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I've been using C-SPAN's new video archive to remind myself of what life was like when the Republicans were in charge of all branches of government and six-term Congressman Charlie Bass represented me in Washington.
Check out this video from May 11, 2006, taken of the Republican controlled, Joe "I apologize" Barton chaired, House Energy and Commerce Committee's second day of hearings on gas prices. At the time the country was reeling from three dollar plus gas in many places, and it was negatively affecting Bush's approval ratings. And as CNN noted, "members of Congress are worried about how the issue will affect them in November's mid-term elections." Clearly, the GOPer Congresscritters needed to look like they were doing something about it. So, we got a "hearing."
Tough stuff, huh? Compare that horse and pony show between Bass and Big Oil's chief spokesperson Red Cavaney, if you'd like, to the actual grilling Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo gives Cavaney on new refinery production just before in 1:38 of the hearing. And the subsequent interference Barton runs on her to try to stop her from doing her job.
Now, this clip and the people in it brought back a memory I had about Bass' ties to DC life and Big Oil from four years ago. Sure enough, I had come across Red Cavaney, then President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, before:
That picture is from the May-June 2006 newsletter of the anti-environmental regulation American Council for Capital Formation. ExxonMobil gave the "non-partisan" ACCF almost a quarter of a million dollars in 2001, and nearly a million in 2002-2003.
The picture above depicts Charlie Bass and Red Cavaney at one of ACCF's Economic Policy Evenings. Joe Lieberman (in ACCF's July-August 2004 newsletter) referred to these get togethers as "Washington's last salon."
But here's the kicker. The date of that photo of Bass and Cavaney? May 09, 2006.
Dining with a Big Oil chief in a DC salon one evening, and then a couple days later tossing softball questions to him on the Hill.
This the kind of independent-minded, New Hampshire leadership we can expect from Charlie Bass if he returns to Washington.
