Lying liars: There was a dust-up last week before the Congressional hearings into price gouging by oil companies. The hearing was chaired by an oil company stooge, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Of Course), who decided that it wasn’t necessary to swear in the CEOs of the nation’s largest oil companies before they testified.
The Democrats objected to this, but Stevens simply over-rode their objections. The oil execs went on to field questions from the Congressional panel – and, it turns out, most of them lied:
Here’s an exchange during the hearings last week:
SENATOR FRANK LAUTENBERG: Did your company or any representatives in your companies participate in Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force in 2001, the meetings?
MR. RAYMOND [EXXONMOBIL]: No.
LAUTENBERG: Sirs?
MR. O’REILLY [CHEVRON]: No.
MR. MULVA [CONOCO PHILLIPS]: We did not, no.
MR. PILLARI [BP AMERICA]: To be honest, no. I wasn’t here then.
LAUTENBERG: But your company was here?
MR. PILLARI: Yes.
MR. HOFMEISTER [SHELL]: Not to my knowledge
Just a few days after this “testimony,” an unnamed government official leaked a document to the Washington Post that showed that these companies did indeed meet with Cheney in secret to draft the nation’s energy policy:
A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force in 2001 — something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.
The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co., and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated
The execs may have thought they could lie with impunity since they were not sworn in, but there are broader laws against lying to Congress. Now the Democrats want the oil execs to come back and explain the discrepancy between their statements to the committee and the newly revealed documentary evidence:
Senate Democrats demanded that oil company executives who testified last week about skyrocketing energy prices reappear before lawmakers and testify under oath, after news reports raised questions about the truthfulness of their testimony.
Leading oil company executives long have denied taking part in a secretive energy task force run in 2001 by Vice President Dick Cheney, but White House records obtained by The Washington Post refuted that, according to the daily’s editions on Wednesday.
The ad hoc group was tasked with helping develop a national energy policy, but was opposed by environmentalists because there allegedly were no ecologically friendly players on the panel.
The leader of Senate Democrats said the oil company executives who testified last week should be forced to return to Congress to set the record straight regarding their involvement with Cheney’s group.
YES THEY NEED TO DO SOMETHING! DEMS NEED TO GET OFF THEIR ASS AND STAND FOR WHAT IS RIGHT LIKE THEY USED TO! THE REPUBS HAVE TAKEN US WORKING CLASS TO THE CLEANERS LONG ENOUGH! STAND UP DEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!
GET OFF YOUR ASS AND DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!
My favorite answer to the question of were you there:
MR. HOFMEISTER [SHELL]: Not to my knowledge
I guess he could have been there without his knowledge, had he been blindfolded and packed in the trunk of a car and delivered to Cheney’s undisclosed location, and then returned the same way. Yeah, that’s probably what happened.