Democracy Defended--At-Large Defeated

[Bledsoe]

Tulsans Defending Democracy

"that we here highly resolve... that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish...."

Abraham Lincoln, from the Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863
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The Citizens' Commission on the Structure of City Government yesterday strongly recommneded against any change in the present structure of the City Council.  It called the proposal by Tulsans for Better Government for a 6/3 partial at-large system  "reduced representation."

Nevertheless the Tulsa World reporter and headline writers have chosen to emphasize other suggested charter changes that the commission did recomend rather than focus on the commissions' central statement.

Still, this is a great vicotry for the average citizen of the City of Tulsa.  Appreciation should be expressed to TDD recommended commission members, Jane Malone, Becky Darrow and Reuban Gant.  They were articulate and steadfast in their opposition to any type of at-large proposal.  They truly did defend democracy.   I would also like to express my personal appreciation for the sensitive, fair and balanced leadership of Ken Levit and Hans Helmrich, the commission chairs.  They were not rubber stamps for the GOB network or the Tulsa World.  From the beginning they quickly understood the important issues being raised and refused to let the commission become a white wash for at-large charter change.

Thanks also for the many other people that support TDD and worked on this issue.  Everyone must remember that we must continue to remain vigilant in the preservation of liberty.  We will try and keep this broad-based coalition together to monitor this and other issues.

Greg Bledsoe for TDD

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The full Commission Report to the Mayor can be downloaded from the Tulsa World web site at the end of the news article as a Word file.  See:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=060610_Ne_A1_Citiz3064

The key statements from the commission report regarding the at-large proposal for council structure change are quoted below:


"After much consideration, there was no consensus to alter the structure of the current City Council.  In fact, most believed we should maintain the current structure of the Tulsa City Council with its nine members each elected by district.  We reached this conclusion for the following reasons:

1. Regardless of whether a better system in the ideal would be one where there would be a blend of at-large and district representatives, it appears very difficult and highly divisive to reduce the number of seats elected by district.  To do so would create a perception of, and in fact have the numerical reality of, reduced representation.   Although many of us believe that we might have been better off, for example, had we moved to a 6/3 framework in 1989 at the time we jettisoned the five member, all at-large commission, it would be far different to move to a 6/3 structure today, after we have existed with a 9/0 structure for more than 15 years.

2. Tulsa's unique history, including the racial divides that still afflict us, makes it all the more difficult to change to a system with reduced representation.

3. To the extent that the issue of the council's composition emerged as a result of divisiveness between the mayor and the council, there is the current hope that the new elections, a new council and a new mayor have helped unify local politics and the community.

It should be noted, however, that a few task force members support a change to the charter.  Such members suggest a slight expansion to the current council by adding at-large or super-district councilors rather than in any way reducing the number of councilors elected by district.  Nonetheless, at the end of the analysis, most of the task force members reached the conclusion that no change should be made."