Ward 2 Runoff On The Campaign Issues Only, Please

[Mikemarsh51]

Betts, junkie is referring to the Firefighters. He was in charge of cutting the grass. So he knows what's best for every aspect of the city. Although I can say I have never been very impressed with the parks department. You know they do the best with what they have!

[Spartan]

That's a little histrionic, don't you think? And not very defensible. Who is trying to hold whom hostage over what? And who feels short-changed? I don't think either candidate has ever been short-changed in their very comfortable lives. From what I can see, both of their platforms are positive. Neither one has any plans to do anything I as a citizen of the city am concerned about. And even if they did, there's only one of them in a council of nine. Brian Walters, for all that I never heard him say anything I considered reasonable (and granted, I'm sure he has, I just don't attend or watch every city council meeting), had no significant impact on the council because there was only one of him. My concern, with the first election, was more that we would end up with three Brian Walters than that we would have just one. One doesn't really worry me. So, I'm having trouble seeing how the outcome of this election is going to keep the city from moving forward, no matter which of the two is elected.

I would prefer to see Shadid win. I think he's got some new ideas that could be good for the city to hear. I'm not even sure how many of them would be implemented, but I like the idea of them being proposed. But I don't really see anything negative happening regardless of who wins.

I think it has more to do with strongly wanting to take advantage of the opportunity that Shadid represents for OKC right now. It is exciting to potentially have a council member who will be an outspoken advocate for CRAZY things like sustainability, walkability, neighborhoods, livability, quality of life, improving health with more than a phony website campaign, etc.

And by the way, as somebody who's attended dozens of city council meetings, no--Brian Walters never said anything reasonable. In fact, whenever anything downtown-related was on the agenda, he often laid his head down right on the desk (diess? sp?).

[rcjunkie]

Betts, junkie is referring to the Firefighters. He was in charge of cutting the grass. So he knows what's best for every aspect of the city. Although I can say I have never been very impressed with the parks department. You know they do the best with what they have!

Man, struck a nerve with that guilty conscience!!

[MikeOKC]

http://newsok.com/politics/elections...t=1&no_cache=1 (updates every five minutes with auto-refresh)

Oklahoma City council ward 2 - Oklahoma

Ed Shadid 210 59.83%
Charlie Swinton 141 40.17%
@7:41pm with 2 of 39 precincts reporting

[MikeOKC]

Ed Shadid 2,308 65.91%
Charlie Swinton 1,194 34.09%

23 of 39 precincts reporting

This one looks over - Shadid with an almost 32 percentage point lead.

[betts]

I think this is a good thing. We talk about making the city appealing to young adults. We've now got a relatively young, relatively liberal city councilman with a green background. There are probably too many people on the council who more than balance him out, so I doubt there's anything to fear for people who blanch at the word "hybrid" or "sustainable". But, at least we've got a voice for our younger adults.

[MikeOKC]

I think this is a good thing. We talk about making the city appealing to young adults. We've now got a relatively young, relatively liberal city councilman with a green background. There are probably too many people on the council who more than balance him out, so I doubt there's anything to fear for people who blanch at the word "hybrid" or "sustainable". But, at least we've got a voice for our younger adults.

I agree, Jill, and well said. A good addition to the council for our city.

[Urban Pioneer]

Welcome Dr. Shadid!

[ljbab728]

I wasn't eligible to vote in this election and had no strong views for either candidate but I have to say that overall I think the last council elections has to be one of the most positive statements that has ever been made for the city. We could have easily been facing several years of a very devisive city council which could have undone years of progress. We now will have a group that, while they may have some differing ideas on methods, share opinions on the general direction the city should be going.

[soonerguru]

What a great win for Oklahoma City tonight! Shadid is a true progressive, and as such he is a good fit for the ward he represents.

I was impressed with the excitement of the people at the watch party; it was unlike anything I've seen on the local level.

Dr. Shadid is going to serve OKC well. And make no mistake, despite the fact he is probably the most progressive member yet to serve on our council, he will listen to the voices of the voters in his ward.

