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Sunday, September 22, 2013
<<<< Rep. Jim Bridenstine
Birthplace: Ann Arbor, Mich.
Age: 38
Married: Yes, three children
Experience: Naval Reserve oicer
Education: Jenks High School
graduate; bachelor’s degree in
economics, business and psychology from Rice University; Master
of Business Administration from
Cornell University
Military: Combat veteran of Iraq
and Afghanistan
Leading campaign funding source:
Political/ideology PACs*
Rep. Markwayne Mullin >>>
Birthplace: Tulsa
Age: 36
Married: Yes, ive children
Experience: Business owner and
Rep. Jim Bridenstine
(center) listens to witnesses during a House
Armed Services Committee subcommittee meeting about the attacks on
Benghazi. Bridenstine is
given his old light gear
by his former squadron
mate Ben Sale (right)
before heading to the
Capitol for a vote.
CONGRESS
FROM A1
in northeastern Oklahoma, graduated from Stilwell High School and
took over the family’s failing plumbing business at age 18. He ranches in
Adair County, typically wears boots
and jeans, and says he didn’t buy his
irst business suit until he won last
year’s Republican primary.
He got into politics, he says, after
a particularly irritating visit from a
federal regulator.
Bridenstine led the ight for the
so-called Obamacare-defunding bill
the House passed on Friday and was
instrumental in torpedoing the farm
bill of fellow Oklahoman Frank Lucas, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. His active opposition to the farm bill won Bridenstine
no points with the rest of the state’s
delegation, at least some of whom
privately admit to being less than
thrilled with him to date.
But Bridenstine has become a rising celebrity among some conservatives, appearing on national radio
and television programs and getting
one of the conservative PAC Heritage Action’s highest ratings.
“He’s been very impressive,” said
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. “I’m not the only
national leader that has taken note
of his courage and boldness, and it’s
primarily centered around the fact
that he’s done what he said he was
going to do.”
Mullin, on the other hand, voted
for the farm bill and complained
bitterly about its defeat during August town halls. He says negotiation, not confrontation, is the only
way to move forward. At times he
has chided constituents who urge
him not to give an inch to President
Barack Obama and the Democrats.
He is outspoken about what he
calls “obstructionists” on both sides
Rep. Markwayne Mullin
listens to amendments to
a bill during the Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee’s meeting on
Thursday and talks with
Rep. Roger Williams of Texas. At left, Mullin speaks
to a group of Oklahoma
ire marshals near the U.S.
Capitol. rancher
Education: Stilwell High School
graduate; associate degree in
construction science from Oklahoma State University Institute of
Technology
Heritage: Enrolled member of
Cherokee Nation
Leading campaign funding source:
Commercial banks*
*Source: Center for Responsive Politics
Photos by GREG KAHN/
for the Tulsa World
of the aisle who, he says, are keep- ers’ political organization.
Presumably, the contribution is a
ing the country mired in an unacceptable status quo. “In business, if marker for the 2016 U.S. Senate elecyou’re maintaining the status quo, it tion to replace retiring Tom Coburn.
Not everyone is so enamored.
means you’re dying,” he said.
Some old-line Republicans, shocked
‘Oicer and a gentleman’
by his victory over 10-year incumbent John Sullivan in last year’s 1st
Erik Zoellner irst heard the name District GOP primary, have talked
Jim Bridenstine in a south Tulsa cof- about inding him a 2014 opponent.
fee shop.
That talk has since died down.
“I heard some folks visiting about
Bridenstine’s most outspoken
this Navy pilot running for Con- critic has been his 2012 Democratgress,” Zoellner says.
ic opponent, John Olson. The two
He soon learned their families at- have maintained an unusual relatended the same church, one thing tionship, cool but polite, with Olled to another, and Zoellner wound son attending many of Bridenstine’s
up on Bridenstine’s campaign team public appearances.
and then his congressional staf. A
“I knew he was going to be to the
former educator and youth pastor, right,” says Olson. “In my mind,
Zoellner says Bridenstine is “the I thought he would moderate on
most honorable man I’ve ever been some things ... What he appears to
associated with.”
have done is (move) even more to
Bridenstine’s supporters praise the right, and he hasn’t moderated
him as a man of principle who stood on anything.
up to House Republican leadership
“He’s deinitely on the tea party
on his irst day in Congress. With side of the Republican Party. He’s
his name near the top of the roll put himself in a position where he’s
call, Bridenstine became the irst of not able to get anything done. All
14 Republicans to vote for someone he’s able to do is oppose things.”
other than incumbent John Boehner
Olson said Bridenstine “is one of
for speaker.
