VECO-gate: Will Pombo Return the Cash?
Richard Pombo is under fire again and Jerry McNerney is calling for Pombo to come clean.
As Hank Shaw of the Stockton Record and Lisa Vorderbrueggen of the Contra Costa Times reported yesterday, Pombo has taken $18,000 in contributions from VECO -- an Alaskan oil services company under federal investigation for influence-peddling involving lawmakers.
What's VECO connection to Pombo and why did this Big Oil firm lavish so much cash on him? According to a 2005 article in the Lodi News-Sentinel, VECO is itching to drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR):
"Nearly 40 percent of the Alaskan money deposited into Pombo's political coffers came from two executives of VECO Corp., a company that could be among those benefiting from the opening of ANWR."
VECO has made no secret of what it hopes to gain from their donations.
Pombo_exxon_small"VECO is ready to assist efforts in every way possible to make new mega projects happen -- specifically, an Alaskan gas pipeline and the opening of ANWR," the company said in a 2003 newsletter. In an October 2004 newsletter to VECO employees, executives wrote, "The right people in the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the Alaska State Legislature make a huge impact on oil and gas resource development and on the economy of Alaska."
VECO cited opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling as one of their top priorities. "We try to get those people elected," VECO President Pete Leathard told Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections, an online newsletter covering the oil industry. "We put a lot of money into the effort," Leathard said.
With VECO under federal investigation, Jerry McNerney is calling on Pombo to immediately return VECO's contributions, just as Republican Senate candidate Mike McGavick of Washington state did last week. Like Pombo, McGavick was also a recipient of VECO largesse. The day after the FBI's raid on VECO, McGavick returned $14,000 in contributions from VECO executives.
"I think all these questions underscore the need for stronger ethics rules in Congress, and reform of our campaign finance laws," McNerney said. "A first start in that effort would be for Congressman Pombo to return the money that he's received from VECO."
This wouldn't be the first time, of course, that Pombo has returned checks from scandal-soaked contributors with a special-interest agenda. As Shaw reported yesterday, Pombo has returned "$7,000 he received from felonious Indian gaming lobbyist Jack Abramoff, $2,000 from disgraced San Diego Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and $1,000 from indicted Abramoff associate Joe Volz."
According to Vorderbrueggen, the League of Conservation Voters also called for Pombo to give back the money.
"We just hope Rep. Pombo doesn't get a sunburned palm from having it open so often," said President Gene Karpinski. "Here's another example of how he has abandoned the 11th District in California and become a puppet of Big Oil. As working families back home struggle with record high energy prices, Rep. Pombo sits in Washington allowing himself to be showered with more special interest cash than virtually every other member of Congress."
So why hasn't Pombo returned VECO's oily cash yet?
http://weblog.jerrymcnerney.com/2006/09/vecogate_will_p.html