Tulsa County District Attorney Runoff Preview

There’s a big runoff between the Republican candidates for Tulsa County District Attorney, current DA Steve Kunzweiler and his opponent, Ben Fu.

Kunzweiler picked up 43 percent of the votes in the June primary, but that wasn’t quite enough to seal the deal.  Fu received 29 percent of the votes.

The two debated just last week.

Kunzweiler says his 28 years as a criminal prosecutor, with three and a half years of that as the District Attorney, make him the better candidate to continue protecting Tulsa moving forward.

Fu is a former Assistant District Attorney who worked in Kunzweiler’s office.  He says Kunzweiler’s management has led to low morale among the staff and he says Kunzweiler should work on alternatives to prison for non-violent crimes.

Kunzweiler, however, says he is already working on those alternatives.

“Tulsa County is a safer place,” he said, “because I’ve instituted the necessary change so that we focus on violent crimes.”

However, Fu says that “what we haven’t heard and what I haven’t seen in the past three and a half years is what he’s going to do to implement that change.”

During the debate, Kunzweiler criticized Fu for running as a Republican after voting for Democrats.