In a City Council runoff election in the capital city of one of the reddest of the red states, a progressive GREEN Party candidate, Ed Shadid, has won the race for council member in Oklahoma City's Ward 2.
Now, of course, the city councils of most cities are supposed to be composed of members who will work for the good of the city and keep partisan politics out of city business. But, when bank officer Charlie Swinton's supporters started throwing money around to discredit Dr. Shadid (to the tune of half a million dollars) politics and big business obviously became involved in a big way. To Swinton's credit, it is reported that he did tell his supporters to stop with the negative ads and mailers a week or two prior to the runoff. Last night, however, he stated, "... I'm proud of my supporters; proud of what we tried to accomplish.”
What a waste of money and time. The money could not guarantee the seat for Swinton, who received only 85 more votes in the runoff than he did in the primary. And Shadid's numbers? Almost doubled. Tuesday tallies totaled 3,134 compared to 1,461 in the primary.
I don't even live in Oklahoma City, so why am I writing about a runoff election? Because something has happened that was NEVER expected to happen: A progressive candidate has secured a seat on the Oklahoma City council. And, I have a feeling that Dr. Shadid will not sit quietly when corporate priorities threaten to override public projects that benefit ALL the citizens of OKC.
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