The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Anyone have insight on the candidates?

I found this on the TW site from December:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/find-out-who-s-considering-a-run-to-replace-stanley/article_c14b530f-fa6e-5737-999e-250821e54e59.html (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/find-out-who-s-considering-a-run-to-replace-stanley/article_c14b530f-fa6e-5737-999e-250821e54e59.html)

Campaigning to replace Glanz so far are John Fitzpatrick, Dan Miller and Jim Rice

Fitzpatrick, 59, has been a reserve officer for the Tulsa Police Department for 10 years
 His duties have included work with homicide detectives, the bicycle patrol, retail crime detectives and the Special Investigations Division, according to biographic information he provided.
Fitzpatrick served 14 years as a fighter pilot in the Air National Guard with Tulsa’s 125th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Additionally, he has held senior management positions with companies that include Hewlett-Packard and Harley-Davidson.

Miller, 49, is a Tulsa Police Department corporal who is a detective in the Auto Theft Division. Miller, who said he has 20 years of experience on the police force, worked for 15 years in north Tulsa as a field patrol supervisor, is qualified to go into manmade or natural disaster situations and manage them.

Rice, 61, said he has 30 years of law enforcement experience, including serving as the Oologah police chief from 1980 to 1984. Most recently, Rice said, he spent four years in Mounds as the sergeant in charge of the K-9 Unit. He also said he was a warrant officer in the Marine Corps and a helicopter pilot.

There’s a new-ish sheriff in town.

Acting Tulsa County Sheriff Michelle Robinette took over in mid-January when then-Acting Sheriff Rick Weigel suddenly retired three months after taking the reins from former Sheriff Stanley Glanz. Robinette made time last week to talk to local reporters.

Public Information Officer Justin Green and top staffers Terry Simonson and Meredith Baker were also in the meeting.

AUDIO: KWGS Sits Down With Acting Tulsa County Sheriff Michelle Robinette

http://publicradiotulsa.org/term/local-regional (http://publicradiotulsa.org/term/local-regional)

How in the Hell is Terry Simonson still in the game?

Because nothing of real significance has actually changed with TCSO?

Nah, everything's fixed now.


Deputy anxious to join in high-speed chase does U-turn on overpass, tickets driver he hit.

Links...you've got to supply links or it's a cop car after hitting a water buffalo.

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/65/31/1b/65311be1e5440cb568954af75d5e2fc0.jpg)

During the vehicle pursuit, a deputy tried to make a U-turn on the 21st Street overpass above Interstate 244 to help in the chase. The vehicle behind the deputy struck the cruiser as it turned, Green said. That driver was issued a citation for following too closely.

Google image search...

KFAQ has interviews with several candidates posted on their website:
http://www.1170kfaq.com/podcasts/TulsaCoSheriff

Is immigration what Tulsans see as a Sheriff's highest priority?   Sounds a bit Arpaio.

The Sheriff’s Office will always strive to carry out its motto,

“Total Commitment Serving Others”

(http://www.tcso.org/tcsoweb/img/Home01222016.png)

Thanks, but I was thinking more about the candidate's TV ads that are currently running.

I predict Vic Regalado will come in first with Luke Sherman second.

Mike Huff is strongly endorsing Vic.  Mike seems to be pretty good guy to me, so that will probably sway me unless I hear something else seriously bruising.

My poorly made point was that immigration isn't listed in the mission of the Sheriff's office.

Illegal immigration is an overblown issue that gets all the rednecks in a kerfuffle. 

It goes deeper than that.

Having something on your resume like "I was in charge of one of the most corrupt divisions of TPD that the DOJ investigated" or "I made the 'War On Drugs' profitable" or "I work for the unions" seems a lot like we are trading one mobster for another.

Replacing Glandz with anyone making a career out of WOD or Vice-Squad-like activity is just re-arranging the chairs.

They worked together, so no real surprise that Huff would endorse him.

I’ve met Luke Sherman before, he seems like a really solid guy as well.  I think either one could be a good sheriff.

True.  I had some casual acquaintance with Mike as new cop and saw him from time to time over the years on news reports, etc.  Always seemed to be decent guy, so still gonna go with what he says....I just have no first hand input on Sherman, but if you like him he is probably good guy, too.   Either one ok with me....

On TPD homicide -
TPD homicide had Roy Hunt for many years!  He was a very good guy with whom I had several years of a semi-business relationship....no, I didn't kill anyone...  Liked Roy a lot.

And then there was Tommy Gresham....whew!  What a mess!  He was always fun to have a drag race with - kind of a Dirty Harry Wannabe.  Even with his "quirks", I liked the guy on a personal basis, but he and a couple of his buddies really should not have ever been cops.

Got a slick 4-color postcard where one candidate promises to end the good ol' boy system, while its flipside shows all the good ol' boy endorsements.
I dont think I've ever voted for someone based on those anyway, so no matter.

Funny to hear the establishment guys talk about doing away with good ole boy....   

