Kathy Taylor Part Deux

[erfalf]

Mayor-elect G.T Bynum announces young, diverse staff that includes a political veteran: Kathy Taylor

https://www.readfrontier.com/spotlight/mayor-elect-bynum-announces-young-diverse-10-member-team-includes-political-veteran-kathy-taylor/

It certainly makes their campaign's push back to claims that voting for Bynum would be a equivalent to putting Taylor back in the mayor's office seem pretty disingenuous. .

Also ironic that he is indicating she will be in charge of economic development when her crowning achievement was an ill conceived way to finance a ball park. While I am totally in agreement that the ball park was a good idea, I think the way it came about was less than satisfying for many property owners downtown.

So, is this generally going to be viewed as a positive or negative development in Tulsa?

[RecycleMichael]

I would say positive.

Kathy Taylor got things done when she was Mayor. Having  someone like that involved in economic development will be good for Tulsa.

[swake]

Kathy Taylor was a great mayor.

[erfalf]

Then the push back from the campaign is disingenuous. Very untrustworthy behavior.

[cannon_fodder]

I liked Kathy Taylor, but the criticism of her time in office is well justified. The Ballpark tax was not appreciated by many who actually have to pay the tax and don't benefit. The purchase of the Dirty Ice Cube made the City the high-bidder on a large chunk of Class-A office space (which Tulsa is short of) and would have only saved money if X Y and Z happened (some of which STILL hasn't happened). She tried to pay back bonds for our magic airline that the City was not obligated to pay back. It seemed like much of those deals involved Bank of Oklahoma getting a lease, origination fees, or paid back on bad debts.

Kathy Taylor could get stuff done, and she did. She's a great addition to the staff because she has connections and knows how to get stuff done. But those that are upset with the actions of Mayor Taylor have solid reasons.

[DowntownDan]

Then the push back from the campaign is disingenuous. Very untrustworthy behavior.

"Voting for Bynum would be a equivalent to putting Taylor back in the mayor's office" was the claim.  It was disingenuous for Dewey's campaign to use that rhetoric.  The clear implication of the allegation is that Bynum run the city exactly like Taylor, or for the conspiracy theorists that Bynum would be a puppet for Taylor.  Having her lead economic development isn't even remotely the same thing.  Bynum is mayor and will govern his own way and Taylor likely will disagree with some of what he does, and it's not going to stop him from doing it.  It's exactly how politics is supposed to work.  Get a variety of voices for input, then make your own decision.  It can be done collegiality despite the current atmosphere.

[Conan71]

This selection will be controversial for people who supported Bynum and who were vehemently against Taylor in the 213 election.  I'm sure it will be used against him in any re-election campaign.

That said, I've never met a more engaged or driven public servant than Kathy Taylor.  In any meeting I've been in with her, she doesn't sit back returning emails on her phone or appear as if she would rather be somewhere else.  She asks questions and figures out how to make things happen or who best to get in contact with to make it happen.

I believe she is more economically sophisticated than the outgoing Director of ED and won't be championing plowing over public space for short-sighted sales tax collection.  I have hope this administration might be able to bring to bear less dependence on sales tax.

She, just like GT is very approachable and very open to ideas and input. 

I believe she is a great addition to his team.

[erfalf]

"Voting for Bynum would be a equivalent to putting Taylor back in the mayor's office" was the claim.  It was disingenuous for Dewey's campaign to use that rhetoric.  The clear implication of the allegation is that Bynum run the city exactly like Taylor, or for the conspiracy theorists that Bynum would be a puppet for Taylor.  Having her lead economic development isn't even remotely the same thing.  Bynum is mayor and will govern his own way and Taylor likely will disagree with some of what he does, and it's not going to stop him from doing it.  It's exactly how politics is supposed to work.  Get a variety of voices for input, then make your own decision.  It can be done collegiality despite the current atmosphere.

I think the problem is he portrayed himself as something that doesn't appear to be the case. A Republican. His cabinet nearly entirely consists of Democrats.

And you're right, I'm sure Kathy Taylor had nothing to do with the campaign of Bynum. 

[DowntownDan]

I think the problem is he portrayed himself as something that doesn't appear to be the case. A Republican. His cabinet nearly entirely consists of Democrats.

And you're right, I'm sure Kathy Taylor had nothing to do with the campaign of Bynum.  

She openly supported him so I don't see how there's any funny business that she's going to be part of his administration.  The claim implied that Bynum wasn't his own candidate and was just Taylor in disguise.  That is demonstrably not true.  He will make his own decision and will govern his own way.  She will help in the area of economic development.  It's still his administration.  I agree that Republican's may not like this move but he had already said many things in the campaign that don't align with the national version of the current GOP and he still won by a large margin.  People on both sides like him enough to put him in office.  He will work with all sides of the aisle.  It's the way politics are supposed to work.

