Friday, December 20, 2013

Emily's list

She's checked it more than twice, and turns out that Mary Landrieu is naughty, not nice (for Louisiana's oil industry);
Through the auspices of JAZZ PAC, her [Senator Landrieu's] leadership political action committee, she has from 2006 to 2012 contributed some $380,000 to re-elect some of the most ardent Senate opponents of the oil and gas industry. One result is a bloc of liberal members who easily cancel out Ms. Landrieu's votes and guarantee the defeat of legislation designed to help Louisiana.
Which information comes from Emily Cornell, executive director of Keep Louisiana Working. Worse, she finds that Landrieu's PAC's money comes from the oil and gas companies themselves;
Ms. Landrieu has taken in more than $1 million in donations since 2004. Energy contributors include Marathon Oil,...Murphy Oil...Sunoco, Coastal Land & Drilling, and lobby firms that do work for energy companies. Ms. Landrieu repays that support by funneling their money into the campaigns of members who routinely vote to undermine Louisiana oil and gas.
An example: In March 2012, Ms. Landrieu's fellow Louisiana senator, Republican David Vitter, managed to get a vote on an amendment that would have implemented a 2008 offshore drilling plan to allow new oil and gas leases throughout the Outer Continental Shelf. Ms. Landrieu voted for the amendment.
But JAZZ PAC helped finance Democrats who defeated the Vitter amendment by 12 votes. Of the 48 Democrats who voted against Louisiana oil and gas that day, JAZZ PAC had contributed to 37 of them—more than $300,000 in total. 
Senator Landrieu is up for re-election in 2014.

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