Tulsa World: Tulsa mayoral candidates speak

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Tulsa mayoral candidates speak

Mayoral candidates Tom Adelson (right) and Dewey Bartlett (left). MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer
Published: 10/13/2009 12:44 PM
Last Modified: 10/13/2009 3:25 PM

Tulsa Elections: Read bios of candidates for mayor, City Council and city auditor and view a map of City Council districts.

Mayoral candidates Tom Adelson and Dewey Bartlett have very different plans for how they will lead the city if elected.

The two spoke before a crowd of about 100 Tuesday during a mayoral forum held by the Tulsa Retired Educators Association at the Tulsa Education Service Center.

Bartlett, a Republican, pledged not to raise taxes and said he’d take “simple measures” such as “changing light bulbs” and to have energy and performance audits to save what he estimated would be $1 million.

Adelson, a Democrat, said the city is in the midst of a very difficult budget crisis and if it were as easy as “changing lights bulbs, it would have been done already.”

He said it is a matter of prioritizing services and looking for additional revenue. He said he thinks the city could realize a ½-cent savings of the third-penny sales tax to concentrate back on public infrastructure by combining services like Public Works with the county and surrounding cities.

“If you believe a no new taxes, read my lips pledge, I don’t know how you can reach that,” Adelson said.

Adelson and Bartlett will face independents Mark Perkins and Lawrence Kirkpatrick. Neither Perkins or Kirkpatrick were invited to the forum.

For

more, read Wednesday's Tulsa World. By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Hopefuls address plans to lead Tulsa," which was published on 10/14/2009. So far, 49 comments have been made.