Tonight, he pledged to work to begin to heal the divide between the public safety unions and Chamber/City. This would be a gesture we would all appreciate as citizens.

Also, he was very classy in recognizing Mayor Cornett, and praising him for his efforts to tackle our city's obesity problem (and it was gracious and classy -- and politically astute -- for Mayor Cornett to show up at Shadid's raucous watch party, particularly considering Cornett's endorsement of Swinton).

As a person who has often been frustrated by the failure of progressives in our city and state to mount a serious campaign, it was thrilling to watch Shadid go out, take his stands, sell them to the voters, and win, and do so without deploying the pansy approach libs/progressives often use. He ran a campaign that was tough but fair, extremely disciplined and organized. I particularly appreciated the fact he acknowledged that progressives can win when they stand up for their beliefs.

He noted that at the last minute, he received an endorsement from a prominent member of the Sooner Tea Party. I enjoyed hearing this considering the fact that the Tea Party initially ran a slate of candidates to wrest control from "liberals and progressives" on the council, and now they've helped elect arguably the most progressive council member in recent OKC history.

[betts]

My God. We now have a progressive city councilman, real bike lanes have been spotted in the city, and we're going to have real mass transit. We're clearly going to hell (or at least Portland) in a handbasket!

[Spartan]

I do somewhat hesitate to call Shadid the first true progressive councilperson however... How are we going to remember Sam Bowman? What do we call Meg Salyer? Granted, she's more plugged into "high-society" than any political movements, but she's still far from being Tea Party. The only councilman who was truly a conservative warrior was Brian Walters. He's gone. Now we really do have a liberal city council. This is surprising.

[BoulderSooner]

I do somewhat hesitate to call Shadid the first true progressive councilperson however... How are we going to remember Sam Bowman? What do we call Meg Salyer? Granted, she's more plugged into "high-society" than any political movements, but she's still far from being Tea Party. The only councilman who was truly a conservative warrior was Brian Walters. He's gone. Now we really do have a liberal city council. This is surprising.

i don't think that is close to the truth ... we have a council that is truly non-partison and all care about the direction of oklahoma city as a whole as well as their wards. .. the problem with brian walters is not that he is a conservative (which is questionable) it was that he had his head in the sand about the future of OKC as a whole.

[Mikemarsh51]

I have screamed on here about focusing on the whole city many times. Only to be told how important the downtown revitalization is. Now everyone is celebrating someone who want to focus on our neighborhoods. I guess I like it. We gave Dr. Shadid no money. What we gave him was about a thousand hours from volunteers. I wish him great success!

It seems that one of the other reelected council members has approached the firefighters union leader for a meeting. Maybe were starting to see some healing.

Allegedly there is a rift at the chamber of commerce. Two parts to it. First, it cost them alot of money to get through the elections, somewhere around 3/4 of a million by the time the last reports come in. We've heard maybe it's time to try to get along with the cities unions. Second, many members of the chamber are not happy with 7 millionaires deciding all of the chambers agenda. Maybe the times are changing?

[betts]

Without a vital downtown, you can't have great neighborhoods, IMO. It's all part of the same process: working together to create a city that is growing better and more vibrant. For too long all the significant growth was suburban, and personally I thinking we've had phenomenal success by focusing on our downtown. It in turn has created more focus on closer in neighborhoods that have long been neglected. I think Ed Shadid recognizes the importance of downtown. However he, like every other councilman I've observed, will be proactive for his ward. I've not seen any of the city council members not take care for their wards.

[Bunty]

Swinton's voting record is better but has gaps (some of the same elections Shadid didn't vote in). Thought it add that apparently Swinton has Cornett's endorsement yet according to the voting records, Swinton hasn't voted in the last to mayoral elections!

Isn't it against rules or unethical for a mayor to endorse a candidate running for city council?

[Larry OKC]

I honestly don't know but didn't Cornett also endorse Meg Salyer in one of the Momentum mailers?

on edit: Here it is courtesy of Doug

Front Side



Back Side




Left Panel:



Center Panel:



Right Panel:

[rcjunkie]

Isn't it against rules or unethical for a mayor to endorse a candidate running for city council?