The stunning thing to me is how he made a story out of what is considered standard practice in politics. Its even more true in Tulsa. Make good friends with insiders, movers, the wealthy and the activists and you have a lot better chance of succeeding in Tulsa politics. Can't blame him for that.
However, when I read the TCSO's mission statement I didn't see anything about immigration. He who has the funding and is willing to glom onto the most popular conservative meme's will get elected in Tulsa. I'm surprised he didn't rail at abortion as well.

Regalado's finance report fails to list the PAC's as required in Oklahoma Ethics Commission rules, as well as the identification number of another PAC that gave to his campaign.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/quarter-of-tulsa-county-sheriff-candidate-vic-regalado-s-campaign/article_36626fdd-35c0-5692-bf15-f30482a5339e.html

Nah, everything's fixed now.


Deputy anxious to join in high-speed chase does U-turn on overpass, tickets driver he hit.

(http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/tulsaworld.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/b2/3b207689-8078-52fb-bdb7-938d066fcdd4/56c218f7caaec.image.jpg?resize=760%2C570)

The Frontier wrote this about Regalado's finances:

"Levi Gonzalez and his wife don’t live in Tulsa County and can’t vote for Vic Regalado in Tuesday’s election for sheriff.

But records show they each gave Regalado’s campaign $2,500 on Feb. 12.

On the same day, six other people who work at the same industrial construction company with Gonzalez — ISTI Plant Services — also gave Regalado’s campaign between $2,500 and $2,700, the maximum contribution allowed. Their spouses, all but one listing her occupation as homemaker, gave matching amounts.

Three days later, another employee at ISTI and a woman who lives with him in Rogers County gave Regalado’s campaign $2,700 each. The employee,  25-year-old Justin Gonzalez, has felony drug and firearm convictions as well as a misdemeanor conviction of eluding police in Rogers County.

...Altogether, eight employees of ISTI Plant Services and six spouses contributed $34,350 to Regalado’s campaign, with nearly all of that donated on Feb. 12, records show. That figure accounts for almost 25 percent of the $147,000 that individuals have contributed to Regalado’s campaign since October, records show."

Gotta admire all these fine civic-minded folks. There's certainly not even a hint of corruption here.

The Frontier wrote this about Regalado's finances:

"Levi Gonzalez and his wife don’t live in Tulsa County and can’t vote for Vic Regalado in Tuesday’s election for sheriff.

But records show they each gave Regalado’s campaign $2,500 on Feb. 12.

On the same day, six other people who work at the same industrial construction company with Gonzalez — ISTI Plant Services — also gave Regalado’s campaign between $2,500 and $2,700, the maximum contribution allowed. Their spouses, all but one listing her occupation as homemaker, gave matching amounts.

Three days later, another employee at ISTI and a woman who lives with him in Rogers County gave Regalado’s campaign $2,700 each. The employee,  25-year-old Justin Gonzalez, has felony drug and firearm convictions as well as a misdemeanor conviction of eluding police in Rogers County.

...Altogether, eight employees of ISTI Plant Services and six spouses contributed $34,350 to Regalado’s campaign, with nearly all of that donated on Feb. 12, records show. That figure accounts for almost 25 percent of the $147,000 that individuals have contributed to Regalado’s campaign since October, records show."

Gotta admire all these fine civic-minded folks. There's certainly not even a hint of corruption here.

Regalado's finance report fails to list the PAC's as required in Oklahoma Ethics Commission rules, as well as the identification number of another PAC that gave to his campaign.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/quarter-of-tulsa-county-sheriff-candidate-vic-regalado-s-campaign/article_36626fdd-35c0-5692-bf15-f30482a5339e.html

I’m curious how ISTI’s comptroller is going to account for funneling all that money through various individuals...  

Oh wait!  I know!  It must have been when everyone at ISTI received their quarterly bonus and they were feeling really generous.

There’s big donors from OKC on his list, he seems to be the GOP’s guy.  Certainly none of these donors are going to become reserve deputies or property appraisers under good ol’ boy Vic.

Luke Sherman has gotten endorsements from people I respect. Checked out his website, listened to his ads, he seems to be a qualified candidate and a reasonable person. In spite of being in law enforcement and chasing bad guys for 20+ years, I don't get the gun-ho militant vibe that seems so common. More like he would prefer to find ways for the community to stop crimes, as opposed to looking for opportunities to go break heads.

I don't know the man, but seems legit to me.


The Vic situation is concerning. How and why so many people at one small company decided to throw money at him seems mighty suspicious. Certainly appears to be less than full transparency in my opinion. Given that we are having a special election for  Sheriff due to corruption, I'm a bit gun-shy of cash transactions that look fuzzy. Anyone hear an explanation from the campaign? It would suck for him if he had nothing to do with it and someone was "trying to help."

So is there a plan for periodic audits of the Sheriff's department?

Now that's a story. No meaningless references to home values, and donations from outside the county or even the state isn't damning, but a strong indication that these donations were planted by a company skirting the rules. Still, probably not uncommon and hard to prosecute.

The county is a scary operation and its enforcement arm is the stuff of B movies.

Am wondering if a company boss is contributing for employees in their name...?

That has some strange oddness to it...

The local Democratic Party contends most of the donors live in "modest middle or working class housing," with several spouses not working outside of the home. One donor is a convicted felon and several donors live in Rogers County or aren't registered voters, according to the news release. The party argues it's "very unusual" for such people to contribute large sums of money.

