Stan Geiger

The Kat Put Herself Out

Tulsa Mayor Kat Taylor just pulled an LBJ. She has announced she won't seek another term.

Fascinating.

Taylor has put forth a lot of reasons for the bailout. All of them are, of course, nonsense.

Meanwhile, speculation abounds that she is stepping our of the mayoral job looking to move up the political ladder. I'm not so sure about that, either. It just could be she pulled an LBJ for the same reason LBJ pulled an LBJ. In other words, maybe she doesn't think she could win another term. Or, if she figures she could, maybe she doesn't want to eat the heat for all the unpopular crap she's done.

Taylor has pushed city utility bills up. She backed a sales tax increase for river development. That tax went down in a public vote. She backed a property tax increase for street improvements. That one passed. Why? I have no idea. That project has produced no results to date, by the way. And yet, in the midst of all that "revenue enhancement," Taylor has failed to come through on her biggest campaign promise: that of increasing the number of cops on the streets.

But, ya know, perhaps the most irritating part of Taylor's comments regarding her lack of interest in seeking a second term have to do with her complaint about partisanship.

Let's see, a woman paints the word "Democrat" on her forehead, runs for office under that label, no doubt donates money to the party---and the candidates thereof---then she complains of partisanship. Good grief.

When I turned 18, I registered as a Democrat. I reckon I did so because my mom was a Democrat. She is still a Democrat---though she could probably count the number of Democrats she has voted for in the last 30 years on one hand.

Sometime in the '80s, I don't recall exactly when, I changed to Republican. Then, in '93 or '94, I re-registered as an Independent. I'm still an Independent. And I have no plans of changing my registration again. My vote belongs to me, not some party. My allegiance is for me to determine, not some party.

So if I want to complain of partisan politics, I reckon I have the right. But, in my mind, nobody that is signed on to a political party has the right to complain of partisanship. Being a part of a political party makes one---by definition---a partisan.

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