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As Dewey Bartlett embarks on his first term in the city’s top seat, former Tulsa mayors weigh in on the advice that helped them through their time in office.
James Hewgley
30th mayor of Tulsa, 1966-1970
As mayor, Hewgley improved conditions for low-income and minority Tulsans by establishing the local Model Cities program, which brought job development to the minority community, and creating a Fair Housing Commission and the Tulsa Housing Authority. Hewgley also reorganized the city’s budget department and led a study to better coordinate city-county functions. In civic work all his life, Hewgley has served for more than 30 years on the Tulsa Port of Catoosa board and for more than 20 years on the Saint Simeon’s Episcopal Home board. At 93, he still maintains a prospecting office in downtown Tulsa.
Best advice I ever received: “Don’t ever lose your sense of humor. I’m not very original, so I probably picked that up somewhere along the way. Every now and then, you get really frustrated, but then you think, ‘It’s not the end of the world.’”
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: “Keep rolling into various parts of the city where department heads may be holding back money, not in a malicious way. I think he’s on the right track.”
Robert LaFortune
31st mayor of Tulsa, 1970-1978
LaFortune led the passage of major bond funding for infrastructure projects such as street, traffic control, parks, water and sewer improvements. He was instrumental in the development of many Tulsa business and cultural venues, including the Williams Center and the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, for which he helped gain approval of 50-50 private-public funding. During his terms, he also helped develop the city’s freeway system. LaFortune invests in oil and gas properties and continues to assist heavily with his extended family’s financial affairs.
Best advice I ever received: “The best advice I received probably came from my father. His advice to me was to always give everything I did my fullest energy, enthusiasm and talent. His other advice was to always be loyal to whomever I worked for. I think the business world during the last decade has caused job security to be much more tenuous than in previous years. The loyalty advice is especially applicable to young people who may not feel the same loyalty (to their employers) that we felt in previous generations.”
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: “He needs to ensure that the infrastructure in Tulsa is in good working order and that we have a clean, well-kept city. This will attract new industry and expansion of our current businesses.”
Sen. Jim Inhofe
32nd mayor of Tulsa, 1978-1984
Inhofe led public and private initiatives as mayor to approve a 1-cent sales tax for a five-year capital improvements program. He also created a sales tax overview committee and rebate program for Tulsans. Inhofe led the construction of the low-water dams on the Arkansas River and improved Tulsa’s trash collection system. He strived to address the needs of Tulsa’s Native Americans by reactivating the Indian Affairs Commission and created the Greater Hispanic Affairs Commission. Inhofe served in Congress from 1987 to 1994 until he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994.
Best advice I ever received: “When I was first elected (as mayor), I learned not to ever consider your re-election. You won’t ever get anything done. That was my advice to myself. Even though I lost my third re-election bid, (the advice) works so well that I’ve adhered to it. That’s why I do things other people don’t do” (such as leading efforts to build the low-water dams and challenging climate-change theories).
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: “I would encourage him to promote a government change more like we abandoned 20 years ago. I would ask him to seriously consider going back to the ‘old form’ of government we had when I was mayor. The way (mayors have to do things) now is slow as molasses. (When I was mayor), the mayor could make a decision and then be responsible for it, not hide behind a council.”
Terry Young
33rd mayor of Tulsa, 1984-1986
Following the 1984 Memorial Day flood, Young led numerous flood-control efforts, including the creation of Tulsa’s flood recovery program. He personally negotiated for the site of Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, funding its first classroom buildings, and committed $10 million for the expansion of Gilcrease Museum. Since leaving office, Young has served in leadership positions for the Tulsa Economic Development Corp., the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority and the Oklahoma Ad Valorem Task Force. A former independent consultant on zoning and land use matters, he has served since 1998 as executive vice president of Cinnabar Service Co. in Tulsa.
Best advice I ever received: “In my first year as county commissioner (around 1977 or so), I was struggling over recommending a person for a public appointment. This individual was both a friend and a campaign supporter, but I had not yet encountered such a situation. County Commissioner Lewis Harris, with whom I served for almost eight years, told me to always remember, ‘You may have gotten your job by who you knew, but you keep your job by what you do.’ There were many other times when advice and counsel from Lewis Harris were important in my political career. I consider him very much my mentor. (This advice) taught me not to be afraid to act if I believed I was doing the right thing.”
