There was no doubt in my mind that Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Adelson was gift-wrapping ammo and presenting it to his GOP opponent Dewey Bartlett during my discussion with him on KRMG on 9/25/09.

I was stunned by the admissions that Adelson (appeared) to make and stunned by the aggressive attitude he took towards me. Prior to 9/25, I had never (to the best of my recollection) spoken to Mr. Adelson. Other than my affiliation with a radio station that airs conservative talkers Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, there was NO REASON for Adelson to believe that I was out to get him.

In fact, the day before my interview with Democrat Adelson, I had conducted an arguably aggressive interview with his GOP opponent Dewey Bartlett. I know that Mr. Adelson heard that interview because he called the radio station immediately and demanded the opportunity to rebut Mr. Bartlett's claims.

My point in bringing up the Bartlett interview is that Mr. Adelson KNEW I was stern with Dewey and if I was stern with him the following day, it was not because of a personal vendetta or political bias, but because it was warranted.

As a point of reference, here's my initial interview with Dewey Bartlett from 9/24:

KRMG Interview with Tulsa Republican mayoral candidate Dewey Bartlett 9/24/09 by talkradiojoe

The following morning, I invited Democrat Adelson to come onto the show, not to provide response to the Bartlett interview, but to answer questions about his own campaign.

During this interview, I could just envision Adelson's GOP opponent doing high-fives with his campaign staff as Adelson gave them one gift after another.

You be the judge:


KRMG Interview with Tulsa Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Adelson 9/25/09 by talkradiojoe


I have been engaged in political campaigns for many years and I knew instantly that Adelson's own words were going to quickly come back and be used against him by his opponent.

I was reasonably sure that the line about "giving one-hundred thousand dollars to Barack Obama" would find its way to print material used against Adelson.

KRMG has already been cited during this campaign in Dewey Bartlett's first TV commercial following the primary election.

While I knew Adelson's words would come back to haunt him, what I did not expect was that Tom Adelson's VOICE - and my voice - would come back to haunt him.

This morning, Dewey Bartlett for Mayor debuted this commercial on radio:

Dewey Bartlett for Tulsa Mayor Radio Ad with KRMG Audio by talkradiojoe


I was floored when I heard it.

In the entire span of my radio career, I had never known an instance of a radio show audio being lifted for the purposes of a commercial for a political candidate.

"Well that's illegal," I said to management when I heard it.

Management quickly contacted our legal team in Atlanta where we quickly learned that their interpretation of the Fair Use doctrine gives the Bartlett campaign the right to use that audio.

Huh.

To be clear, I did not know about the spot in advance. I was not asked my permission. My voice appearing in that spot should not in anyway be construed as an endorsement.

It is also worth noting that the ad buy placed by the Bartlett campaign for that particular spot included several other Tulsa radio station. Thanks for federal laws dealing with political advertising, those other radio stations have no choice but to air the spot with my voice on it.

Yet, because of so many unanswered questions with Tom Adelson on that 9/25 interview, I invited him back on 9/29. Again during this interview, Mr. Adelson was far from being direct in his answers to me. He keeps indicating that he want to talk about 'issues' but fails to recognize that his behavior during the interview IS the issue. There is no more important issue to voters/listeners than honesty, integrity, likability, etc.

And while it took numerous efforts on my behalf to get him to actually answer the question, Tom Adelson, who kept wanting to "correct the record" of claims made by Bartlett, finally corrected his own record that he did NOT give "one hundred thousand dollars to Barack Obama" as he had previously claimed.

Listen:

KRMG Interview with Tulsa Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Adelson 9/29/09 by talkradiojoe

Does that mean that the Bartlett radio ad is disingenuous or dishonest?

Well, unlike the rhetorical interpretations of what Adelson had said about 'shooting Governor Henry,' the quote from Adelson in the radio spot is HIS OWN VOICE and HIS OWN WORDS.

Of course, after many attempts at the truth, we now know that Mr. Adelson misrepresented his OWN record.

Instead of six-figures of his own money directly to Barack Obama, Mr. Adelson has spent that much money on Mr. Obama and a dozen other liberal Democrats of national prominence, including Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Tom Daschle and others.

So the Bartlett campaign has Mr. Adelson in a tough spot. In order for him to deny the claim about spending $100,000 on Barack Obama, Adelson must first confess that while 'correcting the record' cited by Dewey Bartlett, he passionately botched his own numbers. Of course, listeners of KRMG already heard him do that.

Of course, for many Tulsans, Barack Obama IS Hillary Clinton IS John Kerry IS Tom Daschle.