The manager of the Patrice Douglas for Congress campaign charged today that her opponent, Steve Russell, “is being less than honest about his voting record during his years in political office.”
“Like most politicians, former Senator Russell is not being forthright about his voting record,” said Sam Fosdick, campaign manager for Patrice Douglas’ campaign.
“When people have asked him about his vote for Common Core, he seriously misleads the people of the fifth district and says he never voted for it,” said Fosdick.
“Just last night at a debate sponsored by the Oklahoma City Republican Women’s club, Russell said he voted for a teacher pay raise, not Common Core. Maybe he didn’t read the bills he voted for, and maybe he still hasn’t, because it very clearly states that Common Core is in that bill.”
Fosdick is referring to Senate Bill 2033, which was the bill that forced Common Core upon Oklahomans in 2010. And, while he was in the State Senate, Russell clearly voted for SB 2033 that mandated the state Board of Education adopt the Common Core standards, despite Conservatives who unsuccessfully rallied against the bill. The bill states:
“By August 1, 2010, the State Board of Education shall adopt revisions to the subject matter curriculum adopted by the State Board for English Language Arts and Mathematics as is necessary to align the curriculum with the K-12 Common Core State Standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The revised curriculum shall reflect the K-12 Common Core State Standards in their entirety and may include additional standards as long as the amount of additional standards is not more than fifteen percent (15%) of the K-12 Common Core State Standards.”
Fosdick said the people of Oklahoma’s Fifth District deserve honesty when it comes to voting records and the issues and the video from last night clearly shows the length at which he will go to mislead voters.
“I certainly understand that Steve Russell does not want to admit that he voted to impose Common Core on Oklahoma, but facts are facts. He supported Common Core when he was in the senate, and he needs to own up to it and explain to the voters why he supported such a terrible policy.”
So, if he voted against the bill, he would have been voting against teacher raises, right, Mr. Fosdick? You wouldn’t have used that against him, right, Mr. Fosdick? Last liar wins, right, Mr. Fosdick?
Starting your low-blow stuff already? At least he didn’t have to be appointed to things. Dirty politics is just plain democrat of you.
Let’s just see who is being “Less than honest” here!
Steve Russell has been a CHAMPION in the fight against Common Core. I have a great picture of myself with him at the Hear Our Bills rally at the State Capitol when We the People showed up to insist that the Senate Education Committee hear our Common Core repeal bills. Steve was THERE with the rest of us, wearing his Common Core is Not OK pin and holding his Hear Our Bills sign with the rest of us! This rally was before he was a candidate in this race.
I have NEVER seen nor heard of Douglas showing up at ANY event, ANY interim study, ANY County GOP meeting as we travelled all over the State of OK to inform folks.
Common Core was implemented in SB2033 in 2010, a bill entitled “Teacher Incentive Pay” by putting one little paragraph on page 30 of a 35 page bill, and MANY of our Senators unknowingly voted for Common Core. No one had even heard of CC at the time except for Clark Jolley and a couple of other sneaks that got it in there.
Senator Russell had his door wide open to the pioneers in the fight against Common Core, and was the first OK Senator on board to FIGHT Common Core as soon as we was informed. He has the support of everyone I know who is in the fight against Common Core.
I find it rather bemusing that Sam Fosdick, as young political newbie exploring life as a tweenager in 2003, the same time Lt Colonel Steve Russell was being shot at while leading a brigade of combat troops through Afghanistan and Iraq, would resort to the same tactics others before him have tried and failed so miserably at, when they have nothing of real merit to run their campaign on. It didn’t work on June 24th for another candidate, and won’t work now.
Since day one Steve Russell has been involved in the fight against Common Core since it was slyly slipped into SB2033 in a closed door conference committee. All the Senators, including constitutional stalwart Randy Brogdon, voted to improve teacher salaries. Steve was among the very first to recognize the threat, and since then he has worked tirelessly to educate others on the many shortcomings that will hurt public school, private, Christian, and homeschool children, and America’s future. He understood the threat and acted. This is common knowledge in the anti Common Core movement all across Oklahoma, and young Fosdick and his boss’s credibility is nil with us.
We were there. Steve Russell was there. Patrice Douglas and Sam Fosdick were not. Steve Russell shows up, and wins.
On the other hand, I can promise you that for the last couple of years that I’ve been involved in the anti Common Core movement, debates, grassroots groundswell, rallies, and sessions at the State Capitol, and final passage of HB3399, I have never seen or heard Patrice Douglas’ name mentioned once in the same sentence as Common Core. Steve Russell was with us at the big anti Common Core Rally at the State Capitol this spring. And if you are still curious about her non-involvement in the fight against Common Core in Oklahoma, check with some of the other groups in Oklahoma that have been fighting Common Core. Same answer: “Patrice who?”
