Kevin Calvey is linked to the Russians!

Who cares?  The 5th District congressional candidate could be photographed in a ushanka, drinking Smirnoff, eating borscht, while playing with nesting dolls in front of the Kremlin with Boris Yeltsin, and it would be no big deal.  Despite hundreds of Hollywood films depicting the Russians as public enemy #1, the Cold War is over.  The Rooskies are now greedy capitalists, the U.S. won, and they are now our allies.

You know who does care?  The Oklahoman, which may have dropped the “Daily” from its name to modernize, but otherwise still thinks it’s the 1980’s.  How else can you explain a paper that typically avoids doing any kind of digging doing a shocking expose in the lead up to the 5th District Republican run-off.

Here are the facts as laid out on NewsOK.com:

• Kevin Calvey has a brother named Michael
• Michael founded a company with a man named Vadim Bakatin
• Bakatin was the last director of the KGB of the Soviet Union
• Bakatin was the first director of the capitalist Russian intelligence agency
• Add it all together and Kevin Calvey, potential U.S. Representative from Oklahoma is a closet communist

That last part may have been conjecture, but the fact of the matter is that the articles run in The Oklahoman, a paper I think everyone can agree is usually very kind to Republicans, is certainly framing the Russian aspect of this story as pretty damning.

If this were 1982, with Ronald Reagan cheerleading anti-communist sentiment while Gorbachev manufactured nuclear weapons that were pointed at Washington D.C. as soon as they came off the assembly line–and newspapers were still relevant and profitable–such an expose would be entirely relevant.  Or at least that aspect of the expose would make sense.

Buried in the lede of Soviet paranoia is that Calvey’s campaign funding really is kind of sketchy.  Michael, who made the maximum allowable campaign donation to Kevin Calvey for Congress, also gave his brother an ownership share of the Russian Private Equity Fund.  And when I say gave, I mean it was a gift.  Kevin didn’t pay a ruble or dime for any piece of the company.  Of course, when he sold his share, he earned $270K.

To keep his campaign afloat, Kevin loaned $250K from his personal funds.  Those numbers are fairly close, don’t you think.

In fairness, The Oklahoman did a much better job of relaying these facts in a second article that spends more time explaining the way the Calvey brothers went around campaign finance law and other ways in which foreign entities infused cash.

A few weeks ago, a Lost Ogle reader let us know about a recent  experience he had with the Oklahoman editorial staff.  It started after he got up the nerve to email of those “letter to the editor” things.  Here is the letter:

The responses to James Mitchell’s comments (Your Views, Jan. 20) overlooked a significant fact about Sarah Palin: She took an oath of office and committed to serve as the Governor of Alaska. However, when she realized that it would be more fun to write a book, travel the country, and go on TV; she quit. She defied her commitment and responsibility in favor of becoming a celebrity. Why would any thinking American want a president or vice-president who might quit when she sees something else that would be more fun? We need someone who has the integrity, maturity, and intelligence to honor commitments.

– Jim Watson

If you ask me, that’s a decent letter to the editor.  It’s kind of biased, brings up a few points, and overall, is relatively harmless.  That is, of course, unless you are J.E. McReynolds (the chief editorial writer of the Oklahoman).  Check out J.E.’s unsolicited response to the letter after the jump.

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The video clip below is from a recent appearance Senator Tom Coburn made on “Meet the Press.”  When you watch it, be sure to note how quickly he distances himself from people who want to use violence and terrorism to overthrow the government.  You know, people that can be compared to Tim McVeigh.

I don’t know what type of rock I live under, but it must be a big one, because I really wasn’t aware of this video until reading OkieFunk on Sunday.  Doc Hoc, as always, covers the topic well.  Here’s an interesting point he made:

(1) Coburn will probably easily win re-election in 2010, but that will only be because the corporate media here acts irresponsibly by not covering controversies like this one thoroughly. By not giving this story coverage and by refusing to hold Coburn accountable, the local corporate media shows again it cannot be trusted. If any violence occurs at upcoming political events, both Coburn and the corporate media here will be partially to blame. Does The Oklahoman really support the political belief system of Timothy McVeigh?

We know the Oklahoman is biased and prejudiced and all that good stuff, but how did they not cover this story?  Basically, an Oklahoma Senator went out of his way to not discredit right wing wackos that were being compared to Tim McVeigh.  Hell, he almost made it appear that he supports such people.  You think that would be news, right?

Well, not in the Oklahoman.  To be the target of negative press in “the state’s most trusted news,” it seems that you either have to work for Feed the Children, die in a car wreck or make one of the editorial writers mad.  Seriously, Coburn could be spotted wearing a longhorns hat and snorting cocaine in a Turkish bath in Austin and the Oklahoman wouldn’t report it.  And if they did, they probably just write a story lauding him for doing whatever it takes to understand why American’s hate health care reform, trial lawyers and environmentalists.

Anyway, one news organization did take notice of Coburn’s remarks.  Granted, that news organization is located 1,500 miles from Oklahoma, but it’s better than nothing.  Maybe it will force our local media to do some reporting and let the local public know how insane this guy, and then maybe as a result, Oklahoma voters will elect a different yahoo republican to take his place.  That would be nice, because then we’d have a new person to ridicule.