Russel Drank the Koolaide

By the Watchman

  We in the grass roots community, regardless of the name you take, work hard on trying to select and support good, decent Conservatives to fill the halls of both chambers of Congress whether it's the National Capitol or the State. In this article we will present you with one of our failures. Regrettably the man is just finishing his first term in office, and we as a state need to make it his last.

  The individual we're talking about is Congressman Steve Russell. We can understand a little timidity during his first few months in office, but the fact is he fell in and started listening to the wrong man from Oklahoma that is on our delegation. That man is Representative Tom Cole. They must have become pretty good friends because they have an identical Conservative rating.

  We first went to his Congressional web site to see what information was there. This is what we found Biography | Congressman Steve Russell. We would like to thank you for your service sir but that raises a couple of questions. How come there is no mention of your manufacturing business in your biography? With the oath you took as an officer in the military and the oath you took when you were sworn in as a Representative why was it that when one of your constituents reported a fellow congressman who was in office in violation of the Constitution, they were told that it was beyond your scope of responsibility and they would have to file an official complaint with the ethics committee themselves?

  We visited the votes and legislation side of his site too. You can see it here Votes and Legislation | Congressman Steve Russell We found it to be totally lacking in accurate information. This too was only a partial list so we went to www.votesmart.org and found his voting record there. We find it hard to believe that a man who owns a company that manufactures weapons would vote to make law abiding citizens work harder to own one. Disgraceful.

  We next looked at his campaign finances. This is something that we all should have done a better job at prior to his first election. You can get an estimate here Rep. Steven Russell: Campaign Finance/Money - Summary - Representative 2016 | OpenSecrets. However we would recommend that you go to www.votesmart.org and look at his finances there. You'll find that most of his campaign funds came from business associated with the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce, unions and special interest groups. He's not working for the people he's a Chambercrat.

  This is what takes his electability away from him Rep. Steve Russell (R-Oklahoma) | Liberty Card. This report shows he votes for the Constitution only 53% of the time. That is unacceptable. It is based on the performance of Mr. Russell that we refuse to endorse him and recommend Frank Volpe be elected to represent the Republican party in District 5 in the November elections.