Good Editorial, Michael Bates

[Conan71]

Michael,

Probably one of your best UTW pieces to date:

http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A17257

I can't say I agree with every editorial you've written nor your picks for public office, but I was nodding my head throughout while reading last week's editorial.

[RecycleMichael]

Except for all the innuendo...

"Perhaps to build a support base with left-wing donors for a run for higher office, Taylor has been unilaterally committing Tulsa as a city to causes that most Tulsans don't support...By signing the document, Taylor committed Tulsa to the scientifically dubious notion that global warming is caused by human activity and can be reversed by draconian restrictions on the economy. It's a view that is obviously in the minority in Tulsa, given that we keep sending the likes of Jim Inhofe to represent us in Washington..."

Because Mayor Taylor signed an agreement that hundreds of mayors across America (both republican and democrat) have signed, she is looking for support from left wing donors and might run for higher office...

Great leap of logic there...and I like this one too...because Inhofe won an election, Tulsans must not believe in science.

And Mayor Taylor never said she would hire 200 officers, but this column implies that instead by saying..."I've talked to many people who feel certain that they remember that Taylor promised to add 200 police officers..."

Michael Delgiorno kept lying with this statement...I guess it is true that if you say it enough times, people will believe it.

[swake]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

Except for all the innuendo...

"Perhaps to build a support base with left-wing donors for a run for higher office, Taylor has been unilaterally committing Tulsa as a city to causes that most Tulsans don't support...By signing the document, Taylor committed Tulsa to the scientifically dubious notion that global warming is caused by human activity and can be reversed by draconian restrictions on the economy. It's a view that is obviously in the minority in Tulsa, given that we keep sending the likes of Jim Inhofe to represent us in Washington..."

Because Mayor Taylor signed an agreement that hundreds of mayors across America (both republican and democrat) have signed, she is looking for support from left wing donors and might run for higher office...

Great leap of logic there...and I like this one too...because Inhofe won an election, Tulsans must not believe in science.

And Mayor Taylor never said she would hire 200 officers, but this column implies that instead by saying..."I've talked to many people who feel certain that they remember that Taylor promised to add 200 police officers..."

Michael Delgiorno kept lying with this statement...I guess it is true that if you say it enough times, people will believe it.

read the comments on the article, Randi Miller promised 200 more cops.

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael


And Mayor Taylor never said she would hire 200 officers, but this column implies that instead by saying..."I've talked to many people who feel certain that they remember that Taylor promised to add 200 police officers..."

What I wrote is true -- a lot of people remember her making that promise. It's been mentioned to me time after time without any prompting on my part. I don't personally remember it, although I do remember Randi Miller making such a promise.

At the time I wrote my column, I did not have access to her position paper on crime, because Mayor Taylor deleted all her promises, position papers, and commercials from her campaign website.

Since then, someone sent me a link to a cached copy of Taylor's crime position paper, which I posted at BatesLine, along with comments from a TPD insider and the FOP as to how well she has fulfilled her promises to date. I still don't have access to her campaign commercials, so I can't positively verify that she didn't make the 200-officer promise.

Taylor did promise in her position paper to increase the ratio of police to citizens, which she has yet to do. Her proposed FY 2008 budget will result in a net decrease of officers when attrition is taken into account.

Conan, thanks for the kind words.

[RecycleMichael]

The City of Tulsa police budget for 2007/2008 is nine million dollars greater than for the previous year.

I think she went out of her way to give them higher raises than firefighters, public works, employees, etc.

Which would you have done...higher salaries or more officers?

[MH2010]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

The City of Tulsa police budget for 2007/2008 is nine million dollars greater than for the previous year.

I think she went out of her way to give them higher raises than firefighters, public works, employees, etc.

Which would you have done...higher salaries or more officers?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I introduce the Mayor's mouthpiece, Recyclemichael!

Everyone please give him a round of applause and make him feel at home!

[Breadburner]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

The City of Tulsa police budget for 2007/2008 is nine million dollars greater than for the previous year.

I think she went out of her way to give them higher raises than firefighters, public works, employees, etc.

Which would you have done...higher salaries or more officers?

Your credibility dwindles even further....

[Rico]

Yatta Yatta Yatta.............

My take on this... MH is opening the door for Bates to round up his resume again..

Bates has something to fill the void in his blog...

And everyone other than MH can sing chorus.

Why don't we discus something meaningful.. Like the program, the TPD candidate for Chief has, called "Reliable Informant"...?

[RecycleMichael]

quote:Originally posted by MH2010
Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I introduce the Mayor's mouthpiece, Recyclemichael!

Everyone please give him a round of applause and make him feel at home!

I have never spoken to the Mayor about a police issue...not budget, hiring, academies, nothing.

My comments are my own.

I think she is doing a good job on police issues, remember the previous Mayor cancelled all police academies for two and a half years.

City of Tulsa Police personnel costs are up 7.2 million dollars this year, while other departments like Parks got pink slips. That is almost nine thousand dollars more per sworn officer.  

There is not enough money to do everything. I again ask, what would you fund, pay raises for the current officers or another academy?

