Last night, Senator Murkowski was treated to a fundraiser by lobbyists for the Nuclear Energy Institute, Duke Energy and Peabody Coal. Political Party Time has the details:
Host Alex Flint lobbies for the Nuclear Energy Institute, whose PAC has given her $5,000 since 2008. Beverly K. Marshall lobbies for Duke Energy, which is based in North Carolina, and has given the senator $24,050 over the course of her career. David Russell represents a number of clients for Bryan Cave LLP, including Peabody Energy, a coal company based in St. Louis, Mo. Peabody's PAC has given her $3,000 since 2008.
Here is a screenshot of the invitation, which was distributed by the NRSC:
Political Party Time also made some interesting general observations about Senator Murkowski's fundraising habits:
Murkowski gets more campaign cash from the energy and natural resources sector than any other-more than $1 million over the course of her career. Seventy-three percent of her campaign cash comes from sources out of state.
Senator Murkowski was met outside the fundraiser by a group of student protesters. Rather than taking the time to engage with the concerned youth, she quickly brushed past them into the building. Watch here:
Just 19 hours later, today at 2:00, Senator Murkowski will do the bidding of those who funneled money to her campaign last night. On a conference call with Chamber of Commerce members Senator Murkowski will give an overview of the EPA's plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and her efforts to stop those plans. Here is how the Chamber of Commerce describes the call:
The U.S. Chamber is pleased to announce that we will hold a special member conference call with United States Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and we want you to be a part of this timely discussion about climate change and legislation in Congress to deal with EPA's actions to regulate greenhouse gases on the afternoon of Thursday, February 25. Join in this worthwhile opportunity to hear an overview of the EPA's move toward regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, its burdensome affects on business, and Congress' response to the move. Register now to receive the dial-in number.
Senator Murkowski has introduced bipartisan legislation to allow time for Congress to address the climate change issue and prevent EPA from moving forward with a regulatory scheme to regulate greenhouse gases under the ill-suited framework of the Clean Air Act. On January 14, the first major step of that process--an EPA final rule concluding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare--took effect, and with it the obligation to move forward with what could easily become the most expensive and intrusive set of regulations in history. The implementation of these rules will have a significant impact on the economy and small businesses.
This is one of those all-too-often instances in Washington where a direct connection can be drawn between a candidate's fundraising and their anti-progressive legislative agenda. Polluting corporations don't funnel millions of dollars to candidates out of the goodness of their hearts. They do so with an expectation that they'll get something in return, and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski never disappoints on that front.
Indeed, Senator Murkowski's extremely close ties to oil, gas and coal industry lobbyists have caused some to speculate that she is romantically involved with some of them:
When I moved from Alaska to Washington, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find someone who was right for me. The first couple of years were tough -- I met a lot of potential matches but couldn't find the perfect one. My dad had lived in DC for years and had a lot of success with PolluterHarmony, so I decided to try it.
When I saw Jeff's profile, I couldn't believe I found a lobbyist with so much money to contribute to my re-election campaigns and so many big coal and utility industry clients. Arch Coal, Southern Company, Edison Electric... I thought "He's just what I'm looking for!" We instantly clicked -- in our first phone conversation, he told me he could bundle $10,000 by our first date. We met in person a week later, and he had the check in hand.
In order to make sure Washington lobbyists know that Senator Murkowski's votes and legislative efforts are up for sale to the highest bidder, PolluterWatch.com is now running ads on Politico:
And to be fair to Alaska residents who may also be interested to know about the unscrupulous behavior of their senior Senator, ads are also running on the websites of Alaska TV stations:
Despite intimations to the contrary, Senator Murkowski is far too beholden to corporate interests to take the true interests of her state seriously. While Alaska is literally melting, Murkowski's spokesman is busy attacking bloggers for asking hard questions. While her state's infrastructure suffers from the impacts of climate change, Murkowski lets corporate lobbyists write legislation for her. And while a bipartisan group of Senators works to find consensus on climate legislation, Senator Murkowski does everything in her power to keep her funders happy by thwarting progress at every turn.
Visit NoDirtyAirAct.com for the latest on Senator Murkowski's efforts to the bidding of her energy industry lobbying pals by severely weakening the Clean Air Act.