OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has selected a congressional candidate from Oklahoma to deliver the Weekly Republican Radio Address.
Boehner said in a statement Thursday that he’s selected Republican Markwayne Mullin to deliver Saturday’s address in response to the president’s weekly address. Boehner said that — as a small business owner — Mullin understands the need to shut down the “jobs-destroying red tape factory in Washington, D.C.”
Mullin is a plumber from Westville who faces Democrat Rob Wallace of Fort Gibson for the 2nd Congressional District seat that stretches across 26 counties in eastern Oklahoma. Mullin, Wallace and independent Michael Fulks of Heavener are seeking to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Dan Boren.
Boren — the only Democrat in Oklahoma’s congressional delegation — announced last summer he wouldn’t run for re-election.
Markwayne Mullin, owner of Mullin Plumbing, has admitted giving guns to Timothy Lee Saylor who had been convicted of multiple felonies in California. Saylor also pleaded guilty in 2009 to possessing firearms and ammunition in Oklahoma and served two years in federal prison. He was released earlier this month (May 2012).
The 2009 Oklahoma conviction came following a raid on the Broken Arrow location of Mullin Plumbing where officers found a cache of weapons and ammunition inside a safe in Saylor’s office. Documents show that Saylor was employed as a supervisor at Mullin Plumbing for a period of approximately two years and he apparently was a close friend of Mullin.
Markwayne Mullin admitted in federal affidavits to having Saylor at his home on several occasions to shoot guns. He also said that he had given pistols to Saylor “to clean” and that the Chinese made semi-automatic pistol found inside Saylor’s gun safe belongs to him. Saylor also told officers that he reloaded .40 caliber ammunition for Mullin. Mullin also fits the description of the individual who purchased a Russian-made shotgun for Saylor.
Mullin has stated that he performs background checks on all of his employees and authorities could reasonably suspect he would have had knowledge of Saylor’s status as a convicted felon.
Although Mullin was not initially charged, the federal felony statute of limitations for giving or purchasing a firearm to a convicted felon is 5 years, leaving prosecutors almost two more years to determine whether they will file charges against him. The maximum sentence is ten years for the offense.
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