No one doubts that BP has a responsibility to clean up after themselves but Paul Hodes has taken the opportunity to play word games and politics. Yesterday he announced that because of BP’s complicity in the release of the Lockerbie Bomber they are no longer entitled to the tax cuts the government gives them out of the goodness of its frozen black little heart. Hodes calls them ‘Tax subsidies. ‘
That is lib-speak for money you legally earned that the government lets you keep. Imagine a mugger leaving you a twenty for cab fare after he takes everything esle including your car keys. That twenty is a subsidy provided by the mugger to you. Hodes is the mugger and he has decided that BP is not entitled to the money it legally earns–and likely needs to stay solvent to help pay for that mess down in the gulf.
So Hodes is playing politics for election year brownie points, but he’s bad at it. The release of the Lockerbie bomber is a confluence of events that never would have gone anywhere if a politician or two in Britain and Scotland had not said yes. Politicians with connections to BP. Instead we get monarchic pronouncements from his crumbling perch as excuses to pilfer another industry.
Hodes obsession with his favorite special interest, Big Government, continues to get the better of him, but that’s only part of the problem. He’s ignoring the US governments complicity in the oil spill. BP greased Obama and plenty of others in the US–to the point they were going to give the blown rig a safety award the week it blew up. No, that’s not suspicious. Neither is this.
Back in March Paul Hodes attended several fundraisers held for him and his Senate campaign sponsored by prominent Oil, gas and energy Lobbyists, including a lobbyist for BP. Is it safe to say Paul cashed those checks from those oil and gas insiders? I think it is.
So after BP lobbyists grease Paul Hodes palms, Hodes thinks we’ll take him serious when he claims he’s going to refuse to let BP keep its legally earned income? We should be just as serious about his efforts at earmark reform when he’s still voting for bills with earmarks in them?
And what about the potential ethics violation investigations for politicians who attended fundraisers with prominent financial industry insiders before an upcoming vote of financial reform.. Wait a minute. Hodes had one of those too. Did I mention that that fundraiser was held in the home of Julie Domenick the connected revolving door financial industry lobbyist who also donated money to Hodes herself?
BP Lobbyists and financial insiders holding fundraiser for Paul Hodes in their Homes. Not a DC Insider Mr. Hodes? We beg to differ.