Patrice Douglas claims to always show up, but has been absent while the rest of Oklahoma parents and educators have been fighting Common Core, and I see no reason why she would decide to help now, unless she decides to use some of the extra time she gained by recently cancelling meetings three days a week at the Corporation Commission apparently for campaigning, according to an article in Tulsa Today on 7/29/14.
Steve Russell shows up, stands up for what is right, and we’ll all win when he does on August 26th.
Don Krumme
Contributor
Stop Common Core in Oklahoma (Facebook)
Hey, if Mary can smell the wind shift, why can’t Patty? That’s just politics, right?
It bothers me that Mr. Russell has never said “yes, I voted for CC. None of us knew it was going to be so bad and we all were trying to improve education. Since that vote I have seen the light and supported the repeal effort.” Instead he claims he was voting for a pay raise for teachers. Whatever, but that doesn’t cut it with me.
I don’t know and have not met Mrs. Douglas. I have met Mr. Russell one time. Here is my take:
Mrs. Douglas was the elected Mayor of Edmond and appointed by Gov. Fallin to the Corp. Commission. I don’t have a positive OR negative opinion of her. I like her business background.
Mr. Russell has a long military record and a short elected one. By all accounts he was a good soldier – and he is running in large part on that record. His legislative record DOES include voting for Common Core and missing a lot of votes while in the State Senate – he even had the nerve to claim he was “earning a living to support his family” as an excuse for missing several hundred voted. I have a problem with that. He was very arrogant when challenged on this (it was the first I had heard of it, and just observed the discussion).
Both will, of course, stand up for the Second Amendment and oppose anything Obama might do. Who will fight for the rest of the Bill of Rights? Who will roll back the federal police state? Both will support cutting social programs, as any Republican from the 5th Congressional would – who will cut the military? Because I want it cut – a LOT.
Whoever wins, if you don’t stand up for the 4th and 5th as much as the 2nd and 10th, you are going to have an ARMY of people showing up at town halls and making your life miserable. If you think the public is going to keep supporting wars we can’t afford with borrowed money to go to places we shouldn’t be and aren’t wanted, you will find that same ARMY of people making you answer for your actions.
We, as Republicans, have been lied to. We have been told we must have a globe spanning military. That is a Wilsonian dream writ large. We do it with borrowed money – that is the future of my four children that is being mortgaged for greed, bravado and insanity. We – the GOP – are to blame for our half of the debt mess coin. The other side of that coin is the democrats favorite social safety net. BOTH need to go.
Now get to work.
“Didn’t know what they were voting for”?? Did they not read the bill? It clearly said the bill was for Common Core. And yes, it was in a bill with a teacher pay raise, just like every bill at the Capitol has more than one thing in it. That’s why the legislators are paid to read and debate and consider each one of them. Clearly Steve Russell didn’t do any of those things.
At the time, only the few had heard the term “Common Core”. I challenge you to go read the bill and figure out that it was a fundamental change in our education system. Then read about 20 more bills and decide if you have a deep understanding of all the bills — every word in every sentence. The Senators thought they were voting to increase teacher pay. Clearly. If anyone was going to be upset over the vote, it would be those of us who have spent our time fighting Common Core. Those that have been involved the longest and the hardest support Steve. PD brought it up. We are just setting the record straight.
Julia, I hear you. Your defense of Mr. Russell is eloquent, but it does not change this: he and others voted for it, and I don’t hear them admitting it and then coming out and making the case you just made. They voted for a bill without understanding what they were passing, which is a mistake of epic consequences when you are a legislator. Not using it as an example to learn from is missing a big opportunity to educate about the pitfalls of Congress as well.
They don’t have single subject rules in DC, so this is how things are corrupted. EVERY bill has hidden traps that must be discovered. A yes vote should be rare in such an environment.
The bill did have “common core” in it when few knew what that meant. I expect Sen Russell did read it and did not know fully what that was just like Sen Brogdon didn’t know the full story on Common Core.
If he voted for it then just fess up that it was part of the bill and he fought to remove it, that would be great.
Denying a vote (if he did vote for it) is the bigger problem.
People are starting to get very worked up about this race, but either would serve honorably. The differences are in the margins. The question is who can take the ball and run with it as a leader for central Oklahoma.
The answer is up to each of to be made rationally and without harsh words we will regret later.
OK, so I’ll ask again – if he voted no on a bill giving a raise to teachers, does that make him an enemy of education, while a yes vote for CORE on the same bill makes him an enemy of education? Get real – the way our legislative rules work, there is no answer to this dead-horse issue. Pick some legitimate issues to argue over.