OKC Mayoral Candidate Profiles: Mayor Mick Cornett And Dr. Ed Shadid

We recently sat down with incumbent Mayor Mick Cornett, who is seeking a fourth term at City Hall, and with Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid, who, polls show, has the best chance to unseat Cornett.

Mayor Cornett says he's seeking re-election, in part, because he loves the job, but also because he believes the city is doing well and he wants to see through to completion some of the projects he's started. Councilman Shadid is running because he believes the city needs a leader who will be an advocate for all residents of the city, and not just for the people and businesses who inhabit the city's downtown core.

What follows are selected quotes from the two interviews:

Cornett: "I think we have a great story to tell. We have concentrated in this community on jobs and supporting public safety, and think we have succeeded on all those fronts."

Shadid: "I think that we're prioritizing one small geographic area, and we're seeing wholesale decay of our neighborhoods throughout in all sectors of our city, and that's very very worrisome."

Cornett: "I think what downtown symbolizes...is just the strong economy, and it's that economy that allows us to address the needs in the neighborhoods."

Shadid: "There are great studies looking at large cities throughout America that if you have inadequate police manpower, you're going to see increases in violent crime and property crime -- more so violent crime. And I think we've seen that in Oklahoma City, and we were warned -- this mayor was warned -- in a study in 2009 that you are hundreds of police officers below where you should be."

Cornett: "You can see the police officers that we've added that last two years, and we're adding more this year, and you can only do that with a strong economy...I'm always gonna want one more police officer, [but] you gotta do what you can afford. We're a safer city per capita than Tulsa and Lawton, the other two metro areas in the state. We made significant improvements in the state in 2013, and we should be proud of that."

Shadid: "We have to have a plan. We haven't had a comprehensive plan in this city in three decades...It's a unique American experiment to try to expand into 620 square miles, and deliver city services without a comprehensive plan."

Cornett: "This is not an easy city to fund. It's very large, and has sprawled out, and it's a difficult economic model to provide police officers and fire fighters and good streets for that entire 620 square miles. The good news is the strong economy is allowing us to do that."

Shadid: "We were misled by this mayor during the MAPS 3 campaign, when all he said about the convention center was, if we vote for a $250 million new convention center, we will triple the economic impact of our convention business, even though no city in America has ever been able to double, much less triple the economic impact of an expansion."

Cornett: "We fully communicated during the campaign the need for the convention center...The convention center is one of the best projects in MAPS 3, because MAPS 3 is about economic development; it's about jobs, and what's an easier way to grow your economy than have someone from out of town come in and spend money in your city."

Shadid: "What he promised cannot possibly be delivered. It is impossible to triple the economic impact from a $250 million investment...Unless you publicly subsidize, if not own, this massive hotel, none of this is going to -- the studies say -- none of this is going to work."

Cornett: "So far, a case has not been made to the city council for any sort of subsidy, we've been involved in public-private partnerships with hotels before, the Renaissance Hotel, the Skirvin Hotel. I think we've handled those issues appropriately, [and] I have to no reason to think that council and I won't act appropriately going forward."

Shadid: "It is not indicative of a big league city that you have a career politician seeking a fourth term, refusing to engage in debates, refusing to talk about these issues with the people of Oklahoma City."

Cornett: "No sitting mayor in Oklahoma City history that I know of has engaged in a debate, so I don't know where the expectation comes from. But there is no reason for negativity and mudslinging in a city that has so much going on for at as Oklahoma City."

Shadid: "It's an exciting time to live in Oklahoma City and there are many many great things happening in the city, but that doesn't mean that we don't have problems, just like other large cities in America."

Cornett: "I'm just a guy that tried hard, and at the end of the day, it's gonna be about results. It's gonna be about job performance, and I think the voters gonna ask themselves is the city headed in the right direction."

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