Tulsa commissioners pay a price for their vote

Simply agreeing to let Tulsa County residents decide a proposed sales tax extension got Republican County Commissioners Fred Perry and John Smaligo in trouble with fellow GOP members.

The Tulsa County Republican Party County Committee voted overwhelmingly last weekend to censure Perry and Smaligo. The committee comprises all GOP county office-holders, as well as precinct chairs and vice chairs.

Committee members oppose a plan to extend a 0.6 percent county sales tax to pay for bond-financed public works projects and upgrades to city-owned industrial facilities at Tulsa International Airport. They apparently felt betrayed that Perry and Smaligo would have the nerve to give county voters a say in the issue.

If the proposal passes in November, the two councilors can expect to be labeled as having supported it, even if they did no such thing. Alas, that’s life in today’s GOP.