Tulsa resident Jennifer addressed the City Council during public comment to raise concerns about ethics and possible conflicts of interest involving council members.
While Jennifer was speaking, she noticed several council members laughing and exchanging messages. To find out what they found so funny, she filed an open records request for their communications during the meeting.
The records revealed text messages in which council members made insulting and mocking comments about her while she was addressing them.
The text-message group included councilors Lori Decter Wright, Jackie Dutton, Vanessa Hall-Harper and Laura Bellis. Decter Wright called Harmon “dumb dumb,” while Dutton wrote that Harmon was speaking “without substance.” Bellis and Hall-Harper were also in the group chat, although Bellis said she did not participate in that portion of the conversation.
The same council members had recently been involved in another dispute over ethics and transparency surrounding the $1.4 million sale of the former Rudisill Regional Library building to the Power Group.
Councilor Decter Wright said in a statement that the real concern was Ms. Harmon’s “weaponization” of public comment and open records requests. He also noted that she had blocked him on Facebook and asked the community not to get distracted from the real issue, which, according to the councilor, seems to be Harmon.
Should elected officials be held to a higher standard when interacting with members of the public?
By Miles Diaz
