Tulsa Elections: Read bios of candidates for mayor, City Council and city auditor and view a map of City Council districts.
Related story: Inhofe, Coburn endorse Bartlett.
Correction
This story originally incorrectly reported the parentage of Ann Bartlett. She is the daughter of Victoria Bartlett and was adopted by Dewey Bartlett Jr. The story has been corrected.
Tulsans watching season premieres of their favorite television shows are being inundated during the commercial breaks with a biting, new political reality show called "Bartlett vs. Adelson."
Dewey Bartlett Jr. and Tom Adelson have taken their battle to be Tulsa's next mayor to the airwaves, attacking each other's records and wagging their fingers in shame.
It began the morning after the Sept. 8 primary election, when Adelson, a state senator and Democrat, appeared on a KRMG radio morning show questioning the claim by Bartlett, a Republican, of being a fiscal conservative.
Adelson said Bartlett, a former city councilor and the president of Keener Oil & Gas, has a "tax-and-spend record that would embarrass
any big-spending liberal, and he is probably more liberal than I am when it comes to fiscal responsibility."
Bartlett's camp responded by saying that Tulsans awoke to Adelson launching a "Scud missile attack."
The race has blown up as no less than eight campaign ads have appeared on TV, with more reportedly being prepared, in addition to the candidates sparring on the radio and in the newspaper.
This is familiar muddy ground for the candidates, who faced off in the 2004 state Senate District 33 race, which Adelson narrowly won.
That match-up is cited as the most expensive state Senate contest in Oklahoma's history, with combined spending of about $750,000.
Vast amounts of unregulated funds also were spent in that race on negative ads by national Republican and Democratic groups because party control of the state Legislature was up for grabs.
It is unlikely that this year's mayoral race will set any local campaign spending records; that's held by the 2006 contest in which Kathy Taylor and Don McCorkell each spent more than $1 million in the Democratic primary for the nomination for the post that Taylor eventually won.
But both Bartlett and Adelson have the personal resources and support to invest a lot in this competition.
Before the primary election, Bartlett had raised nearly $300,000 and Adelson had about $200,000. Their next campaign contribution reports are due the week before the general election.
Political consultants predict that the heated back-and-forth between the two will continue until the Nov. 10 election.
Here is an examination of the recent ads:
The ad: "Mr. Negative"
Paid for by:
Bartlett campaign
The message:
"We deserve a mayor who will unite Tulsa, not divide it. So why is Tom Adelson waging a negative campaign against conservative businessman Dewey Bartlett? To distract us from his shameful record. Tom Adelson said that Gov. Brad Henry was a traitor who should be shot (sound of gunfire). What's worse, he wanted him shot for supporting the largest reduction in the state income tax in Oklahoma history. Tom Adelson, just another politician slinging mud and raising taxes. Tulsa deserves better."
Fact or fiction?:
A May 17, 2006, Tulsa World article quoted Adelson as saying: "I understand the historical observation is that we treat prisoners of war humanely, but we shoot traitors."
Adelson said his comment was in response to talk that Henry had cut a deal on Senate Bill 2022, a Republican-sponsored measure, without the Senate Democratic leader being involved in the discussions. Adelson voted against the bill, which included a cut in the state income tax rate to 4.9 percent from 6.25 percent, but the bill died in committee.
Elements of the bill were resurrected in House Bill 1172, which Adelson supported.
Trivia:
The original ad shows a downtown skyline split in two by Adelson's photo; however, the skyline is that of Oklahoma City. After criticism, Bartlett's campaign corrected the skyline photo along with a misspelling.
The ad: "Shame, Dewey Bartlett"
Paid for by:
Adelson campaign
The message:
"Shame, Dewey Bartlett. You know Tom Adelson helped Gov. Henry pass the largest tax cut in history. Here are the facts in black and white. (Shows Adelson's yea vote in favor of HB 1172) Bartlett, if you mislead us on this, we can't trust you on anything."
