SUSAN COLLINS DIDN'T DO HER JOB FOR THE PAST 7 YEARS BUT SHE WANTS MAINE TO SEND HER BACK TO THE SENATE

This has been a bad week for Susan Collins. Usually careful to try to mimic Maine's far more popular Olympia Snowe, Collins was the was the only member of the Maine congressional delegation (2 Democrats, 2 Republicans) to stick with Bush and oppose the farm bill-- something that isn't going to endear her to northern Maine's agricultural communities. Even with her practicing her Bush rubber stamp routine-- as one of the 15 senators opposing the bill-- it passed both the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities.

That may hurt her re-election bid a bit, but probably not as much as the steady stream of information tying her to the big gas and oil companies and the catastrophic increases in the cost of heating oil and gasoline (a 145% increase since the Bush-Cheney-Collins Economic Miracle commenced in 2000). The Maine Democratic Party is making the case that Collins has been a pawn of the Big Energy corporations. She's sucked up nearly $300,000 in campaign contributions from Big Energy. And what did they get for their money?

• Susan Collins joined Republicans to kill an amendment that set a national goal to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil by 2025 [Vote 140, 6/16/05]. The bill merely set goals for reducing dependence on foreign oil rather than implementing a hard requirement, yet Susan Collins still voted against the amendment.

• Susan Collins voted twice for the disastrous 2005 Cheney Energy Bill that gave $14 billion to Big Oil during times of record profits [Vote 212, 7/29/05; Vote 213, 7/29/05]. The final version of the bill failed to reduce our nation's dependence on oil or provide relief to consumers, and added billions of dollars in irresponsible subsidies for coal, oil and nuclear power. The League of Conservation Voters called the Energy bill the "most anti-environment bill signed into law in recent memory." [LCV Scorecard 2005, www.lcv.org

• Susan Collins and Senate Republicans voted against an effort to curb the record-making profits of Big Oil while Mainers were struggling to pay for fuel. Susan Collins even opposed a windfall profits tax on oil companies that redirected the funds to struggling American consumers. In 2005, Susan Collins voted against an amendment that would impose a temporary windfall profit tax on crude oil and rebate the tax collected back to the American consumer. [S2020, Vote 331, 11/17/05; Vote 341, 11/17/05]

• Susan Collins rejected efforts to invest in renewable energy technologies. In 2001, Susan Collins and Senate Republicans rejected an amendment to establish tax credits for investments in renewable energy technologies [Vote 125, 5/21/01]. Collins voted against these incentives even as our country must increase our energy efficiency to be less dependent on foreign oil.

• Susan Collins voted for the Energy Bill that did not have conservation Measures for Higher Mileage Vehicles. In July 2005, according to the Portland Press Herald, "But the bill also didn't call for conservation measures such as higher mileage for light trucks such as sport-utility vehicles and minivans. So the only limit on motoring those gas guzzlers onto the open road will be the costliness of the pit stops. ...The Senate voted 74-26, with Snowe and Collins, both Republicans, in favor."  [Portland Press Herald, 7/31/05]

And then there's the little investigative report on WGME, Portland's CBS affiliate. This should be the issue that helps Mainers understand the disastrous results of Collins throwing her lot in with a bad crowd. Take a look:



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