Rep. Paul Wesselhoft today expressed his opinion of the State Chamber of Commerce in this Facebook post:
“One of the side benefits of being a legislator is participating in gatherings of fellowship with one’s rural colleagues. Such an event is the annual long trip to Amber, Oklahoma for steak and ribs at Ken’s Restaurant.
“Unfortunately, I will decline this year’s invitation out of protest. The State Chamber is hosting this dinner. It was this organization, which recruited and heavily funded Republican opponents to defeat incumbent conservative Republicans like Senator Josh Brecheen and myself.
“They also tried to recruit and fund Republican opponents to defeat other incumbent conservative Republicans like Representative Dan Fisher and Representative Jason Murphy.
“I will remind my conservative Republican colleagues who are planning to attend the dinner that they may be breaking bread with State Chamber lobbyists who, under the leadership of Fred Morgan, may target them for defeat in the next election. The State Chamber has long not been an ally of conservative Republicans. Therefore, I call upon those business members who pay dues to the State Chamber to urge the firing of their inept CEO Fred Morgan who crossed the political and ethical lines of a lobbyist organization.”
Oh who cares
Republicans care jonathan…. and parents who had to fight against those special interests to preserve their right to have local control, not federal control of their own child’s education…. and thousands of people across the state – teachers, parents, grandparents – who are still fighting against continued backdoor attempts by this group to take back over education through complicit legislators to sneak back in common core through workforce assessments aligned to common core (ACT work-keys/ACT Aspire), talking points, pre-written op-eds and astroturf graphics to assert that the chamber and state and business must control education because our kids apparently must be widgets for the future workforce. They sacrifice our kid’s future to forward talking points that the American Dream of being able to be whatever the kids want to be should no longer be acceptable – instead data points and ‘grit’ and ‘tenacity’ measured by psychological and physical response indicators should dictate our work track, and let’s start deciding that when children are too young to even know how many jobs and opportunities even exist. Rep. Wesselhoft is right on – the Chamber should be concentrating on removing regulations and restrictions, not picking winners and losers in any marketplace, and certainly not controlling lives and crushing kids’ dreams. Thank you Representative for standing with WE THE PEOPLE, and where are the rest of the lawmakers – are they going on this junket or are they going to stand with us too?
Just remember who the “republican” Paul Wesselhoft breaks bread with. One group is the ACLU: http://acluok.org/2013/09/aclu-of-oklahoma-honors-five-lawmakers-for-2013-session/
Sorry Paul, I am a republican and I will pick the State Chamber over the ACLU any day. Stop whining about the State Chamber and start acting like a real republican.
Man, Ken’s is hard to pass up – he must be serious!
There should be a (sic) after ‘Jason Murphy” because it is spelled “Murphey” but I guess Paul doesn’t really care about things like getting basic facts right.
Than again how can this man be taken seriously on anything when he is making posts like this:
Facebook post from March 31st by Paul Wesselhoft:
“NOT RUNNING
Although I am more qualified than Senator Barack Obama in 2008 to run for president because of my actual voting record, and would have been a much better president, I am announcing today that I categorically will not run for president this time.
This will broaden the opportunity for other qualified candidates hopefully with executive experience like Governors Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee.”
The State Chamber should be concerned with reducing business regulations, not selecting corporate winners. Allow the free marketplace to do that. Stop pushing Common Core down our necks. Don’t come to the capital asking for big business tax loopholes, corporate welfare, and other favors while at the same time selecting conservative Republicans for defeat in elections. And, by the way, dues paying members, fire that CEO-Fred Morgan!
Oh please. When have you done anything to reduce business regulations? And what do you know about business? Have you ever had a private sector job? Have you ever started a business? Or have you had a government paycheck your entire life?
Aren’t you the legislator that wanted to extend term limits in this session? What can you show for your time in the legislature other than a bunch of silly bills.
Stop masquerading as a republican.
KUDOS to the State Chamber for opposing you. It should have happened sooner.
Ding ding ding ding!! You hit the nail squarely on the head!
Paul Wesselhoft has an entitlement attitude toward life. He feels “entitled” to his house seat. His “beef” with the State Chamber is that they made him “raise extra money” to win “his” seat. That is why Paul gravitates toward the ACLU and other leftist groups. Deep down, he really doesn’t understand conservatism because he doesn’t have the basic conservative values of responsibility and hard work.
No candidate for public office should ever go unopposed. This is part of the accountability that we need for our political system.
Paul doesn’t get this, and he never will. An entitlement attitude messes up a person’s perceptions about themselves and government.
At least we get to sit back and watch Paul’s ridiculous rants on Facebook during his final term in the legislature. Please keep speaking Paul and digging yourself into a deeper hole!
I’m glad I had the opportunity to run! It was an awesome experience.
Thank you State Chamber for taking a stand against this man, and thank God for term limits! I doubt Paul Wesselhoft will be missed at the dinner.