Joe Barton Sticking His Oily Fingers Into Arkansas Politics

Tools: Barton & Griffin

Our friends at Blue Arkansas have started looking closely at who's been financing Karl Rove protégé, Tim Griffin, in his bid to take over Vic Snyder's congressional seat in central Arkansas. And they found something very interesting, a shady outfit called the Texas Freedom Fund has contributed a grand towards Griffin's campaign. It didn't take much digging for Blue Arkansas to figure out who and what the Texas Freedom Fund is.

If you've been following the news lately, you couldn't possibly have missed the dustup over Congress' most oily member, Joe Barton (R-TX). Turns out he's the sole owner of the Texas Freedom Fund and he uses it to funnel vast sums of cash from Big Oil executives and lobbyists into competitive campaigns around the country, particularly into campaigns where filthy oil money might prove embarrassing to the recipients. Now, keep in mind that Barton has taken more money from Big Oil than any other member of the House-- by far: $1,447,880, so far. And after his performance last week, apologizing to B.P. for being made to clean up their mess in the Gulf, there's every reason to believe that his own personal gusher will keep flowing strongly. As the Ranking Member of the House Energy Committee he is in a position to make sure the Oil Industry's agenda becomes official policy.

So who's this Griffin character Barton is so dead set on getting into Congress? Many of us first became familiar with Griffin around the time of the 2000 election when he worked as an opposition research director for Bush. His job, to smear Al Gore, was covered in Peter Marshall's BBC documentary Digging the Dirt, and viewers got the impression, which over the years has proven correct, that he is one of the slimiest and least trustworthy rogues to mount the political stage in our lifetime. After serving on the Florida Recount Commission that helped steal the election for Bush, he was appointed a Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General, Michael Chertoff, then when back into opposition research for Bush's reelection bid-- two years before the election-- and then became an aide to Karl Rove in the White House. Eventually Rove was able to force Arkansas US Attorney Bud Cummins to resign and to replace him with Griffin. Griffin, considered the sleaziest appointment in the entire Bush Regime, was never confirmed by the Senate, served on an interim basis and was eventually pushed aside when he became too embarrassing even for the Bush people.

The folks and Blue Arkansas are hoping to raise the money to match Barton's $1,000 for the progressive challenger running for the seat, Joyce Elliott. Joyce was endorsed by Blue America even before she won her tough primary race against a conservative Democrat and we would be eager to help her win this seat regardless of who the Republican opposition was. The fact that it's someone as disreputable and as utterly unfit to hold public office as Tim Griffin only makes us even more determined. So... we'd like to encourage anyone who wants to help to toss a donation into the pot. At this ActBlue page you'll find a slot for Joyce-- as well as for other Blue America-backed candidates who are being targeted by Joe Barton and his oily corporate polluters with big bucks for Republicans. Barton wrote a check from the Texas Freedom Fund for $4,000 for Ken Calvert, $2,000 for Dennis Ross, and for $5,000 for Charlie Bass, conservatives running against Bill Hedrick in California, Doug Tudor in Florida and Ann Kuster in New Hampshire. Today everyone who makes a contribution to all three candidates-- Joyce Elliott, Bill Hedrick, Doug Tudor, and Ann Kuster, will get a Blue America thank you CD and one winner will be drawn randomly to win an autographed book-- This Moment on Earth by John and Teresa Kerry. (The hardcover book was signed for us by both of them.) Again, here's the page to make your contribution.

Yesterday we got a letter from Ann Kuster's campaign warning us that Barton was in New Hampshire this month campaigning for Charlie Bass and that Bass-- another outrageous corporate toady himself-- prasied him as “a man of energy, integrity-- a good friend and great Congressman.” Ann doesn't see it quite the same way. " I couldn’t disagree more with Congressman Barton’s words, or with the long pro-oil voting record that Congressmen Bass and Barton have racked up in their combined 38 years in Congress... As your congresswoman, I will end tax breaks for big oil companies; be a voice of caution against expanding offshore drilling and using taxpayer dollars to subsidize nuclear power; stand proudly with environmental leaders; and invest in the renewable energy technologies that create jobs here in New Hampshire."



Democratic Candidates Have Taken Note

Natalie Mosher is a progressive grassroots activists running for the seat currently held by Thaddeus McCotter, a member of Boehner's leadership team. McCotter is thought to be vulnerable this year and he's running around looking for cash. He took some from the highly toxic Texas Freedom Fund. Natalie is now insisting he give it back.