[Rico]

Originally posted by Michael Bates

quote:

What I wrote is true -- a lot of people remember her making that promise. It's been mentioned to me time after time without any prompting on my part. I don't personally remember it, although I do remember Randi Miller making such a promise.

At the time I wrote my column, I did not have access to her position paper on crime, because Mayor Taylor deleted all her promises, position papers, and commercials from her campaign website.

Just one question.. Could this question not be resolved by one Board Member asking another Board Member if his recollection is true...?

Or are the grass roots not in tune with one another.?

forgive me that is two questions.

[Double A]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael


And Mayor Taylor never said she would hire 200 officers, but this column implies that instead by saying..."I've talked to many people who feel certain that they remember that Taylor promised to add 200 police officers..."

That's why I call him Spincycle. Hire,add, or increase the ratio? Depends on what the definition of is-is, I guess. Keep spinning that broken record of broken promises. Make life bitter.

[MH2010]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

quote:Originally posted by MH2010
Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I introduce the Mayor's mouthpiece, Recyclemichael!

Everyone please give him a round of applause and make him feel at home!

I have never spoken to the Mayor about a police issue...not budget, hiring, academies, nothing.

My comments are my own.

I think she is doing a good job on police issues, remember the previous Mayor cancelled all police academies for two and a half years.

City of Tulsa Police personnel costs are up 7.2 million dollars this year, while other departments like Parks got pink slips. That is almost nine thousand dollars more per sworn officer.  

There is not enough money to do everything. I again ask, what would you fund, pay raises for the current officers or another academy?

We weren't talking about LaFortune but since you brought him up.  It was incredibly stupid to cancel two academy classes. The citizens of Tulsa paid the price by living with high crime rates and the city paid the price in officer overtime.

Tulsa police officers received a raise because an independent arbitrator decided that the officer deserved one and could afford it. The city administration presented their version of the city's economic picture and it was found to be false. The arbitrator found that the 8% raise was reasonable and that there was money in the city budget for it.

As a result of the FOP winning the arbitration, the other unionized city employees received raises equal to the police. The mayor did this on her own and we applauded her for it.

In reference to the parks people, it is sad that the city decided to eliminate positions. It will probably come back to bite them like canceling two police academies.

As far as "not enough money for everything". The arbitrator ruled that the 8% raise would not harm the city's functioning. The money was there for the raises and it is there for the academies.

[tim huntzinger]

quote:Originally posted by MH2010 It will probably come back to bite them like canceling two police academies.

Just heard on KRMG that crime went down despite the cancelled academies.  The spokesman credited extra hard work by the TPD for this.  Sooooo crime goes down TPD takes the credit, crime goes up TPD is helpless.

As far as the Master's comments about Taylor they are purely partisan.  Why no editorial about the Sherriff's inability to schedule a sit-down with our Congressman?  Why did it take the Congressman so long to let Tulsans in on the secret that TPD needs to feed numbers to ICE to order an extension office?  And what was Sullivan's Chief of Staff doing in Mayor LaFortune's office talking about the City's police chief during that scandal?

Nope, let us not talk about that or T-town's falling crime rate.  Let us take pot shots at Lady Kathy.  More parfuffle and dribble from Urban Tulsa Weakly.

[RecycleMichael]

Here is the KRMG story...

Crime in Tulsa is Down (Tulsa, Ok)--A downward trend is noted in the latest crime statistics for Tulsa. The largest drop was in theft. The numbers for murder, rape, and larcency all showed declines. The crime rate numbers are for 2006. Compared with the 2005 statistics all crime catagories in Tulsa were down. Tulsa Police Officer Jason Willingham says the department is pleased, but not satisfied with the numbers. He says efforts are ongoing to try and continue to bring the number of crimes down. The latest numbers are: murder down 6.7%, rape down 4.3%, robbery down 8.3%, assault down 1.7%, burglary down 4.3%, larceny down 2.2% and all theft down 14.1%.

I think that kudos should go all around...the Mayor, the police department, the citizen's crime commission...everybody.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger

quote:Originally posted by MH2010 It will probably come back to bite them like canceling two police academies.

Just heard on KRMG that crime went down despite the cancelled academies.  The spokesman credited extra hard work by the TPD for this.  Sooooo crime goes down TPD takes the credit, crime goes up TPD is helpless.

The police get credit for the crime rate going down or blame for it going up, only in years where there's not a mayoral election, in those years, the credit or blame belongs to the mayor, silly.  []

I think it's important we remember a candidate's promises and hold them to those promises.  I don't recall Ms. Taylor saying we would hire X number of new officers, just that crime was a priority in the commercials where she showed up at the crime scene with a cop car.  I believe for transparency, a candidate who is elected should keep campaign promises and position papers in an accessible place for constituents to hold them accountable.  She wasn't elected for not having any promises to perform.

Personally, I don't think MB is too far off the mark on her not working closely with the council, and I believe she is running the show somewhat as a monarchy.  I also think she has been too covert in some of her actions, i.e. the police chief issue and the Fairgrounds annexation.