Almost four years ago, I sat in the studio of KFAQ as a guest of the Michael DelGiorno Show for three hours on the day before the Tulsa city election.

I was a guest on the show with a panel consisting of Chris Medlock, a former city councilor and runner up in that year’s Republican mayoral primary; Terry Simonson, a former chairman of the Tulsa County Republican Party and a former candidate for mayor; Michael Bates, founder of batesline.com and a columnist for a weekly magazine; and of course, Delgiorno.

Delgiorno was the architect of the format change from KVOO and country music to KFAQ and conservative talk radio. Controversial to say the least, Delgiorno was conservative to the core and was an outspoken evangelical Christian. And he was not shy about voicing his views.

Medlock, a self-described conservative idealogue, had battled with then-Mayor Bill LaFortune while on the council. Medlock was such a fly in the ointment that powerful business interests engineered a recall against him and fellow conservative Councilor Jim Mautino.

Simonson, who worked for former Mayors Jim Inhofe and Dick Crawford, and Bates had been deeply involved in conservative battles against tax increases.

DelGiorno was so intense in his rightful criticism of LaFortune’s efforts to raise hundreds of millions in new taxes (Vision 2025, etc.). that the mayor refused to come on his show.

A few days before the election, everything changed.

Medlock swallowed his pride and went to a press conference and announced that he was endorsing LaFortune for re-election. There was talk of a job for Medlock in the new administration.

Medlock warned of problems with Kathy Taylor, a tax-and-spend Democrat. I suppose his reasoning was that a flawed conservative was better than a flaming liberal.

Medlock, Bates and Simonson were in the thick of local Republican politics back then and they all agreed: everyone has to endorse LaFortune.

Amazingly, Delgiorno reached the same conclusion. In fact, after a long hiatus, Delgiorno had LaFortune back as a guest on his show before the election and they made up on the air.

I didn’t.

LaFortune pushed new taxes. He was tight with the chamber crowd that poured more than $400 million of hard-earned tax dollars for downtown projects for special interests.

LaFortune said he would put up a Creation display at the zoo to counter the evolution exhibit. He withdrew his support after talking to his rich secular buddies. LaFortune had no problem with a Hindu god being placed in front of the elephant exhibit.

I couldn’t endorse LaFortune after watching him govern for four years. I endorsed Ben Faulk, an unknown conservative with no chance to win.

During DelGiorno’s show, I got shoved around pretty good by my fellow guests for not toeing the party line. The good-natured ribbing was worse during the off-air breaks.

That panel got roasted pretty good in some circles for doing a 180 on LaFortune. I stuck to my guns and my candidate lost big time.

Their candidate lost, too.

Now, times have changed.

DelGiorno got fed up with Tulsa (after being sued for slander by a city councilor) and fled to Tennessee. Medlock ran for the Oklahoma House and mayor again and fell short. He co-hosted Delgiorno’s morning show after he left and then switched to an afternoon program when Pat Campbell was hired at KFAQ. Thanks to the national recession, Medlock’s show was cut and he was let go.

Bates still writes for Batesline.com but he has left the magazine (after being sued for libel by the Tulsa World). He is sometimes a guest on rival talk station KRMG.

Simonson is the information director for Tulsa County.

Campbell has not formally endorsed candidate Dewey Bartlett, Jr., but it is obvious that he prefers Bartlett to Adelson. Sen. Tom Adelson, a Democrat, is a tax-and-spend liberal in the tradition of Kathy Taylor.

Adelson and Independent candidate Mark Perkins (with close ties to the chamber) won’t grant an interview with our newspaper.

Medlock recently convened a meeting of hardcore conservative leaders to gin up support for Bartlett. I was invited and didn’t go. I previously had a lengthy interview with Bartlett.

Dewey Bartlett might wind up being the best mayor we’ve ever had. But I have serious doubts. He was cozy with Taylor. Bartlett, who was endorsed in the primary by the liberal Tulsa World, has a history of entertaining tax increases and the expansion of government. Bartlett has pledged that he will not raise taxes as mayor or grow government.

My practice has been to take politicians for their word until I find out different. I am not as trusting as I used to be. Too many politicians say one thing during the heat of the campaign and then govern in the opposite direction.

I will not endorse someone that I am not sure about. Even though I am a registered Republican, I am a Christian, an American and a conservative first.

The people who read this newspaper are smart enough (and spiritual enough) to make their own decisions.

Whoever wins will undoubtedly do a better job than Kathy Taylor.

• A young man called his mother and announced excitedly that he had just met the woman of his dreams. Now what should he do?

His mother had an idea: “Why don’t you send her flowers, and on the card invite her to your apartment for a home-cooked meal?”

He thought this was a great strategy, and a week later, the woman came to dinner. His mother called the next day to see how things had gone.

“I was totally humiliated,” he moaned. “She insisted on washing the dishes.”

“What’s wrong with that?” asked his mother. “I think it’s a wonderful gesture.”

“We hadn’t started eating yet.”

• A photographer for a national magazine was assigned to take pictures of a great forest fire. He was advised that a small plane would be waiting to fly him over the fire.

The photographer arrived at the airstrip just an hour before sundown. Sure enough, a small Cessna airplane was waiting.

He jumped in with his equipment and shouted, “Let’s go!”

The tense man sitting in the pilot’s seat swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air, though flying erratically.

Fly over the north side of the fire,” said the photographer, “and make several low-level passes.” Why?” asked the nervous pilot.

“Because I’m going to take pictures!” yelled the photographer.

“I’m a photographer, and photographers take pictures.”

After a long pause, the “pilot” replied: “You mean, you’re not my instructor?”

• A tom cat and a tabby cat were courting on a back fence at night.

The tom leaned over to the tabby with pent up passion and purred… “I’ll die for you!”

The tabby gazed at him from under lowered eye lids and asked, “How many times?”

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 and is filed under Columns.