City

The UTW Questionnaire Continues (Printable Version , E-mail to a Friend )
Be informed and vote in the March 7 city primary election
by Michael D. Bates

Here at Urban Tulsa Weekly, we consider the primary election important enough to devote as much space a possible to the topic. Last week, our Cover Feature “Fear and Loathing in Tulsa: City Campaign 2006” began a discussion of the importance of this city election for the future of Tulsa.
Much is at stake in this election, much of it behind the façade of campaign rhetoric, and we hope to provide a clear look at what these candidates really think and what they stand for. We hope to provide you with some perspective on the candidates that you won’t find anywhere else.
Because this is a primary preview, we’ve focused on candidates who are in primary races.
To dig deeper into the thinking of our candidates, we asked them to respond to a list of 10 tough questions (See last week’s edition for the complete Questionnaire.)
We weren’t just after a short answer. We wanted them to “show their work,” to engage the issues, and to give us an idea of how they approach a difficult decision.
We summarize their responses in the articles that follow, but we’ll be posting their full responses on our website, www.urbantulsa.com.
Last week we began with profiles of the candidates running for City Council in Districts 3 and 4. This week we conclude a look at the balance of the candidates with their responses to our Questionnaire. 
  
The Races, The Candidates
 
Responses to and analysis of the UTW Questionnaire
 
District 5 Democratic primary
 
Candidates: Jon Kirby, 26, 6703 East 26th Place, http://www.kirbyfortulsa.com, 836-3834; Al Nichols, 76, 8525 E. 16th Street, http://www.alnichols.org, 663-9432.
Al Nichols is a familiar figure at city Board of Adjustment and Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission meetings. As a leader in the Mingo Valley Homeowner’s Association for more than 10 years, he has appeared to speak on behalf of the neighborhood’s concerns on zoning and planning issues. He was an organizer of the Tulsa Alliance of Neighborhoods, an effort at bringing together homeowner’s associations from across the city to work for fairness in the zoning process.
On his website’s blog, Nichols characterizes himself as a conservative Democrat: “You will not see me at an anti-war rally or a pro abortion rally. Harry Truman was a great Democrat; however, Kerry, in my view, is a phony. I voted for Bush.”
Nichols finished fourth in the May 2005 special election to replace former District 5 councilor Sam Roop, who was hired by Mayor Bill LaFortune to be the city’s Chief Administrative Officer. Supporters of the council’s reform alliance were split between Nichols and Republican Charlotte Harer in an election that had no primary and no runoff.
In his response to the UTW candidate questionnaire, Nichols supported extending city utilities to unserved areas within the city limits to encourage new residential development, with ensuing retail growth and increased sales tax revenues. He opposes the abuse of eminent domain for “taking private property and turning it over to another private entity.”
Nichols supports the concept of neighborhood conservation districts “provided the neighborhood had a strong voice in approving or denying any changes.” He would like to see a stronger historic preservation ordinance to avoid a repeat of the situation in the Yorktown neighborhood, where homes within the historic preservation district were demolished to provide parking for a new bank.
Nichols thinks Tulsa would be better able to prioritize its spending, and therefore better able to fund the police department, with a city manager form of government. Referring to Roop, Nichols wrote, “Obviously, the mayor has too much discretionary money when he can afford to hire away one of the councilors for political reasons at a salary equal to two police officers.”
Nichols names Turner, Mautino, Medlock, and Henderson as the current councilors he most admires, unable to single one out as a particular favorite, saying, “All are hard workers that have the best interests of the average Tulsa citizen in mind.” For Mayor, he backs Medlock: “Chris is not afraid to challenge the status quo that has stymied development in Tulsa.”
Nichols would oppose adding sexual orientation to the city’s human rights ordinance: “When we single out certain groups for their protection, we are discriminating against the remainder of the population.” He would also oppose giving CDBG funds to “groups that already have sufficient funds to spend on lobbying.”
Jon Kirby did not respond to the UTW questionnaire. His website depicts him as active in the labor union movement, as a member of the Communication Workers of America and a delegate of the Northeastern Oklahoma Central Labor Council; both organizations have endorsed his candidacy, as has the Teamsters local and the Oklahoma State Workers Union. On the issues that have divided the City Council over the last two years, Kirby’s website is silent.
 
