OKC Mayor Race 2014

[king183]

I hope everyone is prepared for how terribly negative this campaign is going to be. Cornett is a popular guy and Shadid is going to have to attack him relentlessly to bring down his approval and favorability ratings. You can already see some of it beginning to simmer in Shadid's Twitter post in which he mocked Cornett's video and hashtagged it with "game on." For Shadid, this poses a problem since most OKC residents have no idea who he is. If they view him as too negative, it will kill his candidacy before it ever has a chance to breathe.

[OKCTalker]

I don't see Shadid going negative, and I think (hope) he'll go positive for two reasons: 1) Cornett is a successful and popular mayor, and attacks on him could easily backfire; and 2) If Shadid loses after a negative campaign, he'll still be a council member, but with less political capital.

[Rover]

We will see if Shadid is about himself or about the people of OKC. An overly negative and divisive campaign is a sign he is more about being in power and being right than being for the progress of OKC. Since he has no successes to get credit for, he probably only can be negative about the other candidate. Name ONE thing he has championed and got implemented....either a success or failure in the public's eye. Then name ONE that the public believes is a SUCCESS.

Like most radical right, it is more about what he is against than what he is for.

[CaptDave]

I don't see Shadid going negative, and I think (hope) he'll go positive for two reasons: 1) Cornett is a successful and popular mayor, and attacks on him could easily backfire; and 2) If Shadid loses after a negative campaign, he'll still be a council member, but with less political capital.

I think he has already started the negativity. The divide and conquer strategy is clear is this first salvo. It will likely only get worse from here.

Below is Ed's comment on the NewsOK.com story about Mayor Cornett's candidacy announcement Oklahoma City Mayor Cornett to seek fourth term, says 'work's not done' | News OK


Ed Shadid commented on NewsOK.com.
17 minutes ago ·
Poll-driven chameleon-like marketing by anonymous big money is not going to work this time; not with the Mayor’s 13-year track record. Just as occurred in my city council race, and the more recent Ward 1 city council race, anonymous independent expenditure organizations are spending large amounts of money engaging in at least two major live polls (which would cost in the $50,000-$70,000 range) and other expensive support activity for the Mayor’s campaign. The seemingly coordinated strategy of the Independent Expenditure and the Mayor is easily predictable: take the Mayor’s weaknesses and portray them as strengths. The Mayor’s record on public safety, neighborhood advocacy (especially when pitted against special interests), and street and sidewalk investments is abysmal and yet, those issues dominate his messaging. The Mayor tells the same joke at national meeting after national meeting making fun of those neighborhood advocates who question the allocation of resources in OKC (Mick says some variation of “Many people in the suburbs do not like the emphasis on downtown, but I tell them you may not like it but your children and grandchildren will like it and you know what, they are angry because they know I am right”) and now wants us to know how much he enjoys getting out and meeting neighbors. The Mayor does not speak with the City Council with any regularity much less neighborhoods. Adding police officers? We have the same number of officers today as we had 20 years ago with 200,000 more people. The Mayor’s relationship with the good men and women of our police and fire forces is nothing less than toxic. Want to understand the situation? Walk up to any member of the OKC Police and Fire force, any random member, and ask them their opinion of Mick Cornett, his working relationship with them, his understanding of the police manpower study and the future needs of this city in terms of public safety and who they would prefer as Mayor. Those who are not already aware will understand how preposterous it is for the Mayor to portray himself as a public safety advocate. Spending large amounts on streets? Developer after developer was able to get their streets widened and sidewalks built in areas where virtually no one lives in the range of $200 million while the streets in neighborhood after neighborhood have to wait as long as 20 more years to get their potholes filled. The misallocation of resources in the ’07 Bond promoted by the Mayor makes concerns about MAPS3 projects pale in comparison.
Notice how Roy Williams tries to turn a perceived weakness of the Mayor into a strength (“The fact that he is interested and wants to stay in that role, I think that bodes well for OKC”). The Mayor is tired. 13 straight years is a long time on the horseshoe. He spent enormous sums of money and almost every other week for two years during his last term getting a MBA in New York City (because OKC apparently does not have adequate MBA programs). Reports of the mayor actively searching for a mayoral replacement because he did not know if he would finish this last term led to uncertainty among some members of the city council. According to sources he had to be repeatedly lobbied by the Chamber to convince him to run. He offers no opinions much less solutions to the most controversial subjects in front of the council; in fact, he generally maintains complete silence. The Mayor was apparently looking for an exit strategy (one does not need an MBA from NYU to be Mayor of OKC although it might be useful for a board seat at Chesapeake), did not find one, was lobbied by those concerned that our campaign is going to be successful and is now running to stay on the horseshoe for years 14-17.
There are much better ways to lead the city and make decisions. There is much which needs to be done. I look forward to seeing everyone at the Downtown Farmer’s Market on August 15th from 6-8pm as I outline how we can make more inclusive, fiscally responsible decisions which will prepare our city for the 21st century.

