Kevin Canfield
Tulsa World Staff Writer
Monroe Nichols on Tuesday called Karen Keith’s assertion that as a state legislator he voted to “defund the police” a lie and another effort to spin the facts to mislead the public.
“I come from a law enforcement family. My father was a police officer, and my mother was a probation officer,” Nichols told the Tulsa World. “Any notion that I would ‘defund the police’ is a lie. It is disrespectful to my family and inconsistent with my career as a legislator. I voted several times to increase direct funding to law enforcement agencies and officers.”
Keith raised the issue during Monday night’s KOTV televised mayoral debate, saying, “Senate Bill 825. Monroe voted to defund the police at the state level, the state legislature, and I will never do that.”
Asked by Nichols at the debate to explain how the measure would defund the police, Keith said: “The bill was set up to defund the police, so when municipalities have their funding — and it would not allow municipalities to take funding away for the police. That is how it was set up.”
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Passed in the wake of the George Floyd killing and calls across the nation to defund the police, SB 825 does not defund the police. It was intended to make it more difficult to do so by amending existing tax law to create an additional step for municipalities considering redirecting or reallocating tax dollars approved by voters for a specific purpose.
Tulsa mayoral candidate Monroe Nichols said he wasn’t sure Keith has a handle on the impact of certain laws and was instead using talking points provided by her consultants to try to score political points. He also accused Keith of resorting to the “defund the police” attack “because of my race and the perception that folks like me are hostile to law enforcement.”
“Any municipality that levies a dedicated tax pursuant to a vote of the people for the purpose of funding public safety or any other governmental purpose shall not redirect all or a portion of the dedicated tax revenue to another purpose without a vote of the people authorizing such action,” the bill states.
The measure was signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt in April 2021.
The co-author of the bill, state Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman, said at the time that it was a response to defund police efforts across the nation.
“We saw it in part of my district in Norman, Oklahoma,” Standridge said. “So this bill simply says that if you get a vote of the people to fund the police, then you’ll need a vote of the people to reverse that funding. That’s a very simple concept.
“I think it’ll work well to prevent any of this redirecting of money or defunding the police when it’s been approved by the people.”
Nichols said he voted against SB 825 because of concerns over state preemption of local governments and because the bill was addressing something that is already not permissible under Oklahoma law.
“Cities have to be able to utilize resources in the best way they see fit to do a whole host of things,” Nichols said. “My opposition to SB 825 was based on there being zero evidence it was necessary and the message it sent to cities across Oklahoma. That message was ‘If we don’t like what you do, we will dictate how you do things.’
“Ultimately I didn’t think it was good for Tulsa then and I don’t think it’s good for Tulsa now.”
Title 68 Section 2701 of Oklahoma state statutes, in effect in 2021, says in part that “Money in the limited purpose (sales) tax fund shall be expended only as accumulated and only for the purposes specifically described in the taxing ordinance as approved by voters.”
Keith did not respond directly on Wednesday when asked if she thought her “defund the police” statement was misleading.
“In 2020 there was a wave of cities defunding their police forces, including the city of Norman right here in Oklahoma, and Monroe opposed a bill — SB825 — that would protect law enforcement from this dangerous trend,” Keith said. “If you’re looking for a difference between my opponent and me, I would have voted to protect police funding across our state rather than allowing activists to play politics with public safety.”
Nichols said he has been a strong supporter of law enforcement during his eight years in the Legislature. He noted that in recent years he has voted to create public safety districts, boost retirement benefits for police officers and create an $18 million grant program for sheriff’s departments.
“Law enforcement can have every confidence that I will not only support them in building the best department in the country, but I will invest in them as I have proven time and time again in my career,” Nichols said.
Nichols said he wasn’t sure Keith has a handle on the impact of certain laws and was instead using talking points provided by her consultants to try to score political points. He also accused Keith of resorting to the “defund the police” attack “because of my race and the perception that folks like me are hostile to law enforcement.”
“It’s sort of sad to see what they’re turning my friend into,” Nichols said.
As it turns out, SB 825 had no effect on the city of Norman’s ability to redirect police funding. In June 2020, the City Council approved amendments to the city’s fiscal year 2021 budget reallocating $865,000 from the Police Department to community outreach programs.
“If you’re looking for a difference between my opponent and me, I would have voted to protect police funding across our state rather than allowing activists to play politics with public safety,” said Tulsa Mayoral candidate Karen Keith.
Later that year, a Carter County district judge ruled the amendments had been approved illegally because they weren’t included on the City Council agenda the day of the vote. After the city lost its appeal to the state Supreme Court, councilors in April 2021 ratified the $865,000 reallocation.
SB 825 did not apply to the Norman City Council’s action because the reallocated sales tax funds came out of the city’s general fund, not a voter-approved sales tax levied specifically for public safety.