"The strong circumstantial evidence leads to just one conclusion: someone else other than the contributor supplied the funds," said Greg Bledsoe, Tulsa County Democratic Party vice chair, in a prepared statement. "Someone is trying to buy this election. The Tulsa Democratic Party calls on the Vic Regalado Campaign to return the questionable funds immediately."

The ethics complaint is dated Monday and asks for the matter to be investigated by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation because Regalado is a Tulsa police officer who is running for sheriff of Tulsa County.

Oh boy has this gotten fun! Hell of a soap opera.

The Democratic Party held a press conference and called the donations into question:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/tulsa-democratic-party-requests-investigation-into-sheriff-candidate-vic-regalado/article_470cefa4-b446-5f43-a908-45f0d7a2c4cc.html

Basically all the information Bates dug up:

http://www.batesline.com/archives/2016/02/tulsa-sheriff-vic-regalado.html

Ric showed up at Democratic HQ and grabbed the mic! The Smolen Law firm is re-tweeting a lot of the drama:

https://twitter.com/smolenroytman

Ric has doubled down, saying he looked over all the donors. Apparently it has something to do with racism and questioning Hispanic donors and he is proud of all of his donors. But the campaign did admit it is returning some of the money, the money received from a disenfranchised convicted felon.

Coupled with the national attention of the taser shooting, the indictment of our Sheriff, and the recent verdict against TCSO for enabling rape at the jail... this is a great way get a fresh start and gain the public trust.

Who crashes an opposing party press conference in any race of any statute?

You just knew it was coming.  Now the Tulsa County Democratic Party is into racial profiling.  I wish I could find the link to the KOTV story from last night, some Tulsa area Hispanic group was taking Vic’s claims of racial profiling and running with it.

This presents a serious issue with Regalado:  If ethics issues come up when he is sheriff (let’s face it accepting straw donations is a serious ethical issue), is he going to hide behind being Hispanic and claim it’s all racially-motivated witch hunts?

Remember people, it’s just like Obama:  Most people have no issue with his heritage or skin color, it’s his ethics and policies that are turning off the "angry white men”.

This really reeks of “more of the same” in TCSD leadership if he finds himself elected.  You also have to wonder about this guy’s temper by crashing someone else’s news conference.  'Roid rage much?

Vote for Berry, and vote often.

“I should be the one complaining,” Simonson says. “How come I get hired by these people who heretofore seem to have a great reputation, get elected, and then crap happens?

A fellow attorney walked up to Terry Simonson a few weeks ago and, with a knowing smirk on his face, asked him if he’d prefer to be back in private practice doing divorces and bankruptcies.

The Board of County Commissioners had just agreed to grant disgraced Sheriff Stanley Glanz retired peace officer status, and a horde of media was gathered at the courthouse to record the vote.

Simonson, Glanz’s right-hand man for the past two years, looked up at the lawyer and laughed his hard, deep laugh, one that seems to inevitably mix genuine good humor with a groaning sense that, sure enough, the joke’s on him. Again.

Simonson can laugh at himself because he knows that a lot of people have laughed at him. And cursed him, and criticized him, and, when it suits their purposes, forgotten about him.

“NO Simonson commentary.”

That’s how Mayor Dewey Bartlett’s press secretary responded to a request to talk to Bartlett about his longtime friend and former chief of staff.

That’s OK with Simonson. He understands how the game is played. He’s been playing it himself since 1980, when he moved from Kansas to Tulsa to become the city’s first court administrator under then-Mayor Jim Inhofe.

And who knows, maybe there’s more fight in him yet. Maybe the nine lives of Terry Simonson will become the 10 lives of Terry Simonson.

Or maybe we’re miscounting. Maybe Terry Simonson hasn’t been in the middle of every political mess this town has seen in the last 35 years. Maybe we’re mis-remembering, as they say.

Maybe.

This much we know: Simonson isn’t planning to go away just yet. He says he’d like to work for the next sheriff, and insists that if that that doesn’t happen, plenty of people around county government have expressed interest in his services.

(edited for brevity, full article: https://www.readfrontier.com/spotlight/moving-from-controversy-to-crisis-simonson-survives-in-the-spotlight/

Then one day in 1979 a job announcement arrived in the mail. The city of Tulsa was looking for its first court administrator.

Simonson, son of a hardware store owner, applied and got the job.

He’d never been to Tulsa in his life.

Who, me?

Simonson has the rest of his story all written down. He slides his resume and a separate list of “Crisis Management” positions he’s held across his desk.

1986-1988: Chief of staff to Mayor Richard Crawford. Crisis: Collapse of city budget due to oil recession and spike in unemployment

2007-2009: County Commissioner Randi Miller’s chief deputy: Crisis: Closing of Bell’s Amusement Park and the community reaction

2009-2011: Chief of staff to Mayor Dewey Bartlett. Crisis: Fiscal collapse of city budget due to recession; worst winter storm in city’s history; controversial City Council

2013-present: Chief of staff and director of governmental affairs for Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz. Crisis: Grand jury

It’s an incomplete list. Simonson has left out the crises he’s created or played a role in creating.

