GA-Sen: Chambliss fighting subpoena

Remember the Imperial Sugar case? This was a Georgia industrial disaster that killed 14 people and injured over 40 in an explosion caused by unsafe conditions at a sugar plant.

Saxby Chambliss' response to this disaster was to attack a company whistleblower whose advice, if followed, may have helped prevent the disaster.

Chambliss has been subpoenaed in a civil case brought by the families of the victims, and in true Bushian style, he is refusing to answer the subpoena:

Sen. Saxby Chambliss is fighting an attorney’s subpoena seeking to question him in a lawsuit by victims of the deadly explosion at a Georgia sugar refinery, prompting fresh attacks by Democrats hoping to oust the Republican senator in a heated runoff.

Savannah attorney Mark Tate —- who calls himself a "partisan Democrat" —- has subpoenaed Chambliss to submit to questions Thursday about whether Imperial Sugar executives enlisted him to help the company avoid blame in the Feb. 7 explosion that killed 14 workers and injured dozens more.

The Chambliss gang is using the Speech and Debate clause as cover, in other words, which the families' attorney doesn't quite get:

"I totally disagree with that," said Tate, who represents families of two refinery workers killed by the blast and two employees who were injured. "I don’t think, because some issues are related to the speech-and-debate clause, that the entire deposition can be precluded."

Tate says he wants to know if Imperial Sugar executives persuaded Chambliss to sharply criticize a company whistle-blower during a July Senate hearing on the explosion. He says he also wants the senator to respond to plaintiffs’ claims that the company arranged a meeting between Chambliss and victims’ families to dissuade them from suing.

The DSCC has a new web video up on the tragedy:

Politics aside, the Imperial Sugar disaster was a major tragedy in Georgia, and Chambliss' conduct in Senate hearings - unnecessarily berating a whistleblower in an effort to shift focus and blame from his campaign donors - has been roundly questioned from both sides of the aisle. It would be awfully nice if Chambliss - who isn't being sued, nor charged with a crime of any kind - would at least explain himself to the families of the victims in answering the subpoena.

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