Revisiting the Katrina 11: Targeting the Worst Republicans

Liza's recent Culture Kitchen article on a humorous side to Republican Joe Barton's (TX-6) opposition to healthcare for Amreica's children rang a bell for me. I remember this Joe Barton. His current crusade is denying Amrerica's children healthcare, but in the past he has been cold-hearted in a different way. He was one of the Katrina 11, the 11 Republicans who voted “No” on the bill that Congress approved and Bush signed to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. These are the cold-hearted bastards who would willingly see Americans die for the sake of more tax cuts for the wealthy and for Halliburton profits.

I have a long memory, even for fast moving politics. I have yet to forgive the Katrina 11 (really the Katrina 10 since we defeated one of them in 2006...maybe even the Katrina 9 if we count one who moved from Congress to Governor). I plan on making the Katrina 11 the focus of my 2008 efforts. Sounds like Joe Barton is the one to start with.

Joe Barton is one of those cold-hearted bastards who put Halliburton and tax breaks for the wealthy before the needs of Katrina victims. Only now his target is also America's children. But even THAT isn't new. Barton was one of the Republicans who worked so hard to block the Combating Autism Act in 2006. His actions were so deceptive and so awful, that Don and Diedre Imus (no left wingers themselves) were pissed off and offended. Dierdre Imus called Barton a "snake" and "liar," feeling he broke his promises regarding the Autism bill. So Barton has a history of right wing extremism when it comes to America's children.

But Barton is more than just a cold-hearted bastard who refuses to help children and Katrina victims. He is also anti-science. He has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from oil and gas industries then, when he was chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he proceeded to go after climatologists whose work helped us understand global warming. Joe Barton has been bought and sold by the oil industry and has become one of their main attack dogs against scientists. As a scientist myself with a wife who is a climatologist, I am probably as pissed about Barton's anti-science attacks as the Imus family is about Barton's anti-children stands. The Union of Concerned Scientists discussed this back in 2005. Here is a quote from their statement:

The scientific community has weighed in strongly. The National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science—which rarely take stands on Congressional investigations—have sent letters of concern to Rep. Barton, as have 20 leading climate scientists. Fellow legislators of both parties also have criticized Barton’s approach as “misguided and illegitimate” and “a transparent effort to bully and harass climate change experts who have reached conclusions with which you disagree.” Representative Boehlert (R-NY), chairman of the House Science Committee, and Representative Waxman (D-CA), ranking member on the House Government Reform Committee, both have submitted letters protesting the tone and content of this investigation.

Rep. Barton’s motivation for the investigation is unclear, other than his long-standing ties to the fossil fuel industry and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions he has received from ExxonMobil and other companies with fossil fuel interests.

In addition to the gas and oil industries, the top donors to Barton are energy companies. And what does he do in return? As chairman of the House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee, he inserted special provisions into 2002 energy legislation to let near-bankrupt Westar Energy split off its regulated utility from its heavily indebted other businesses--a split that would facilitate saddling ratepayers (that's regular Americans) with $1 billion Westar's non-utility debts. So he is MORE than willing to let a failed energy company leach off taxpayers, but is not willing to give money to poor black families who lost all they had in hurricane Katrina. Please see this article for Barton's Westar scandal as well as other aspects of his disgusting corruption. Public Citizen wrote the Department of Justice about what they call the "Westar bribery scandal" back in 2004. They specifically include Joe Barton, along with Tom DeLay, in their complaint. An excerpt from Public Citizen's complaint:

The basis of the original complaint stemmed from internal communications released by Westar Energy (Westar) in May 2002. These communications explicitly detail efforts by the named Westar executives and Bornemann, their chief D.C. lobbyist, to buy “a seat at the table” in congressional dealings through a schedule of $63,000 in campaign contributions. The particular “seat” they sought was in congressional negotiations over the energy bill, where Westar was seeking the repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) and the inclusion of a provision that would exempt the company from Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversight if PUHCA were repealed. The executives planned a major financial restructuring of its operations and did not want the SEC to interfere in the plan when the executives sought to allegedly secretly enrich themselves.

The repeal was included in the House-passed energy bill that year. In the subsequent House-Senate conference negotiations on that legislation, the special exemption for Westar from SEC regulation was quietly inserted by Rep. Barton, with the support of then-Majority Whip DeLay and former Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Billy Tauzin.

But new documents, released as part of an investigation by the House ethics committee, further implicate Westar’s D.C. lobbyist Bornemann and top Westar executives in this plan to make campaign contributions for the purpose of obtaining legislative access and preferential treatment. This new evidence warrants a formal investigation into possible violations of the anti-bribery statute by the Westar executives, its lobbyist and the House congressional leaders who may have been influenced by the plan.

For being such a cold-hearted bastard (even though he might have a sense of humor about it) for repeatedly hurting America's children, for his refusal to help Katrina victims even as he helped failed energy companies and Halliburton with massive amounts of taxpayer money, and for his anti-science stands, I place Joe Barton at the top of my Katrina 11 list and I ask you to help me defeat him (and other Katrina 11 Republicans) in 2008. Early money can help defeat these most extreme of right wing fanatics.