AT&T Strengthens 3G Wireless Coverage in Oklahoma City

“This is a significant investment and shows that even in a slow economy, cell phone competition is alive and well, especially in Oklahoma City,” said Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. “New wireless technology benefits our business community, our local economy and our overall quality of life.” Read more…

Mayor Mick Cornett is widely respected for integrity. His new employer is not. OKPNS was the only media outlet to report about the agency’s jaw-dropping conflict of interest in the coal-fired plant battle back in 2007.

Sure, OG&E’s executives were morons, but nonetheless the agency took advantage of the clueless electric company. It was a screaming conflict of interest, ignored by the city newspaper, which in the story outlines how the agency will rely on the taxpayer’s lawyer to determine what is or isn’t a conflict of interest. That’s right: the Mayor’s subordinates will now be forced to tell their BOSS what is a conflict of interest. Once again, the corporate welfare crowd screws Oklahoma City taxpayers. Good Grief Almighty!

His life and career indicates that Mayor Cornett is an ethical and upright man, but let’s be honest: the ad agency is hiring the Mayor for contacts and potential new business. The is a cozy chumminess between the ad agency and the newspaper, whose former boss now works for the ad agency. If it sounds sleazy to you, you are not alone.

There are perhaps 10-15 media professionals in Oklahoma City with far more stellar professional credentials than the Mayor, so let’s not kid ourselves: this is about connections. So for all the employees of Ackerman-McQueen, welcome to OKPNS! Like the city paper, Chesapeake, WAD Edmondson and other characters who hate openness and transparency, we welcome your bookmark! Because based upon your past, you’ll be coming back here in the future!

Is that a rug Mick is wearing?

Hat tip: kocotv

“During a live shot in 1992, Mick Cornett is calling the game and ends up on the field high fiving Keith Miller on the 3rd base line. The 89ers ended up winning the pennant later that week.”

Sen’s. Inhofe & Coburn, Rep. Mary Fallin, and Mayor Mick Cornett sign letter opposing casino. Where’s the Governor?

With a critical deadline approaching, Oklahoma City residents in the vicinity of a proposed casino are rallying their neighbors to voice their opposition. Friday is the last business day that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will take public input regarding the controversial casino proposed by the Shawnee Tribe to be located just 1.7 miles away from Remington Park. The comment period officially ends Sunday, June 8th, so local leaders are urging those who wish to participate in the public comment to get their messages to the BIA by Friday.

State Rep. Mike Shelton, whose district contains Remington Park, will help lead a community meeting Tuesday night to raise awareness of the casino’s enormous negative influence to the area and to remind residents that their opinion won’t matter after Friday when the BIA’s 30 day public comment period ends. While local, state and federal officials are publicly opposing the casino, local leaders like Shelton, say input from citizens in the immediate area is crucial. (Click here to view a letter signed by Sen’s. Inhofe & Coburn, Rep. Mary Fallin, and Mayor Mick Cornett)

“The BIA must consider the will of the people, and we must clearly communicate that will, but we have only until Friday for that message to count. There will be so many people, businesses, schools injured by this casino that is incomprehensible that the BIA would for even one moment consider allowing this proposal. They have a job to do, but so do the people who live and work here. That is why we must send a perceptible and unambiguous message to the BIA, the Department of the Interior and even the President: do no harm to northeast Oklahoma City.”

The public meeting will be held at Millwood Arts Academy at 6700 Martin Luther King. Millwood is one of the school districts whose tax base would be devastated if the BIA allows the casino and the subsequent demise of Remington Park. The meeting begins at 6:30 PM.

While officials like Shelton, Congresswoman Mary Fallin, Mayor Mick Cornett and County Commissioner Ray Vaughan are aggressively publicly opposing the casino, at least two officials are conspicuous in their silence: Gov. Brad Henry and County Commissioner Willa Johnson.

The controversy surrounding the proposed Shawnee Tribe’s casino in northeast Oklahoma City is heating up.

It’s rumored that there will be a Tuesday night town meeting of citizens whose homes and businesses in the area surrounding Remington Park will be harmed if construction of the casino is allowed to move forward. Remington Park, who most observers believe will go bankrupt if the casino begins operation, sits in State Rep. Mike Shelton’s house district 97. Shelton is publicly calling on citizens to voice their concerns to the BIA before the Friday deadline.

