Tulsa World editorial defends Rep. Mullin

Editorial:  Sometimes even Leftists get it right and deserve credit. (Regular readers of Tulsa Today may want to brace themselves.) Unnamed Tulsa World Editorial Writers have defended Rep. Markwayne Mullin against an anonymous complaint of blatant partisanship. Published today under the title, ”Why is earned income unethical if you're in Congress?” the piece is coherent even on a subject of accounting. Wow, just when you thought The Tulsa World was only focused on overturning marriage and defending socialism.  The editorial even includes a bit of humor with positive cultural values. Again, wow, this is good stuff. The Tulsa World Editorial begins:

If everything we've heard from the Office of Congressional Ethics about Rep. Markwayne Mullin is true, the obvious question is: So what? Based on an anonymous complaint, the office says it is reviewing Mullin's involvement with the plumbing companies that he built. The office is questioning $600,000 Mullin received from the seven companies in 2013 because it may be earned income. While House members can pile up unlimited unearned income —— as in stock and bond trades —— they can only earn about $27,000 a year. That's true even, as would be the case here, if they earned it from companies they personally built and worked for years prior to going to Congress. Mullin says he's done his best to abide by House ethics rules, including hiring a CEO to take over operations of the companies after he was elected. He says some of the actions now being questioned by the Office of Congressional Ethics were taken at the advice of the House Ethics Committee.

He also says most of the $600,000 in question only passed through his banking accounts to pay taxes and the Office of Congressional Ethics doesn't understand the accounting involved.

[Tulsa Today suggests: Yes they do Markwayne, they're just pretending they don't in order to screw with you.]

But the Office of Congressional Ethics says that because Mullin appears in advertising for the plumbing company, the money counts as earned income. Sounds like a scandal all right, but not the one the Office of Congressional Ethics thinks it is. Click here for more from The Tulsa World.

From left to right (Markwayne, Christie, Jim, Andrew, Larra, Ivy and Lynette.)