It was Simonson who was twice found to be working as a private attorney while serving as Miller’s chief deputy. It was Simonson who was accused by three Tulsa Police Department deputy chiefs of lying about whether a federal grant could be used to rehire police officers who had been laid off.

It was Simonson who asked former Fire Chief Allen LaCroix to help get his son tested for the firefighters academy — a move that eventually contributed to his decision to resign as Bartlett’s chief of staff.

It was Simonson who wrote a letter disparaging We The People Oklahoma — the grassroots organization that sought a grand jury investigation of the Sheriff’s Office — that Glanz later distributed at a meeting of a secret group called the Royal Order of Jesters.

It was Simonson who came up with the “hot dog” defense when he argued that the grassroots organization was using hot dogs to entice county residents to sign the grand jury petition.

And it was Simonson who, in a 2013 Tulsa Urban Weekly column, wrote: “It’s hard for the community to be concerned about the number of homicides when it’s gang members killing gang members. When you think about it, who’s really complaining about that? Those deaths are certainly a loss to the families of the fallen gang member, but is it actually a loss to the community? It sounds like good public safety work being done for the police by the gangs.

“Wiping out gangs is, after all, the focus of local law enforcement, and they can use all the help they can get. If the gangs want to kill each other, we certainly don’t want to stop them. This is a callous, but true, assessment of the situation. The sad part of these gang-on-gang shootings are the innocents who end up being killed in cross-fire and drive-by shootings.”

terry simonson
Terry Simonson speaks to the media during the grand jury investigation of the Tulsa County Sheriff. DYLAN GOFORTH/The Frontier
Simonson takes responsibility for what he thinks he should take responsibility for — his request for help from LaCroix, the hot dog defense. (“It will work someday,” he insists with a laugh.)

However, he’s resolute in his belief that more often than not the controversies he’s found himself in had less to do with him than the people for whom he was working. Or, as he insists was the case when he practiced law while working for Miller — which was not illegal — his bosses knew what he was up to and approved it.

“I have known when I got hired that I was the front person and that is what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to take the lightning. You’re supposed to be an advocate. You’re supposed to argue for them. You’re supposed to honor and be loyal to them, whether it’s Randi Miller or Dewey Bartlett or Sheriff Glanz,” Simonson said. “So in the end people start to think you are the face of the controversy.

“I don’t create any of these things and none of those things were in place when I was hired, but I think each of those people were thankful I was there — because when those storms hit none of them on their own were prepared to take the shots and be accused and blamed because they weren’t ready for that. They weren’t used to that. I was used to that.”

Simonson says he did not leave the Mayor’s Office because of the incident with the Fire Department.

“The conflict I had with the city was a power struggle between the mayor and the City Council, or some on City Council, and I was the face of the mayor in terms of that fight,” Simonson says. “I knew I had more experience in city government than probably anybody on the council and felt like what we were trying to do was the right thing. The council disagreed, so you had daily arguments and fights about it.”



Simonson said the acrimony “got to a point where the truth really didn’t matter.”

“I was the story. … What mattered was the revenge and the anger the council had felt toward the mayor and me because I was the one going down to the council, not the mayor.”

The Urban Tulsa column was an emotional reaction to a spree of gang-related killings in the city at the time, including a shooting at a Best Buy store that left an innocent bystander dead, Simonson says.

“I am not for anyone killing anyone,” Simonson said.

He knows the column upset some people but said the larger point he was attempting to make was that the high number of gang-on-gang killings had led to a skewed vision of how dangerous their city was.

“They live that life,” Simonson says of gangs. “They carry guns for a reason — they use them. They use them on each other.”



Not everyone agrees with Terry Simonson’s assessment of Terry Simonson. Many people wonder privately how he has survived this long, always jumping out of the frying pan just in time to land another high-level, big-dollar, public-sector job.

Former Tulsa City Councilor John Eagleton, paraphrasing a former council colleague, said of Simonson: “‘Everything he touches turns into fertilizer.’ I think that is a fair statement. You look at everything he has had his fingers in and it doesn’t turn out well.

“The people who hire him know that he will get done whatever is asked of him. You attract certain kinds of people when that is your MO.”

Displaying what some might seem as his greatest strength, tenacity — or his greatest weakness, vanity — Simonson turns all the talk about him being the problem on its head.

“I should be the one complaining,” he says. “How come I get hired by these people who heretofore seem to have a great reputation, get elected, and then crap happens?

“So I should be asking myself: ‘Maybe there is something going on here where I’m going to work for somebody because something is going to happen to him.’”

Mayor Terry Simonson

Simonson describes his father as a happy-go-lucky man who could sell anything. He laughs when asked if that sounds like anyone he knows.

“I can’t even sell myself,” he says.

Oh, but he can. And he has. He gave former Mayor Susan Savage a run for her money when she ran for re-election in 1998.



Simonson says the Republican Party power brokers at the time — Sen. Inhofe, Sen. Nichols and others — asked him to get into the race at the last hour because the only other Republican in the field was white supremacist Dennis Mahon.

Savage received 54 percent of the vote to Simonson’s 46 percent, according to Tulsa County Election Board records.

