Race For Tulsa Mayor Gets Negative With New Radio Ads

The campaign for the mayor's office in Tulsa has, at least on the radio, gone negative. Both candidates have released ads going after the other.

This round of critical ads has a third party in the race: Congressman Jim Bridenstine is running ads criticizing former Mayor Kathy Taylor, using his own campaign funds.

And they're pretty blunt.

"Make no mistake, Kathy Taylor is the Obama candidate for Mayor," Bridenstine says in the ad, on behalf of Mayor Dewey Bartlett. "Kathy Taylor gave money to Barack Obama, and some of the most liberal, gun-grabbing members of the United States Senate. Her philosophy as mayor matches theirs: more taxes and more spending and more debt, which is why Tulsa was on the brink of bankruptcy when she quit."

9/3/2013 Related Story: Tulsa Mayoral Race Heats Back Up With Attacks Over Transparency

Kathy Taylor doesn't like the ad, but isn't shy about criticizing Bartlett.

"This race is about Tulsa and the issues that Tulsans care about, and I understand that Mayor Bartlett may want to take the focus off that because of the failed green waste program and the cops he laid off when he took office and the new permanent tax that he proposed to fund public safety just 30-45 days ago," Taylor said.

Those are the same talking points as Taylor's latest ad.

"I won't mislead you by promising you one thing and delivering another, like the green waste issue," Taylor said in her ad.

Bartlett didn't hesitate to fire back: "Her ad is misleading and it's continuing down her path of being negative in the campaign."

The two candidates agree that Tulsans don't like negative campaigning, and they don't like each other's ads.

The Bridenstine ad is the more direct of the two, saying, "and I've been listening to Kathy Taylor's vicious attacks on Mayor Dewey Bartlett."

And while Bartlett is critical of negative ads, he said he won't ask Bridenstine to step out of the race.

"No, that's his decision, he's a United States Congressman," Bartlett said.

Neither candidate has begun television advertising yet, but that's coming, and the campaigns fully expect to be attacked there, as well.

The election is in November.