 
District 5 Republican primary
 
Candidates: Douglas E. Linson, 76, 9212 E. 37^th Pl., 628-0981; William E. “Bill” Martinson Jr., 50, 3521 S. Darlington Ave., 743-6848; John Gregory “Greg” Madden III, 55, 747-4046.
Call him Landslide Bill. Bill Martinson was elected to the City Council with the lowest winning percentage in history in a May 2005 special election to replace Councilor Sam Roop, who left to take a job in the Mayor’s office.
Martinson won the seven-candidate race with just under 29% of the vote, only eleven votes ahead of second-place finisher Andy Phillips, and only 74 votes ahead of Charlotte Harer. Under the city’s charter, special elections don’t have primaries and don’t have runoffs, so in a closely divided race, 29% can be enough to win.
Once on the Council, he has been most vocal in opposition to the acquisition of bank records connected with the Great Plains Airlines investigation. He also opposed sending to the voters a charter amendment that would standardize and tighten aspects of the recall election process, voting with Sullivan on the losing end of a 7-2 vote.
Greg Madden is one of Martinson’s two primary opponents. Madden was the only Republican District 5 candidate to respond to the UTW questionnaire. (We were unable to reach Doug Linson by e-mail. Linson has been active as a precinct officer in the Republican Party and in the Briarwood Park neighborhood association.)
Madden is a law firm administrator and is the Region 4 Communications Officer for the Association of Legal Adminstrators. He is a retired Marine Reserve officer and commanded an anti-tank unit in the 1990-1991 Gulf War. He is a road captain in the local Harley Owners Group.
Madden says that Tulsa needs to “revitalize the established core of the city in order to retain those families who already choose to live here, as well as attract families back from the suburbs.” He would allocate 70% of the hypothetical fund for city utility lines to rehabbing established lines, 30% on extending lines to underdeveloped areas.
Madden would make it a priority to put additional officers on the street and would find the needed funding from budget adjustments, “eliminating less essential services or personnel, and increasing city revenues.
Madden sees no need for further limits on the use of eminent domain. The “Popsicle test(referred from last week’s article--"An eight-year-old in the neighborhood should be able to bike to a store to buy a Popsicle without having to battle highway-size streets and freeway-speed traffic.")issue is not really a problem, he writes, nor can we do anything about it. He likes the idea of an urban area where car-free living is possible, writing, “This would be a great place for mature citizens who have mobility challenges.
“I would certainly support any private enterprise that wanted to provide such a place.” But he adds that “those who could best benefit from it probably can least afford these kinds of neighborhoods without significant subsidies.”
Regarding neighborhood conservation districts, Madden considers changes to the zoning code inferior to the selection of “individuals who will exercise good judgment and be committed to the use of the suggested guidelines.”
On the demolition of historic buildings, Madden expresses disappointment “that the owners of certain unique and special structures have not had the personal values or financial ability to make attempts to maintain these structures.” If the city wants to preserve such structures, he thinks the city should be prepared to contribute financially.
Madden’s favorite councilor is Randy Sullivan. He didn’t provide his choice for Mayor. He would oppose adding sexual orientation to the city’s human rights ordinance. On the CDBG question, he would be concerned that a grant from the city would allow a controversial organization to redirect other funds to lobbying. He also cited the efficiency and recordkeeping of potential grant recipients as an important factor.
 
