Paul Bass File Photo
The political currents of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill washed up on New Haven’s shores Monday, as candidates for U.S. Congress injected the issue into their campaigns.
U.S. Rep Rosa DeLauro (D‑3) (pictured) issued a statement “applauding” the Obama Administration for announcing it might pursue legal action against BP executives for their role in the oil spill, the largest in U.S. history.
DeLauro also cited her record to seek to align herself with sentiment critical of BP: her cosponsorship of a current bill to “to lift
the cap on BP’s liability for the Gulf of Mexico disaster from $75 million to $10 billion”; and her prior introduction of a proposed 50 percent tax on major companies’ crude oil profits of over $50 a barrel.
“I remain deeply concerned over the tragedy that is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico and its impact on local citizens and on the region’s delicate ecosystem,” the ten-term incumbent Democrat stated in the release. “I will be working with my colleagues in Congress to make certain that those who are responsible for this disaster will be held accountable.”
DeLauro’s Republican challenger, meanwhile, released a statement blasting the incumbent for alleged family ties to BP.
The candidate, Jerry Labriola (pictured), called on DeLauro “to explain why she hasn’t disclosed her husband’s lucrative relationship with the company behind the largest environmental disaster in American history.
Labriola claimed that the polling firm run by DeLauro’s husband, Stanley Greenberg, “represents” BP.
“Stan Greenberg is entitled to make a living, but where is the line?” Labriola is quoted as saying. “One has to ask: does the money Stan Greenberg makes conflict with his wife’s ability to represent the people of the 3rd Congressional District and her claims on her website?”
DeLauro’s campaign responded that Stanley Greenberg’s firm, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, in fact does not “currently” represent BP.
DeLauro campaign spokesman Chuck Swirsky said in response to a question that he doesn’t know if Greenberg has represented BP in the past.
Howard Briskin, the chief operating officer of Greenberg’s firm, said Wednesday that BP was a client for “probably” ten years. The firm offered BP “reputational and brand management.”
Briskin said the firm has not represented BP since last fall. “Since then, we have nothing,” he said.
That’s enough to raise questions, argued Labriola’s campaign manager, Tanya Bachand.
Greenberg’s firm helped “greenwash” BP’s image, she said in a conversation Wednesday.
“Listen. We’re capitalists. You go and make money. We don’t have any particular issue with that,” Bachand said.
But “BP’s image certainly is environmentally friendly. This very rig got a safety award. That begs the question” about greenwashing.
Meanwhile, the DeLauro release sought to turn the bedfellows argument back on Labriola. It quotes campaign spokesman Churck Swirsky as noting that Labriola’s campaign manager, Tanya Bachand, has served as statewide coordinator for the Tea Party “and presumably favors a ‘drill, baby, drill’ position on offshore oil.”
Bachand responded that the Tea Party favors “an all of the above approach” on energy: wind, solar, and “including drilling, yes… Energy independence is a national security issue.”