While officials like Shelton, Congresswoman Mary Fallin, Mayor Mick Cornett and County Commissioner Ray Vaughan are aggressively publicly opposing the casino, at least two officials are conspicuous in their silence: Gov. Brad Henry and County Commissioner Willa Johnson.

Henry is rumored to be meeting with agricultural interests regarding the track this week. When the casino becomes operational, the subsequent bankruptcy of Remington Park will kill the horse breeding industry in Oklahoma according to a report filed by News9’s Rusty Surrette Friday. The race track says 25,000 Oklahoma jobs will be lost.

The BIA’s 30-day comment period closes Friday, and Henry’s painfully slow reaction to take a position, given his chummy relationship with a key Shawnee Tribe official, has given rise to speculation the governor will either sit this issue out or intervene on behalf of the tribe, which will enrage Oklahomans and elected officials from both parties. If Henry were to go on record in opposition to the casino, it would carry great weight with the BIA, and insiders tell OKPNS that business leaders and other officials are steamed at the governor, who always goes to great lengths to avoid taking positions on tough issues.

Developing…….

Related:

The Casino and Mr. Chicken

While Oklahoma City’s Mayor and, according to reports, all of the state’s congressional delegation, are aggressively opposing a proposal by promoters to put a tribal casino in Oklahoma City fronted by a tribe located 200 miles away, Oklahoma’s timid governor is attempting to run and hide on the issue.

This time, Gov. Brad Henry, is attempting to avoid involvement on the casino project that most observers say would put Oklahoma City’s Remington Park into bankruptcy.

The Shawnee tribe, which is located in Miami, Oklahoma, has been “reservation shopping” and has selected a parcel of land less than two miles from Oklahoma City’s “Adventure district,” putting many businesses at a distinct disadvantage.

While Mayor Mick Cornett, Congresswoman Mary Fallin and other members of the congressional delegation have courageously and publicly opposed this outrageous distortion of tribal gaming statutes, the faint-hearted Henry, who has privately voiced his opposition to the casino, is publicly ducking for cover, primarily since he is buddies with the Shawnee Tribe’s economic development chairman, Greg Pitcher.

One insider sums up the governor’s lack of backbone this way: “He’s gutless. He knows the proposal is wrong, but he’s spent six years avoiding this kind of controversy, so why would we think he’d engaged now?”

Henry’s name is being drawn in the controversy because the Bureau of Indian Affairs is seeking public comment on the proposal until June 9th. Most believe the governor’s opposition would carry considerable weight with the BIA.

Observers tell OKPNS the whole deal is very suspect, and that today’s story by Oklahoman reporter Tony Thornton just scratches the surface of the proposed stinky deal.

Developing….

NewsOK.com Video: Greg Pitcher, chairman of the Shawnee Tribe’s economic development arm

Move over Randy Terrill! Looks like you have some serious competition from Mick Cornett for national media attention. Cornett has been everywhere lately; Taco Bell spokesman, appearance on The Ellen Degeneris Show, success in bringing the Supersonics to town, and now, a positive write up for OKC in USA Today:

From USA TODAY:

By Dennis Cauchon

Oklahoma has a radical solution for repairing the state’s busiest highway.

Tear it down. Build a park.

The aging Crosstown Expressway — an elevated 4.5-mile stretch of Interstate 40 — will be demolished in 2012. An old-fashioned boulevard and a mile-long park will be constructed in its place.

Oklahoma City is doing what many cities dream about: saying goodbye to a highway.

“We’ve always been a good place to live, but we’ve never had a city we could show off,” Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett says. “Moving the expressway makes it possible for a day to come when hundreds or thousands of people will live downtown.” Read more…

From the Seattle Times “Talk About It” Blog:

“This guy’s a gem. This seems to be a commercial with OKC Mayor Mick Cornett stating why and how OKC will become a “Big League City”. Must be nice being able to introduce a bill that will pay for $100 million in Ford Center upgrades without raising taxes. Wait, isn’t that why they are even voting in the first place, lol.”

Related:

Letter to the NBA board of Governors from Save our Sonics…