 
District 6 Republican primary
 
Candidates: Theresa Buchert, 542 S. 127^th East Ave., 52, http://www.theresabuchert.com, 439-1432; James Savino “Jim” Mautino Sr., 73, 14628 E. 12th St., http://www.jimmautino.com, 437-2642.
Jim Mautino is a long-time east Tulsa neighborhood activist who scored a stunning upset two years ago against Art Justis, the well-funded incumbent. He stunned his political opponents again the following year when 71% of his district voted against the attempt to recall him from office.
The common theme of Mautino’s activism and his service on the Council has been encouraging quality development in District 6, a 50-square-mile area, most of which has been in the city limits since 1966 and is still largely undeveloped and unserved by city utilities. Mautino has worked to get city sewer connections to industries that had been on sewage lagoons.
Mautino often touts the I-44 corridor through the district as a potential location for retail to boost city sales tax receipts; it has the highest traffic count of any section of highway in Oklahoma.
Last fall Mautino worked to recruit a new housing development to east Tulsa, which would have been the first one in decades in the eastern part of the Tulsa school district. He promoted to the developer the recent improvements at East Central High School and worked to try to reduce the financial burden on the developer to connect to the city’s sewer line. His efforts were thwarted by a contractual hurdle from the city’s Public Works department.
Mautino got under the skin of a few developers by insisting on enforcement of city laws on flood plains, screening, and setbacks. As an activist and a councilor, he has urged that zoning code variances be granted only when a genuine hardship exists.
In his response to the UTW questionnaire, Mautino would allocate that $20 million to extend sewer lines in east Tulsa, which he says would open 25 square miles of land for retail and residential development.
To improve police protection, Mautino would like to modify Tulsa’s requirement of a college degree for police officers so that former Military Police begin work on the force while completing their degrees.
On land use issues, Mautino voted for the one-year moratorium on the use of eminent domain for private economic development projects and considers it abusive to take land for private use.
Mautino would like to see a more pedestrian-friendly Tulsa, likes the idea of downtown as a place where car-free living is possible, and thinks the update to the comprehensive plan, now underway, could help to enable this. Downtown as an urban living environment could also, he thinks, help preserve Tulsa’s structures by encouraging reuse. He is “shocked at the complete disregard of the structures that made Tulsa the Oil Capital.”
Mautino wrote that he is familiar with the Brookside Plan and could support making design guidelines a part of the zoning code.
Mautino would oppose adding sexual orientation as a classification in the city’s human rights ordinance, and he would oppose CDBG funding for Planned Parenthood.
Of his fellow councilors, Mautino most admires Turner, Henderson, and Medlock, and he endorses Medlock for Mayor, writing, “He is honest – keeps his word.”
His opponent, Theresa Buchert, is the wife of Mike Buchert, the assistant director of the City of Tulsa Public Works Department. Buchert did not respond to the UTW questionnaire. She has been head of the South and East Alliance of Tulsa (SEAT) for the past three years, organizing two citywide workshops for neighborhood association leaders. In the 2004 election, Buchert endorsed Art Justis.
 
