Tulsa District Attorney Endorsement
A District Attorney serious about public safety, smart with taxpayer money, honest with the public, and accountable to the people.
Both Tulsa District Attorney candidates Steve Kunzweiler and Colleen McCarty have been covered in detail by this writer (Kunzweiler here and McCarty here) on Substack. The Tulsa County Republican Party Candidate Forum featuring both candidates May 12 was promoted on TulsaToday.com also published by this writer.
At that event, McCarty appealed to voter concerns about public safety in Tulsa, highlighting personal experiences with nearby shootings and advocating for evidence-based scalable systems to reduce crime in our county of over a million residents.
Incumbent Kunzweiler, as a long-serving (38 years) criminal justice leader, emphasized courtroom experience, conservative values, and claimed operational reforms during his tenure. He advises voters to weigh both experience and conservative authenticity. He spent significant time attacking his challenger.
I respect both candidates and consider them friends, but incumbent District Attorney Kunzweiler’s observed rage at being challenged is disturbing. His allies have pressured this writer by pushing lies about McCarty. These frantic attacks beg the question, why does Kunzweiler not campaign on his record?
Kunzweiler Fanatics attacked McCarty’s family, her clients, her education, her work, her motives, and even made up conspiracy theories about a family foundation.
McCarty posted a response page on her campaign website titled, “The Truth” for all to consider. McCarty declares she is running because Tulsa County deserves a District Attorney that is serious about public safety, smart with taxpayer money, honest with the public, and accountable to the people.
There are significant problems in the Tulsa District Attorney office that Tulsa taxpayers will pay millions in court ordered judgements to make right. Further, Court System issues were most recently revealed in the failures of Tulsa Juvenile Justice Center to protect children in custody, an issue McCarty brought to public attention and pushed to resolve.
Attorneys from other parts of the state refuse to practice in Tulsa County because the judges ignore the law in capricious ways on a regular basis. I am a witness to lawfare in Tulsa County. Based on that experience, I cannot recommend anyone in Oklahoma speak with law enforcement or the Department of Human Services. Criminals filed actions against a witness in civil court even while the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act should have prevented it. Thus, no one is safe to talk.
In addition, I have written (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) on the Gertrude Marshall Blakey unsolved homicide in Tulsa. After 46 years, Tulsa Police Department (TPD) still will not release the investigative file to the family trustee because police say there is an ongoing investigation with no apparent investigation going on.
I asked DA Kunzweiler to review the TPD investigative file on Gertrude Marshall Blakey and he said he asked and TPD refused to show it to him. Apparently, justice and transparency are not things that happen in Tulsa.
The Trustee believes the file is kept hidden because many judges and attorneys, if not TPD Officers, are involved in the coverup of murder, fraud and embezzlement. God help taxpayers if a RICO case is ever heard in a Federal Court.
Monday, I wrote again to the Attorney General’s office asking for help or even information on this case, but… cue crickets. In that email, I also asked when AG Gentner Drummond will act on the Tulsa Public School District. Drummond declared publicly in several forums that he had tasked a Grand Jury to review the $66 million of identified audited fraud by the Tulsa Public School District. He said the Statute of Limitations would hit in June. Guess what, June is almost here.
Recently, an attorney asserted that DA Kunzweiler has the authority to investigate the charges against the Tulsa Public School District. That was a surprise. Kunzweiler campaigns as “a prosecutor not a politician” so why would he hide from the responsibility to protect Tulsa children and teachers from criminal fraud?
Colleen McCarty serves as Executive Director of Oklahoma Appleseed, a non-profit watchdog organization dedicated to rooting out government waste, corruption, and lack of transparency—holding public officials accountable regardless of party. Since founding Appleseed, she has transformed it from a modest $150,000 operation into a $1.5 million statewide force with a staff of 13 attorneys, researchers, and professionals fighting for fiscal responsibility and open government.
As a veteran political journalist, I have interviewed many and I strongly believe Colleen McCarty to be honest, forthright, conservative in judgement and aggressive in the pursuit of justice. She is not a member of any special interest. She is a believer in public safety and security for all citizens of Tulsa County.
Every decade or so, it is good to change regimes. Former DA Tim Harris endorsed his assistant Kunzweiler for the job. Kunzweiler has been in charge for over a decade and citizens are increasingly concerned about public safety.
Colleen McCarty is the best candidate for Tulsa District Attorney.
About the author: David Arnett’s beginning in print journalism was not planned in 1985 but covered by Rebecca Martin writing for the Columbia Journalism Review in 1987. After 11 years in print, he established TulsaToday online in 1996 and Straight Up on Substack in 2022 providing email subscriptions. In April 2026, he began the YouTube Channel, Straight Up Dave. Arnett is identified nationally as a “Veteran Oklahoma Political Journalist.”
Thank you for reading. Your comments are welcome below and/or by email.
I hear you, but I am concerned McCarty's actual agenda and the very organized people working with her would be even worse for Tulsa County. "A rock and a hard place" comes to mind in this situation.
The Oklahoma Appleseed Foundation is cleverly designed to undermine the structures of our constitutional republic, and I suspect its largest donors know that agenda and support it for that reason (not the nice-sounding platitudes the organization communicates first). Do a deep dive on Erika Wright (Education Justice Organizer at OKA) and David Blatt (Director of Research and Strategic Impact at OKA) and ask why Colleen would hire them?
Do we want Saul Alinsky acolytes running the Tulsa DA's office? How many far-left activists would she hire?
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is a close national partner of Colleen's organization. Searching the AU website for "Appleseed" yields 33 results, beginning with their legal work against religious charter schools. Of the 18 chapters of Appleseed Foundations, Oklahoma is one mentioned most across the internet, because of the national org's targeting of this state for its "anti-democratic" practices (https://appleseednetwork.org/appleseed-launches-three-state-collaboration-to-strengthen-public-education/)
There is a communist-tactic organization called Groundwork Project with the following statement proudly on their website, and they interviewed Colleen (https://x.com/GroundworkProj/status/1561756096846614530) regarding her work in Tulsa, which they apparently think fulfills the following:
"The Groundwork Theory of Change
Year-round community organizing is the essential foundation of civic and political power.
Trusted local leaders engaged in ongoing conversation and relationship with their neighbors are best positioned to activate, galvanize and inspire action. With enough resources, they work 365 days a year to create a base of engaged citizens within their community that can influence public opinion, achieve policy reforms, win elections, build governing power, shift narratives, and more. It is the seed from which power grows.
At Groundwork, we believe this grassroots muscle is a necessary condition of any successful movement to build a more just, equitable and democratic future."
Anyhow, I am not planning to vote for Colleen on this one.
I have worried that McCarty is a Democrat running as a Republican, a la Drummond for governor. Do you see any basis for this concern?