Sullivan Still Up to Tricks on Brookside

I went down to the BooHaHa Parade on Brookside yesterday to get some pictures of my son's performance with the Edison Marching Band. Imagine my surprise to find myself catching John Sullivan in a little sophomoric stunt right under my nose! Thanks to my cheap little digital camera, I even have the pictures to prove it....

It started innocently enough -- Sullivan's crewe went by with little fanfare. I noted the absence of the candidate and assumed he must be off raising funds from out-of-state interests or talking to conservative church leaders who might be morally flexible enough to overlook his arrest record.

A little while later, Doug Dodd himself led his own, larger entourage. Unlike Sullivan's group, he was greeted with cheers from the crowd where I was standing at 41st and Peoria (click on photos to enlarge):

Then I noticed something truly odd: A golf cart zooming by, plastered with Sullivan signs! It soon became clear that the cart was literally running circles around Dodd and his supporters. For their part, Dodd's crewe seemed utterly unperturbed:

Some overzealous supporters, I thought. How childish! Childish, indeed. Look who showed up and started shaking hands, right in front of me!

I wasn't sure if I could believe my eyes. Had John Sullivan himself actually abandoned his own supporters in an attempt to interfere with Dodd's larger, more enthusiastic group? I got a little closer for a better look. Note the Dodd float that appears clearly in the background.

This little frat-boy prank wouldn't be very notable -- except perhaps for its lack of imagination -- were it not for Sullivan's existing "record" of chicanery on Brookside. An October 22 Tulsa World story revealed that, in spite of the fact that Sullivan had previously admitted to three arrests, a Sullivan campaign ad denied it:

"Well, there was really only one. And it was for drinking beer in Brookside when John Sullivan was 20. The police man made him pour the beer out." During that incident, Sullivan was arrested for public intoxication and disturbing the peace. He was fined $60. Sullivan was arrested at least two more times, according to records. Sullivan has publicly discussed those arrests in the past. In 1982, when he was 17, Sullivan was arrested for simple assault and battery.

Turns out, though, that that "simple" assault was against an off-duty police officer, a fact that John Sullivan now says he was unaware of (really!). He had claimed in a 2002 interview that the fight was with another teenager.

According to an October 24 World article, Sullivan "struck [the officer] in the face and head several times with his fist.... Sullivan, who is now 39, also had trouble remembering specific facts, conceding he probably had been drinking. 'It wasn't that big of a deal,' he said. 'I don't think anyone was hurt.'"

I guess it's good for all of us that John Sullivan finally grew up...sort of.