OKC Mayor Race 2014

[Doug Loudenback]

Not that I think that it matters to anyone buy myself, but today I have made the choice to support Ed Shadid in his mayoral campaign. Sometime next week, I'll post a blog post saying why. It was not an easy choice, but I am persuaded that I made my choice for the right reasons (which, by the way, have nothing to do with a snapshot of the Okc skyline or Jill's assertions that Shadid is not a truthful person ... even though such items will be discussed in my upcoming blog post).

That's it for now.

[betts]

We will have to agree to disagree. I feel VERY comfortable choosing Mayor Cornett, for what I feel are all the right reasons.

[David]

I'm looking forward to reading that blog post then, because at the moment that is a decision that I just don't comprehend.

[SoonerDave]

We will have to agree to disagree. I feel VERY comfortable choosing Mayor Cornett, for what I feel are all the right reasons.

Ditto. Cannot fathom how anyone can, at this point, rationalize support for Shadid, but that is certainly the prerogative of anyone and everyone in the voting public. Thankful we have the choice to disagree about the choices

[soonerguru]

I thought Doug was a streetcar / MAPS 3 supporter. Bummer. Oh well. He must have been one of the six people on this board who supported Shadid in the poll out of 100 votes.

[bradh]

What does Shadid stand for other atheists, buses, and cops? I now see he wants to cut zoo funding in HALF for buses.

For the millionth time, people aren't attracted to your city because of buses and cops.

[CaptDave]

The Zoo thing again? Good lord - you'd think he might have learned his lesson on that one.

[OSUFan]

Throw out all the divorce stuff and all the personal feelings people have towards Ed. End of the day it boils down to one point for me. Ed's campaign is anti-MAPS and anti-downtown development. Shadid will say he isn't and that he just want things done right. However, if you ever talk to an Ed supporter or campaign worker they to a person are against every single MAPS project and anything to do with downtown. They don't want a Convention Center, they don't want a street car, they don't want a park, they don't want river improvements. MAPS may not be perfect and I am all for as much scrutiny as possible during the process. However, I cannot even begin to fathom the mindset that MAPS has been a bad thing for our community. To a person, anyone from the Shadid campaign I've talked to has thought MAPS is a bad thing for our community. Not just MAPS 3 but the entire program. I just don't get it.

[betts]

KeepAmericaBeautiful (@kabtweet)
2/6/14, 7:53 AM
"The heart and soul of every community, besides its people, is its downtown." - @Roger_Brooks #KAB2014 pic.twitter.com/1HTjBda3zj

How can you argue with Keep America Beautiful?

[CuatrodeMayo]

...and the race card is played:

Lack of Diversity in appointments to city boards, trusts ... | Divers?

[betts]

He's going to play every card he can find. Why don't we ask Councilman Pettis to comment on this? Ed is a rich white male who is in the 1%. Perhaps he should resign to allow a more diverse candidate take his place.

[Tier2City]

Did the Mayor make all of these appointments? NO. The Mayor & Council did. How many of the current appointments did Shadid personally approve in the last three years? Probably a high proportion. How many did he vote against?

[Tier2City]

Link just died.

Shocker.

[catch22]

I'm ready for the election so we can get this nonsense behind us.

[LakeEffect]

Link just died. Was going to ask the question, how many of those did he approve, since the Mayor doesn't actually appointed anyone to these committees that the council doesn't confirm.

It's a very good question.

When we had an opening on HP Commission, the current HP Officer spent an extra month or two seeking out someone from the African-American community to serve, but couldn't find anyone. The lack of diversity may be more related to other issues (lack of overall involvement and connections) much more so than it is related to NOT wanting diverse committees.

[Bellaboo]

It ought to be about time Edgar shows back up to this thread......like clockwork.

[Edgar]

He's going to play every card he can find. Why don't we ask Councilman Pettis to comment on this? Ed is a rich white male who is in the 1%. Perhaps he should resign to allow a more diverse candidate take his place.

If he were a Walid rather than Ed, would he be white? Point is, he cares about long neglected other 99%.

[betts]

Hey, did they look at women? Aren't we part of the diversity equation? I didn't see any girl faces.

[catch22]

It's a very good question.

When we had an opening on HP Commission, the current HP Officer spent an extra month or two seeking out someone from the African-American community to serve, but couldn't find anyone. The lack of diversity may be more related to other issues (lack of overall involvement and connections) much more so than it is related to NOT wanting diverse committees.

Exactly. You can not force someone to participate. I don't even like talking about race. If someone is interested in helping our city, and is knowledgeable about what they want to help with. I don't care what the color of their skin is. Why is this an issue? I'm sure Cornett feels the same way.

But, you can't force someone to participate. I recall from the city council meeting with the streetcar route; where Shadid began this race card issue, it was mentioned that no one even stepped up from the black community to volunteer. I'm ready for Shadid to go away. He has completely divided this community, very quickly. He has already caused severe damage to this city's momentum. I am just worn out with him.

[Edgar]

Throw out all the divorce stuff and all the personal feelings people have towards Ed. End of the day it boils down to one point for me. Ed's campaign is anti-MAPS and anti-downtown development. Shadid will say he isn't and that he just want things done right. However, if you ever talk to an Ed supporter or campaign worker they to a person are against every single MAPS project and anything to do with downtown. They don't want a Convention Center, they don't want a street car, they don't want a park, they don't want river improvements. MAPS may not be perfect and I am all for as much scrutiny as possible during the process. However, I cannot even begin to fathom the mindset that MAPS has been a bad thing for our community. To a person, anyone from the Shadid campaign I've talked to has thought MAPS is a bad thing for our community. Not just MAPS 3 but the entire program. I just don't get it.

you're confusing the half baked not ready for prime time MAPSIII with a quite popular franchise.
Did you notice OKC taking a page out of the national voter suppression playbook and limiting early voting opportunities, no more Saturday voting limiting the avaiabilty of working stiffs to the polls. I wouldn't worry Mayor Mick fans. If you compare facebook likes Mick will win by about 5000 votes, and is there a better barometer than social media, unless there are tea partiers and fiscal conservatives who secretly plan on voting for Shadid but don't want to publically like a guy who may have smoked crack with a gay prostitute. Interesting race. has any polling been done. I honestly know equal numbers of supporters on both sides. what's the gut feeling? Impossible to know?

[LakeEffect]

you're confusing the half baked not ready for prime time MAPSIII with a quite popular franchise.
Did you notice OKC taking a page out of the national voter suppression playbook and limiting early voting opportunities, no more Saturday voting limiting the avaiabilty of working stiffs to the polls. I wouldn't worry Mayor Mick fans. If you compare facebook likes Mick will win by about 5000 votes, and is there a better barometer than social media, unless there are tea partiers and fiscal conservatives who secretly plan on voting for Shadid but don't want to publically like a guy who may have smoked crack with a gay prostitute. Interesting race. has any polling been done. I honestly know equal numbers of supporters on both sides. what's the gut feeling? Impossible to know?

OKC has no say in when and where early voting is allowed.

[Edgar]

OKC has no say in when and where early voting is allowed.

Who makes that call? It's new this year.

[LakeEffect]

Who makes that call? It's new this year.

State law and County Election Board rules. Oklahoma State Election Board - Early Voting Early voting on Saturdays is only for State and/or Federal elections.

[DoctorTaco]

When is the last day to register?

[betts]

All the MAPS Committees were selected from people who volunteered, as far as I know.

As far as Ed not being white: If you're Lebanese, rich, male and Christian, a surgeon, went to Casady and Northwestern, you're white in Oklahoma City.