That was a much better result than even Simonson had imagined.

“Nobody gave me any much chance of winning. Even the people who got me into the race said, ‘You know, you probably can’t win,’” Simonson says. “So for me, personally, it became kind of a Rocky Balboa story. I was just going to go the distance, do the best I could and maybe next time or some time in the future I could run and actually win.”

He took another run at the Mayor’s Office four years later when Savage left office. He finished a distant second in the Republican primary to Bill LaFortune, who went on to become mayor.

Simonson has won a few elections, and he is proud of that. In the 1990s, he served three terms as chairman of the Tulsa County Republican Party.

“You can’t be everything to everyone,” Simonson says of those years. “Yet somehow I was able to be elected by acclamation, without opposition, three times.”

Three Cheers for Terry

Politicians and their political operatives make enemies all the time. It comes with the territory.

Simonson has his share, and then some.

A couple of people declined to be interviewed by The Frontier for this story because they just didn’t believe they could come up with something nice to say about him.

And then there were people like Sharon King Davis, who has known Simonson from afar, but had few occasions to work with him closely. Then, as a member of Tulsa Leadership Vision, she did, and her opinion of him changed — or at least was better informed — and she was impressed.

“He has a memory and an experience with most anything that has happened in the city in the last 40 years,” says King Davis. “It’s really quite remarkable. I have really come to have great respect for him and his love for Tulsa, yet he still manages to find himself in hot water.”

The same could be said for County Commissioner Karen Keith. She has known Simonson for years but had never worked closely with him until he joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2013.

“I think he is very committed,” she says. “I think he is just constantly trying to do the best job he can. I don’t think the public has any idea how hard he works.”

Randi Miller, the former county commissioner, says her chief deputy was a hard worker and a quick study.

“If he didn’t know an issue, he studied on it,” she says. “He has proven that he knows what he’s doing, he’s just been in some bad places at bad times.”

Even John Eagleton, the former city councilor, says Simonson’s a nice person.

“I like him personally,” he says. “He’s very cordial.”

The Years Away

Simonson has not been living off the public sector his entire life. It just seems that way.

For 20 years — between working for former Mayor Crawford and Miller — he earned his living in the private sector.

But even during those years he never really left the public arena of politics. There were the runs for mayor in 1998 and 2002 and the six years he spent as the chairman of the Tulsa County Republican Party.

So why does he bother? Why does he get involved? Why can’t he stay away?

Not because he’s needed work, Simonson insists.

“Maybe it’s because my Mom was a school teacher — that’s public service,” Simonson says. “My dad ran a small business. I enjoy it, but I also enjoyed the 20-something years I was away from it practicing law, which most people forget that whole period of my life, that I wasn’t even around here until I started getting drafted and drafted and drafted.”

Simonson says he’s never had a problem being “the No.1 guy behind the No.1 guy,” in his government jobs, but he also takes pride in what he’s accomplished as second in command.

He established the state court system’s first conflict resolution program and has authored at least three state laws, including one that established an energy-efficiency program for county governments and another that did the same for municipalities.

Simonson says it was his idea to have the city of Tulsa hire a firm to conduct a wide-ranging audit of city operations to identify possible savings. The KPMG study has been touted by Bartlett has having saved the city millions of dollars.

“I think he’s like a policy wonk,” says Keith.

Maybe that’s it. Maybe government, in one form or another, is just Simonson’s thing.

“I like the challenge of government, even though sometimes to bring about change you’re going to be attacked or criticized by people who don’t like the changes.”

“You might be reading a nice novel,” Simonson adds. “I’m reading a book on cities of the future.”

Woe Is Not Me

Lane Simonson remembers his father being in the Tulsa airport when a man stopped to talk to him. The conversation went on for a while, and finally Terry Simonson caught back up with his son.

“Who was that?” Lane Simonson asked his Dad.

“I have no idea,” Terry Simonson said.

It’s been that way for years, Lane Simonson says. Everywhere they go, his father knows someone, or someone knows him.

“He has been involved with, it feels like, everyone in the city since I have been born,” said Lane Simonson.

Politics can be an all-consuming business, but Lane Simonson says his father always made time for him and his brother, Ryan.

“I have never met or known of a father who was so active and so involved with not only work but with us” says Lane Simonson. “He was there for every game. He was there for scouts. Sometimes, it never seemed to stop. You don’t appreciate it until later in life.”

His father was always good about not taking his worries home with him, Lane Simonson says. And he’s philosophical when it comes to handling criticism.

“Everyone has opinions,” Lane Simonson recalls his father saying. “They even have an opinions section in the paper.”

Lane Simonson believes that deep down, his father cares about what people say about him and that the criticism hurts. He just doesn’t think he’s consumed by it. The Simonson family takes the same approach.

“We just kind of keep moving forward,” Lane Simonson says. “It’s kind of like a football hit. You get hit, and you just keep moving forward.”

That sounds about right. Terry Simonson can come off like a man frustrated by the world’s inability to see things his way or give him the credit he deserves.

But then comes another twist in his story, and one’s perception of the man changes.

