Who says money doesn't buy influence?
Two men who have given thousands of campaign dollars to incoming city councilors have pushed for the chairman selection process to be scrapped in favor of a newcomer assuming the leadership post.
If tradition is upheld, Councilor G.T. Bynum would become the chair since it regularly rotates between the political parties and goes to the most-tenured person who has not yet held the title.
But donor Ben Latham, GBR Properties president, told the Tulsa World that he, Burt Holmes, an insurance executive, or both of them had meetings with six of the new councilors about breaking the custom.
“I don’t believe in the tradition that the guy who has been around the longest is necessarily the best to lead or is supposed to be the chairman,” he said.
Choosing the chair and vice chair will be the first actions the new City Council will take during a special meeting following the 2 p.m. Monday inauguration at the University of Tulsa’s Lorton Performance Center.
Latham said the council’s future leadership was discussed with Councilors-elect Jeannie Cue, David Patrick, Karen Gilbert, Skip Steele, Tom Mansur and Phil Lakin Jr. when he and Holmes were trying to decide whether to give them campaign money.
“Our suggestion (to them) was ‘You should cast out the old traditions, whatever they are and be your own council’ and that is still our suggestion,” he said.
Latham said the two were “not trying to control the council.”
Read more from this Tulsa World article at
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20111203_298_0_Twomen487672