District 7 Republican primary
 
Candidates: John M. Eagleton, 5748 E. 62nd St., 46, http://www.johneagleton.com, 584-2002; Robert A. Gwin, Jr., 32, 5208 S. 75^th East Ave., http://www.geocities.com/tulsaok73@sbcglobal.net/Robertspage.html; Gary Zarley, 7057 E. 53^rd St., 73, http://www.garyzarley.com, 664-5106.
For the first time in more than two years, District 7 will have a City Council representative who lives in District 7. The incumbent, Randy Sullivan, moved to District 9 in December 2003 but ran for re-election in 2004, listing his former address when he filed.
Attorney John Eagleton finished second to Sullivan in 2002 and 2004 and began campaigning early last fall for 2006, drawing no opposition until the filing period. Robert Gwin, a convenience store worker, ran as a Republican for mayor in 1994 and 1998, and for District 5 in the 1995 special election and in 2000. This is the first run for office for Zarley, an insurance agent.
Eagleton specializes in family law and criminal defense. He was interviewed by UTW reporter G. W. Schulz for a story on child custody battles in the January 5, 2006, issue. He is active in the Tulsa County Republican Party and the Downtown Kiwanis Club.
No Democrats filed for the seat; the Republican primary winner will be the new councilor.
Eagleton and Gwin responded to the UTW questionnaire; no response was received from Zarley.
Gwin would split money for water and sewer infrastructure between new lines for underdeveloped areas of the city and replacements for old lines, saying that Tulsa’s suburbs should use their own revenues to build their infrastructure. Eagleton would target those dollars to maximize the city’s return on investment in the form of sales tax receipts or water revenues.
Eagleton believes the Supreme Court went too far in the Kelo v. New London decision, expanding the definition of public use “to include a perception by the condemning authorities that a change of ownership would increase tax revenues.” Gwin and Eagleton both cited the two Fifth Amendment criteria for proper use of eminent domain – just compensation and public use.
Hiring more police officers and paying them better are essential to dealing with Tulsa’s violent crime problem, according to Eagleton and Gwin. To fully fund the police force, Eagleton wants a line-by-line city council review of the budget to “eliminate non-essential expenditures and prioritize current expenditures.”
Eagleton is hopeful that private investors and “young urbanites” can turn downtown Tulsa into a truly urbane, walkable neighborhood. “To make this happen,” Eagleton writes, “the government needs to provide police, streets, sewer and water and then stay out of the way,” letting the free market do its work.
Regarding the “Popsicle test,” Gwin says cars should always be used to transport children – it’s not safe for a child to go anywhere without his parents. Sidewalks along busy streets would be nice, but aren’t a priority. He would like to increase Tulsa Transit’s funding to expand the bus service to cover more of the city.
“Protecting the character of Tulsa’s classic neighborhoods is important to the quality of life for both residents and visitors,” says Eagleton. He would approve of design guidelines in the zoning code to ensure compatible development, “as long as the guidelines are not overly burdensome.”
He wouldn’t interfere with the free market for the sake of historic preservation, but cites as an embarrassment the government’s demolition of the art deco Page Warehouse to make way for an expressway that was never built.
Gwin would like to see tax incentives for reuse of historic buildings. He would oppose design guidelines in the zoning code, calling Brookside a depressed area, which “needs to be modern.” He thinks the “outdated design rules” would keep business and housing out of Brookside.
Both Gwin and Eagleton would oppose adding sexual orientation to the city’s human rights ordinance and giving CDBG money to Planned Parenthood. Eagleton writes, “There are many non-profits that desperately need CDBG funding that I would prioritize ahead of Planned Parenthood.”
Eagleton names Tom Baker as a councilor he admires. “While I disagree with Tom on some issues and the government’s role in our daily lives, I have to admit that Councilman Baker has been a class act even when people treat him disrespectfully.” For mayor, Eagleton will “vote for the conservative candidate with the strongest intellect, integrity, and work ethic.”
Gwin most admires Chris Medlock and supports him for Mayor. “He would stand up for Tulsa and beat back the special interests....”
Zarley’s paper trail on city issues consists of a couple of letters to the editor echoing Tulsa World editorials against Councilors Henderson, Medlock, Mautino, and Turner.
 
 
District 8 Republican primary
 
Candidates: William L. “Bill” Christiansen, 5106 E. 86^th Pl., 58; Clifford Russell “Cliff” Magee, 9722 S. Sandusky, 46, http://www.cliffmagee.com, 747-1747.
Whoever wins this race will have an intimate knowledge of aviation and Tulsa’s city-owned Jones (Riverside) Airport, the nation’s 10^th busiest as measured by takeoffs and landings.
Bill Christiansen is running for his third term on the Council. Christiansen Aviation is the largest fixed-base operator (FBO) at the airport. There have been allegations that the Tulsa Airport Authority discriminated in his favor and against his competition in the application of its rules and handling of leases, and those allegations have been the subject of a lawsuit and an ongoing FAA investigation.
Cliff Magee is an attorney specializing in aviation-related law, and until recently was the president of the Jones Riverside Airport Association, representing private pilots who use the airport and lease hangar space there.
No Democrats filed to represent what is the city’s most heavily Republican district.
In his response to the UTW survey, Magee said he would put full funding of law enforcement ahead before spending on utility infrastructure within Tulsa’s city limits, and that Tulsa’s infrastructure should come before funding for suburban infrastructure. He wants Tulsa to hire police that are already trained, both officers from other cities and retired Tulsa officers willing to return in some capacity.
Magee ties the “Popsicle test” question to crime as well, calling for a zero tolerance for crime to “send a message to the world that Tulsa is not a destination, nor a waypoint, for anyone that would think of a criminal act.”
Eminent domain takings should be limited, Magee says, to “traditional examples of public use such as highways” and public health and safety.
Magee supports incorporating design guidelines into city ordinances. “When a person moves to a neighborhood it is usually due to the current state of that neighborhood and with an expectation that it will stay reasonably the same.”
A former resident of a downtown high-rise, Magee says that an urban neighborhood has its benefits. He is concerned about the pending fire sprinkler requirement as an obstacle to residential use of older buildings. He thinks the city should find some way to make more downtown parking available without “destroying the few buildings left that display Tulsa’s great past,” but otherwise he would have the city stay out of the way of private sector revitalization of downtown.
Magee opposes adding sexual orientation as a classification under the city’s human rights ordinance. He called the CDBG question biased, “for it refers to Planned Parenthood rather than to organizations that provide health care related services and their pro-life pro-choice orientation.”
Magee took a pass on the most admired councilor question (he would have answered a question that used the term “respect” instead of “admire”) and said he would work with whomever the people chose as their next Mayor.
Christiansen did not respond to the UTW questionnaire.
 