Fact or fiction?:
Adelson voted for HB 1172, which included the largest tax cuts in the state's history. It reduced the income tax rate to 5.25 percent from 6.25 percent over four years, increased the state's standard deduction to the federal level and eliminated the estate tax.
The ad: "Taxman Bartlett"
Paid for by:
Adelson campaign
The message:
"Dewey Bartlett voted to raise your taxes and fees on these. (Photos appear including those of an EMSA ambulance, telephones, parking meters, a public bus, a family praying around a dinner table and an electric meter.) He hasn't passed a single tax cut in his career, and now he proposes another billion in new taxes. Bartlett equals taxes. We can't afford him as mayor."
Fact or fiction?:
The ad is referring to City Council votes that were taken when Bartlett was a councilor, from 1990 to 1994. Among them, he voted to raise parking meter rates to 25 cents per half-hour from 10 cents, increase the cost of an emergency ambulance ride by $100, boost the standard bus fare to 75 cents from 60 cents and raise city utility rates by 7 percent.
The billion in new taxes referenced is from a recommendation made to the city from the citizens panel Complete Our Streets, which he co-led. The group said at least $1 billion in added property and sales taxes would be needed to fully address Tulsa's street woes. The city ultimately went with a $451.6 million streets package that voters approved in fall 2008.
Bartlett challenges the ad's assertion that he hasn't passed a single tax cut in his career, pointing to the fact that in 1991 as a councilor he supported a "no-growth," $300.1 million city budget that cut spending, added 10 police officers and established an economic development fund.
The ad: "Dewey's Story"
Paid for by:
Bartlett campaign
The message: "From an early age, Dewey Bartlett learned the value of hard work, and more importantly, he learned to be a leader. Husband, father, conservative businessman. For nearly 30 years, Dewey has run the family business with a proven track record of creating jobs and keeping spending low. Tulsa has an even greater promise yet to be fulfilled. The time for one Tulsa is now. The leader: Dewey Bartlett for Tulsa mayor."
Fact or fiction?:
Bartlett's resume states that he joined the family business, Keener Oil & Gas, in 1979 as a landman and co-managing partner and became the managing partner in 1987. He assumed the role of president in 1994, when Keener changed from a partnership to a corporation.
Keener was formed by his grandfather D.A. Bartlett, and it moved to Tulsa about 1910. It has eight full-time employees, but the drilling of each well provides jobs to about 100 people.
Trivia:
The ad shows Bartlett walking down a sidewalk with his family, including his wife, Victoria Bartlett, whom he married in August 2008, his stepdaughter, Andrea Petersen, and his two grown children, Dewey Bartlett III and Ann Bartlett.
The ad: "Adelson's Record"
Paid for by:
Adelson campaign
The message:
"Senator Tom Adelson: His leadership brought both parties together to expand health insurance coverage, got teachers a pay raise, protected seniors, honored veterans and did it all while cutting taxes. As mayor, he'll get back to basics, while building for the future, and stand up to the City Council to demand our money is invested wisely because Tom believes we can make Tulsa even better, together."
Fact or fiction?:
Adelson either wrote, oversaw or voted for a host of legislation related to the claims in the ad. Among them are the Medicaid Reform Act of 2006, which requires hospitals to offer discounted care to charity patients and extends Insure Oklahoma benefits to college students up to age 23.
He also was involved in legislation creating OklahomaRx discount cards to combat rising drug costs, protecting against nursing home predators, strengthening investigatory powers of police in child pornography cases and providing a 19 percent budget increase in the Department of Veterans Affairs to hire 69 new primary care assistants and funds to repair some facilities.
Adelson also voted for a $3,000 across-the-board teacher raise and a $130 million appropriation for higher education.
In addition to the tax cuts in HB 1172, Adelson voted for an early income tax cut in 2005 that reduced its rate to 6.25 percent from 6.65 percent. He also voted for the state's sales tax holiday.
Brian Barber 581-8322, P.J. Lassek 581-8382
brian.barber@tulsaworld.com, pj.lassek@tulsaworld.com
