Don't Forget To Fire Randi Miller Today

[Conan71]

Today is the big day, get out and vote in county commission district 2.

Vote early and vote often...PLEASE!

[cks511]

Done.  Please have security escort her to the door.  I love it when Plan B comes together.

[RecycleMichael]

This will be a very interesting election map to study. I wonder which precincts will vote heavy today.

Are there any other heavily contested state races in overlapping areas that will cause more republicans to vote? I know that the seat to replace James Williamson overlaps from Peoria to Lewis. The rest of the senate district doesn't vote this time. Chris Benge has a republican primary opponent, but he looks like an easy winnner here. Fred Jordan and Daniel Sullivan don't have elections today I believe.

So this might be a very light turnout election in the rest of the district. Midtown might be the only heavy voting.

[Gold]

It's good when so many normally divergent voices feel the same way on something like this.  I can think of few local politicians who were the object of so much dislike that actually ran again.

I saw a lot more Miller signs over the weekend.  My fear is that so many of the primary voters are retired and will vote for the incumbent just for the sake of voting, not always paying attention to the issues.  Then again, Bell really isn't all that qualified, either.

Another good thing is that I think a lot more people are paying attention to local politics than they were when she got put into office.

[cks511]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

Another good thing is that I think a lot more people are paying attention to local politics than they were when she got put into office.

+1  I just started paying attention after kitty was elected.  My first goal of the day was to send a message to rm....get out!!  Ooops not to be confused with our RM......LOL. Now I have two rather good choices.

[Conan71]

I see David Arnutt is still playing sock puppet and house organ for Randi Miller:

http://www.tulsatoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1658&Itemid=2

Scating editorial on Sally Bell.  David makes a lot of assumptions in lieu of fact.

[FOTD]

Typical repiglicans going for a Bircher over a blather.

It's a shame the dregs are running this county, state, and country.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by FOTD

Typical repiglicans going for a Bircher over a blather.

It's a shame the dregs are running this county, state, and country.

Calm down, real race is in November.

I guess for someone with communist leanings like you, JBS is kryptonite.

[Gold]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

I see David Arnutt is still playing sock puppet and house organ for Randi Miller:

http://www.tulsatoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1658&Itemid=2

Scating editorial on Sally Bell.  David makes a lot of assumptions in lieu of fact.

I think he has a point on this one.  Bell isn't qualified.  Miller at least understands what the job does; she just isn't very good at it.  It's a decision of someone who isn't very good at her job and has a crappy outlook on life vs. someone who probably won't grow into the job and doesn't understand it, yet has a sympathetic story to tell.  Neither one will get the office in November.

[Conan71]

You are aware that he was in bed with Miller on V-2025 and the river tax, as a paid employee of a V-2025 contractor yes?  Wouldn't surprise me if David was "consulting" on the Miller campaign.  His integrity has been called out several times on here.

His diatribe smacks of someone working for the opponent.

I think Karen Keith can beat either of them in November, but I'd love to know the Tulsa GOP has come to their senses in dealing with Randi's brand of incompetence.

[Gold]

I'm quite aware and that's a more than fair point.  I'm on record that I think Miller is terrible at her job, but at least she knows what the job entails.  Bell is running out of revenge.  She has no platform other than generic nonsense about small government that is meaningless in local politics.

I'll put it this way . . . it's akin to the Bushies replacing career bureaucrats in offices like FEMA with people who hate the idea of government and have literally no agenda or understanding of the demands of the office.

You're right . . . the local GOP needs to wake up.  To be fair, there are a lot of more than qualified people who would run for local office if it didn't involve dealing with some of the dirt slinging and nutjobs that you find on sites like this.

[waterboy]

Voting is heavy (judging by traffic) along 91st and 101st between Yale and Sheridan. Isn't that part of RM's district? Most of the signs are Carson.

[cannon_fodder]

Anyone know of a "voting for idiots" website on this one?  I'm dreadfully behind on my research this year and don't want to blindly pull levers.  I have a couple people I know I'm not voting for, otherwise I'm in the dark.

Too bad you can't just cast a negative ballot.

[unknown]

Tulsa voter guide

http://lwvtulsa.fileave.com/July28LWVTulsaVoterGuide.pdf

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

I'm quite aware and that's a more than fair point.  I'm on record that I think Miller is terrible at her job, but at least she knows what the job entails.  Bell is running out of revenge.  She has no platform other than generic nonsense about small government that is meaningless in local politics.

Sally Bell is better informed about the workings of county government than Randi Miller was when she first ran for commissioner. She has more personal experience in dealing with county government than Karen Keith has.

There are legitimate differences of opinion on what role county government ought to play. Should it act like some sort of metropolitan pork-barrel source, raising taxes then parceling them out to the municipalities with strings attached? Or should it focus on its ordained functions -- land records, taxes, the jail, the courthouse, the fairgrounds, basic services in unincorporated areas -- and leave the rest of the tasks (and the revenue streams) to the cities?

Karen Keith and Randi Miller both take the former view. Sally Bell takes the latter view.

Stuck by the State Constitution with the same structure as Beaver County government (pop. 5,857), Tulsa County government (pop. 563,299) doesn't have the checks and balances there ought to be for managing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and providing basic government services to more than half a million people. A chartered municipal government -- or an interlocal agreement between cities when needed -- is far more adaptable to the task.

I want a county commissioner who will say no right away when someone asks her to consider a $600 million sales tax for islands in the middle of the river. Or when someone asks for a 75-year contract for a privately run toll bridge that will earn hundreds of millions of dollars for the private operator. I want someone who knows what is the county's job and what isn't.

The enthusiasm for county government seems mainly rooted in the success of using a county-wide vote to get an arena tax passed. (For a few people it's rooted in the relationships that get them no-bid contracts with the county.) The river tax vote proved that going county-wide isn't a foolproof strategy for passing taxes.

With that out of the way, maybe we can go back to funding those issues on a city-by-city basis, and leave county government to do what it was purposed to do 100 years ago.

Assuming Sally Bell wins the Republican nomination, we're set for a needed debate on the proper role of county government.