Why is Fossella protecting Exxon's interests?

On February 28, 2007 HR 1252 was submitted titled the "Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act." The summary of this bill reads;

"Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act - Makes it unlawful for any person to sell crude oil, gasoline, natural gas, or petroleum distillates at a price that: (1) is unconscionably excessive; or (2) indicates the seller is taking unfair advantage unusual market conditions or the circumstances of an emergency to increase prices unreasonably."

Two fellow NY state Republicans co-sponsored this legislation;
On February 28, 2007 Republican Rep. McHugh (NY)
On March 20, 2007 Republican Rep. Kuhl (NY)

On May 23, 2007 the House voted on this bill, passing it by a vote of 284 - 141. Rep. Vito Fossella voted against it.

On May 23, 2007, the same exact day this bill came to a vote on the floor, and the same exact day that Rep. Vito Fossella voted against protecting Americans from massive oil conglomerates such as Exxon Mobil, Rep. Vito Fossella submitted HR 2460. Admittedly we are quick to suggest Rep. Fossella is useless and does little or no work that is meaningful in Congress so we ask you to judge for yourself his work in this area. What is his bill?

HR 2460 is titled the 'Federal Energy Price Protection Act.'

What does the bill do?

It shall be unlawful for any supplier to increase the price at which that supplier sells, or offers to sell, crude oil, gasoline, or petroleum distillates in an area covered by a Presidential proclamation issued under section 4(a)(1) by an unconscionable amount during the period beginning on the date the proclamation is issued and ending on the date specified in the proclamation.

So it, just like the bill he voted against calls for making it illegal to unconscionably raise the price of gasoline to take advantage of consumers specifically during emergencies. So what is Fossella thinking? Clearly HR 1252 had bi-partisan support, since his own NY Republican co-workers are supporting it. The difference is that he does not want to make it illegal for gas companies to unconscionably make profits off of consumers unless President Bush declares the region to be in some sort of disaster emergency. So he wants to leave it up to the President whose family has vested interests in major oil companies to declare when it would be illegal for Exxon to gouge prices for the sole purposes of increasing profits. [updated: after review this is incorrect] Aside from this what are the other differences, mainly the severity of the crime;

HR 1252; the good bill that passed (Fossella voted against)
HR 2460; the sham bill Fossella wrote

HR 1252; $3 million maximum civil penalty
HR 2460; $5 million maximum civil penalty
(Note this is the only occasion where Fossella lays out a stronger penalty)

HR 1252; Each day of a violation should be considered a separate violation
HR 2460; Each determination of a violation should be considered a separate violation

HR 1252; $1 million civil penalty for falsification of information
HR 2460; nothing

HR 1252; $150 million maximum criminal penalty
HR 2460; $1 million maximum criminal penalty

HR 1252; $2 million maximum individual criminal penalty
HR 2460; $1 million maximum criminal penalty

HR 1252; 10 years imprisonment for individual criminal convictions
HR 2460; 2 years imprisonment for individual criminal convictions

So why is Rep. Vito Fossella voting against the stronger bill and introducing his own mock proposal intentionally weakening fines, prison sentences and penalties, consider this;

$10,500 from Exxon Mobil
$5,000 Occidental Petroleum Corp PAC
$5,000 Valero
$2,500 Texaco
$1,000 Shell Oil Company

Source: FEC

The choice was Fossella's and he sold out his constituents to support Exxon Mobil.

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Truth 13: Fossella and Big Oil

I received this press release from a new organization, Truth 13, that looks like it could do some great work getting press to report on Rep. Fossella's lacking record and leadership. Good start.

REP. VITO FOSSELLA REPRESENTS BIG OIL IN CONGRESS INSTEAD OF CONSTITUENTS.


STATEN ISLAND, NY -- "Oil prices are yet again on the rise and there is no reason to believe they won't continue in an ever-upward direction" said Richard Marini of Truth13, a group of concerned citizens residing in New York's 13th congressional district who are challenging the voting record of their representative in congress. As of November 21, according to the Wall Street Journal [1] prices have reached as high as $99.28 a barrel – more than $3 a gallon for gasoline, with diesel fuel prices at record levels of more than $3.30 a gallon. Mr. Marini who lives in Great Kills said "As prices increase, small businesses suffer and households tighten their wallets. All the while, oil companies continue to make record profits" – On November 1st 2007, Exxon Mobil reported third quarter profits [2] of $9.4 billion dollars (Exxon Mobil News Release 11/1/07).


Every year, Big Oil spends millions of their dollars lobbying Congress. Since 1990, more than $150 million dollars of oil and gas industry profits has gone into the hands of Republicans according to the Center for Responsive Politics [3]. The Republican Congressman representing Staten Island and Brooklyn, where the effects of high oil prices may be hitting hardest, is no different. According to Federal Election Committee records, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY) has received over $68,000 in political contributions from oil and gas industry political action committees. This includes a staggering $11,500 from Exxon’s PAC [4].


In 2005, Fossella voted to give over $16 billion in tax breaks to oil companies already making record profits (HR 6, 7/28/05; HR 3893, 10/7/05). In July of 2007, he voted against an appropriations bill (HR 2641, 7/17/07) that included $213 million dollars for developing hydrogen-based energy technologies. Earlier that year in January, Fossella voted against a bill (HR 6, 1/18/07) that would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil by investing in clean renewable energy thus reducing our reliance on unstable regions which are generally governed by dictatorial means. These regions are generally anti-western and help fund anti-American groups that are uncontrollable by western influences. "Voting against non-fossil fuel energy programs endangers our national security by forcing our continued reliance on energy from the Middle East to drive our cars and heat our homes" said Richard Greve, a member of Truth13.


