Pete Sessions may want to wish the problems his next door congressional buddy, Joe Barton, caused for his party to go away, but his latest statement on the matter shows that Sessions' concern is not for his constituents or for those directly affected by the worst environmental catastrophe this nation has ever seen.
No. Pete Sessions is far more concerned about protecting BP than in defending the interests of those directly affected by the spill.
He can try to change the subject and shift blame all he wants, but the bottom line is this-- Pete Sessions is all for BP and big business and against average folks like me.
And I'm happy that Sessions' Democratic opponent, Grier Raggio is aggressively pointing this out on his web site.
More below.
Here's part of the article presented on Raggio's web site, headlined "Sessions Blames BP Oil Tragedy on Democrats "Incompetence", Refuses to Take Disciplinary Action Against Barton":
The Democratic National Committee produced a new national television ad highlighting Barton's comments – their second commercial in five days.
The ad, titled "How They Would Govern," features Barton and fellow House Republicans Eric Cantor of Virginia and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, as well as Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul.
"I'm not surprised that now, after their incompetence, that they would decide to make this a political issue," said Sessions, who runs the House Republicans' campaign efforts.
It shouldn't have been a surprise for Sessions, given Barton's position as the ranking Republican on the committee that held the hearings with the BP executive that featured Barton's apology to BP.
It also shouldn't be seen as a surprise Sessions' determination to shift blame for the spill away from BP.
According to Opensecrets.org, Sessions has not shied away from raising money from oil interests including BP.
Here's a list of the oil interests Sessions collected money from during the past two years:
American Gas Assn $1,000
BP $1,000
Chesapeake Energy $2,500
Chevron Corp $1,500
Devon Energy $1,000
Exxon Mobil $5,000
Halliburton Co $3,000
Independent Petroleum Assn of America $1,000
Koch Industries $6,500
Marathon Oil $1,500
Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Assn $1,000
Occidental Petroleum $1,500
Valero Energy $10,000
Williams Companies $1,500
Sessions may wish the well-earned controversy surrounding Barton's remarks just went away, but given what Sessions has said and his own record of putting corporate interests ahead of his constituents, the controversy may not have ended.
It has just begun.
Sessions may think raising big funds from corporations while legislating in their favor may make for a solid fundraising strategy, but when it comes to serving the interests of his constituents, that strategy is a failure.
Let's make sure Sessions is sent his walking papers in November. Here's Grier Raggio's web site: http://www.raggioforcongress.com .