“Big Oil thought they could launder a political contribution to McCotter through Joe Barton's PAC and get away with it. Well BP, Barton and McCotter need to know that it's not just me that has an eagle-eye on their underhanded campaign fund raising, both Republicans and Democrats are sick of the Washington games that career politicians are playing. I'm going to stand up for people in this election and I won't back down from telling the ugly truth about what McCotter's up to in Washington,” said Mosher.
 
Mosher went on to point out that as the Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee he has the ability to lead by example on BP and Big Oil's stranglehold on the Republican Party.
 
“The extremist Republicans in Washington should be scared of their collectively cozy relationship with Big Oil and what it will cost them at the polls in November. As a member of the Republican leadership in Washington, McCotter should lead by example and return Big Oil's money. To do anything less would be signal McCotter's official stamp of approval on the reckless practices that have led to the largest and most economically devastating oil spill in American history. For someone who prides himself an intellectual and a history buff, McCotter sure has acted like a dunce on this one,” concluded Mosher.

Are Florida Voters Ready To Jettison Corrupt Oil Industry Shill John Mica?

John Mica with toupee... funded by Oil & Gas lobbyists?

Most of the Florida congressional delegation is pretty radical right-- but only two have had perfect zero scores on the key issues since Obama was elected president: Panhandle extremist Jeff Miller, whose district has more in common with Alabama than with the rest of Florida, and John Mica, who has been representing the 7th congressional district, primarily along the east coast between Ponte Vedra Beach and Daytona Beach, since first being elected in 1992. Mica is a creepy little former lobbyist who decided early on that he'd rather be on the receiving end of the bribery game than the middleman for special interests and corporations. When challenged in his first Republican primary for his sleazy activities as a corrupt lobbyist, he simply said, "Some of the finest folks I've met are lobbyists." Presumably he was talking about his own family, lobbying being the family business.

Last week a Florida newspaper, the News Press, editorialized about Mica's attempt to excuse his campaign donors in the oil industry and to blame President Obama for the oil spill:

We have a new poster boy for bone-headed partisanship, and he hails from right here in Florida, just across the state in Daytona Beach. ... [L]axness in federal regulation stretches back over many years and administrations, both Democratic and Republican.

... What makes Mica's conduct especially repulsive is the fact that he was among the "drill, baby, drill" Republicans himself, has taken contributions from the oil industry and has a brother, David, who has been an oil industry lobbyist in Tallahassee for years.

John Mica is trying to deflect blame for Deepwater Horizon from the oil industry, which is quite a trick.

We don't need narrow-minded politics in Washington; we need wise energy policy that puts the national interest above partisan advantage and finger-pointing.

Is that too much to ask, Representative Mica?

Maybe so, but we should urge our leaders in Washington to reject his example, and think sensibly and constructively on this vital issue.

A few months ago I met Heather Beaven, a Navy vet, the Democratic candidate for the seat Mica is occupying and a passionate advocate for campaign finance reform. Since the disastrous Gulf oil spill, Mica has continuously embarrassed himself with aggressive calls for more drilling in Florida's coastal waters. He's the only Florida congressman of either party representing a beachfront district still chanting "Drill, Baby, Drill." And as tar balls begin washing up in the Florida Keys and the crucial Florida tourist industry slips into freakout mode, all Mica could do was remind Floridians that not only does he favor more drilling off the beaches, but that he has long supported-- and still supports-- drilling in the Everglades! All this while taking immense payoffs from the Oil and Gas lobbyists-- including one David Mica, Executive Director of the Florida Petroleum Council. Yes, his brother. I've been asking Heather to do a guest post all month and she found some time-- between running her campaign and raising her two young daughters-- this morning. Heather Beaven:

"I Won't Point The Finger At B.P."
-John Mica, Congressman & proud recipient of $60,000 in oil contributions

With one of the worst safety records, BP has been playing fast and loose with their safety obligations for a long time. In fact, according to the Daily Green, B.P. is responsible for 97% of the worst oil industry violations in the U.S.

Two BP refineries not only account for 97% of all "flagrant" violations in the U.S. refining industry, but most of the violations cited were classified as "egregious willful," according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration records.

In 2005, a Texas City BP refinery exploded ending 15 lives. In 2007, the Center for Public Integrity evaluated Occupation and Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) data and found that BP had 872 serious safety violations-- far above others in the industry-- including 760 classified and “egregious willful.”

OSHA reserves the “egregious willful” category for instances when “employers commit particularly flagrant safety violations.” But Jordan Barab, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor said it best when he said "The only thing you can conclude is that BP has a serious, systemic safety problem in their company.”

