Some of Tulsa’s most contentious criminal justice issues prompted disagreement — and at times, personal attacks — between mayoral candidates at a debate Thursday.
Since last year, Tulsa officials including Mayor G.T. Bynum have been in federal litigation over whether the city can collect traffic fines from Native Americans. Courts have ruled in favor of the tribes that cite sovereignty as the reason that tickets should not be municipally processed.
And this year, the public has focused on allegations of abuse at Tulsa County’s Family Center for Juvenile Justice. 30 detained youth have filed a lawsuit against county commissioners – including mayoral candidate Karen Keith — and detention staff.
Discussion around the juvenile center prompted a heated debate between Keith and state Rep. Monroe Nichols at the debate Thursday afternoon at Cain’s Ballroom.
Keith and Nichols shared the stage with businessman Brent VanNorman. VanNorman and Keith supported the city’s current approach to traffic enforcement for Native drivers, while Nichols favored dropping the legal battles.
Tribal sovereignty
While VanNorman and Keith believe the city should have full jurisdiction over traffic laws, how they spoke about the issue differed.
The Muscogee Nation accused the city and Bynum in a lawsuit of illegally collecting traffic fines from Muscogee citizens. Nearly all of Tulsa sits on the Muscogee and Cherokee reservations, which the Supreme Court has ruled are federally protected and require all Native defendants to be prosecuted in federal or tribal courts.
As the lawsuit persists, Bynum has pushed for a tribal-municipal partnership to address and resolve legal issues.
Keith said her approach would be similar to Bynum’s: advocate for municipal jurisdiction, but work with the tribes.
"We have the authority to do that, but I want to sit down with our chiefs, with the nations, and talk about the best path forward,” she said.
Keith said she’s spoken to the tribes about building a tribal court in a new county courthouse that’s been proposed for downtown Tulsa.
VanNorman also supported working with the tribes, but claimed the issue affects public safety as well.
“You can’t have somebody who, just because they have a different license plate, be able to drive differently in the city and break the law. If someone’s here from Kansas, we expect our police to pull them over and give them a ticket,” he said.
Debate moderator Tres Savage clarified that anyone can make an arrest or issue a traffic citation – it’s where the crime or citation is adjudicated that’s at issue.
Nichols was the only candidate who said he doesn’t support the city adjudicating traffic tickets given to Native drivers.
“It is the law, and we’re going to make sure that we drop those lawsuits, and we’re going to make sure we get on the same page where the community and the city and the tribes are on the same page with somebody in the office that’s going to ensure that we always are,” he said.
Nichols also said he’d appoint a director of tribal policy and partnerships to the mayor’s office.
Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice
Whether Keith could have helped prevent alleged abuses and violations at the Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice was a sticking point for her two opponents, especially Nichols.
Keith and Tulsa County’s two other commissioners took over the center in July from Juvenile Judge Kevin Gray. Under Gray, the center fell out of compliance with the state Office of Juvenile Affairs and saw multiple allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of detention officers.
Records indicate Juvenile Affairs made the commissioners aware of issues like room confinement, filing grievances and security deficiencies as early as May 2022. Commissioners also made recommendations for improvement to Gray in 2023, while the center was on probation.
The sexual abuse allegations came to light in May this year when Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice released statements after a detention officer was charged for allegedly having sex with a teenager in their cell.
"We found out about those latest allegations at the same time you did,” said Keith, who has pointed out that county commissioners commonly don’t oversee personnel matters at juvenile centers in Oklahoma per state law.
Nichols pointed to the fact that OJA told the commissioners about issues as far back as 2022 in his criticism of Keith.
“When you're mayor, you can’t wake up and say something’s not your job,” Nichols said.
Keith said the commissioners “were relying on a state agency” to inform them of issues at the center after it was taken off probation in December 2023.
Keith also fired back at Nichols over a May 30 statement he released shortly after the youth filed their federal lawsuit. In the statement, Nichols called out Keith for touting the center she pushed to get built, saying the actual conditions have “been anything but comforting” for the detained youth.
“He found out at the first of (May), and it was three weeks later when he had his appointment with the OJA. But what did he do? The day before he met, he issues his manifesto before he meets with OJA, before he finds out the real facts. They gave him some ideas of some things to follow up on. They never heard from him again. He just got his political talking points in, and that’s what he wanted,” she said.
“That’s what I would expect from someone who’s a named defendant in a lawsuit that said they perpetuated the environment where that happened,” Nichols said. “Yeah, I did have some time between when that happened, but if it was three weeks, I can tell you it was a lot shorter than two years. And so at the end of the day, you can say whatever you want about me coming late to the party or anything like that.”
Keith claimed county commissioners have received positive reports from Juvenile Affairs since they took over the center and appointed a new commissioner in July. Public Radio Tulsa has requested these reports.
VanNorman also acknowledged the commissioners knew about the conditions at the juvenile center years before the public. He said it would be the mayor’s job to take responsibility for the alleged abuses.
