Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Despite the Big Money Pickens Contributed to Senator Reid, Harry Can't Deliver on NatGas Measure

And you thought Steve Wynn owned Harry Reid?
Well he does but...
From the HuffPo:
...When it comes to Reid himself, however, Pickens hasn't exactly stayed on the sidelines. Pickens' wife and a Pickens company gave Reid and PACs aligned with him hundreds of thousands of dollars when he faced a tight reelection contest in 2010, according to an analysis of federal election records. The corporation's giving was made possible by the Citizens United ruling.

During the 2010 cycle, Madeleine Pickens gave $16,800 to the Reid Victory Fund and another $12,000 to the Nevada state Democratic Party. The Madeleine N Pickens Trust gave $50,000 to Patriot Majority, a super PAC targeting Reid's Republican opponent, Sharron Angle, and Clean Energy Fuels Corp., a natural gas company partially owned by T. Boone and Madeleine, gave another $175,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. (T. Boone owns roughly $360 million worth of that company, while Madeleine owns about $35 million.) Andrew Littlefair, the company's CEO and usually a GOP donor, gave $20,000 to PatriotMajority and another $4,400 directly to Reid that cycle.....

...While Pickens has been most successful at forging a relationship with Reid, he has also courted other elements of the Democratic establishment. In 2008 and 2009, he funneled $453,250 to the Center for American Progress, the Washington Post reported. CAP delivered a paper praising the Pickens plan -- a paper that Siegel's blog, Get Energy Smart! Now!, criticized as full of holes.

A CAP spokeswoman noted that Pickens' money came not directly from him but from his tax-exempt organizations to support the center's National Clean Energy Summit. She added that CAP remains critical of Pickens, pointing to a a number of other CAP-written articles. On the other hand, the group certainly doesn't shun the natural gas investor.

Where is CAP's National Clean Energy Summit held each year?

Las Vegas, Nevada. And Reid and Pickens are regularly featured speakers.
The Menendez amendment to the transportation bill failed 51-47 this afternoon.

There's a reason that, ever since his days Chairing the Nevada Gaming Commission, they've called Reid "Dirty Harry".