No

[barnold]

Illegal No, but unethical is in the eye of the beholder.
RC says no, I say Yes it's very unethical if this is truly a non partisan race.

[rcjunkie]

Illegal No, but unethical is in the eye of the beholder.
RC says no, I say Yes it's very unethical if this is truly a non partisan race.

What does him endorsing/supporting a candidate have to do with being non partisan, now if he had said, I support_________because she/she is a republican, then yes.

[barnold]

Seriously RC??? Are you that thick headed? It's kinda like you endorsing a new Lawn Technician manager when your are ready to retire instead of posting the position and letting the candidates qualifications stand for themselves. When your related to the candidate it's called nepotism, when your not it's called favoritism and in both instances it's called Unethical.

[soonerguru]

Illegal No, but unethical is in the eye of the beholder.
RC says no, I say Yes it's very unethical if this is truly a non partisan race.

How can it be partisan? Cornett is a Repug and Meg is a very liberal Dem.

[Larry OKC]

What does him endorsing/supporting a candidate have to do with being non partisan, now if he had said, I support_________because she/she is a republican, then yes.

Dagnabit, I have to agree with RC on this one.

In other words, it might be unethical but not because it is a question of partisanship. As Soonerguru also correctly pointed out, Cornett is a Repub and Slayer is a Dem. Like Terrill claiming his problem is partisan in nature (conveniently forgetting he is a Repub and his co-defendent is a Dem)

And in defense of Cornett, although it looks like an endorsement (where McAffrey's quote clearly is), Cornett's may have been taken from a speech a couple of years ago and used by Momentum to serve their needs. it may not have been an active endorsement at all on his part. But maybe it was. I don't know.

[Larry OKC]

Seriously RC??? Are you that thick headed? It's kinda like you endorsing a new Lawn Technician manager when your are ready to retire instead of posting the position and letting the candidates qualifications stand for themselves. When your related to the candidate it's called nepotism, when your not it's called favoritism and in both instances it's called Unethical.

I retract my thoughts on the unethical question, because I really don't see it as such. That said, are you saying it was unethical for Sam Bowman to endorse one of the primary candidates? The person he endorsed didn't make it to the run off.

All of that said, it is probably in the Mayor's best interest to remain neutral as he is going to have to work with whomever gets elected. One thing for another council person but for the "leader" to take sides, just could make his job more difficult bringing people of differing viewpoints together on an issue. Crucial when you are dealing with a limited number of participants as on the Council.

[soonerguru]

And the Oklahoman weighs in once again with another whopper. This time, an editorial with a backhanded compliment of Ed Shadid that strangely makes the claim his election was "partisan."

You know, I struggle understanding how a registered independent can be partisan. Maybe it's just me. And the facts are that this independent was running against a supposedly liberal Democrat (although no one really believed that, despite Al McAffrey's endorsement). But really, what is the Oklahoman writer smoking here? And who is the writer? "Brandy" Dutcher? J.E. McReynolds? That mouthbreathing imbecile Mark Green? Ed Kelley is somewhat respectable but the Oklahoman's editorialists are a cavalcade of douchebags. How dumb are they or how dumb do they think we are when they peddle the bull**** that Shadid's election was in any way partisan? For those who bring more to the table than a pulse, it was Shadid's opponent, Swinton, who paraded his party affiliation around town, not Shadid.

What an utter embarrassment it must be to be affiliated with that paper.

Paradoxically, the writer seems to somehow compliment Ed at the end of the piece after raking him through a cheese grater for three-quarters of the editorial. Really it's so idiotic I don't know why I bother to talk about it, but are Oklahomans this stupid?

Every time I go to Crest Foods I meet nice people trying to hawk this paper to me and I think of mindless editorials like this and politely tell them that I will never pay anything to read the Oklahoman.

By the way, here is the link to the editorial, provided especially for King183 and rcjunkie, the Oklahoman's biggest fans: http://www.newsok.com/partisan-overt...man-editorials