 
District 9 Republican primary
 
Candidates: Cason Carter, 28, 3537 S. Trenton Ave., http://www.casoncarter.com, 595-4800; William J. “Jeff” Stava III, 37, 5812 S. Wheeling Ave., http://www.jeffstava.com, 746-1878. (There is no Democratic primary. The Republican nominee will face Phil Kates in the general election.)
It’s a race for the seat being relinquished by two-term Councilor Susan Neal. To the surprise of many, in a district filled with active neighborhood associations, no neighborhood leaders entered the race.
Instead it’s a battle between two young men with no prior involvement in local politics or City Hall issues, each with a list of endorsers that reads like a who’s who of Tulsa’s political and financial establishment. As neither candidate has been very specific in their stands on the issues that have stirred City Hall over the last two years, District 9 voters are scrutinizing lists of supporters to get a clue as to their likely direction once in office.
Stava’s website lists two prominent supporters of Tulsans for Better Government (TBG), the group that pushed for deleting three City Council districts and replacing them with three supercouncilors elected citywide to four-year terms: TBG chairman Chip McElroy, BOk Chairman George Kaiser, who gave $5,000 to the effort, and advisory board member Dewey Bartlett, Jr., who served four years as District 9 councilor.
Stava also appears to have the implicit support of Bill LaFortune’s administration; mayoral staffers Monica Hamilton, Karen Keith, Erin Patrick, Tom Warren, and Michael Willis are also on his list of endorsers.
Bob Poe, the controversial former chairman of the Tulsa Metro Chamber who made it his personal crusade to drive out the reformers on the City Council, is on Stava’s list, as is current Chamber chairman Tom Maxwell.
Carter’s endorsement list includes a number of well-known Republican names – former Congressman Steve Largent, former Tulsa County GOP chairman Don Burdick, State Rep. Dan Sullivan, whose district covers most of Council District 9, state treasurer candidate Dan Keating, and party elder statesman Arthur Rubin. Carter’s list also includes TBG donors Mike Case and Richard Minshall, and former Chamber chairman Chuck Patterson.
Both candidates have cited “bickering” on the Council as a motivation to seek office.
There are rumors that this may be the most expensive Council primary race in city history, with each camp spending upwards of $50,000.  District 9 has never elected a Democrat, and the Republican nominee will likely go on to victory in April.
In his detailed response to the UTW questionnaire, Carter wrote that he “deeply admire[s] the work of ... Susan Neal.” To deal with the crime issue, Carter is open to devoting more of the general fund to public safety, and is open to explore using enterprise funds as well. (Enterprise funds are usually treated as self-contained funds.  For example, city water revenues are typically used only for maintenance and expansion of the water system.)
On how to priorities funding for city utilities, Carter wrote that he would want to ask “what revenue will be generated for Tulsa by building waterlines to the suburbs?... Will the suburbs subsidize our law enforcement budget in exchange for our subsidizing their infrastructure?” He would want to be sure that an area within the city was viable for development before extending water and sewer there.
In response to the question about Tulsa’s human rights ordinance, Carter affirmed his commitment to equal treatment and opposition to discrimination, but he feels “that privileges granted to certain classes of persons are only appropriate in rare circumstances where a demonstrable pattern of discrimination has been firmly established.”
Carter opposes the use of eminent domain for “purely private pecuniary gain.”
Carter characterized neighborhood conservation districts as “increased red tape,” preferring to maintain the integrity of neighborhoods by promoting communication between developers and neighborhoods, and by “selecting open-minded and fair citizens to serve” on the TMAPC and Board of Adjustment.
Carter reported that most of his district’s neighborhoods already pass the “Popsicle test”, and that measures like reduced speed zones could be used to improve walkability. To create a truly urban section of Tulsa, he advocates providing infrastructure for specific private projects that “meet specific urban benchmarks.”
Opposed to giving CDBG money to controversial organizations like Planned Parenthood, Carter writes, “I think there is no shortage of non-profit organizations that enjoy broader and deeper support within our community and are therefore more appropriate recipients for the funds.”
Carter punted the mayoral question, fearing that “endorsing a mayoral candidate could needlessly jeopardize” his goals of creating “an atmosphere of civility, mutual respect and dignity in City Hall.”
Stava did not respond to the UTW survey.
District 1 Democratic primary
Candidates: Jack R. Henderson, 55, 2014 N. Rosedale, 582-1804; Roger Lowry, 49, 1806 W. Cameron St.
The last time these two candidates faced each other was in the 2004 general election. That year, Jack Henderson, a well-known community activist, for many years head of the local NAACP chapter, won the Democratic primary to replace Councilor Joe Williams. Roger Lowry won the Republican nomination against Devon Jones. Henderson won the seat with 88% of the vote in this overwhelmingly Democratic and predominantly African-American district.
This year Lowry is running as a Democrat, and the rematch will take place in the primary. In 1992, Lowry ran as a Democrat in District 9, then sought the seat as a Republican in 1994, 1996 and 2002.
In his first term in office, Henderson worked closely with fellow Democrat and north Tulsa Councilor Roscoe Turner, as well as Republicans Chris Medlock, Jim Mautino, and Sam Roop, who also represented sections of the city often overlooked by City Hall.
As a Councilor, Henderson has taken the lead on some significant legislative initiatives. Mayoral foot-dragging on board and commission appointments allowed city board members to continue to serve without a renewed mandate from the Council long after their terms had expired. Henderson proposed an ordinance requiring the Mayor to make appointments in a timely manner; a form of that proposal will be on the April ballot as a charter change.
To deal with the problem of sluggish city sales tax revenues, Henderson joined with Medlock to get funding for an economic development study focused on the City of Tulsa, rather than the region as a whole. The plan met with resistance from the Mayor’s office and some councilors because it was funded with some hotel-motel tax revenues that otherwise would have gone to fund the Tulsa Metro Chamber.
Henderson has been criticized, along with Turner, Medlock, and Mautino, for absenting himself from three Council meetings, causing the meetings to end for lack of a quorum. (Medlock and Mautino were required by law to be absent from the two meetings involving the attempt to recall them from office.) Henderson’s defenders point out that two instances involved tactical parliamentary maneuvers to prevent an injustice from occurring.
 
