Oklahoma troubadour Woodie Guthrie wrote a song about outlaws that was right on target:
“As through this world I’ve traveled
I’ve seen lots of funny men
Some’ll rob you with a six gun
Some with a fountain pen.”
That could apply today to Clayton Bennett, a multimillionaire Oklahoma City banker who has regularly wielded his fountain pen to loot public funds for his private gain. Bennett is a Hall of Infamy player in the elite club of big league owners of pro-basketball teams, specializing in picking taxpayers’ pockets to finance his operations. In 2006, he and a few high-rolling partners bought the Seattle SuperSonics team, promptly demanding that locals pony up $500 million to build a new arena for them.
No, said Seattle. So Bennett & Gang scampered off to Oklahoma City with the team (renaming it the Thunder), using their fountain pens to filch a $100-million subsidy from taxpayers there. Soon, Bennett and the Gang struck again, demanding that local officials hand over another $115-million subsidy.
Gratitude? Robbers don’t say thank you. They refill their fountain pens. As Judd Legum reports in his excellent Substack report Popular Information, Bennett is now demanding $850 million from OKC taxpayers to build a glittery new basketball palace for him. Legum notes that this is about “$3,200 for every Oklahoma City household,” and that Bennett’s take will deplete the budget of about a dozen essential community projects.
He also has an inside accomplice: The Mayor. Having taken Bennett cash to get elected, Mayor David Holt is now warning taxpayers to hand over millions to his rich banker buddy – or the Thunder will leave town.
This is Jim Hightower saying… So go! The thieving won’t stop until the people stop the thieves. Boom-Boom-Boom – ship the whole herd of thundering thieves out of town, including Bennett and that pusillanimous mayor.
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A Thundering Herd of Bankers Robbing Oklahoma City Taxpayers