The following is an email from Jim Nimmo
(Posted 3-18-02)

Editor:

When the Gazette began its publishing life I thought the intent of the editorial policy was to offer an alternative to the lies and propaganda of the Deadly Joke-lahoman but with the Gazette's endorsement of Kirk Humphreys for another term as evangelistic mayor of Oklahoma City, it would seem that this paper has made an anti-podal circut in its editorial policy. Has the Oklahoma Gazette become the Deadly Joke's little brother? Is Frosty Troy correct in his description of the Gazette as a weekly shopper?

Your endorsement refers specifically to the Metropolitan Library Commission as an example of Humphreys's separation of his religious convictions from his public duties. If the Gazette had sent a reporter to as many of the Commission's public meetings as I have attended, or had you paid attention to the appointments as documented in the City Council agenda packets, you would see that all of Humphreys's appointments and re-appointments have been religiously or fraternally biased. It is in black and white that the first quality listed in the official notice of appointment was the religious background of the candidate. Even his brother-in-law was appointed. Any other qualifications were listed as an afterthought.

The Gazette seems to place little importance to the Cimarron Banner lawsuit involving infringements of the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech and of the press, a story that your paper covered. Why has this paper characterized Humpreys's comparison of Cimarron Alliance to the Ku Klux Klan as merely an off-the-cuff statement of no consequence? Would the Gazettes's editorial staff be so flip if Humphreys had referred to the NAACP as a minority group interested only in grandstanding for the media? I have heard that the honorable man you endorse has made statements to some prominent African-American leaders that if they would disassociate themselves from support of other minorities such as the gay rights movement Humphreys would "allow" more city contracts to be awarded to black businesses. Is this an honorable tactic for a born-again christian to take?

And speaking of honorable tactics, is it honorable to endorse a man that's in the hip pocket of the Gaylord Empire to the extent that Humphreys promotes the use of tax money to increase the wealth of the Gaylord Empire as in the Bass Pro-Shop committment?

Since Humphreys is un-opposed by any viable candidate why bother to endorse him unless to suck up to the feudal powers that run this city. Are you trying to get in line for a promotion from serf to groom?

I'll vote for a yellow dog before I'll vote for Kirk Humphreys.

Sincerely,

James Nimmo
Oklahoma City, OK