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: “Let Tulsa be Tulsa. Innovate; don’t imitate.”
Dick Crawford
34th mayor of Tulsa, 1986-1988
While in office, Crawford created a public-private economic development commission and the Business Action Center. He also helped establish the Tulsa Hall of Fame, the Tulsa Sports Commission and the Church Coalition, as well as created a program to encourage networking and problem solving among Tulsans. Today, Crawford lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he continues to advocate for public service and support economic development. He is a mentor with the John Glenn Institute and is involved with the Ohio State University Athletic Committee and Fellowship of Christian Athletes board.
Best advice I ever received: “One of the things my dad really drove across was to never put people on a pedestal and to never look down on people. He said, ‘Just look at each person you deal with as the most important person at that moment.’ That goes hand-in-hand with the feeling I had in office — that I was really there to serve people, not the other way around.”
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: “Creating jobs should be the most important priority for those in public office. Government at any level can’t do a doggone thing unless people are working. (I told Mayor Bartlett), just continue getting those jobs and bringing them into the city. Without the jobs, we’re just sitting in a room talking to each other.”
Rodger Randle
35th mayor of Tulsa, 1988-1992
Shortly after leading the 1989 effort to create Tulsa’s mayor-council form of government, Randle was re-elected mayor by the largest margin in the city’s history. Fluent in three languages, he frequently hosted international guests and events, including the Sister Cities International Conference with 1,500 delegates from 40 countries. Randle also started the Mayor’s Office for Neighborhoods and pushed for economic development during his terms. He left office to enter higher education, serving first as president of The University Center at Tulsa and later at The University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, where he remains a professor in the human relations graduate program and is director of the Center for Studies in Democracy and Culture.
Best advice I ever received: “Good news needs to travel to the boss fast, and bad news needs to travel to the boss double-fast. When something goes wrong, you (as mayor) need to know about it first. This came from my brother, who had a lot of business experience. At any level of government, (when a mistake happens) the press calls up and elected officials deny that it happened, which looks terrible. (When I was mayor) I would call the press and announce that something had gone wrong and tell them what I was doing to fix it. Doing that lessens the damage done by the kind of mistakes that inevitably happen.”
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: “I’ve shared with him to remember that you work for all the people of the city, not just those that elected you. Don’t be overly swayed by the powerful interests of the city.”
Susan Savage
36th mayor of Tulsa, 1992-2002
As Tulsa’s first female mayor, Savage tackled environmental issues, created neighborhood programs and improved public safety services, implementing $1 billion in infrastructure investments. She led efforts to protect Tulsa’s raw water supply and worked with public-private partnerships to improve solid waste services and air quality programs. She also helped create a regional strategy for a multi-purpose transportation model. Savage was a faculty member from 2002-2003 at the University of Oklahoma College of Architecture before she was appointed Oklahoma secretary of state by Gov. Brad Henry.
Best advice I ever received: “Two very useful pieces of advice were offered to me following my election in 1992 by former Mayor Bob LaFortune and former Mayor Jim Hewgley during a luncheon for former mayors I hosted in the mayor’s office. Mayor Bob LaFortune advised, ‘You can be mayor as long as you want ... just don’t ever make any decisions.’ Mayor Hewgley advised, ‘Don’t ever lose your sense of humor.’ Both were important reminders that service in elected office is temporary and should always be for the benefit of the public, and humor can and does lighten the load when the challenges are especially hard.”
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: (Excerpted from her letter to Bartlett after his inauguration) “Shortly after I was first elected to the office, a city employee sent me a quote from a 1921 City of Tulsa plan. These were words I used often as they embodied, from my perspective, the responsibility of all citizens and, most especially, a city’s leadership to make decisions that serve the greatest number of people over the long term. I share them with you in that spirit.
‘Your city, its growth, expertise, cleanliness, beauty and prosperity, is your responsibility. Are you working at it? A city, like a tree, grows as it is trained, straight or crooked. If selfishness dominates it, it will not thrive and no one will love it. If generous men and women with vision are its cultivators, it will grow and flourish, and the stranger at its gates will enter and ask for a chance to work for it.’”
