Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee has been ordered by the House Committee on Ethics to return $40,000 wrongly paid to him five years ago by his plumbing business. And he’s not happy with the ruling.
It was Mulling Plumbing where he gained large recognition in eastern and central Oklahoma through TV and radio ads. But when he was elected to congress, he had to stop receiving income from the company. The Committee investigated and found Mulling “substantially complied with most of that advice”.
In a 23-page report, the committee urged him to return the $40,000 which had been paid to him in 2013 by the plumbing company which he had transferred to his wife a year earlier.
The Tulsa World reported the committee also said he should no longer take part in commercial advertisements for the company.
It wrote that “under no circumstances” should a member be active in personally selling or endorsing goods or services in which that person holds a financial interest.
But Rep. Mullin isn’t happy about the recommendation, saying “the rules have changed” and the report showed he followed the committee’s guidance.
“The new guidance in this report only proves that you can no longer be a citizen legislator,” Mullin stated. “You have to be a career politician to serve in Washington, D.C.
“If I don’t fit the bill for a citizen legislator as a plumber, rancher, and someone who had never held a political office before, then who does?”