— Editor’s note: One in a series of election stories.



Americans appear fed up with the gridlock in Washington, which according to some experts has paralyzed the economy and thwarted progress on other fronts.

A recent Gallup survey found 76 percent of the 1,030 people polled believed overcoming Washington gridlock is an extremely — or very — important issue. The issue is ranked among the top 10 of voters’ concerns this election cycle, according to the polling organization.

The two candidates competing for the Republican nomination in the 2nd Congressional District say ever-expanding government and out-of-control spending is more to blame for the poor economy than gridlock.

George Faught said the idea that gridlock has caused the “economic mess we see in Washington” is a “Democratic and news media talking point.” Faught said he would cooperate with any member of Congress, but only if they agreed to work “with real conservatives to roll back the intrusion of the federal government into our economy and our daily lives.”

“Gridlock will only exist where liberals, Republican or Democrat, fight against the overwhelming need to cut back the federal government to a sustainable level,” said Faught, a three-term state legislator from Muskogee. “Most Americans believe it is ever-expanding government and its interference in the free market that is killing the economy.”

Markwayne Mullin, a Westville businessman who owns a plumbing services company based in Broken Arrow, blamed the poor economy on lawmakers’ willingness “to compromise and spend more and more money.”

“So many politicians in Washington only care about their next election, which is a big part of why spending is so out of control,” Mullin said when asked how he would break congressional gridlock. “They use funding for certain programs or projects to win the support of voters who care about those programs or projects.”

Mullin said to him it appears “over-spending is the only common ground that most politicians share.” Mullin never addressed how the partisan stalemate many Americans see in Washington might be broken. Instead, he advocated for the need of less compromise.

“We can’t continue down that same path (of overspending), or we will bankrupt our country,” Mullin said. “That is exactly why we need businessmen in Congress, not more politicians willing to compromise and spend more and more money.”

Faught and Mullin lambasted government spending. Faught said members of both parties supported stimulus spending.

A survey conducted in June by the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives of U.S. companies, revealed gridlock is a major concern among major employers.

Much of the concern centered on the so-called fiscal cliff of automatic federal spending cuts and the expiration of tax cuts scheduled to occur by year’s end. The automatic triggers became law in 2011 after Congress failed to find a way to eliminate $1.2 million in discretionary spending.

Faught and Mullin will face off Aug. 28 in the Republican primary runoff election. The winner will face one of two Democrats still in the race and Michael G. Fulks, I-Heavener, in the Nov. 6 general election. The Democratic contenders include Muskogee agribusinessman Wayne Herriman and former state and federal prosecutor Rob Wallace of Fort Gibson.

Reach D.E. Smoot at (918) 684-2901 or dsmoot

@muskogeephoenix.com.