Sunday: Mullin, Bridenstine get oriented in Washington
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Saturday, December 01, 2012
Jim Bridenstine and Markwayne Mullin have spent the past two weeks attending a freshman orientation that doesn’t include fraternity parties or directions to the student union – but that in some ways might not be all that different, either.
Mullin and Bridenstine don’t officially become congressmen until next month, but they spent the weeks before and after Thanksgiving being initiated into a very exclusive club: the United States House of Representatives.
Republicans representing Oklahoma’s 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts, Mullin and Bridenstine were attending the orientation meetings expected of all new members.
“It’s been a lot of fun to get to know the people who have been elected from around the country,” said Bridenstine.
Mullin, a 35-year-old plumbing service company owner, sounded a similar note, and said the biggest adjustment has been learning, “You don’t control your life any more. You’ve got to ask for permission to do anything above getting a drink out of the water fountain.”
As a business owner, Mullin said he is subject to many ethics rules that don’t come into play for other members.
“There’s a lot of stuff that you can and can’t do, and there’s a lot more that you can’t do,” said Mullin. “This isn’t one of those situations you want to ask forgiveness for. It’s one of those you want to ask permission first.”
Mullin said he will hold “listening” sessions in each of the 2nd District’s 26 counties in the coming week.
Read more in Sunday's World.
Associated Images:
Congressman-elect Markwayne Mullin, from Oklahoma's 2nd District (right) walks with his adviser Trebor Worthen in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. GREG KAHN/ For the Tulsa World
After finishing the final step in setting up his congressional office, Jim Bridenstine, from Oklahoma's 1st District, gets some fresh air on the balcony of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C, on Friday. GREG KAHN/For the Tulsa World
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