EXCLUSIVE: Mike Turner Answers 5 Questions About His Race And Finances

There has been a lot of discussion this year about the campaign of Mike Turner (R-OKC) for the CD-5 being vacated by Lankford. Several of you have commented about his ability to finance his own campaign. So we asked Mike 5 questions about his recently filed financial disclosure and his campaign for Congress.

Note: You can read his financial disclosure statement here.  It was recently filed with the US House of Representatives. 

1. What is a Financial Disclosure Statement?

All candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives must file a Financial Disclosure Statement.  The candidate must provide information regarding their assets and liabilities.  Sources of compensation and positions held for the prior two years must be reported.

2. What will folks find in your Financial Disclosure Statement?

The Disclosure Statement lists my income from the Oklahoma House of Representatives and various investments.  Total assets listed are in the neighborhood of $6 million.

Talking to people about my income frankly is not something that I have experience doing.   It’s an area in which I try to act with discretion.  And I was brought up to know that the most important things in life, like faith and family, don’t have a price tag on them any way.

I’ve been blessed to start successful enterprises, like Driftwood L.L.C, which is a restaurant business, and to use my engineering background to invest in technology and energy ventures, among others.  While I have been successful in my businesses, I don’t brag about it, and I’m not going to use my campaign to promote my businesses or financial resume.  Leveraging public office, or the title of it, to help sell your products, works, or company is grossly inappropriate.

3. Some have criticized the amount of money you’ve spent on your campaign for the State House and your current race for Congress. How do you answer those criticisms? 

My family and I have had some pretty good laughs about the claim that I was born with a “silver spoon in my mouth.”   The truth is there were times when my parents say they could barely afford a plastic spoon for me!

My story is an Oklahoma story.  Like most people here, we’ve had our ups and downs.   I can remember times as a kid when we had to move in with my mom’s parents when we couldn’t make ends meet.  That happened more than once.

I was told to get out and get a job after turning 16, becoming an electrician’s apprentice.  I was grateful for the opportunity to work on everything from hooking up a mobile home to retrofitting copper wiring in old homes.

My family has lived the American dream.  Thanks to hard work, saving and a willingness to take a risk, my father was eventually able to own and grow his own business.

I was certainly blessed, not only to benefit from that success but also to see first hand the work ethic and determination it took to accomplish it.  I believe strongly that to whom much is given, much is required.  Money doesn’t define the individual; it’s how you use it. That’s why I have tried to invest my money wisely and play my part in helping grow our economy.

And it’s why I got into politics in the first place.  I’m not afraid to invest in this country to fight to protect it.  I believe it’s my civic duty to be an aggressive conservative.  The out-of-control debt, taxes and spending, not to mention legal and regulatory systems that punish job creation, are taking our country down a very dangerous road.  And no one has more to lose from it than my generation.  We’ll suffer the most.

The Obama Administration is continually initiating policies that kill business and penalize people for getting out there and working.

If things continue down this path, it could take a generation or more to clean things up. We’ve seen dozens of polls that show many young people do not believe they will be as successful as their parents, and many parents share that fear.

4.  So if you’re elected, what commitments have you made regarding the compensation you will take in Congress?

When I ran for the Oklahoma State House of Representatives, I promised not to sign up for the state Pension, to not bill taxpayers for expenses like mileage reimbursements and to donate half my salary to charitable causes in my district.

I kept all of these promises.  For example, I recently awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to deserving graduates at Putnam City North High School.

In Congress, I will not accept the Congressional pension, and I will only accept pay for days Congress actually works in session.

5.  What should voters take away from your Financial Disclosure Statement?

First, that I understand budgets, finance and what criteria investors consider to start/grow a business and create jobs.

Second, that I will be a truly independent voice in Washington.

I do not accept contributions from lobbyists and PAC’s.  I will not be dependent upon political power brokers to fund my campaigns and get me elected.

In the state House, I’ve shown that I will stand for conservative values, period.  I will do the same in Congress.

For example, when national environmental extremist groups said they would attack me if I didn’t shelve my bill to end wasteful green energy subsidies in Oklahoma, I didn’t back down.  We became the first state in the nation to pass that legislation, which dealt with the issue of “net metering.”

Likewise, when leaders in my own party pressured me to vote for the 2013 state budget, I held firm in my opposition, one of only a handful of Republicans to do so.  The budget grew the size of government by millions of dollars without meaningful tax relief for the people.  Regardless what party was in charge, I was going to stand for conservative fiscal polices.

I just led only the fourth successful veto override in the last 20 years to protect Second Amendment rights, and I helped lead the protest against U.S. Attorney General Holder’s appearance at the OKC Police Academy, which he cancelled.

My opponents claim to be conservative after having voted for things like Common Core (Russell, Jolley), against tort reform (Russell) and accepting thousands of dollars from liberal lobbyists and PAC’s – even from the former Executive Director of the Democrat Party (Douglas, Jolley)!

I am the only across the board conservative in this race.  In D.C., I won’t be just another conservative vote.  I will be a conservative leader.