Henderson stayed away from the first regular meeting of the new council, along with Medlock, Mautino, and Roop, in order to leave open the option of reconsidering Randy Sullivan’s chairmanship once Roscoe Turner was sworn in the following Monday.
While Council chairmen had traditionally operated as neutral facilitators of Council business, Sullivan’s first act as chairman was to overturn Council precedent by appointing his Council allies as permanent committee chairmen, giving the Council’s minority faction the power of life and death over the majority’s legislative proposals. By retaining the threat of rescinding Sullivan’s chairmanship, Henderson and the others were able to use that leverage to force Sullivan to back down from his power grab.
Last March, when Sullivan scheduled a special Tuesday afternoon meeting to vote on the validity of recall signatures, Henderson and Turner stayed away to prevent a quorum and force the issue to a regular Thursday night meeting. Sullivan’s scheduling maneuver had forced Rick Westcott, the head of the anti-recall campaign, to be absent from the Council committee meeting at which City Clerk Mike Kier spoke about the signature verification process.
(The third meeting-ending walkout occurred during a recall-related item last March 17. Turner left to retrieve documentation from his office, intending to return. When Henderson left the room, too, Chairman Randy Sullivan quickly declared the meeting to be without a quorum and adjourned, even though he could have suspended proceedings until Turner had time to get back.)
Neither District 1 candidate submitted responses to the Urban Tulsa Weekly questionnaire.
 
