Wednesday Morning Quarterback

[RecycleMichael]

What did the Yes side do well?

What did the Yes side do poorly?

What did the No side do well?

What did the No side do poorly?

I hope to read discussion of the campaigns and not your personal feelings of why you voted why you did.

I thought the Yes side put together an impressive group of non-partisan supporters. There were lots of interesting groups coming together and how often do we see Mayor Taylor, Congressman Sullivan, Commissioner Miller and University President Boren agree on anything?

I thought they didn't fully explain the proposal however. I spoke to many people who were voting no strictly because they didn't have enough concrete information.

The No folks also did a good job of lining up elected officials. I respect the views of the Mayors of Glenpool, Broken Arrow and Collinsville and the three Tulsa city councilors. I don't remember a campaign opposed by so many elected officials.

The No folk also didn't follow the rules. Signs were in the right-of-way for months and there was no filing of any campaign financing documents. It is hard for me to be supportive of any group that won't follow simple rules.

[cks511]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

I hope to read discussion of the campaigns and not your personal feelings of why you voted why you did.......

It is hard for me to be supportive of any group that won't follow simple rules.

did you just break your own wish?

[RecycleMichael]

Good point.

[cks511]

IMHO both sides left the general public on their own as far as hard facts.  The biggest 'OOPS' for the no is the not filing of campaign finance.  The biggest 'OOPS' for the Yes side was the Broken Arrow brochure and Randi Miller's response to it.

[sgrizzle]

What did the Yes side do well?
Widespread campaign using multiple communication forms.

What did the Yes side do poorly?
Explain what you were voting on. Be honest.

What did the No side do well?
Got people to vote no, many for reasons that had nothing to do with this vote. (ie property tax increases, islands in the river, etc)

What did the No side do poorly?
Be honest. Offer an alternative as opposed to just "nah."

[Breadburner]

I was suprised to hear Ken Yazel was against it....

[Breadburner]

I forgot to add to me the Yes side did not provide any details or facts and really provided some out right lies and pie in the sky.....The whole use of kids disgusted me....

[Conan71]

Okay, I'm calling you on the sign issue first.  I have seen far more illegally placed signs on public right-of-way for the Yes campaign than I did for the no campaign.  Someone even went to the trouble of placing them in the median on Hwy 75 just north of 41st St.  Everytime I drove past an illegal yes sign I was tempted to ring your cell phone. []

What the Yes campaign did well:

They managed to align a bunch of well-respected business people and philanthropists to back this project.  

They got four councilors on board from mid-town south Tulsa, and west Tulsa who seem to have good appeal and respect.  It's no surpise the mayor was on board from the git-go, that's common sense.    

They made good media buys, as far as timing and placement.  

They got out into the community to do some hand-to-hand marketing of this in public meetings and forums.  

They made people behind the plan available for questions.

They had the Tulsa World in their hip-pocket from the git-go.

What they did not do well:

The advertising and PR firm was somewhat second rate.  Good media buys, the content of the ads was sub-par.

In lieu of better details, they relied on numbers of jobs and economic impact which defy common sense and logic.  The content of the Yes commercials was somewhat laughable.  Especially the kid ones.

The pressure of Kaiser's gift made the county have to move much faster than they should have in putting this to a vote with so many unknowns still out there.  They were basically put under the gun to assemble a package in a short amount of time.

They did a poor job of eliminating confusion.  I was amazed how many people still thought this was the channels or the complete INCOG master plan for the river corridor.

Randi Miller was the last person they needed to spear-head this.  She came off as too much of a city/county insider to offer much credibility.  Secondly, she pissed a lot of people off on the Bell's issue.  She should have swallowed her ego and gotten Smailigo or Perry, as a newcomer to city and county politics (I get that they both served down in OKC, that's not "local") to be the public face on it.

In addition, they should have kept Simonson out front through the entire campaign.  He's got (or had) sway and credibility with a lot of people and is seen by many as being genuine.  I sort of took his sudden silence to mean that he must have started feeling a personal conflict on the issue.

What the No side did well:

With limited funds, I think there were some individuals who spoke louder than others.  I think there was a good effort to shine the light on some inconsistencies in the plan and overall gaps in the plan.

They managed to get three city councilors and the county assessor on board.

They managed to get somewhat equal time on radio and television stories.

It was grass roots as grass roots get going against a $1.3mm campaign.

What they did not do well:

Not enough clarity on why they were against.  I don't think it was unified for any one reason which may or may not be bad.  You have the "no tax for any reason", the "fix the streets first", "just be patient", and "we were promised dams in V-2025 and are being double taxed" crowds.

I think a lot of people assumed it was mostly Dan Hicks-type people on the no side.  Honestly most everyone I know falls into the second two categories I listed as do I.

Lack of a well-funded campaign.

We'll see how it went in the morning.

[RecycleMichael]

The yes signs that have appeared in the right-of-way in the last ten days have made me mad as hell.

But the no signs have been in the right-of-way for months. They have been pissing me off for a longer time period.

I can't wait to pick them both up.

[bokworker]

RM, At least after today you should be able to do what you need to do without Friendly Bear looking over your shoulder..... speaking of which, I seem to remember FB saying something about going back into hibernation in October... it is October isn't it?

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

The yes signs that have appeared in the right-of-way in the last ten days have made me mad as hell.

But the no signs have been in the right-of-way for months. They have been pissing me off for a longer time period.

I can't wait to pick them both up.

Honestly, I've not done a scientific study on it, but I'd say yes signs have outnumbered no signs by 10 to 1.

No signs seem to disappear fairly quick when they are on the right-of-way.  

The trash crews along Hwy 75 didn't bother to pick up the yes signs but the mowing crew did.  I guess the guys on the mowing crew must live in BA. []

[RecycleMichael]

No signs are much more prevalent in my neighborhood.

Of course, I now live in East Tulsa.

We don't live near the river...now, if we was talking pedestrian bridges and gathering spots on Mingo Creek ...

[inteller]

through manipulation of polling place changes and outright fraud, the Yes side managed to foist the public's will.

I already predicted it and I see it happening as I type this.

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by inteller

through manipulation of polling place changes and outright fraud, the Yes side managed to foist the public's will.

I already predicted it and I see it happening as I type this.

Are you for real?

[Double A]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

What did the Yes side do well?
Widespread campaign using multiple communication forms.

The best was the one that showed yet another conceptual rendering of a Broken Arrow River Development when Broken Arrow wasn't getting anything. The Chamber should use the same PR people in future campaigns.

The majority of my midtown Cherry St. precinct voted no and I didn't even bother to knock on doors or call like I usually do in my precinct in the run-up to elections.

The best thing about this vote is we now have a list of preachers, politicians, public personalities & pundits who can be bought and who cannot. The voters have a list to check twice now that they know who's naughty or nice.