By Theodore King

Congratulations to Steve Russell, who defeated openly homosexual Democrat State Senator Al McAffrey to become the congressman for the Fifth District, succeeding James Lankford, who succeeded Tom Coburn to become our new senator.

Dr. Tom Coburn Leaves the Senate

This quote comes from The Weekly Standard' s Andrew Ferguson, December 29, 2014:

Coburn retires from the Senate at the end of this Congress, and we'll miss him. His résumé makes him an increasingly rare bird in the Washington aviary. Among "antigovernment" Republicans no less than Leviathan-loving liberals, our political ranks brim over with men and women whose careers began in second grade with their first campaign for hall monitor and went on from there, with perhaps a brief detour to law school offering them their closest view of the push and pull of normal commercial life.

Mr. Ferguson pointed out in his article that Dr. Tom Coburn was 46 when he first ran for public office after a career as a businessman and then as a doctor delivering thousands of babies. First elected to the Second District in 1994, replacing ultra liberal Mike Synar, Tom Coburn was the second Republican ever to represent the rural Second District, which was northeastern Oklahoma. As a congressman, he was the polar opposite of his liberal predecessor. He frequently dueled with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and the leadership whom he considered unprincipled. He later wrote a book about that experience titled Breach of Trust.

He promised in 1994 to serve three terms if re-elected by the voters. In 2000, he kept his word and endorsed long-shot presidential candidate Ambassador Alan Keyes for the Republican nomination. He even contributed his remaining campaign funds to the Keyes campaign. In 2004, nobody in the Republican political class, i.e. establishment, wanted Tom Coburn to come back as a U.S. senator. They found a candidate in Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys. They even recruited Senator Jim Inhofe to endorse Humphreys. Humphreys, who looked something like an undertaker, was so assured of victory he appeared in a commercial in which he introduced himself by telling voters, "We need to get to know each another." In other words, "I've been picked by the chamber of commerce, and you're stuck with me!" Of course, history proved otherwise. It was the Tea Party before there was a name for them that nominated Tom Coburn and elected him the following November.

As a senator, Tom Coburn continued his work for fiscal responsibility, the right to life, and limited government. Sometimes, we on the right have been mad at him. His vote in 2008 to bail out the banks was a bad vote. Jim Inhofe did not vote for that disaster. Tom Coburn as a senator was not perfect, but he was pretty darn close. He is not the glad-handing, phony politician to whom we have become accustomed. If he doesn't like your idea, he will publicly call it stupid.

Tom Coburn is different. He is an antidote for political cynicism. I'm proud he was our senator, and I'm proud of Oklahoma for electing him. I am really going to miss him in the Senate.

Congress Narrowly Kicks the Can - Again

On December 11th, the House passed a 1.1 trillion dollars spending bill by the narrowest of margins. The close vote was 219 to 206 with 10 members, five from each party, not voting. The press opined that there would have been a government shutdown if the bill had failed. If it had failed, another bill could have been more fiscally responsible and passed. Congressman James Lankford of the Fifth district, now our junior senator, was joined by James Bridenstine of the First District in voting no. There were 67 Republicans who voted no. There were 139 Democrats who voted no -- a majority of Democrats! Congressmen Cole of the fourth, Frank Lucas of the third, and Markwayne Mullin of the second voted yes for the bill.

Many Democrats were opposed to this spending bill because of loosening of banking regulations that they believed were irresponsible. In a politics makes strange bedfellows moment, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi opposed this bill. Conservatives were concerned about the spending bill because it funds President Obama's amnesty for illegal aliens and Obamacare for another year. Conservatives in the House offered an amendment to the spending bill that would block funds for amnesty, but the Republican leadership did not allow it to come up for a vote. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden lobbied for passage among Democrats. Speaker John Boehner lobbied Republicans. The Senate later passed the bill minus Senators Coburn and Inhofe, who were absent for the vote.

Markwayne Mullin

"I got fed up!" That was what candidate Markwayne Mullin said when he ran for the Second District seat in 2012. He said he was running to change Washington's regulatory powers over small business people like himself. During his successful campaign, he sent out flier after flier picturing himself with his plumbing business vans, including the business phone number just in case any voters needed some plumbing work done. I asked him about those campaign fliers. He said it was never his intention to promote his business in those fliers. I didn't believe him.

He also said in 2012 that he would serve only three terms if elected and then return home "to get my life back." I doubt if elected again he will keep his promise to serve only three terms because he has not lived up to his promise to fight the system in Washington. Last year, he voted for the bad farm bill twice. And he can't say he had to do it because it was for the farmers. He could have insisted on a bill more fiscally sound. He voted late last year for Barack Obama's budget. And then he voted to keep John Boehner as Speaker of the House. If John Boehner were a football coach, he would have been fired by now. When you compare Markwayne Mullin with First District Congressman Jim Bridenstine, who doesn't vote to go along to get along, you realize we can do better. "We're broke" was another zinger from the 2012 candidate Markwayne Mullin. Yes, Markwayne, at 18 trillions in debt, thanks in part to you, we're broke.

One Saturday morning last year in early March, I was in my car listening on a local talk radio station to Markwayne Mullin's show. He was talking about drains and leaks. I thought to myself that this guy is just not serious about being a congressman. We need him to represent us, not talk about his plumbing business.

I voted for Markwayne Mullin in 2012 and again in 2014. I will not vote for him again, and if he does not have a challenger in 2016, I shall re-register as a Republican and run against him. I'm sure the GOP establishment would not welcome me back with open arms, and I would just as soon remain an independent. However, even though no one wants a jerk like me running for Congress, I shall run if no one else will challenge him.

Markwayne Mullin is a nice man. He has made himself available to me as a reporter and has an easy-going style. This is not a personal matter with me. He simply has not lived up to his promises to fight the system in Washington, and now it's time to help him "to get my life back" by making him a private citizen once again.

Bragging a Little about My Mom

Recently, the computers belonging to the SONY corporation were hacked as a result of a movie SONY made ridiculing the North Korean dictator, Kim Sung Un. After that attack on SONY, the North Korean Internet (such as it is) was shut down as a result of hackers from oh, I don't know where.

Thirty years ago, my mother, Trudy Kay Miller King, told me that computers would be used as weapons in future warfare. She said computers would be used to steal or corrupt data from computers in other countries. I don't know if she heard someone say this or she read it or if she thought of it herself. My point that is thirty years ago my mom saw the future.

"In the nearly half century that I have been observing the Washington scene and writing and talking about it, I doubt anything has delighted me more than Dr. Tom Coburn of Muskogee, Okla., telling the Congressional establishment to go stuff it."

- Robert Novak from the forward to Dr. Coburn's book Breach of Trust