So… what does a boat load of cash buy a company with a flagrant record of safety violations? Well, if you’re snuggled up to John Mica, you get “NO” votes on OSHA safety bills in 1993, 1997, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Newspapers from all over the country agree that kind of coziness is crazy. It is clearly unsafe and, I argue, unethical.

That is why I call for true integrity in campaign financing.

Conflicts of interest do not just cover your personal finances. If you are connected to a piece of legislation through family members or through a windfall of campaign donations from a particular industry (like the $100,823 Mica has taken from Oil & Gas)-- you have a conflict of interest. I call for such conflicts of interest to be filed and declared prior to votes. If you are beholden to an industry, voters have the right to know it!

I’ll go first. I declare that my campaign has been endorsed and supported by the Police, Firefighters, AFL-CIO, Veterans, and Air Traffic Controllers. I’ll be voting to keep their members safe by sea, land or air.


UPDATE: And What About Michigan Voters?

Natalie Mosher, the progressive Democrat opposing GOP corporate shill Thaddeus McCotter in the suburbs west of Detroit (the western parts of Oakland and Wayne counties), sent us a guest editorial she put together on the oil spill. Her perspective is worth looking at; it's the polar opposite of the one being voiced by John Mica and other conservatives whose political careers have been financed by Big Oil.

“I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down this cherry tree.” As legend has it, this famous phrase came from our founding father, George Washington. And while it is only a legend, it endures because it captures one of our most basic and fundamental beliefs: when you do something wrong, you must own up to it. Take responsibility for your actions and take the steps necessary to remedy the situation. Now, we seem to be living in a society where passing the buck is a virtue.

For more than a month, oil has been pouring into the Gulf waters, wreaking havoc on the environment, after the tragic rig explosion which killed eleven people. What’s truly outrageous is that the largest oil spill in history could have been prevented if proper safety and maintenance measures were taken. BP, Transocean, and Halliburton all had a role in failing to secure that oil rig. But instead of accepting responsibility for their part in this disaster, we saw a circular firing squad, as the corporations passed the blame to each other at recent Congressional hearings.

Let’s be clear: this was not just an accident. BP and its corporate partners caused this oil spill with intentionally inadequate rig and well management. According to experts, BP could have prevented this disaster for $500,000. BP made $5.5 billion in first quarter profits this year. For 1/100th of a percent of their first quarter profits, BP could have prevented the deaths of those eleven workers and spared the Gulf from the worst oil spill in history. Where is the sense of responsibility?

BP claimed that the spill releases about 5,000 barrels a day, while scientists are now saying it is more like 100,000. As far as clean-up, BP is using a chemical dispersant, Corexit, which has been banned by other countries due to its high level of toxicity. Workers helping out with the cleanup are getting sick. Why has the EPA allowed this to go on? Why has the Obama administration allowed BP so much control in dealing with this oil crisis? Why isn’t our representative in Congress demanding oversight and why hasn’t he made any public comments about the Gulf disaster at all? Where is the leadership? We should be seeing congressional action everyday with both sides fully engaged. This crisis is too big for one party alone while the other stands silent on the sidelines or insists that offshore drilling is a sensible energy solution.

The truth is lobbyists are too cozy with lawmakers and officials. In an effort to protect BP and other corporations, obstructionist senators in Washington are blocking legislation that would raise the liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion. This leaves the tax payers to foot the rest of the bill. When is enough, enough?

We see a lack of responsibility everywhere these days, from the Big Banks on Wall Street, who almost ushered in another Great Depression with their irresponsible derivatives trading, to the executives at Massey Energy Company, who ignored safety regulations and caused 29 deaths in their West Virginia coal mine. Regulations are in place for a reason, and they must be enforced. Americans simply won’t stand for anything less.

We hear pundits like Rush Limbaugh, blaming environmentalists for the disaster, while, at the same time, denying it’s a problem at all. Others are sticking to their chants of ‘Drill, Baby Drill’. We have to stop playing politics with our energy policy. We have to recognize this disaster for what it is: a warning about the costs of our addiction to oil. We can’t and we won’t drill our way to energy independence. We need to work together as Democrats, Republicans, and Independents for clean, safe, and renewable forms of energy.

I promise if I ever make a mistake, I will own up to it. No hiding behind slogans, passing the blame, or staying silent at a time when strong leadership is most necessary. As with Harry S. Truman, the buck stops here. Attempting to trivialize the effects of this disaster or ignoring the urgent need for a sensible energy policy is irresponsible and it’s not the kind of leadership we deserve in corporations, our regulatory agencies, or especially in the Congress. It’s time to stand up together, take responsibility for what we do and always look for the best solutions. It’s time to move ‘beyond petroleum’.

