OKC council candidate posts pro-Trump rhetoric
An Oklahoma City Council candidate acknowledged Friday he posted a #STOPTHESTEAL2020 graphic on social media referencing Donald Trump's unfounded presidential election fraud claims and warning “this will be handled.”
Joshua Debolt also acknowledged he has never voted in a municipal election, including the 2017 race for the Ward 1 seat he is seeking.
Debolt said the graphic was one he found elsewhere and copied onto his Facebook page in November. He said he thought at the time the president's fraud claims deserved to be investigated.
However, the graphic ominously reads, “This will not be allowed to happen. One way or another, this will be handled.”
It includes hashtags reading #PB, #Activate, #AmericaFirst and #Trump2020. Asked whether #PB referred to an extremist organization like Proud Boys, Debolt
said he thought it meant “Patriots and Brothers.”
He said he now agrees the Nov. 3 presidential election was free and fair and President-elect Biden was the winner. He said he disagreed with last week's assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Debolt, 37, co-founded with his brother the Edmond marketing, advertising, and brand development firm Sociallutions Media Group in 2013. According to the firm's website, clients include Bob Moore Auto Group and HeyDay Entertainment.
Debolt said he had been too busy with the business to pay attention to city government, or to vote.
While Debolt is a registered Republican, city
council races are nonpartisan. The primary is Feb. 9.
To vote: Friday is the deadline to register to vote or update voter registration for the Feb. 9 city council primaries in Wards 1, 3 and 4. Contact county election boards including Oklahoma County at 713-1515.
Facts and figures: Sales tax rebounds
• January sales tax is up 3.8% from January 2020; use tax — to an increasing extent a reflection of online shopping — is up 27.9%. The COVID-19 pandemic has hammered city government's most important revenue source.
• The city council extended until December 2021 agreements with community organizations and financial institutions to administer funds set aside for individual and smallbusiness relief to offset pandemic-related hardships.
The mayor's view
“We always oppose any preemption of local governments and their ability to serve and protect their residents.”
— Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, remarking on a legislative proposal by a Broken Arrow Republican to block cities and towns from adopting or enforcing local mask ordinances. Holt said city leaders “do not expect that proposal to advance.”
Of note: Holt said on Twitter last week that the post-Christmas spike in new COVID-19 cases, while not a surprise, was troubling. Rising numbers of COVID-19 patients continue “to seriously stress our health-care system,” he wrote. Friday's OKC emergency management office COVID-19 situation report listed 719 metro-area hospitalizations, up 43 from the day before.
Council will consider mask ordinance extension
Apropos alto extend
Oklahoma City's mask ordinance is expected to come up for a vote at the Jan. 19 city council meeting. Seven of the nine council members have consistently favored renewal of the ordinance since it was first adopted July 17. The ordinance requires masks to be worn indoors in most public places. Without agreement on an extension, the ordinance would expire Jan. 22.
Worth noting: According to Oklahoma City's emergency management office, state stat i st i cs have shown sl ower rates of coronavirus spread in cities that have instituted mask ordinances.
Calendar
The city council meets at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 19 at City Hall, 200 N Walker Ave. Find the agenda online under the Government tab at okc.gov.
• The mayor's Law Enforcement Task Force meets at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The meeting will be carried live on the city's YouTube channel.
Present/absent
The mayor and all eight city council members attended last week's meeting.