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“Records show that city officials simultaneously worked to manufacture support for their anti-panhandling proposal while using their power to silence criticism,” said Brady Henderson, ACLU of Oklahoma Legal Director. “That breach of the public trust is both unethical and insulting to the citizens of Oklahoma City. Worse yet, the city’s manipulation of the panhandling ordinance debate occurred almost entirely behind the scenes. There was no disclosure during the debate over the ordinance.”

An unusual contract

The Neighborhood Alliance bills itself as an organization that is “successful at helping residents create sustainable change through its educational and support programs.”

The organization's contract includes few measurable requirements; mainly that the alliance host neighborhood workshops, sponsor talks to citizens’ groups, and oversee the planning and hosting of two neighborhood “coalition building” events.

In documents included in the contract, Neighborhood Alliance executive director Georgie Rasco wrote that the organization helps “promote OKC planning department programs to neighborhood associations and the public.”

For more than a year, Rasco helped organize meetings and sent dozens of emails to neighborhood groups and other individuals and organizations, urging them to support the ordinance.

Last September, Rasco emailed members of the Oklahoma City Council, urging them to support the ordinance. Rasco’s email focused on the image caused by panhandlers.

“Panhandling first and foremost degrades the person who is relegated to standing on a street corner to ask for money. (It) hurts our businesses, our property values and perceived or real safety issues abound,” she wrote.

Rasco also wrote that shoppers in the 23rd and Pennsylvania Avenue area said “they no longer supported” the businesses at that intersection due to alleged harassment from panhandlers.

“This clearly shows that the City of OKC needs to react to a serious problem,” she wrote. “They cannot allow a small group of territorial panhandlers to ruin property values, devalue businesses and chase away a vital customer base.”

However, while Rasco’s email stressed that shoppers said they would stop doing business with merchants in the 23rd Street area, she did not release the names of any citizens who made complaints, nor did she say if those citizens were concerned about their safety.

None of the emails disclose the financial relationship between her organization and Oklahoma City’s municipal government.

Rasco did not respond to emails from the ACLU of Oklahoma requesting comment.

Kristy Yager, the city’s spokesperson, defended the contract with the Neighborhood Alliance, saying Oklahoma City municipal government contracts with many nonprofits to provide specific services on behalf of the city.

“The city’s interest is that those services are provided in accordance with the contract and nothing else,” Yager wrote in an email to ACLU of Oklahoma. “The city has no interest in influencing the activities of nonprofit organizations outside of the contracted services.”

Most non-profits, she said, have boards that include various community members who “may take positions on issues of local, state and national matters.”

And city funds, Yager said, are not the only source of funding for nonprofits.

But tax returns filed by the Neighborhood Alliance show that a large portion of the Neighborhood Alliance’s funding comes from its contract with Oklahoma City’s municipal government. For example, according to the Neighborhood Alliance's 2013 tax return, the organization received $216,772 in contributions and grants and $163,602 in program service revenue – its city contract for 2013 – for a total budget of $381,084.

Of that amount, Oklahoma City’s payments total almost 43 percent of the organization’s revenue -- close to half the organization’s budget.

Henderson said the Neighborhood Alliance should have been more transparent and open about its connection with Oklahoma City’s municipal government during its campaign for the panhandling ordinance.

“The Neighborhood Alliance didn’t mention they were receiving thousands in city money while they were campaigning for the anti-panhandling ordinance,” Henderson said. “Both the alliance and city officials should have disclosed their funding deal. Keeping citizens in the dark about the potential conflict of interest deprives them of the ability to evaluate the alliance’s lobbying and public statements in the context of its close and lucrative relationship with the city government.”

Following strong support from the Neighborhood Alliance, Oklahoma City’s anti-panhandling ordinance was adopted by a 7-2 vote last December. The ordinance is now the subject of a federal lawsuit.

ACLU Oklahoma executive director Ryan Kiesel said Adam Soltani and CAIR-OK were chosen to receive the Angie Debo Award because of their efforts to protect the rights of Oklahoma’s Muslim community and to ensure the religious liberty rights of all Oklahomans.

The award is named in honor of the writer, historian, and civil rights advocate Angie Debo, who relentlessly pursued justice in cooperation with the ACLU of Oklahoma during the late 1960's and 1970's. It is the highest awa

By Scott CarterEDITORS NOTE: On Nov. 19, 2015, the ACLU of Oklahoma filed an open records request with the city of Oklahoma City, seeking emails and other documents pertaining to the development and passage of an anti-panhandling ordinance written by Ward 6 councilwoman Meg Salyer. On Dec. 4, Assistant Municipal Counselor Richard Smith replied, asking that ACLU Oklahoma further "refine" its request. "I believe we could expedite the process, if you are willing to be more specific as to the type of record you are seeking," Smith wrote. ACLU Oklahoma agreed to extra time for the request. In late January, Oklahoma City officials released 756 pages of documents relating to the ordinance. ACLU of Oklahoma requested copies of 425 pages. Of those 425 documents, about 80 pages were the basis for this story. Many of them can be found in links embedded throughout this story. All 80 pages are available here.  

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