There's Only One Answer To Destructive Oily Politics-- And Democratic Congressional Candidates Are Speaking Up

While David Diapers Vitter runs around coastal Louisiana like one of Sue Lowden's chickens without a head, pleading with Lousianans who see their livelihoods going up in smoke because of his bought-and-paid-for ($766,535 in bribes) "Drill, Baby, Drill" posture to not turn him out of office, he's increasingly alone in his slavish pro-Big Oil stance. The Republican Governor of California, who has always been a Drill, Baby, Drill backer, has now backed away. "You turn on the television and see this enormous disaster, you say to yourself, 'Why would we want to take on that kind of risk?'" he said at a news conference near Sacramento. Vitter is still chanting "Drill, Baby, Drill" and I'm waiting to hear him agree, out loud, with Rush Limbaugh, that Obama caused the catastrophe... and on purpose.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, citing the damage caused to the environment by the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast, said Monday he is yanking from his state budget plan proposed new drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara.

The governor had been a proponent of the Tranquillon Ridge project, which he'd said could generate $140 million for the upcoming budget year to help prevent cutbacks in state parks. Despite the governor's support, the project has stalled amid opposition from lawmakers and the state Lands Commission, which has jurisdiction over such oil leases.

Schwarzenegger said Monday he will not include the project in his revised budget plan, to be unveiled  May 14. He said the environmental risk is too great.

Schwarzenegger's announcement means there'll be no new drilling off California's coastline any time soon. Obama should do the same thing, and overturn the Dick Cheney oil policies that brought such lavish bribes into GOP coffers since 2000. Every environmental group in the country is demanding a moratorium and telling John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman to stick their "compromise" up their heavily-bribed asses.

As the environmental threat of the disaster grows by the day, green groups have become more explicit in demanding that any drilling provisions be removed from the bill. 

“Expanding exploration and drilling into previously protected and remote areas is unacceptable when it is clear that we are not capable of responding to oil spills in a timely manner,” several dozen groups wrote senators on Monday. 

“Provisions creating new incentives (such as state revenue sharing) or reduced safeguards for expanded offshore drilling are simply not acceptable.”

The Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace, National Audubon Society and others signed the letter.

Environmental advocates hope the oil crisis in the Gulf will lead lawmakers to provide stronger incentives for renewable energy and conservation programs to reduce the importance of fossil fuels and shift climate legislation that had been on a rightward track back to the left. 

Yesterday the two most progressive Democratic congressional challengers in California, Marcy Winograd and Bill Hedrick came out firmly against drilling off California's coast. Hedrick pointed out that his corrupt opponent has been clamoring for more drilling off Orange County's pristine beaches.

Said Calvert, author of the MORE Act that would allow drilling up to the beach “While (President Obama’s) plan opens up areas along the east coast and northern Alaska, it does not call for any exploration off the coast of California where ample oil and natural gas resources exist for development.”

Coastal Californians, indeed, I believe all Californians, value our state’s singular natural beauty. I will fight to preserve our coast and beaches, and I will NEVER support expansion of offshore drilling in California’s waters.

An ecological disaster of unprecedented scope is today striking the Gulf Coast. Oil from the explosion and blowout of the BP rig Deepwater Horizon will devastate the environmentally fragile region, perhaps for decades.

And oil company cheerleaders like Ken Calvert who have staked their careers on slogans such as “Drill, baby, drill,” are now seeing the consequences of their reckless policy and empty rhetoric. If Calvert has his way, California will be opened to the same type of drilling that is set to devastate the Gulf.

One explosion, blowout, or serious spill can cause decades of economic and environmental damage.  There is no such thing as a minor oil spill. It is shocking that our representative in Congress is the foremost proponent of a bill that would dangerously risk our future. 

When elected to Congress, I will support a real MORE Act-- more accountability for oil companies; more research dollars for alternative fuels, and more prosecution of environmental polluters like British Petroleum.

Marcy Winograd, fighting a tough battle against Blue Dog and shameless corporate shill Jane Harman, applauded President Obama's decision to put new off-shore oil leases on hold for now. She said, "May this be a wake-up call to Washington. The price of expanded coastal oil drilling comes at a terrible ecological price."