Like this: At least once a year, sometimes more, Simonson stops by Baby Land at Floral Haven Cemetery.

It’s amazing, he says, to see the dolls and Teddy Bears and balloons that loved ones leave at the graves.

“It’s like they can’t let go,” Simonson says.

He doesn’t visit for the decorations, of course. He goes for the little girl in the ground. Her name is Britta Erin Simonson. She died in 1986, on the same day she was born.

“If you ever want to start feeling sorry for yourself, go out to Baby Land, and then you’ll understand real loss,” Simonson says.

It’s never even dawned on me this was a significant "historic event", a Hispanic possibly being elected TCSD sheriff. 

(quotes attributed to Regalado)

It’s never even dawned on me this was a significant "historic event", a Hispanic possibly being elected TCSD sheriff. 

(quotes attributed to Regalado)

Was Regalado armed when he crashed the party?

Oh, it's racist not because who the alleged straw donors are, but because the candidate is Hispanic. Just like anyone who voted against Obama is racist, and anyone who votes against Hillary is sexist, and against Rubio is racist, and against Romney was anti-Mormon and against the Bern is an anti-semite.

Got ya'. Voting is so complicated.

  So I guess if I were inclined to vote against Trump if he’s the GOP nominee that would make me anti-hairpiece, anti-snark, anti...???

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office is looking into allegations a sergeant drunkenly broke a betting machine at Expo Square four days after he was defeated in the Republican primary race for sheriff.
Former sheriff candidate and TCSO Sgt. Randy Pierce is accused in an incident report of hitting a self-service betting machine at the Fair Meadows Simulcast on Saturday evening, causing it to break. The report, which was filed by Tulsa police a few hours after the incident, further alleges Pierce was "extremely intoxicated" and left before officers could arrive.
A Fair Meadows employee told police Pierce arrived at the facility about 3 p.m. and appeared to be "extremely intoxicated," the report states. The employee said a customer told her that Pierce had "hit the machine and broke it." She said she saw Pierce hit the machine twice and reach inside to grab a voucher.
According to the report, the employee told him "you can't reach inside my machines," and he responded that he was just trying to get his stuff. He began yelling at her, the report states, and the employee walked away to get security. Pierce then apparently left the facility.
Fair Meadows security told police that Pierce was a regular at the facility and often "arrives intoxicated and becomes even more intoxicated while on premises." The incident report indicates Pierce has been banned from the facility.

A former candidate for Sheriff and current Sheriff's sergeant accused making TCSO look good:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/police-report-tcso-sergeant-extremely-intoxicated-at-fair-meadows-accused/article_bb67c8e7-8e08-52ca-b46d-5c814a9d6ada.html

A former candidate for Sheriff and current Sheriff's sergeant accused making TCSO look good:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/police-report-tcso-sergeant-extremely-intoxicated-at-fair-meadows-accused/article_bb67c8e7-8e08-52ca-b46d-5c814a9d6ada.html

What is it with drunken mis-behaving TCSD employees at Expo Square?

What is it with drunken mis-behaving TCSD employees at Expo Square?

A review by The Frontier found that at least five deputies in the last five months have faced internal investigation following incidents that have embarrassed the sheriff's office.

“It’s difficult and frustrating and we have enough going on and now our own guys are causing issues,” acting sheriff Michelle Robinette said. “I don’t know what the cause of it is, is it because everyone has a sharp eye on us?"
https://www.readfrontier.com/spotlight/tcso-sergeant-under-internal-review-is-fifth-in-last-two-months


Surely she isnt implying its the media's fault for bringing attention to all this routine behavior.

Tulsa Police Department
Bixby Police
Sand Springs Police
Broken Arrow Police
Glenpool Police
Jenks Police
Skiatook Police
Liberty Police
Mannford Police
Collinsville Police
Owasso Police
Tulsa Public Schools Police
University of Tulsa Police
OSU Police
OU Schusterman Police
Tulsa County Sheriff's Office
Osage County Sheriff
Creek Nation Light Horse Birgade
Cherokee National Police
Osage Nation Police
Oklahoma Highway Patrol
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
TSA
US Marshall's
FBI
DEA
ICE
Secret Service

Did I forget to list any agencies with a presence in Tulsa County who walk around with guns for our protection/hunting bad guys? I guess we could throw in the DNR and our Insurance Commissioners (didn't we arm them?) as well as the TSA, National Gaurd, Air National Guard, and whatever other military personnel we have in town.

Maybe we just need to fold TCSO into one of the above and be done with it. It seems like 29 different police forces of various makes and models might be a bit much for ~600k people. Maybe that's why no one paid attention to what was going on there for 30 years.

I'm kind of joking of course. I understand they each play a separate roll. But dang...

Maybe we just need to fold TCSO into one of the above and be done with it. It seems like 29 different police forces of various makes and models might be a bit much for ~600k people. Maybe that's why no one paid attention to what was going on there for 30 years.

I'm kind of joking of course. I understand they each play a separate roll. But dang...

Likely so.  Sounds like La-La Land down at the TCSD these days.  I believe it’s mainly the product of how far Glanz had his head up his donkey the last ten years.

At least she hasn’t played the sexist card...yet.