[CaptDave]

We will see if Shadid is about himself or about the people of OKC. An overly negative and divisive campaign is a sign he is more about being in power and being right than being for the progress of OKC. Since he has no successes to get credit for, he probably only can be negative about the other candidate. Name ONE thing he has championed and got implemented....either a success or failure in the public's eye. Then name ONE that the public believes is a SUCCESS.

Like most radical right, it is more about what he is against than what he is for.

To be fair, Councilman Shadid did champion the LGBT equality resolution adopted by the City Council and I am/was in complete agreement with him about needing to revise the plans for the OKC Boulevard. But otherwise I think you and others are correct he is more known for opposing nearly everything and not being for (and providing solutions for) much of anything. I think he suffers from analysis paralysis and that is not a good attribute for a leader.

[adaniel]

Really? You are going to attack your opponent via newspaper comments? That's what 16 year old trolls do on the internet.

Not desperate at all, I see.

[Spartan]

In a 2-minute video, Cornett said he was “proud of what we've accomplished” and looked ahead to strengthening neighborhoods, creating more high-quality jobs and improving streets, “where we're investing more than ever before.”

When will you start improving streets? The city is way behind in this work as it is.

I'm sorry, but are you on bath salts??

OKC's roads are paved with the finest cut of pork

[Snowman]

While I may have missed the very initial ads from his last campaign, it semmed like he took it negative fairly quickly and it got worse as time went on. By the end wasn't he even accusing at like a third of the council of being in big donors pockets, he probably would have raged against more if the entire council was voted on at the same time.

[soonerguru]

I think he has already started the negativity. The divide and conquer strategy is clear is this first salvo. It will likely only get worse from here.

Below is Ed's comment on the NewsOK.com story about Mayor Cornett's candidacy announcement Oklahoma City Mayor Cornett to seek fourth term, says 'work's not done' | News OK


Ed Shadid commented on NewsOK.com.
17 minutes ago ·
Poll-driven chameleon-like marketing by anonymous big money is not going to work this time; not with the Mayor’s 13-year track record. Just as occurred in my city council race, and the more recent Ward 1 city council race, anonymous independent expenditure organizations are spending large amounts of money engaging in at least two major live polls (which would cost in the $50,000-$70,000 range) and other expensive support activity for the Mayor’s campaign. The seemingly coordinated strategy of the Independent Expenditure and the Mayor is easily predictable: take the Mayor’s weaknesses and portray them as strengths. The Mayor’s record on public safety, neighborhood advocacy (especially when pitted against special interests), and street and sidewalk investments is abysmal and yet, those issues dominate his messaging. The Mayor tells the same joke at national meeting after national meeting making fun of those neighborhood advocates who question the allocation of resources in OKC (Mick says some variation of “Many people in the suburbs do not like the emphasis on downtown, but I tell them you may not like it but your children and grandchildren will like it and you know what, they are angry because they know I am right”) and now wants us to know how much he enjoys getting out and meeting neighbors. The Mayor does not speak with the City Council with any regularity much less neighborhoods. Adding police officers? We have the same number of officers today as we had 20 years ago with 200,000 more people. The Mayor’s relationship with the good men and women of our police and fire forces is nothing less than toxic. Want to understand the situation? Walk up to any member of the OKC Police and Fire force, any random member, and ask them their opinion of Mick Cornett, his working relationship with them, his understanding of the police manpower study and the future needs of this city in terms of public safety and who they would prefer as Mayor. Those who are not already aware will understand how preposterous it is for the Mayor to portray himself as a public safety advocate. Spending large amounts on streets? Developer after developer was able to get their streets widened and sidewalks built in areas where virtually no one lives in the range of $200 million while the streets in neighborhood after neighborhood have to wait as long as 20 more years to get their potholes filled. The misallocation of resources in the ’07 Bond promoted by the Mayor makes concerns about MAPS3 projects pale in comparison.
Notice how Roy Williams tries to turn a perceived weakness of the Mayor into a strength (“The fact that he is interested and wants to stay in that role, I think that bodes well for OKC”). The Mayor is tired. 13 straight years is a long time on the horseshoe. He spent enormous sums of money and almost every other week for two years during his last term getting a MBA in New York City (because OKC apparently does not have adequate MBA programs). Reports of the mayor actively searching for a mayoral replacement because he did not know if he would finish this last term led to uncertainty among some members of the city council. According to sources he had to be repeatedly lobbied by the Chamber to convince him to run. He offers no opinions much less solutions to the most controversial subjects in front of the council; in fact, he generally maintains complete silence. The Mayor was apparently looking for an exit strategy (one does not need an MBA from NYU to be Mayor of OKC although it might be useful for a board seat at Chesapeake), did not find one, was lobbied by those concerned that our campaign is going to be successful and is now running to stay on the horseshoe for years 14-17.
There are much better ways to lead the city and make decisions. There is much which needs to be done. I look forward to seeing everyone at the Downtown Farmer’s Market on August 15th from 6-8pm as I outline how we can make more inclusive, fiscally responsible decisions which will prepare our city for the 21st century.

