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Perennial Candidate Paul Tay Interrupts Tulsa Mayoral Debate

Mayoral candidate Paul Tay argues with debate moderator Royal Aills while Mayor Dewey Bartlett and Councilman G.T. Bynum look on Wednesday evening.
Rogers State University Public Television
Mayoral candidate Paul Tay argues with debate moderator Royal Aills while Mayor Dewey Bartlett and Councilman G.T. Bynum look on Wednesday evening.

Incumbent Tulsa mayor Dewey Bartlett and city councilman G.T. Bynum, who’s challenging him for the post, squared off in a debate Wednesday night, and the forum’s conclusion turned contentious.

The candidates sparred over the jail, the education sales tax, and city mowing cycles, according to the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange’s John Durkee.

The end of the program was interrupted by perennial candidate Paul Tay, who took the stage and demanded time to speak. 

"It is a platform. You are blocking other voices. We have other voices, sir,” Tay said, according to a video recorded by The Frontier. He also referred to an RSU cameraman as "Matt Damon."

Only candidates with 10 percent of the vote in a recent SoonerPoll were invited to the debate, and Tay only received 1.6 percent.

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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