District 2 Republican primary
Candidates: Paul Prather, 2680 E. 69th St., 41, http://www.paulprather.com, 523-6262; Rick D. Westcott, 51, 2508 W. 68^th Pl., http://www.rickwestcott.org, 445-3029.
When district lines were first drawn for the first elections under the 1989 city charter, Council District 2 was Tulsa west of the river, plus downtown, a thoroughly blue collar and heavily Democratic district. For the first 10 years, it was represented by westside Democrat Darla Hall.
District 2 still includes everything west of the river, but as a result of differing growth rates, today more than half the district’s population lives east of the river, in a triangle bounded by 61^st St. and Harvard, an area anchored by Southern Hills Country Club. For the last six years, the district has been represented by a Republican, and this year, for the first time ever, not a single Democrat filed for the seat.
The race pits attorney Rick Westcott, a westside resident, against attorney Paul Prather, who lives east of the river near Southern Hills.
Westcott has been active for a number of years in the Tulsa County Republican Party, serving on the executive committee, and chairing the 2005 platform committee. At City Hall, he has served on the Sales Tax Overview Committee and the Community Development Block Grant prioritization committee.
In 2005, Westcott was chairman of Tulsans for Election Integrity, the group that opposed the recall of Councilors Jim Mautino and Chris Medlock and which also voiced opposition to a separate recall effort targeting Mayor Bill LaFortune and Councilors Baker, Christiansen, Neal, and Sullivan.
In his detailed response to UTW’s questionnaire, Westcott argued for investing first in providing service to undeveloped parts of Tulsa, in order to drive development that will generate revenues that can be used to provide improvements to areas in the City which already have service.
Westcott applauds the one-year moratorium on eminent domain for private economic development, calling such use of the government’s condemnation power abusive.
Creatively maximizing current police manpower is the first step Westcott would take to dealing with Tulsa’s violent crime problem; for example, allowing reserve officers to take routine report calls. He advocates a complete review of city expenditure and consideration of privatizing some operations, such as airport management, investing any savings in public safety.
Westcott grew up in a walkable Tulsa neighborhood (west of downtown along the Sand Springs Line), and while it may not be possible for existing, outlying neighborhoods to pass the “popsicle test,” he thinks the problem can be addressed “through careful planning of our new neighborhoods and through careful infill development.” The goal of a truly urban area where car-free living is attainable by “making careful appointments to our authorities, boards and commissions, and by writing a new zoning code that truly looks to our future while preserving our past.” He says that “zoning ordinances with teeth” are needed to “protect what’s left of our past.”
Involved in West Tulsa redevelopment planning efforts, Westcott would support the plan recommendations, once adopted, to become a part of the zoning code. He says that infill plan design guidelines should have “force and effect and create a system of development that residents can depend on when buying or building homes and that business people can depend on.”
Westcott opposes adding sexual orientation to the city human rights ordinance, pointing out that it is not a protected classification under the 14^th amendment. He would oppose any CDBG funding for Planned Parenthood, even for a non-controversial program, because of the organization’s involvement in pro-abortion activities.
Henderson, Mautino, Medlock, and Turner are Westcott’s most admired councilors: “In my opinion, those Councilors put the benefit of the City above everything else, above all other interests.  Their decisions are not motivated by selfishness, by party or any other improper influence.  They seem to study the issues carefully and make reasonable decisions.  Once their decision is made, they do not waver.  I admire their thoughtfulness, their courage and willingness to endure criticism, and their steadfast natures.” Westcott supports Chris Medlock for mayor, calling his positions “conservative and clear,” but says he can work with whoever is the next mayor.
Prather served from 1993 to 2001 as an assistant city attorney, working with the City Council and the Board of Adjustment. He announced his candidacy in early July 2005, positioning himself for an appointment to the Council had the recall against Medlock succeeded. Prather did not respond to the UTW questionnaire.