pADUCAH sUN nEWSPAPER sTRIKES aGAIN, tHIS tIME bRUCE lUNSFORD iS tHE tARGET.
The Paducah Sun/Editorial
DISGUISE
Lunsford campaign themes don’t square with persona
As a member of the Gov. John Y. Brown administration,
Lunsford lobbied for automatic increases in the state fuel tax.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
If Bruce Lunsford were to arrive at his next cocktail party with bib overalls over his tuxedo it would be no stranger than his attempts to portray himself as a populist in his campaign for the U.S. Senate.
When the Democratic challenger to Sen. Mitch McConnell called the Senate minority leader “Multi-millionaire Mitch” at the Fancy Farm picnic, it must have made even his most ardent supporters wince. The fabulously wealthy Lunsford is the Democratic nominee only because he is self funded — the national party would not invest limited resources in such a long-shot race — and the only other self-funded candidate in the crowded primary was profoundly unqualified.
Lunsford is blasting American oil companies, an easy target with gas near $4 a gallon. Taking a cue from Barack Obama, he supports a windfall profits tax — which he defines as “unexpected profits” — on oil companies. But acknowledging that those profits are unexpected does not prevent him from implying that the high prices at the pump are the result of collusion on the part of Big Oil — with, naturally, the complicity of Mitch McConnell.
Big Oil does not set oil prices, but oil companies do indeed benefit when prices go up. That, Lunsford believes, is unacceptable. He thinks Congress should decide when an American company makes too much money and confiscate profits it considers excessive.
What does Lunsford intend to do about the foreign governments — two-thirds of our oil is imported — who are also enjoying “windfall” profits from American oil consumption? Answer: Give them a competitive advantage by making it more costly for American companies to reinvest profits in exploration and refining.
And that’s only the half of it. The candidate wants to make it doubly difficult for Big Oil to increase domestic production. His eight-point plan for energy independence does not include drilling at ANWR and along the Outer Continental Shelf, where vast oil reserves are known to exist. Yet the plan does include coercing oil companies to drill on land and offshore sites currently leased for drilling but where oil companies have determined no significant quantities of recoverable oil exist. He states, “ ... these areas are undeveloped because drilling there would not yield high enough profits to maintain oil companies’ record earnings.”
Pause to catch your breath, dear reader; a statement so stupid surely took your breath away. Lunsford, who clearly knows better after his successful business career, would force oil companies to make manifestly unsound business decisions.
Lunsford calls McConnell unfair for placing part of the blame for high gas prices on Lunsford himself, then defends his role in doing just that. As a member of the Gov. John Y. Brown administration, Lunsford lobbied for automatic increases in the state fuel tax. The most recent increase, pushing the state gasoline tax to just over 21 cents per gallon, was quietly added to the price at the pump this summer.
Lunsford boasted, “We changed the way we tax gas in the state to give us a budget that could grow.”
That’s the justification — ensuring a budget that can grow? We’ll take comfort contemplating that fact next time we fill up.
Ironically, Lunsford’s plan calls for a holiday from the federal gas tax, which stands at 18 cents a gallon. Apparently 18 cents is too much tax, but 21 cents is not.
The true comprehensive plan for energy independence is the one McConnell champions day after day in the Senate chamber. It includes, like Lunsford’s plan, clean-coal technology, lifting the ban on developing vast shale oil deposits and alternative/renewable forms of energy. But unlike Lunsford, McConnell also calls for increasing nuclear power, the cleanest, most economical source of energy. And he calls for lifting the ban on offshore drilling and tapping ANWR’s vast reserves of recoverable oil.
Unfortunately, Majority Leader Harry Reid thwarts every serious attempt to decrease American dependence on foreign oil. Increasing domestic supply is anathema to Democrats in Congress, who are under the thumb of the environmental lobby.
Multi-millionaire Bruce is disguised as a regular Joe. He’s apparently intimidated by Kentucky’s two largest newspapers, with their reliably liberal editorial pages, hoping they won’t pick on him for being rich as long as he rails against others in his tax bracket. It’s an unbecoming role for Lunsford.
EDITOR'S COMMENT: aGAIN, i LOOK fORWARD tO tHE dAY wHEN tHE pOLITICAL cONVERSATION wILL mOVE aWAY fROM oIL.
iS tHAT tOO mUCH tO aSK?