the most divisive politicians anyBridenstine then joined those vot- where ... his politics are reckless.”
ing against disaster relief bills for
Bridenstine, who did not respond
the East Coast, a decision he said to requests for an interview for this
was based not on opposition to as- story, has said that, while he may
sistance but to unnecessary spend- have been elected with tea party
ing tacked onto the bills.
support, he is not a “tea party can“He’s actually doing what he cam- didate.” And, he says he is not as inpaigned on and that’s ruled the lexible and partisan as he is often
feathers of the political establish- portrayed. He points to his weather
ment,” said Perkins, whose radio research bill, which would shift
program Bridenstine guest-hosted some of the National Weather Serfor a week in August. “It’s put him in vice’s budget from climate research
the spotlight, not just as a conserva- to weather prediction, as an examtive, but one with integrity.”
ple of his work across the aisle.
Bridenstine was invited to speak at
Zoellner says Bridenstine is “coulast summer’s Red State conference rageous” and “a man of faith who
and received a campaign contribu- loves his family and truly loves this
tion from the Senate Conservative constitutional republic.”
PAC, a political action committee
“Jim’s the real deal,” said Zoellner.
tied to former Sen. Jim DeMint of “He is truly an oicer and a gentleSouth Carolina and the Koch Broth- man.”
‘A business mindset’
Markwayne Mullin was never
particularly interested in politics
until it began to impinge on his
business.
The owner of the state’s largest
plumbing service company and several ancillary enterprises, Mullin
says his epiphany came the day he
concluded “my biggest competition
was not somebody down the street,
but federal regulation.”
Still, he says, he would not have
run for Congress had Democrat Dan
Boren not retired.
“I liked Dan and what he was trying to do,” said Mullin.
Mullin says he doesn’t care about
party and points out he kept four of
Boren’s staf members.
“In my business, I wouldn’t ask
someone whether they were Republican or Democrat when I hired
them,” he said. “I don’t think that
would even be legal.
“I don’t approach anything with a
political mindset,” said Mullin. “I approach it with a business mindset.”
“If I’m able to take one piece of
paper of my desk, if I can take it of
a small-business owner’s desk, that
frees them up a little more to make
the economy improve.”
He picks up Rep. Joe Kennedy –
yes, one of those Kennedys – for lag
football and says he thinks a lot of
Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard.
Mullin often talks about the time
as a child when his family depended
on food assistance, in the form of
commodities, and reduced lunches,
and says he knows what it means to
need help. All of that said, Mullin almost always votes conservative and
votes Republican.
But on most things he is a goodgovernment conservative rather
than a no-government conservative.
He backs public works projects,
such as maintenance of highways
and the McClellan-Kerr Navigation
Channel.
In that respect, he is closer to traditional Republicans than Bridenstine.
He is also more traditional in that
he illed his staf with experienced
operatives. Where Bridenstine
mostly brought on loyalists from
his campaign, few of whom had political backgrounds, Mullin brought
in veteran pros. “I was the rookie,”
Mullin said. “We didn’t need a room
full of rookies.”
That doesn’t mean Mullin is being “managed,” said Chief of Staf
Karl Ahlgren.
“Anyone who knows Markwayne
would smile at that idea,” said Ahlgren.
Ahlgren said he’s been impressed
with Mullin’s willingness and ability to bone up on issues. “We’ve seen
him continue to grow.”
Democrats hold an advantage in
voter registrations in Mullin’s 2nd
District, but no potential 2014 opponent has surfaced. Former state
Sen. Kenneth Corn, the 2nd District
Democratic Party chairman, says
Mullin “is deinitely no Carl Albert”
but will probably be re-elected.
Corn says in time the district will
realize Mullin is not “making sure
we get our fair share of money back
from the federal government” and
turn against him.
“We used to have representatives
like Carl Albert, Mike Synar, Brad
Carson and even Wes Watkins who
battled for what was important to
the district,” said Corn. “(Mullin)
seems more interested in what’s going on nationally.”
Mullin said he’s learned to think
of politics as a form of negotiation.
“In any negotiation, you’ve got to
know what you’ll accept, and you’ve
got to know what you want,” he
said. “Sometimes, it’s very hard to
identify what that is.”
Randy Krehbiel 918-581-8365
[email protected]
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