Tulsa County GOP Chairman Mike Ford Threatens a Candidate

Tulsa GOP Chairman, Michael Ford

I’ve been watching the Tulsa County GOP Chair since he took office. I really wanted to see how he practiced his politics. In the beginning he acted like he was going to set the right tone. A person’s perception changes when they achieve a little power. We now have a prime example of “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

What brought me to this story was this article Sooner Politics.org: Sheriff Candidate Threatened By County Party Chairman. These actions are not those of a politician, but are those of a thug. This man has no business running any political organization much less a GOP County party. He has violated his very oath for which he took to undertake this office.

The next article of interest I found was this Tulsa County Republican Convention review | Tulsa Today. This is a report on the last county convention where it was in almost as much disarray as the last State Convention. This is where Mike Ford won election to a second term as County Chair by less than one percent.

The next article of interest I found was this Mike Ford: Who’s The Real GOP? | The McCarville Report. Now we know that the McCarville report has sold out to the more liberal side of the GOP, so we find it strange that he would decide to release a statement through them and not a credible agency. He says all the right things in the article, but he had to. He was losing the public relations battle.

The next article of interest I found was this Sooner Politics.org: 2012 vs 2015: Two Clashing Visions of the OKGOP. This article seems to indicate that Matt Pinnell, as State GOP Chair, was more inclusive of people than the current party is. It would be a mistake to believe this. At his heart Matt Pinnell was a racist. We have seen times when he threw a decorated Army Veteran out of the Party Headquarters when she tried to enter alone. She was welcomed when she entered alongside several white party members. Current Leadership at the state level is trying to keep those that have the ability to do their own research away from any leadership positions. They have created more divisiveness in the party than a person can imagine. Mike Ford was leading the charge against the former GOP Chair simply because of a personal grudge. He never offered any proof only innuendoes.

The next article of interest I found was this Leadership | Republican Party of Tulsa County. This gives you an idea as to how centralized the power is in the Tulsa County GOP.  Why would there need to be a user’s agreement for party members to use the data base? Are they trying to exert that much control over the party members? This is getting to the point where you can almost say that the leadership is paranoid.

The next article of interest I found is very disturbing Tulsa County GOP battle intensifies; meeting Thursday | www.krmg.com.  There is a clear demonstration of posturing by the County Executive committee that gets right down to a point of ignoring the safety of party members and attempting to enforce rules made by the executive committee when they clearly did not have a quorum to pass the rule. This is a blatant violation of party rules. This fails to garner any image of Oklahoma Values. It makes people wonder how many of these committee members came from Chicago. They should all be relieved of their duties and responsibilities. They are acting more like undocumented democrats than Republicans.

Michael Ford - Luke Sherman

The next article of interest I found was this Tulsa County GOP Chairman Mike Ford response to Luke Sherman, Part 1 - Story. Now this is a podcast of an interview. It indicates that it’s part one, however we were unable to locate a part 2 or beyond. This entire interview resounded of an individual making excuses for himself. This is not a leader of any sort. This is a dictator.

The next article I found would also prove to be very disturbing Republican Party leader warned primary losers not to campaign against Vic Regalado before April 5 vote - Tulsa World: Crimewat. If this was an honest straight forward primary, I would tend to agree with asking, not dictating to the other candidates to get behind the primary winner. There was evidence during the primary and the special election that indicates that this was not the case. Instead of calling for an ethics investigation of his campaign finances as he should have done, Mike Ford chose to use his authority to badger and intimidate the other candidates to fall in line. This is a disgrace. People like him are part of the reason this country is in the terrible shape it’s in now.

The next article of interest I found was this Mike Ford email to primary losers - Tulsa World: Uploaded Pdfs. This email we will admit was polite and to the point. We do have a few complaints about it though. No mention of the return of the campaign material or signs was mentioned. I would like to know why? The County GOP didn’t pay for the material, the candidates did. They had no authority to dispose of the material. No where were we able to find consent from the candidates for them to do so.

I next found the campaign site for the newly elected Sheriff here Vic Regalado For Tulsa County Sheriff | Tulsa County Sheriff. Nowhere on the page heading could we find anything to indicate that he was a Republican. If he’s afraid to state that he is a Republican on the heading of his campaign literature, how can the citizens know that he is a truly a Republican? This is a tactic that is used most often by Democrats, Progressives and RINO’s. Sounds like he fits right in with Mike Fords idea of a Republican.

I took a look inside his campaign to see what he was all about. The first item that interested me was this About. It’s a brag sheet in all actuality. What we don’t see is any service to his country. Where was this officer when his country needed him? He either didn’t feel it was worth fighting for, or that he was anti-military. Either way he took an easier way out. Many a good man and woman have sacrificed so he could enjoy his life of comfort.

I next took a look at this page BIO. This in all reality is nothing more than an extended brag sheet. He went through and listed his assignments throughout the years. Does this make him qualified to be Sheriff? I don’t think so. The next article will tell you why I believe that.

 The next item of interest I found was this Quarter of Tulsa County sheriff candidate Vic Regalado's campaign funds — $42,000 — linked to Rogers County business - Tulsa W. This report indicates that fully one quarter of the campaign funds collected by this candidate came from one firm. A Rogers County firm called ISTI Plant Services, their employees and spouses. We find this to be extremely hard to believe. That amount of money from one company that employs no more than 250 people doesn’t exactly sound above board. As they run a facility at the port of Catoosa for shipping heavy equipment, it makes it even less feasible that each employee would donate the same amount to the prospective Sheriff. Where was Mike Ford and the Tulsa County GOP Board of Commissioners while this was happening? More importantly, why is the Chair of the Tulsa County GOP allowing this to happen? Why is he also trying so hard to stifle the competition for the next Tulsa County Sheriff? Is it possible that a payoff is involved here?

The next article of interest is the campaign finance reports filed with the Ethics Commission Tulsa County Sheriff special election ethics filings - BatesLine. This does indicate that all candidates but one filed campaign finance reports as required by law. It would appear that the one individual decided not to run a serious campaign.

From my discovery in my research we find an appalling lack of morality exist in the Tulsa County GOP apparatus. They lack concern for the safety and welfare of party members by not authorizing the precinct meetings. This was a blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters. As the precinct in question here was predominately African-American, it’s an appalling display of racism on which the Republican Party was founded upon to defeat. That is a profound lack of leadership and ethics on display for the entire state to see.

I find that these appalling acts perpetrated by the Tulsa County GOP Chair and the Tulsa County GOP Executive Committee are so horrendous that they all should be expelled from the party. We feel that the State GOP Chair has failed in her duties to rein in out of control members of leadership in the party that she too should be banned from the party. None of them are deserving of the positions they hold or membership in the Republican Party.

I would further recommend that the Oklahoma State Ethics Commission and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation review the campaign records of Sheriff Vic Regalado and Mike Ford. There is something very wrong with the money in his campaign. There must also be a reason that the County Party Chair is working so hard to prevent a Republican challenger in the race for a new term for Sheriff this November.

In short the leadership of the Tulsa County GOP is corrupt and the citizens of the county and indeed the state are paying the price. It’s time that this reign of terror ends.