DISGUISE
Lunsford campaign themes don’t square with persona
As a member of the Gov. John Y. Brown administration,
Lunsford lobbied for automatic increases in the state fuel tax.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
If Bruce Lunsford were to arrive at his next cocktail party with bib overalls over his tuxedo it would be no stranger than his attempts to portray himself as a populist in his campaign for the U.S. Senate.
When the Democratic challenger to Sen. Mitch McConnell called the Senate minority leader “Multi-millionaire Mitch” at the Fancy Farm picnic, it must have made even his most ardent supporters wince. The fabulously wealthy Lunsford is the Democratic nominee only because he is self funded — the national party would not invest limited resources in such a long-shot race — and the only other self-funded candidate in the crowded primary was profoundly unqualified.
Lunsford is blasting American oil companies, an easy target with gas near $4 a gallon. Taking a cue from Barack Obama, he supports a windfall profits tax — which he defines as “unexpected profits” — on oil companies. But acknowledging that those profits are unexpected does not prevent him from implying that the high prices at the pump are the result of collusion on the part of Big Oil — with, naturally, the complicity of Mitch McConnell.
Big Oil does not set oil prices, but oil companies do indeed benefit when prices go up. That, Lunsford believes, is unacceptable. He thinks Congress should decide when an American company makes too much money and confiscate profits it considers excessive.
What does Lunsford intend to do about the foreign governments — two-thirds of our oil is imported — who are also enjoying “windfall” profits from American oil consumption? Answer: Give them a competitive advantage by making it more costly for American companies to reinvest profits in exploration and refining.
And that’s only the half of it. The candidate wants to make it doubly difficult for Big Oil to increase domestic production. His eight-point plan for energy independence does not include drilling at ANWR and along the Outer Continental Shelf, where vast oil reserves are known to exist. Yet the plan does include coercing oil companies to drill on land and offshore sites currently leased for drilling but where oil companies have determined no significant quantities of recoverable oil exist. He states, “ ... these areas are undeveloped because drilling there would not yield high enough profits to maintain oil companies’ record earnings.”
Pause to catch your breath, dear reader; a statement so stupid surely took your breath away. Lunsford, who clearly knows better after his successful business career, would force oil companies to make manifestly unsound business decisions.
Lunsford calls McConnell unfair for placing part of the blame for high gas prices on Lunsford himself, then defends his role in doing just that. As a member of the Gov. John Y. Brown administration, Lunsford lobbied for automatic increases in the state fuel tax. The most recent increase, pushing the state gasoline tax to just over 21 cents per gallon, was quietly added to the price at the pump this summer.
Lunsford boasted, “We changed the way we tax gas in the state to give us a budget that could grow.”
That’s the justification — ensuring a budget that can grow? We’ll take comfort contemplating that fact next time we fill up.
Ironically, Lunsford’s plan calls for a holiday from the federal gas tax, which stands at 18 cents a gallon. Apparently 18 cents is too much tax, but 21 cents is not.
The true comprehensive plan for energy independence is the one McConnell champions day after day in the Senate chamber. It includes, like Lunsford’s plan, clean-coal technology, lifting the ban on developing vast shale oil deposits and alternative/renewable forms of energy. But unlike Lunsford, McConnell also calls for increasing nuclear power, the cleanest, most economical source of energy. And he calls for lifting the ban on offshore drilling and tapping ANWR’s vast reserves of recoverable oil.
Unfortunately, Majority Leader Harry Reid thwarts every serious attempt to decrease American dependence on foreign oil. Increasing domestic supply is anathema to Democrats in Congress, who are under the thumb of the environmental lobby.
Multi-millionaire Bruce is disguised as a regular Joe. He’s apparently intimidated by Kentucky’s two largest newspapers, with their reliably liberal editorial pages, hoping they won’t pick on him for being rich as long as he rails against others in his tax bracket. It’s an unbecoming role for Lunsford.
EDITOR'S COMMENT: aGAIN, i LOOK fORWARD tO tHE dAY wHEN tHE pOLITICAL cONVERSATION wILL mOVE aWAY fROM oIL.
iS tHAT tOO mUCH tO aSK?
Labels: Stick with Mitch
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 5:03 PM
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