While Tulsa City Council District 7’s three candidates — incumbent Lori Decter Wright and challengers Dave Perry and Kenny Wogoman — may not all have campaign websites, each attended a Tulsa Press Club forum Aug. 3. Decter Wright, Perry and Wogoman largely agreed on the issues facing Oklahoma’s second largest city while disagreeing on the nuances of local taxes and controversial Flock cameras.
The biggest disagreement of the night stemmed from the police surveillance tool recently featured in both a Washington Post story and on John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight: Flock’s automated license plate reader system. Both pieces raised concerns over police officers using Flock cameras to stalk people, citing several criminal cases filed against law enforcement employees across the country.
Decter Wright emphasized that none of those allegations had been raised in Tulsa, claimed Flock cameras had “disrupted” sex trafficking in the area, and argued against “assumptions and politics” driving policy around the cameras.
Council districts:
Tulsa District 7 covers the city’s southeast portion. Click to view a map of districts.
“First off, there is no evidence in Tulsa that Flock has been misused. I want to be very clear on that,” Decter Wright said. “We must balance the public safety interest with privacy and civil liberties. I think it is essential that Mayor (Monroe) Nichols and Commissioner (Laurel) Roberts evaluate the program we have in place using outcomes instead of assumptions and politics. Technology should support our officers. We know that’s a force multiplier, especially when we’re down and are hiring.”
Perry argued Flock cameras violate the Fourth Amendment and cited concerns about officers misusing the database.
“Just this morning, I read an article about police officers who have been using this to stalk their exes,” Perry said. “I am completely against a surveillance state. We already have enough cameras. We were able to find a 14-year-old runaway with video from a QuikTrip, so I think Flock cameras are more dangerous than they are worth.”
Wogoman generally agreed with Perry.
“I agree. I think it’s a very slippery slope,” Wogoman said.
While there has not been a stalking allegation raised against any Tulsa Police Department officer using Flock cameras as of the time of publication, TPD has drawn criticism for Flock use during protests, and cameras can be accessed outside of local jurisdictions by other law enforcement. Additionally, Flock cameras appear to operate in a legal grey area in Oklahoma owing to state law barring law enforcement from using automated license plate readers for anything beyond enforcing “the Compulsory Insurance Law or as otherwise permitted by law.”
At least one Oklahoma judge has found the statute bars prosecutors from using evidence collected through automated license plate readers at trial.
“Based upon the unequivocal wording of [Title 47, Section 7-606.1(F)] that ALPR data ‘shall not be used by any individual or agency for purposes other than enforcement of the Compulsory Insurance Law,’ the Court excludes the use of ALPR information, or any inferences derived therefrom at trial,” District Judge Leah Edwards wrote.
However, at least one high-profile criminal case in Oklahoma used a “license plate recognition search” to obtain probable cause for a search warrant.
On the tax side, all three Tulsa District 7 candidates said they would oppose a sales tax increase, while disagreeing on the lodging tax hike proposed on the November ballot. Wogoman and Decter Wright both expressed support for raising the tax on hotels, Airbnbs, and other short term lodging, while Perry said he would oppose the increase, which would raise the rate from 5 percent to 9.9 percent.
“I’m against this, and I get that the corporations are the ones that pay most of the tax and tourists bringing money from other states in, but it’s not that cut and dry,” Perry said. “When I started digging into this, I found out that several of our homeless organizations put people up in hotels and motels, and they would be saddled with that additional burden.”
With three candidates on the Aug. 25 ballot, a Nov. 3 runoff is possible. In order to avoid a runoff, a candidate will have to secure more than 50 percent of the vote in August.
The following cheat sheet provides an overview of Tulsa City Council District 7 candidates and is derived from publicly available information, such as campaign websites, social media pages, news articles and podcast appearances, as well as the Aug. 3 Tulsa Press Club forum. Candidates are listed alphabetically.
Lori Decter Wright (incumbent)
Age:Â 51
Background/profession:Â Lori Decter Wright is a former opera singer from San Jose, California, who moved to Tulsa in 2008. She has worked for Tulsa Opera, Inc. and Kendall Whittier Incorporated, and she was elected to the Tulsa City Council in 2018. She won reelection in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
Although Tulsa City Council elections are nonpartisan, Decter Wright generated some minor controversy among Tulsa politicos when she switched her party registration from Democrat to Republican. While the Tulsa County Democratic Party called for challengers in the district, both men who filed to oppose her are Republicans.
