just ask anyone who has known Medlock for more than a short time why they no longer trust him) LOSER packing once and for all. CELEBRATE TULSA AND SEND MEDLOCK A MESSAGE...GO AWAY!!!
	Report Comment Eagle 4, Tulsa (9/7/2009 8:31:21 AM) I would opine that a Democrat awash in a sea of Red(necks) might be thinking, "why waste the money?" :)
	Report Comment Moses, Jenks (9/7/2009 9:27:23 AM) Lady Recall, your comments always make me laugh! You hit the nail on the head this time.
	Report Comment RAIDERS FAN, (9/7/2009 11:10:41 AM) Lady Recall, AMEN!!! Medlock is not the only one that should go away, several others should too. Many of them have already served in one capacity or another and failed Tulsans and Oklahoma in general. It would be nice if something made sense for a "change". This is also because Oklahoma is stuck on two party system and that sincerely needs to change. Many opted to go third party, whether it was Libertarian,Constitution,Independent or other and they should be able to vote in primaries as well as the general election. Oklahoma needs to get away from the right wing and the left wing of the same bird that is giving us all the "birdie". That's a big party of the problem right there when we constantly get stuck with dumb and dumber. The American Beauty Pageant allows for 50 contestants and here were get dumb and dumber for choices. I believe folks should be able to vote for the person of their choice and not be forced by party lines.
	Report Comment How Much More, Can We Afford (9/7/2009 3:27:10 PM) If Bartlett wins, we get to vote between two Democrats for mayor in the final round. One real and one fake.
	Report Comment Skeptic, Tulsa (9/7/2009 9:30:51 PM) I agree my view.....and we don't very often! lol I hope the property owners win. They were not treated fairly.

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