Berry said that on Day 1 he would replace Terry Simonson, intergovernmental affairs and contract administrator for the Sheriff's Office. Berry said Simonson has misled the public regarding former Sheriff Stanley Glanz and his friend and former Reserve Deputy Robert Bates.[/i]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/elections/who-is-sheriff-candidate-rex-berry-confrontational-news-conference-lifts/article_ad6380e8-aa02-5195-8075-0e85f7d13551.htm

They're just saying out loud what everyone knows. Most times, the republican who wins the primary in a Tulsa election, wins the election.

I understand how you feel.  Used to be which ever Democrat won the primary won the general election (for local elections).   That said, I might be forced to vote for a few Democrats this time around.  I've had enough of things like the 10 Commandments on the Capitol property.

Whoa!!   Careful there....that's serious stuff you are saying...   Good for you!

It was just as bad when Dems had that kind of control as it is now when Repubs got it.

So why do I get the impression voters are ready to just re-elect another Glanz? 

Think of how different this would have been if the fishing buddy had said "Oh, I was in fear for my life" instead of "Oh, I was going to get some training"?

Will the ballot state the political party of the two candidates?

Since it is a partisan race it will.  As city elections are no longer partisan, they will not.

Then I have doubts of a Berry win

Turns out Regalado paid for his promotion to sergeant, skipping the rank of corporal altogether:

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=21248.msg305597#msg305597

Of course, the man who promises complete transparency as sheriff and an end to the GOB network is scant on details of his own “promotion”.

If you have paid to play, and you were also far and away the leading fund-raiser in the 2016 sheriff’s race, it’s a fair assumption that this administration would simply carry forward the corrupt er unwritten policies of the Glanz administration.

Didnt this all start because the sheriff was letting people buy their rank/positions?
Now the man who wants to replace him has not only done the same, but believes its OK.

Under Glanz, campaign contributors could be reserve deputies and skate along on the training requirements.  Contributors also did contract work for the TCSO like property appraisals on foreclosed properties and all sorts of services.

Patronage has been a part of American politics essentially since the beginning.  It’s not a big deal until the tax payers end up footing the bill for services which would be cheaper if they were let out for bid or end up with people who are completely incompetent in patronage positions.  Basically all stuff that happened under Glanz.  The incompetence even led to death.

Which is why the Sheriff should not be elected. The county commission should hire a professional to run the department.

I started to recoil when you said that, but it would be no different than the Chief of Police being selected by city administrators.  I have no idea what it would take to change that.  You can bet if it’s state law that sheriffs are elected officials, changing that mechanism will never happen.  Much like changing city operating budgets away from sales taxes.

Which is why the Sheriff should not be elected. The county commission should hire a professional to run the department.

Which is why the Sheriff should not be elected. The county commission should hire a professional to run the department.

A tough stance on undocumented immigrants touted by Vic Regalado in media advertisements and at public forums has some in Tulsa’s Hispanic community concerned about the Republican candidate’s intentions if he is elected sheriff.

In his television advertisement, Regalado says he will “fight illegal immigration, which is personal for me.”

A 25-second video on Dream Act Oklahoma-Tulsa’s Facebook page posted Saturday night features four young members of the local Hispanic community saying, “Vic Regalado does not represent me.”

Christina Starzl Mendoza, a co-leader of Dream Act Oklahoma-Tulsa, said a goal of the group is to try to ensure undocumented people trust law enforcement because many of them are targets for crime, especially robbery.
“If they don’t feel safe to report that crime to police, that’s an issue,” Mendoza said. “Not only does that allow for the bad people who actually commit crimes to go free, you have a group of people who can’t participate in keeping their community safe.”

Jordan Mazariegos said he knows airtime for ads is expensive, so he reasoned that Regalado has spent a large chunk of campaign funds “to make it a point to target the immigrant community.”
Regalado’s campaign finance reports state he spent $88,350 through mid-February on media advertising.

Francisco Treviño, president of the Greater Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said he reached out to Regalado after he first viewed the TV spot, asking Regalado, “What the hell were you thinking?”

Treviño said it became his understanding the Regalado campaign went the direction it did in ads to garner more votes.
Treviño said the Republican Party “feeds off” staunch platforms on undocumented immigration, with perhaps a majority of voters holding “some sort of anger” toward that population.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/elections/hispanic-group-concerned-about-sheriff-candidate-vic-regalado-s-rhetoric/article_9b7781f3-1f25-53cc-8567-8186aaa1217b.html

When there are so many candidates and 99% of the voters have never heard of the candidates, the one who can purchase the most advertising generally wins.  I hope people are honing in on the shenanigans with Vic and will vote for Berry.

Apparently they never learn.

What's to learn...they know, and have known forever, that they are 'entitled' and no adverse consequences will ensue.

"I think the perception, because of recent incidents, and uh, deputies being in the news for...various...crimes that may have been committed, the perception is that there is a lack of trust but what I can tell you is that, uh, the general public still trusts...still believes in the Tulsa County Sheriff's office."  

"...So I think that there's that perception and how we combat that is, One: we get ahead of the media.
We've got to control what we let out and how its...  