This is not an effective campaign strategy. Notice how Cornett lays out a positive
vision in a nice video montage, Shadid is ranting and raving in the comment section of NewsOK. This does nothing to amplify HIS vision of the city and only reinforces the stereotype of an angry, undisciplined iconoclast. This will not win him new voters and will likely cause him to lose support from people who may have supported him.

The bizarre subtext in this "introduction" to the voters is that Shadid is basically saying: if you're angry at Cornett like me, come to my party. This will only appeal to very angry people.
'

[Tier2City]

Maybe Shadid needs a hug?

[king183]

I don't see Shadid going negative, and I think (hope) he'll go positive for two reasons: 1) Cornett is a successful and popular mayor, and attacks on him could easily backfire; and 2) If Shadid loses after a negative campaign, he'll still be a council member, but with less political capital.

Shadid will definitely go negative; some argue he already has.

If you're familiar with his past campaigns, especially his little-remembered campaigns as the Independent "Green Party" candidate for State House, you know he goes hard negative as a primary tactic. There's also an odd tinge of conspiracy theory sprinkled throughout his material. It doesn't reach tinfoil hat level, but it is weird.

This race is going to get ugly. Just wait.

[Rover]

Angry people work hard to make other people angry. They pick easy targets and play to stereotypes. They divide peoples to gain strength themselves. They are against everything and for nothing. Is this what we want to portray as our city? Think about how he would play in the national press. Definitely a step backwards for Oklahoma.

[zookeeper]

Shadid will definitely go negative; some argue he already has.

If you're familiar with his past campaigns, especially his little-remembered campaigns as the Independent "Green Party" candidate for State House, you know he goes hard negative as a primary tactic. There's also an odd tinge of conspiracy theory sprinkled throughout his material. It doesn't reach tinfoil hat level, but it is weird.

This race is going to get ugly. Just wait.

Unfortunately, I think you're right. Shadid has the money, personally, to air the negative attacks as often as he wants. I think much will depend on how much he really believes he can win.

The one criticism I do hear over and over from people who watch the council is that Mick is so quiet and rarely gets involved as you would think a leader does. However, the power lies in the office of the City Manager and as long as Mayor Cornett does well in promoting Oklahoma City and presents himself and our city well, he's got my vote. That may not be my typical criteria for electing a public official, but in this election - it is.

[bradh]

Shadid is using online comment sections? The dregs of the internet?

This guy is a clown. He's trying to look "cool" by mocking Cornett on twitter and using cute hash tags. OKC doesn't need that kind of unprofessionalism.

[soonerguru]

Angry people work hard to make other people angry. They pick easy targets and play to stereotypes. They divide peoples to gain strength themselves. They are against everything and for nothing. Is this what we want to portray as our city? Think about how he would play in the national press. Definitely a step backwards for Oklahoma.

Perhaps Shadid needs to work on his math skills: there aren't enough angry voters for him to win. And national press? We wouldn't get any!

[zookeeper]

He needs to stop listening to one person. There is one person I'm putting a ton of blame on. I feel horrible that I didn't see this person's impact as being as severe as it is. I'm floored, ashamed, and washing my hands of them.

This is going to be such an embarrassment for the city.

Ralph Nader?

I think you're probably talking about the ant-streetcar guy, but he and Nader are big buddies and talk often. I can see Nader pushing him too.

[betts]

He spent enormous sums of money and almost every other week for two years during his last term getting a MBA in New York City (because OKC apparently does not have adequate MBA programs).

