U.S. Rep. Steve Russell had barely been in office for 24 hours before his constituents started attacking his first vote.
Russell joined three colleagues from Oklahoma’s House delegation in voting to reelect House Speaker John Boehner. First District U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine voted for Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert.
“Much, or most I cannot say, of your support came from Conservative voters,” said Facebook user Bobby Snider. “We expected that you would hit the ground running and take back the government from the establishment politicians. What a disappointment your first vote was. Well, you have no where [sic] to go but up.”
Russell said he was surprised by the uncivil attacks, but that he was “at peace” with his vote. He also drew analogies to his U.S. Army career. The former state Senator and Army lieutenant colonel’s unit played a key role in the 2003 capture of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
“There was no leader, no plan and a terrible outcome. If you are going to spring an ambush, you better have superior firepower, violent action and surprise,” Russell said in his post. “Instead of pushing 300 or more pieces of legislation to the president we would have seen upheaval and no vision. Without a vision the people perish.”
The Oklahoman’s Chris Casteel reports U.S. Rep. Tom Cole was also vilified on his Facebook page.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, a close ally of Boehner, called the effort to unseat the speaker “unprofessional” since no Republican ran against him a few weeks ago when GOP members chose their candidate for speaker. Russell said in an interview with The Oklahoman last week that there was some advantage to continuity in leadership so Congress could get some early achievements.
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