...and I don't mean hiding it, but putting it out there whether its good or bad or indifferent we've got to put it out there and be transparent in the way we deal with the media."
  --  April 4, 2016 KRMG Sheriff's debate between Democrat Rex Berry and Republican Vic Regalado



From the video, Regalado seemed to express two opposing positions; the view he holds, the other for political consumption.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5DNzhOuf7fGUGRqd2U0VndlOVE/

I’m pretty sure “more of the same” was just elected.  Fortunately, it’s a very short term.  If Luke Sherman can’t topple him in the primary, let’s hope we get a very strong Democrat to run against him in the Nov. election.

An email from the leader of the local Republican Party to losers of the March 1 sheriff primary asked each former candidate to refrain from campaigning against Vic Regalado during the vacated term’s election cycle or risk damaging their relationship with the party.

A result of that email could be that a potentially strong primary challenger to Tulsa County Sheriff-elect Vic Regalado for the four-year term might not receive perks as a Republican Party member, such as “access to data” for primary campaigns.

The email dated March 16 came from Mike Ford, chairman of the Republican Party of Tulsa County. Former Republican sheriff candidate John Fitzpatrick provided the correspondence to the Tulsa World on Thursday afternoon, labeling it a “threat” against himself and the other candidates who came up short in the March 1 primary.

In a phone interview Thursday, Ford called his email “clear,” “professional” and “to the point” but not “threatening.”

Ford said Luke Sherman, who announced his candidacy Wednesday for the four-year term’s June primary, proceeded with campaigning despite the email. Whether Sherman is privy to party benefits is “open for discussion,” Ford said.

“He did cross that line,” Ford said.

Sherman said during a news conference a day before that he was being “chastised” and told not to “communicate with people that I’ve talked to in the past” but that he did “stand still” as asked.
“I’ll do that in respect for the Republican Party, which we did,” Sherman said. “But I don’t feel that was equal on both sides.”

The email in question acknowledges appreciation for those who ran as Republicans but that the organization’s responsibility is to support the party’s nominee. Other Republicans campaigning for the four-year term while the race unfolded for the special general election on April 5 to fill the vacated term of Stanley Glanz “confuses voters” and “dilutes and minimizes” the party’s influence, according to the email.

“I also want to communicate that any Republican who campaigns against our Republican nominee during this General Election cycle will be considered as a surrogate for the democrat opponent,” the email states. “Per State GOP Rules, such actions may sour their relationship with the Republican Party and make participants ineligible to serve on Republican committees in the future.

“This could also prevent their materials from being approved for display at the office, from their campaign’s participation in other Party activities, or access to data in future Primaries.”
Sherman said he considers the “Mike Ford stuff” to be somewhat of a personal issue to him.

“That was unacceptable what happened to our campaign during this one-month process in his professional or unprofessional behavior,” Sherman said.

Ford said candidates can’t expect membership privileges if they don’t accept the attached responsibilities. He said the Republican Party can’t have primary losers undermining the winner as the victor faces a Democratic opponent.

“You can’t expect to be involved with the Republican Party and be a candidate of the Republican Party and receive all the benefits but turn around and burn the house down whenever you don’t get your way,” Ford said.

Fitzpatrick and three other former candidates for the Republican nomination banded together to support Sherman. Those others are Tom Helm, Jason Jackson and Dan Miller.
Ford, when asked for his thoughts on Republicans lining up to run against a candidate who just handily won the primary and general elections, said the party remains neutral during primaries and then supports the nominees in the general elections.

“It’s not our job to defend incumbents or protect them,” Ford said.

Regalado on Tuesday captured 62 percent of the vote against Democrat Rex Berry and will be sworn in Monday as Tulsa County’s next sheriff. He will fulfill the final months of Glanz’s unfinished seventh term, which is to expire Dec. 31.

The candidate filing period to run for the four-year term begins April 13.

The primary is scheduled for June 28, with a runoff on Aug. 23, if necessary. The general election is Nov. 8.

Republican Party leader warned primary losers not to campaign against Vic Regalado before April 5 vote

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/republican-party-leader-warned-primary-losers-not-to-campaign-against/article_361e31e4-c622-56ec-9e9d-788566d2b75e.html (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/republican-party-leader-warned-primary-losers-not-to-campaign-against/article_361e31e4-c622-56ec-9e9d-788566d2b75e.html)

Don't expect much and you won't be as disappointed...

They were this way in 1934. 1956. 1965.  1973.  1982.  2000.  And all the years between - not much if anything has changed....I submit nothing has changed.

What took place next I'll never forget. Although a brief encounter, it was also memorable. Exiting the room sans cash, I arrived at the car to a chorus of cheers. He did it! He did it! As we were leaving, that very woman walked out of the room and down to a parked car across the parking lot. It was only then we realized to our dismay that it was a Tulsa County Sheriff vehicle. She bent over and passed something to the occupant through the driver side window. We never called RIDESHY again!

Well, looks like the new sheriff is just extending the old one's policies.

Well, looks like the new sheriff is just extending the old one's policies.

http://www.newson6.com/story/32187399/news-on-6-partner-sues-tulsa-county-sheriff-for-refusal-to-release-public-records