I cannot refute every point of Shadid's, although I sees some apparent inaccuracies, but this is one subject I know something about because my son starts his MBA program in several weeks, and NYU was one of the schools to which he applied. Every MBA program is different, and some have different strengths and weaknesses. So, one chooses schools to apply to based on their areas of expertise. NYU's Executive MBA program(the every-other weekend course I'm assuming the mayor was enrolled in) ranks in the top 10 of executive MBA programs, and in some rankings is in the top 5. In Oklahoma I believe only OU offers the executive MBA and their courses are evening rather than weekend courses. It may be that their schedule did not fit with the mayor's free time. OU's part time MBA program is not even ranked in the top 100 executive MBA programs, per the Financial Times. I don't think it's unreasonable to choose a top ten program if one is going to spend time and money getting a degree. In addition, while Dr. Shadid attended OU College of Medicine, he did his residency and fellowship in New York and San Francisco. We have an orthopedic residency here in Oklahoma City that he could have attended. I wonder why he chose not to?

As far as the mayor spending enormous sums of money, as long as he's not spending the city's money, I don't really think that's anyone's business. No one has criticized Dr. Shadid for buying a floor of the Founder's Tower in which to live. I can guarantee you that apartment cost far more than Mayor Cornett's MBA. In addition, MBA programs are phenomenally generous with scholarships and I suspect Mayor Cornett's credentials garnered him a hefty scholarship. My son is going to the University of Chicago on a free ride and his only claim to fame is that he was in the military (which is providing some but not most of that free ride). Perhaps Dr. Shadid knows the financial details of the tuition the mayor paid, but I wouldn't be shocked to find that he made those comments without documentation.

When in the spotlight that a mayoral candidate attracts, too many inaccurate statements cause people to be unsure of what they can believe.

[catch22]

He needs to stop listening to one person. There is one person I'm putting a ton of blame on. I feel horrible that I didn't see this person's impact as being as severe as it is. I'm floored, ashamed, and washing my hands of them.

This is going to be such an embarrassment for the city.

Welcome back Sid!

[soonerguru]

He needs to stop listening to one person. There is one person I'm putting a ton of blame on. I feel horrible that I didn't see this person's impact as being as severe as it is. I'm floored, ashamed, and washing my hands of them.

This is going to be such an embarrassment for the city.

I THINK I know which person you're talking about, but I actually don't think Ed listens to that person much either. In my experience, he usually seeks confirmation, not advice, and in the occasional case when he does seek advice, he ignores it.

[soonerguru]

It's ridiculous to criticize an elected official for seeking a higher degree. I for one am thrilled the mayor advanced his education at a prestigious university. I'm even more thrilled that, as our mayor, he got to learn more about our nation's greatest city! This is awesome that our mayor now has that perspective!

[kevinpate]

Perhaps Shadid needs to work on his math skills: there aren't enough angry voters for him to win. And national press? We wouldn't get any!

You may be underestimating the angry voter count. You wouldn't be the first to do so. Take the Not this Maps group (somewhat evident he's doing so in the ask any PS and FD person pitch) add in the folks w/o reliable transportation who are mad that they can't accept jobs with weekend hours, add in the folks who, while I do not agree with them, think streetcars and downtown focus are for only the elite and not the general populace, add in the waste is everywhere I look at govt. spending. If you appeal to enough wads of mad folk, the spittle and motivation can be daunting, even if they do not like each other.

Not much different than the folks who despise the cc but wanted a streetcar so much they's have approved just about anything else.

Going to be an interesting race in my opinion. I also think okc ought to keep their mayo, but that's just an outsider perspective.

[OKCTalker]

CaptDave, thanks for the text from Shadid's NewsOK comment. Although he's not overly negative in a conventional political sense, he's clearly floundering as evidence by his choice of forums and the tone of his remarks.

[zookeeper]

CaptDave, thanks for the text from Shadid's NewsOK comment. Although he's not overly negative in a conventional political sense, he's clearly floundering as evidence by his choice of forums and the tone of his remarks.

His NewsOK comment was basically just an abridged version of his Facebook "response" to the Mayor's announcement on re-election. If you read it, you'll see how nasty it's going to be. He even leaps into Mick's mind as to what he's going to do with that MBA. Sad, really.
https://www.facebook.com/ShadidForOK...30624903718224 (Full Facebook response)

[bradh]

he's treating this like he's running for Student Government

[zookeeper]

Oops. Double post. Please delete.