[cynical]

There was a ton of Republican support for Bynum in the election. Bynum ran a centrist race against Dewey's attempt to tar him just as you are, as a RINO. How is your label any different?

Bynum was elected by a bipartisan coalition of centrist Republicans and Democrats. Would Tulsa be better off with the kind of extreme partisanship we see nationally and in Oklahoma? This is the entire reason both Tulsa and OKC have nonpartisan municipal elections.

I think the problem is he portrayed himself as something that doesn't appear to be the case. A Republican. His cabinet nearly entirely consists of Democrats.

And you're right, I'm sure Kathy Taylor had nothing to do with the campaign of Bynum. 

[cannon_fodder]

GT Bynum is a registered Republican. His grand-dad was a registered Republican. He was a staffer for Coburn (Republican) and Nickles (Republican). He ran a lobbying firm that was more often than not hired to motivate Republican legislators. His registered political contributions are to Republicans. He was elected with 56% of the vote in a City that is only 30% Democrat.

Tell me more what a huge Democrat he is.

[Conan71]

I think the problem is he portrayed himself as something that doesn't appear to be the case. A Republican. His cabinet nearly entirely consists of Democrats.

And you're right, I'm sure Kathy Taylor had nothing to do with the campaign of Bynum.  

I didn't see anything about the political affiliation of his staff in the story cited.  Unless you are inferring that anyone who would have worked under Taylor, has been a teacher, urban planner, is black, Hispanic, female, or a combination of any of those must be a Democrat.  The only hint in the bios to anyone's political affiliation was that Michael Junk had worked for Senators Coburn and Inhofe.

"I love reading books about how coaches put teams together, and both Bill Belichick and Mike Krzyzewski — two of the greatest coaches of the last 50 years, in different sports — both focus on getting the best players that they can and then figuring out the system to use those players," Bynum said. "These are just people I wanted to get on the team, and we would figure out the right fit."

With the core four in place, Bynum began looking for the best people he could to help him accomplish his goals. That meant finding individuals who were smart, loved the city and were willing to work hard, he said.

Age and political affiliation never entered the conversation.

"I still, right now, don't know what their political affiliations are (and) don't care about their age, though now, looking at the group after the fact, I recognize that it is a young group," Bynum said. "But Michael and I both came from an environment working in (U.S.) Senate offices, where that is the norm. That is not unusual. You have a lot of responsibility thrown at you."

In his new staff, Bynum believes he has found a group similarly drawn to big challenges — in this instance in the Mayor's Office.

This, right here, is how you build successful coalitions.  You don't focus on the differences, you focus on similarities which will move your ideals or causes forward.  It also does not appear that the greater majority were picked due to being party loyalists or due to personal patronage which were two issues that defined the awful administration of Mayor Bartlet. (sic)  That's how we keep ending up with useless re-treads like Clay Bird and Terry Simonson- they keep being selected for their "experience" because they've been around forever regardless of the merits of their work, integrity, or lack thereof.

Bynum's broad appeal crosses many party lines.  I believe that is a very good thing for Tulsa.

[davideinstein]

Mayor-elect G.T Bynum announces young, diverse staff that includes a political veteran: Kathy Taylor

https://www.readfrontier.com/spotlight/mayor-elect-bynum-announces-young-diverse-10-member-team-includes-political-veteran-kathy-taylor/

It certainly makes their campaign's push back to claims that voting for Bynum would be a equivalent to putting Taylor back in the mayor's office seem pretty disingenuous. .

Also ironic that he is indicating she will be in charge of economic development when her crowning achievement was an ill conceived way to finance a ball park. While I am totally in agreement that the ball park was a good idea, I think the way it came about was less than satisfying for many property owners downtown.

So, is this generally going to be viewed as a positive or negative development in Tulsa?

That tax doesn't hurt anyone Downtown at all. It was actually brilliant in retrospect. I fundamentally disagreed with a new ballpark because I wanted to renovate old Drillers Stadium but it has paid dividends so far.

[davideinstein]

I would say positive.

Kathy Taylor got things done when she was Mayor. Having  someone like that involved in economic development will be good for Tulsa.

Yep.

[RecycleMichael]

I didn't see anything about the political affiliation of his staff in the story cited.  Unless you are inferring that anyone who would have worked under Taylor, has been a teacher, urban planner, is black, Hispanic, female, or a combination of any of those must be a Democrat.  The only hint in the bios to anyone's political affiliation was that Michael Junk had worked for Senators Coburn and Inhofe.

I looked up the voter registration for the ten people named to Bynum's cabinet. I found three republicans, four democrats and and three that I could not tell for sure without more information.