2 weeks Ago
Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, whose primary job is to promote tourism in Oklahoma, is supporting a Tulsa City Council candidate who, in an ideal world, would like to see the city get out of the business of funding the arts, museums and entertainment venues like the BOK Center.
The candidate is insurance agent and former radio personality Eddie Huff, who will face incumbent District 7 Councilor Lori Decter Wright in a Nov. 5 nonpartisan runoff election. “Much of the city government right now is spending a lot of money, if you look at the budget, on the fine arts downtown,” Huff said in an August Fresh Black Coffee videocast .
“The civic center, or the Convention Center as we call it here, the BOK, the libraries, museums, etcetera, etcetera.” People are also reading..
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“Private entities — the people who want to see ...
art and so forth — should pay for that,” Huff said. “I don’t ask people to pay for things that I want to see. If I go to a football game, a basketball game, a movie, a concert, I didn’t ask others to subsidize my entertainment.
I don’t think you should be asked to subsidize something that others find entertaining for them.” Of the city’s $1.03 billion budget, $51.
2 million (5%) will fund cultural and recreation projects and programs this fiscal year, which began July 1; 27% will go to public safety, and 39% will be spent on public works and transportation projects. Tourism's contribution to the city's economic well-being, meanwhile, continues to grow. In 2022, visitors to the city spent $1.
4 billion, or $3.8 million every day, according to Tulsa Regional Tourism. Pinnell, who attended a fundraiser for Huff last week, described him as a “dear friend” of nearly 20 years whom he believes is a great candidate for City Council.
As for Huff’s views on city government’s role in funding the arts, entertainment and culture, Pinnell offered a hopeful vision on what the future might hold. “I want our city councilors to be focused on core infrastructure needs,” Pinnell said. “I will certainly be having conversations with him if he is so lucky to win the race.
I certainly will be talking to him about tourism projects, economic development projects that I hope he would support, just taking those on a case-by-case basis.” Pinnell is a Republican. Huff is a Republican.
The candidate Pinnell endorsed in Wright’s 2022 race, Ken Reddick, is a Republican. Wright is a Democrat. Pinnell insists he’s not putting partisan politics over the good of the city when endorsing Huff.
“I think you can look at my track record,” Pinnell said. “I don’t just support city candidates based on politics. I’ll support a candidate if I think they are a good candidate.
” In an interview with the Tulsa World on Thursday, Huff said he is not opposed to having arts and entertainment venues in the city. He just doesn’t think taxpayers should be funding them when there are more pressing issues like public safety, streets and other infrastructure that need funding. “For me, that is the prime focus of city government,” Huff said.
“That is the prime focus of city government, everything after that should be, you know, private, privatized, actually.” But that ship has sailed, he acknowledged, so he would like to see the city begin redirecting some of the money it spends on arts and entertainment to the core services it is expected to provide. “I don’t want to deprive people of the arts or anything like that.
That is not my focus,” Huff said. “But when we have other needs in the city, to me, the prime focus of city government is to protect citizens and then to beautify a city, and you make it a nice place to live ..
. and then you work down from there. I just think we've got things a little bit upside down, that’s all.
” Pinnell said what gets lost sometimes is that communities need city councilors with “personality and cool heads” about them and that “Eddie has always been someone who can work with both sides of the aisle.” Informed that Huff had recently posted the following message on his Facebook page: “Today’s Liberal Democrats are either the STUPIDEST or the most EVIL people America has ever produced,” Pinnell said that he has been in many political foxholes with Huff and that he has “always been someone that has kept a cool head (and) brought people together to solve problems.” Huff said he was responding late at night to a "bunch of trolls" who had gotten on his campaign website and posted remarks critical of Republicans and former President Donald Trump.
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