Most recently, Rep. Fossella voted against an important bill (HR 2776, 8/4/07) that would repeal enormous tax breaks for highly profitable oil and gas companies, while providing incentives for the production of renewable energy and energy conservation. He also voted against a bill (H.R. 3221, 8/4/07) that would move the United States toward greater energy independence and security by developing new technologies, creating green jobs, and modernizing our energy infrastructure. Mr. Greve said "We face a long term energy problem, not just here in Staten Island, but nationwide. As oil and gas prices continue to rise, our solution must not be to give Big Oil more money, but to wean ourselves off a dependence on oil. On this front Rep. Vito Fossella's record in Congress, regrettably, has been catastrophic."


Founded in 2007, Truth 13 is a group of concerned citizens residing in New York's 13th Congressional district in Staten Island and Brooklyn who are concerned about how their representative in Congress is failing to work towards the interest of his constituents. Their mission is to educate voters of the 13th Congressional District (NY) to the voting record of their elected representative in Washington, D.C.

1. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OIL_PRICES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-06-16-51-13


2. http://exxonmobil.com/corporate/files/corporate/investor_earnings_3q07.pdf


3. http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?cycle=2008&ind=E01

4. http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_give/H8NY13028


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Fossella and Bush oppose alternative energy funding

You pay $3 a gallon at the pump because of six years of Fossella's majority acting like this;

via the Houston Chronicle;

The House approved the first increase in federal automobile fuel efficiency requirements in three decades Thursday as part of an energy bill that also repeals billions of dollars in oil company tax breaks and encourages the use of renewable fuels.

snip

The bill would roll back $13.5 billion in tax breaks enjoyed by the five largest U.S. oil companies with the money to be used for tax incentives for development of renewable energy sources like ethanol from grasses and wood chips and biodiesel and for energy efficiency programs and conservation.

snip

The centerpiece of the bill is a requirement to boost automobile fuel economy by 40 percent to an industry average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, the first such increase since 1975, when Congress enacted the federal auto fuel economy requirements.

Rep. Vito Fossella opposed this long term energy alternative legislation, no surprise really. This is a bill that President Bush has promised to veto so that Exxon and other oil giants don't lose their tax breaks while they are pulling in record profits. Vito Fossella happily obliged President Bush's wishes and sided with Exxon.

High gas prices fund Exxon donations to Fossella

This is not a donation for renewable energy legislation, mass transit solutions for Staten Island or asthma and respiratory health care brought on by air pollution.

This is a donation from ExxonMobil to encourage Rep. Vito Fossella to continue to vote to stay in Iraq. The more oil potential Exxon receives the more they can line their pockets and make you, the consumer pay for donations like these at the pump.

Follow along on what stories we are working on with updates from Twitter.

Fossella opposed and now favors Gas price gouging

Last year Rep. Vito Fossella voted in favor of the Federal Energy Price Protection Act of 2006 [HR 5253] a bill nearly identical to HR 1252 which he voted AGAINST this year. We covered yesterday the games he played by introducing an alternative bill with extremely limited or no penalties the same day Congress passed HR 1252. Today's question, why did he support the bill one year and then caved to Exxon and flipped on it the following year?

Additionally if Rep. Fossella feels so strongly about this issue that he actually took some time to try to draft legitimate legislation, the question arises why has he never bothered to work on helping to pass similar legislation in the past?

REFUSED TO CO-SPONSOR H.R.3681 in 2005, To amend the Clayton Act to make unlawful price gouging for necessary goods and services during Presidentially declared times of national disaster.

REFUSED TO CO-SPONSOR H.RES.238, Condemning any price gouging with respect to motor fuels during the hours and days after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001. [no xml link]

REFUSED TO CO-SPONSOR H.R.3782, To prohibit price gouging of gasoline and diesel fuel in areas declared major disasters.

REFUSED TO SIGN discharge petition to allow the consideration of the resolution H. Res. 568 entitled, a resolution providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3936) to protect consumers from price-gouging of gasoline and other fuels during energy emergencies, and for other purposes; Dec 2005

This shouldn't come as a surprise. VetoFossella.com shows us he votes against or refused to support Minimum Wage bills year after year only to then vote for it this year. In fact he voted against an identical bill just last year in the Republican controlled Congress. Does Fossella actually have a stance on anything?

Fossella's Republican Pollster

In that crappy 'wacky' Advance article they ran yesterday, one thing I skipped over was that Rep. Vito Fossella hired a polling company, FLSConnect, to poll Staten Islanders on a distorted version of Harrion's plan. In most circles that would be considered a push poll, or a poll that really is more of a political advertisement by the nature of the questions than a real poll.

The Advance does a bit of reporting in noting;

FLS performs fund-raising, get-out-the-vote, automated calling and other services for Republican officials, candidates and local parties, as well as for the Green Bay Packers, General Motors, Exxon and other clients.

and that is a bit of an understatement. When you visit their site, the first thing to see is glowing praise from Karl Rove and this tidbit on their 'About Us' page

Our client list consists of the last five Presidential Campaigns and Bush/Cheney 2004. We also provide services for the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senate Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and hundreds of Republican State Parties and candidates on all levels, as well as corporations, associations and other organizations.

Does it really require that big of a leap to expect a partisan firm such as FLSConnect would come back with a partisan poll for their client? There are no poll questions published. There are no statisitcs on how many residents were called and the diversity of their make up. But the Advance ran it nonetheless as news. Surely if they work for the Green Bay Packers it must be a legit opperation.