Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols is hitting back at Gov. Kevin Stitt as Oklahoma’s top politician empowers state police to take out homeless encampments in the city.
Last week, Stitt announced he was directing the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to clear out Tulsa’s camps. OHP swiftly began “Operation SAFE,” though officials say the governor’s promise to either escort people to housing or jail is false advertising. Displaced individuals have merely had their things thrown away while being randomly driven around and released, Democrats said at a press conference.
Though Nichols said at his own press conference today that partisanship is not an issue because many of his Republican colleagues agree with his “housing first” approach to homelessness, he theorized Stitt has political ambitions leading him to mimic President Donald Trump’s more aggressive takeover of Washington, D.C.
“And I think the best way to maybe go to Iowa as a presidential candidate is not to talk about how you stuck it to the Democratic mayor in Tulsa, but to talk about how you got your state off the bottom of every list out there,” said Nichols. “I mean, if you Google right now where we are in education, you’d probably guess we’re near the bottom or something like that. Health outcomes, you’d probably guess we’re near the bottom. Mental health, you’d probably guess we’re near the bottom. Economic opportunity, you’d probably guess we’re near the bottom. What does that all ladder up to? It ladders up to homelessness growing in your state over the seven years you’ve been governor. I think that’s gonna be a hard case to make in Iowa.”
Various nonprofits and data aggregation companies have ranked Oklahoma as one of the toughest places to live in the United States, especially for women.
Some Republicans are backing Nichols’ views. In a statement to Public Radio Tulsa, Sheriff Vic Regalado — who once appeared in uniform at a convention featuring right-wing conspiracy theorists — said, “[Homelessness] is a very complex issue. We can’t simply arrest our way out of it. Any solution must always begin with treatment for addiction and mental illness.”
Stitt hasn’t announced plans for what he may pursue after his governorship ends next year, but in a statement, spokeswoman Abegail Cave said Nichols ignored the concerns of Tulsa citizens for too long.
“The safety and well being of Oklahomans is not a political issue,” Cave wrote.
Nichols said he doesn’t know how long “Operation SAFE” will last.
