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Author	Topic: Oil industry opened the checkbooks to influence Alaska legislators	Post a Reply Back to Topics

nerde Champion Author Florida Posts:6,551 Points:1,340,445 Joined:Jul 2009	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 1:16:24 PM Ignore nerde Report Abuse The oil industry spent more than $1 million lobbying in Alaska as it tried to lower state oil taxes this year, including a $3,120 dinner in Washington, D.C., when the Alaska Legislature shut down for lawmakers’ "Energy Break" trip to the nation’s capital. Visit McClatchy for full article

nerde

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Message Posted: May 31, 2012 1:16:24 PM

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The oil industry spent more than $1 million lobbying in Alaska as it tried to lower state oil taxes this year, including a $3,120 dinner in Washington, D.C., when the Alaska Legislature shut down for lawmakers’ "Energy Break" trip to the nation’s capital.
Visit McClatchy for full article

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RitaVespa Champion Author Oregon Posts:3,109 Points:819,820 Joined:Jan 2011	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 10:19:20 PM Ignore RitaVespa Report Abuse Is this a surprise
TomT2Lee Champion Author Cincinnati Posts:5,471 Points:1,623,885 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 8:34:33 PM Ignore TomT2Lee Report Abuse Yea, it is one small piece of why our governmental system is an absolute wreck. It is why changing who is in office does not solve anything.
mikaye Champion Author Cleveland Posts:3,959 Points:890,185 Joined:Jun 2010	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 7:27:25 PM Ignore mikaye Report Abuse why else does oil industry get what it wants
DanMtz Champion Author Oakland Posts:3,496 Points:1,271,125 Joined:Oct 2009	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 7:15:06 PM Ignore DanMtz Report Abuse I'm shocked.
md11capt Champion Author Denver Posts:3,558 Points:729,930 Joined:Mar 2011	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 6:09:22 PM Ignore md11capt Report Abuse I wanna be a legislator.
newman26 Veteran Author Milwaukee Posts:320 Points:1,474,075 Joined:Jun 2006	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 5:19:52 PM Ignore newman26 Report Abuse If they can spend all this money on lobbying why don't they pay taxes?
SUNOIL Champion Author Toledo Posts:5,380 Points:1,951,980 Joined:Jul 2007	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 4:51:44 PM Ignore SUNOIL Report Abuse Same old same old.
Meowmy Champion Author Florida Posts:1,293 Points:354,505 Joined:Jan 2011	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 3:29:08 PM Ignore Meowmy Report Abuse More like greasing their palms.
crep1291 Champion Author Ottawa Posts:2,637 Points:486,190 Joined:Dec 2010	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 3:10:28 PM Ignore crep1291 Report Abuse Business as usual.
bigthighs All-Star Author Tucson Posts:550 Points:52,965 Joined:May 2012	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 2:31:08 PM Ignore bigthighs Report Abuse the game is being played
tatker Champion Author Asheville Posts:2,107 Points:586,330 Joined:Dec 2010	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 2:25:16 PM Ignore tatker Report Abuse bet they won't pass the savings on to us if they get the tax break.
thizben All-Star Author Phoenix Posts:684 Points:305,670 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 2:22:11 PM Ignore thizben Report Abuse doggod, you can say don't blame the businesses, and I do understand where you're coming from. I just question how ethical it is for them to be doing it even though its not illegal for them to do it. Its also the reason why I'm not totally convinces on the idea of different groups competing for our membership as you've suggested. I don't trust that those competing groups will do what's ethically right or what is best for the common person when their focus would be on getting as many members and as much money as possible. When you make money the driving force instead of people, then all kinds of bad things can happen. We saw this before the Clean Water Act when companies dumped all kinds of chemicals in the rivers and eventually the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Ohio. If I were a customer of those companies, how would I even know they were doing that kind of crap? Do I have to wait until a huge mishap happens to be informed? I'd rather that there are general regulations that help curb those problems and protect me as a consumer from them polluting my land and air. Again, I'm not sure a corporate type model could do that.
batloverNM Champion Author Albuquerque Posts:3,947 Points:1,394,800 Joined:Oct 2007	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 2:17:11 PM Ignore batloverNM Report Abuse They are buying more politicians...so what else is new?
Vetteblu Champion Author Denver Posts:2,799 Points:807,035 Joined:Oct 2010	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 2:15:34 PM Ignore Vetteblu Report Abuse And this is new?
doggod Champion Author Anchorage Posts:2,983 Points:768,085 Joined:May 2009	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 2:05:00 PM Ignore doggod Report Abuse You can't blame the oil companies. Politics is a cheap path to profits, so as long as coercive government exists, it would be crazy of them not to use it to extract money from the many at gunpoint and hand it over to them in exchange for whatever favors they can offer. Related question: Why do we allow the monopolistic, coercive social organization known as "government" to continue existing when every good thing it does could be done non-violently through multiple, competing organizations who had to earn your membership?
tankerCA Champion Author Chico Posts:2,682 Points:369,850 Joined:Mar 2011	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 2:01:04 PM Ignore tankerCA Report Abuse Hey, why wasn't I invited...
thizben All-Star Author Phoenix Posts:684 Points:305,670 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 1:55:55 PM Ignore thizben Report Abuse I'm not surprised that it happened, I'm surprised that people are OK with it happening and even defend it with the propaganda they've been fed without taking any effort to see if that propaganda has any truth to it.
wrunner Champion Author Virginia Posts:4,582 Points:1,164,060 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 1:53:41 PM Ignore wrunner Report Abuse Surprised?! Don't be. Politics in business is business in politics.
thizben All-Star Author Phoenix Posts:684 Points:305,670 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 1:29:39 PM Ignore thizben Report Abuse Tell me again why people are OK with these large companies buying our lawmakers? Do you really think these large companies have our interests at heart...or is it more likely they're more concerned with their bottom line?
humblepie Champion Author Toledo Posts:35,335 Points:2,399,070 Joined:Mar 2006	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 1:28:43 PM Ignore humblepie Report Abuse just imagine what goldman sachs spend for lunchs with the whitehouse advisers who are mostly ex goldman employees [Edited by: humblepie at 5/31/2012 2:29:23 PM EST]
MikeCapeCoral Champion Author Cape Coral Posts:2,078 Points:447,545 Joined:Feb 2012	Message Posted: May 31, 2012 1:25:44 PM Ignore MikeCapeCoral Report Abuse Nothing new. Money talks and B... S... walks!