Jason Sansone, Republican candidate facing Democratic House Leader Scott Inman, says Inman’s attacks on him contain false allegations.
Here is Sanson’s broadside:
What does a career politician do when their job is threatened? They resort to spin and lies. My opponent Rep. Scott Inman has accused me in his mail piece of mudslinging, being convicted of a crime, being under investigation by the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, and being on the record as not supporting a raise in teacher pay.
I have at no time attacked Mr. Inman personally, his life, family, wife, or children. In fact, I regularly compliment him as a Husband, Christian, and Father. At the very forum in which he references in his attacks, I complimented our wives. What I have done is speak out about Leader Inman’s politics and legislative record. Having disagreements about our government or expecting better from our Representatives is not mudslinging. Accusing someone of things completely unrelated to the job, which happen to be totally false or misleading, is the definition of mudslinging.
It its completely false that I am under any investigation by the Ethics Commission. I encourage everyone to contact the Commission at (405) 521-3451 and ask for themselves. I just spoke to the Commission’s legal department and they were shocked to hear such an accusation from my opponent. However, my opponent is the in the news for compliance issues. I’ve never previously mentioned this, even though I have known about it, because I didn’t consider it directly relevant to our race, but supposedly I am the one mudslinging. I also encourage everyone to look closely at the publicly available campaign finance reports for which I am allegedly being investigated. I have not taken a penny from a lobbyist or special interest group. Rep. Inman has received nearly $48,000 from Political Action Committees. Also note that Inman has reported reimbursing himself over one thousand dollars (2000+ miles) for campaign milage even though House District 94 is only 7 miles across at its longest point. Speaking of transparency, I published five years of tax returns on April 8th, 2016. Rep. Inman doesn’t even put his phone number, email, website, or home address on a single mail piece, including the one he used to attack me. His website doesn’t include any contact information either.
Second, my opponent’s mail piece states I have been convicted of a crime. While the statement is true, it fails to mention the crime for which I was convicted. Do you know why? I was convicted of speeding.
Further, my opponent claims I am against raising teacher pay. He knows that is also completely untrue. I will actively seek an increase in teacher pay raises, but I am against State Question 779. I am hardly alone in my opposition to SQ779. The Mayor of Tulsa and The Oklahoman Editorial Board are just a few of the names who have spoken out against the proposal. SQ779 has countless problems, the most important of which is that it places the tax burden on those with a fixed income or lower income. I am against increasing the cost of milk, bread, and other basic necessities.
Scott Inman desperately wants to distract you from the REAL issues. In the same mail piece in which I am slandered, Inman claims he is “opposed to raising taxes on working families and our seniors”, but is actively supporting SQ779, a tax on working families and seniors. The mail piece goes on to claim “Scott has never voted to raise the gas tax”, but at the same teachers’ forum we attended together he advocated raising our state’s oil gross production tax. My opponent’s party leadership doesn’t want to talk about tax solutions. Rep. Inman skipped four House votes to make a campaign video (see bills SB1602, HB2267, HB3160, and HB3219). You, the taxpayers, are writing his paycheck. Are you okay with that? I am not. When the House looked at ways to save more money when it is available, Inman voted against it. Inman claims to support life, but he lacked the political courage to ever vote on this year’s Pro-Life legislation. Inman has even introduced unnecessarily burdensome legislation for local small business.
Rep. Scott Inman knows from campaign finance reports that I can’t afford to respond to his last minute attacks. He is hoping that you will forget about what really matters and not learn the truth behind his false or misleading statements. Please inform yourselves before this important election. I hope you will vote for me on Tuesday, November 8th.