In an April 2nd statement responding to Obama’s decision to open new areas to drilling, Winograd said, “Our coast, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, is too precious to sacrifice for oil company profits and short-lived energy gains. We need a long-term vision for sustainability.”
Winograd authored the resolution that put the California Democratic Party on record opposing new off-shore and on-shore oil drilling off the California coast. Says Winograd, “The danger of off-shore oil drilling far outweighs the little oil that is harvested from these leases."

And it isn't just California Democrats putting their feet down on this. Natalie Mosher is running against one of the architects of the Republicans' "Drill, Baby, Drill" strategy. Thaddeus McCotter from a suburban district outside of Detroit. There is a very clear difference between Mosher's environmentally-friendly stand and McCotter's shilling for the Big Oil companies that have been so generous to his political career. "There are big differences in this race, but this is one that is crystal clear. Thaddeus McCotter may be able to look at himself in the mirror after choosing the side of Big Oil over the people-- but unfortunately for us, this time it has cost us more than dollars … it has cost us the heartbreak of damaging one of America’s natural treasures, our Gulf Coast & risking the livelihoods of those who depend on its beauty and bounty to earn a living."

The oil spill just off the coast of Louisiana is nothing short of a catastrophe and now threatens Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Entire industries are held hostage by an ever growing oil slick. Hard working Americans whose lives depend on the sea risk losing their jobs, and we all may see increased costs at the dinner table. While I trust that BP is working overtime to stop oil from gushing into our pristine waters of the Gulf, we cannot forget who favors expanding this type of drilling: Thaddeus McCotter.
 
In fact, McCotter even put his unflinching support of reckless offshore drilling into writing when he joined Newt Gingrich and other extremist Republicans in supporting the offshore drilling bill. And while I believe domestic drilling should be a part of our long-term energy strategy in America, reckless offshore drilling efforts need more precautions and oversight to prevent this from ever happening again. Just imagine the horror of a spill like this in our own Great Lakes.

If I were in Congress today, I would introduce legislation that put a moratorium on all new offshore drilling rigs until full planning and contingencies can be afforded to every rig off our coastlines. I’d also demand an immediate review of every offshore rig and their contingency plans in the event another spill occurs.

Late night comedians may think the BP catastrophe is worth joking about but most Florida politicians are freaking out as the oily slick gets closer and closer to that state's tourist and fishing industries, threatening to bankrupt an already tottering economy. Most-- but not all. Some hard-right corporate shills are sticking with Big Oil on this one.

The political rallying cry is no longer drill, baby, drill. It's spill, baby, spill.
Faster than oil slicks spreading on water, Florida's top politicians have spent the past few days jockeying for media attention, performing flyovers of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico and decrying the impact of the calamity on the Sunshine State.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent, severed all ties to his previous statements extolling the virtues of oil drilling as a way to lower gas prices as long as it was done cleanly and safely. On Monday, he declared that any talk of drilling off Florida's coast should "cease and desist."

Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum, running for governor, traveled to Mobile, Ala., on Sunday to meet with other attorneys general to discuss legal steps necessary to lay blame for the massive oil leak.

And Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, also running for governor, headed to Pensacola on Monday for a briefing on the oil spill by emergency operations officials and recommendations of ways the state can better respond.

"Those proposals need to be totally off the table forevermore," Sink said of new drilling plans.
She called on the federal government to push BP PLC to create an immediate cash fund for local governments and small businesses and urged businesses to prepare their records to submit damage claims... U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, said she was disappointed she didn't get the entire Florida congressional delegation to sign a letter to President Barack Obama opposing oil drilling in the wake of the crisis.

In Tallahassee, Democratic candidate for agriculture commissioner Scott Maddox used the issue to take aim at his opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam.

"I think it's astounding that four days after the explosion, Adam Putnam was reaffirming his position in favor of offshore and near-shore oil drilling," Maddox said, asking all candidates for the Florida Cabinet to sign a pledge to oppose oil drilling off the coast.

Putnam, who had previously said he was "generally supportive of opening those areas'' to drilling, responded by saying he is "deeply concerned about the economic and ecological damage'' and accused Maddox of "complete ignorance of the issues in this race."

The two furthest right Florida politicians who give lip-service about being within the mainstream, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott are both out there demanding more off-shore drilling. They're both certifiable crackpots. And the only member of Congress from a state starting with "F" who is still backing continued drilling off the state's fragile coastline is lunatic fringe John Mica. Everyone thought he voted for the "Drill, Baby, Drill" thing because of the lunatic fringe thing, but... it turns out his brother is a sleazy lobbyist for Big Oil. No conflict, he assures us.