Independent candidates in Tulsa's mayoral race

There are a couple of names in the Tulsa mayor's race besides Bill LaFortune and Kathy Taylor. <br/><br/>They're independents and even admit they have little chance of winning, but both told News

Wednesday, March 22nd 2006, 10:08 am

By: News On 6

There are a couple of names in the Tulsa mayor's race besides Bill LaFortune and Kathy Taylor.

They're independents and even admit they have little chance of winning, but both told News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan, they're in the race to make a point, about different things.

He's easily the most well known of the unknown independents running for mayor. Thereâ€™s hardly a driver in town that hasn't passed Paul Tay on his bicycle. He says he's serious about the race. "90 percent of winning is just showing up."

Over the last few years, Tay has shown up in all sorts of places, including a confrontation at the state capitol where he was arrested and spent a few days in jail. As mayor he wants to shake up the police department by selling the city's police cars, and put the cops on bicycles. "And I want to start by having a huge used car auction, on eBay and take that money and put all that money into officer salaries."

Tay isn't alone in his effort to make a point about change. The other independent in the race is Benford Faulk, an accountant and occasional substitute teacher.

He's running a low budget campaign. "I don't have much money, I didn't when I started this and I don't now, so I'm counting on word of mouth and interviews like this." Faulk says he decided to run to get people talking about the problems of illegal immigration, but as mayor he would focus first on solving the crime problem. "I think we have had money for police but just because there's a downtown isn't an excuse to not have enough police officers, to keep people safe, that just means we just haven't had deep enough cuts somewhere else."

Both of the independents realize they'll have a hard time swaying enough voters to win, but they believe they've made valid points about the way Tulsa should be run.

Each candidate has a website. You can check out Paul Tay's website by CLICKING HERE. And by CLICKING HERE, you can visit Benford Faulk's website.

The election in April 4th.