Platform:Â During the Aug. 3 forum, Decter Wright touted her willingness to both work with Mayor Monroe Nichols and to challenge him when she believes he oversteps.
“This job isn’t just about having all the answers. It’s about asking the right questions, reading the reports, understanding the budget, listening to residents and making decisions based on facts and not headlines or outside politics or pressure,” Decter Wright said. “Sometimes that means following our mayor, and sometimes it means respectfully disagreeing. I don’t work for the mayor, I work for you.”
Decter Wright also emphasized her experience on the council makes her the best candidate for the district and expressed support for independent oversight of police, fire, EMSA, jail, courts, code enforcement and animal services.
Asked about municipal partnerships on immigration enforcement, Decter Wright said she believes TPD should focus on local crime.
Links:Â Website
Dave Perry
Age:Â 56
Background/profession:Â Dave Perry was born and raised in Tulsa. He attended Union High School, served in U.S. Navy and is an information-technology specialist, according to the Tulsa Flyer.
Introducing himself to some voters for the first time at the Tulsa Press Club forum, he led with, “Good evening, I am David Perry, and you are not.”
Platform:Â Perry told attendees of the forum he was a “lifelong Republican” who cast his first ballot for former President George H. W. Bush.
“I am for transparency, respect, fiscal responsibility, and I am against increasing and raising rates,” Perry said.
Perry expressed support for Safe Move Tulsa and closing the municipal jail, while he opposed municipal police cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Asked about a drone-delivery company opening in Tulsa, Perry argued citizens should be concerned about the surveillance capabilities of normal drone deployment and compared the technology to Flock cameras.
“I am a technologist, and that means that I’m always looking for the leading-edge stuff,” Perry said. “These drones have the ability to surveil everything between Point A and Point B. Where is that information being stored? How is it being used? How is it being secured, and who has access to it?”
Links:Â Personal Facebook
Kenny Wogoman
Age:Â 40
Background/profession:Â Kenny Wogoman is a Cherokee Nation citizen who grew up in Tuttle and joined the U.S. Army in 2006, leading to a deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Tulsa Flyer. He told forum attendees he moved to Oklahoma City in 2012 before returning to Tulsa in 2013. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2016.
He previously worked for Amazon and attended the Oklahoma City University School of Law, though did not graduate.
While answering a question on homelessness, Wogoman told forum attendees his father was an alcoholic who died homeless in Colorado, giving him personal insight into the issue.
“I let my father live with me for three years. He was an alcohol addict, he struggled, and eventually after three years he decided of his own accord to leave,” Wogoman said. “He made his way up to Colorado, where he eventually died an alcoholic in the streets. So you’re never going to tell me, ‘Yes, we can help everybody.’ (…) But for the people who do want help, I think they should be able to go walk into a building and say, ‘I was homeless. I lost my job. I don’t have money.’ We’re going to put you in clothes. Here’s a weed eater, go mow at the golf course.”
Wogoman previously worked with the marijuana advocacy group Green the Vote to file two lawsuits in 2018 and 2021. He was represented by now-disbarred attorney Ron Durbin, and both suits were dismissed.
Platform:Â Wogoman said more work needs to be done on the city’s rehousing program, citing an experience his mother had.
“One thing that concerns me is, you know, my mom lives in an apartment here in Tulsa and recently, as far as I can tell, the Tulsa Housing Authority moved a person right across the way from her. This person was an unhoused person, and now I don’t like my daughter to go to my mom’s apartment because that apartment now has people in and out of it at all hours of the day and night,” Wogoman said. “So I think that what we’re doing is good in getting the people of the streets and getting them housed, but we need to be checking up on these people.”
Asked about municipal partnerships on immigration enforcement, Wogoman said he was skeptical of federal cooperation while generally supportive of deporting criminals.
“I think we have to be really careful when we let our local law enforcement integrate with any kind of federal agency,” Wogoman said. “If you’re a criminal, I want you gone, but I also would hope that we would make a stand and say, ‘Look, the elderly couple who have been here for a long time and they’re a community pillar and they’ve got their little business and they’re helping everything, we shouldn’t be going after people like that.'”
Links:Â Personal Facebook
(Correction: This article was updated at 11:55 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17, to correct a biographical reference to Dave Perry.)
