Tulsa World Finds Bartlett Ad Passes Truth Test
Mayor Dewey Bartlett’s campaign ad largely passes fact check
BY ZACK STOYCOFF World Staff Writer
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Editor’s note: The Tulsa World will examine the accuracy of television ads for each of the mayoral candidates.
A recent campaign television ad proclaiming that Mayor Dewey Bartlett brought life back to Tulsa largely passes a fact check, but the validity of its more subjective claims depends on interpretation, a Tulsa World analysis found.
The ad, which began airing this month, opens with images of presumably unemployed workers and darkness befalling Tulsa’s skyline before Bartlett took office in 2009, when, as the narrator says, Tulsa had just lost 18,000 jobs.
As the sun rises again, the ad proclaims that “violent crime is down” and Tulsa has regained 9,000 jobs – all as Bartlett did more with less, saved more money, refused to raise taxes and never gave into labor unions.
The statements of fact in the ad – the job numbers and violent crime claim – were confirmed by the World’s analysis. The rest is open to debate.