She wasn’t going to ignore the elephant in the room, and so when Mayor G.T. Bynum sat down with councilors during a committee meeting Wednesday morning, she welcomed him with these words: “The mayor is joining us. Everybody be on your best behavior lest he run a candidate against you with his new PAC.”

“That’s right,” Bynum responded.

And so the city enters into an unprecedented period of municipal politics. Bynum on Tuesday night held a fundraiser for his new political action committee, Greater Tulsa PAC, whose stated mission is to support “Pro-Tulsa” municipal candidates beginning with next year’s City Council elections.

Bynum is not running for a third term in 2024 but said he has been encouraged by many Tulsans to do what he can to ensure that he has the support he needs on the City Council to continue moving the city forward.

In a highly unusual move for a Tulsa mayor, he created a PAC to help accomplish that.

“The lack of infighting that used to plague City Hall has allowed us to focus on making Tulsa more competitive through economic growth, public safety investments, and quality of life enhancements,” Bynum said Monday. “The advancements we are making in Tulsa don’t happen by accident. They require intentional support for good candidates, and I want to do my part to help them next year.”

What does it mean to be a pro-Tulsa candidate in a city whose municipal elections are nonpartisan? That, it seems, is still being worked out. Bynum, a Republican, said he imagined the term was used to “differentiate this (PAC) from a partisan PAC.”

“The advancement of Tulsa is the focus of this effort — not the advancement of a political party,” Bynum said.

But Pat McFerron, a consultant for the PAC, acknowledged that it would be up to the organization to fine tune what it means to be a “pro-Tulsa” candidate.

“I recognize it will be a subjective measurement,” McFerron said.

Councilors, meanwhile, responded to the news with a mix of bafflement, concern and seeming indifference.

“My first thought was: Why would he want to do that?,” said McKee, a Democrat. “It is extremely unusual for any of us to actively try to unseat an incumbent. It feels awkward and distancing.

“However, I know the mayor is a smart guy, and I don’t actually think he is likely to invest in a challenger against an incumbent unless he has what he feels is a really strong reason.”

McKee said she and several of her colleagues ran for City Council because they wanted to stay out of party politics.

“I have found it miserable to see it creeping in more to city elections,” she said. “Is forming a PAC to fund council campaigns a signal that the mayor is moving more partisan? Maybe. I hope not.”

Councilor Jayme Fowler, a Republican, said he has no objections to the PAC.

“I think he (Bynum) is looking out for the city’s best interests, and I think his heart is in a good place,” Fowler said.

Fowler doesn’t foresee the PAC creating a rift between councilors and the mayor.

“As long as things are done with transparency and things are done at arm’s-length, I don’t see that conflict,” Fowler said.

Councilor Crista Patrick, a Democrat, is not so sure. She says she enjoys a good working relationship with the mayor but is concerned the PAC could create some discontentment on the council.

“Depending upon who he chooses to back or he doesn’t could make the working environment very tricky,” Patrick said. “I do believe everybody should have the right to support whichever candidate they so desire, but I make it a point, a personal practice, to not publicly support or not support people that I am going to have to maybe work with.”

Councilor Mykey Arthrell has similar concerns.

“It feels messy,” said Arthrell, a Democrat. “I don’t see the mayor do a lot of endorsements typically for City Council races in general, and to associate himself with a PAC adds a tone to the council where potentially councilors aren’t going to be accountable to their constituents and their districts but more to being in alignment with the mayor.”

What happens, Arthrell wondered, if next year the mayor backs a challenger who ends up losing?

“The sitting councilor now has a different dynamic with the mayor,” Arthrell said. “Instead of one of working with you, it’s now like, well, are we really partners?”

Where some councilors see potential pitfalls in the PAC, Councilor Connie Dodson sees potential positives — not just for council relations but for the city as a whole.

Dodson, a Democrat, said it could be that Bynun is less concerned about the current makeup of the council than he is about the possibility extremists from either the left or right could get themselves elected.

“We literally have factions of our city warring against each other and each one of them wants to oust the councilors that they think aren’t supporting their agenda … it could very likely be in response to that,” Dodson said.

Council Chairwoman Vanessa Hall-Harper — a sometimes vocal critic of the city — isn’t so optimistic.

“If he feels so strongly to do this, without saying it, he is saying that there are councilors currently on the council that he must believe were not serious or (don’t) feel that moving Tulsa forward is important,” she said.

Creation of the PAC “smells of authoritarianism,” Hall-Harper said, because it provides a vehicle for Bynum to identify, financially support and promote candidates who will go along to get along with whatever he wants.

“Which is why I think we need to really consider and think about, as a city, maybe we don’t need a strong mayor form of government,” said Hall-Harper, a Democrat. “Maybe we need to consider a city manager like Oklahoma City.”

Councilor Phil Lakin, a Republican and strong supporter of the mayor, said if Bynum wants to help people who want to continue to do good things for the city, “I guess he has every right and opportunity to do so.”

Bynum’s decision to create a PAC to try to influence City Council races, Lakin said, is “probably not too dissimilar from an avenue other mayors have chosen when they have personally endorsed candidates or spoken at their fundraisers or a wide variety of other things.”

Republican Councilor Jeannie Cue said she did not know enough about the PAC to comment on it.

What befuddles Councilor Lori Decter Wright is the mayor’s rationale for creating the GT PAC. A Democrat who was first elected in 2018, Wright said councilors have overwhelmingly supported his initiatives.

“I questioned the purpose (of the PAC) since city councilors elected in every term he has been mayor — 2016, 2018 and 2020 — have consistently supported his efforts and goals with cooperation, collaboration and nearly 99% unanimity,” Wright said.

Wright acknowledged that the City Council was unable to deliver the votes needed to implement Bynum’s Office of the Independent Monitor, a police oversight program, but said that has not slowed progress on other public-safety initiatives and city projects.

“Since 2020 we have hired a new police chief, established a Community Engagement Unit and continued to fully fund an expanded police budget including a historic increase in pay for Tulsa police officers — all supported with approved funding by Tulsa City Council,” Wright said.

The council has also backed the mayor’s 1921 Mass Graves investigation, the Equality Indicators reports, the New Tulsans Initiative, the creation of a new economic development authority and the policies and programs he proposed to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, Wright said.

“If we, as city councilors, had organized a political action committee to promote candidates of our choosing to challenge Mayor Bynum, I’m sure, at a minimum, he would feel taken aback and disappointed,” Wright said. “I think it’s safe to say that is a universally human response for any of us in this situation.”

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