Bill LaFortune
37th mayor of Tulsa, 2002-2006
Despite entering office in an economic downturn, LaFortune later led efforts to pass Vision 2025, an $885 million capital improvements package, by building a coalition of community leaders and other supporters. As a result of its passage, many important educational, medical and recreational facilities were built, including downtown Tulsa’s BOK Center. An attorney since 1983, LaFortune has successfully rebuilt his law practice over the past three years. With two children in college and a third in high school, he and his wife enjoy as much time as possible with their family.
Best advice I ever received: “The best advice I ever received was not by express words but by way of example lived out by my grandparents and parents — to live by the Golden Rule, treating all others as you would want to be treated, with love, dignity and respect. Living by this example has been the No. 1 key to the success with which I have been blessed. The positions I have held as a judge, Tulsa County district attorney and as mayor of Tulsa all came about because of the positive interactions I had with persons at all levels of society, trying my best to live by the Golden Rule.”
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: “Serving as the mayor of Tulsa is a great honor and privilege. Savor every moment, even those that are tough, such as budget decisions. The schedule is physically demanding and exhausting, but hang in there. You can do it and put aside time just for yourself and your family. Those family times can never be replaced. My two daughters completed their entire high school four-year terms (same class) at the same time I was serving my four-year term as mayor, and it was gone in a moment.”
Kathy Taylor
38th mayor of Tulsa, 2006-2009
Formerly the Oklahoma secretary of commerce and tourism, Taylor made the largest investment in roads in Tulsa’s history; opened the BOK Center; moved City Hall to the One Technology Center; and oversaw the Tulsa Drillers’ move to their new downtown home, ONEOK Field. Taylor also implemented the Mayor’s Mentoring to the Max program, which connected more than 700 students to mentors. Throughout her mayoral term, Taylor never accepted a salary. She is currently working with Gov. Brad Henry as chief of education strategy and innovation.
Best advice I ever received: “I have received a lot of great advice. From my parents: Share your time treasure and talent. From my grandmother: Always take your plate to the sink after a meal and make your bed, especially when you are a guest. From my daughter: “Stay the course!” But the best and most impactful was some advice Dr. John Hope Franklin shared with me. He ... shared it with me when I asked him how he kept from being angry when he had just received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a citizen in the U.S., and a person in the lobby of the hotel, assuming he was a porter, said, “Here, check my coat.” My interpretation of what he said his mother told him: Do not ever let others define you. Their view of you is not who you are. You know your heart, your passion; your own actions define you, not the actions of others.”
Advice for Mayor Bartlett: During the long and sometimes difficult days, remember the smiles and the thanks of the people’s lives whom you are helping to positively impact and always remember: Government is a team sport and the city has a lot of talented team players to help.
Tulsa Mayors Library
The idea for a facility to commemorate mayors’ roles in the history of Tulsa came up during a casual family conversation among former Mayor Kathy Taylor; her husband, Bill Lobeck; and her daughter, Elizabeth Frame Ellison.
“We were talking about the history of Tulsa and how interesting it has been,” Frame Ellison explains. “We all felt it needed to be captured better than it was, and that’s really where the idea was born.”
Paid for with a $16,000 donation from the Lobeck-Taylor Family Foundation, the Tulsa Mayors Library will feature a collection of mayoral biographies, videos and historical documents and will be available for group tours and by appointment. Admission will be free. Although no date is set, organizers hope to open the library this spring on the 15th floor of City Hall.
Six of Tulsa’s former mayors and former Mayor Taylor met in November to tape group and individual interviews that will be on display in the library. Since then, several individuals and Tulsa businesses have donated time and services to help the library come to fruition and Cara Phippen, a community volunteer, spearheaded the execution of the project.
Frame Ellison, executive director of the Lobeck-Taylor Family Foundation, says the timing of the library’s opening marks well the beginning of a new decade and a new mayoral term. In addition to recognizing the impact Tulsa’s mayors have made on the city, Frame Ellison hopes the facility will also show young Tulsans what being mayor is all about.
“I hope kids can learn about what it means to be a public servant and serve your community,” she says.
Editor's note: Share the best advice you’ve ever received in the comments box below.
