Nice Work if you can Get It

Last Updated on Tuesday, 01 September 2009 08:11

I attended the Energy Citizen's Rally yesterday in So. St. Paul.

It was a well organized event sponsored by many local organizations including the Freedom Foundation, the Minnesota Taxpayers League, the Minnesota Free Market Institute, the MN Farm Bureau and the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.  As reported in the New York Times recently, the event was also sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute- gasp!  Shock!  An organization representing refining companies (did you know Minnesota has the 14th largest refinery in the country in Rosemount?)  and oil companies.  Can you believe such an organization would DARE to organize an event to talk about Cap and Trade?  It is truly shocking.  Call your legislator now.

I spoke casually with many of the workers who attended the event during their lunch hour.  There were operaters, managers, environmental engineers and even a nurse from several local energy companies.  The crowd was clearly non-partisan.  There were no loud cheers or boos or anything like that.  The people I spoke with expressed skepticism about what this legislation would ultimately do for the environment, expressed concern that their industry was being so demonized and over-taxed, and that if we continued to penalize American companies that those jobs would just go overseas where regulations were less stringent. 

Here's who I saw outside, a true grassroots bunch of counter-protesters all right...recognize anybody?  Check out those signs, I mean they're not pre-printed at all like the "astroturf" inside, right?  All nine of them seemed like truly concerned citizens.  Paid concerned citizens.

State Reps Jeremy Kalin (Chisago County) and Kate Knuth (New Brighton). Margaret Levin, State Director for the Sierra Club, Jenna Garland of Clean Water Action and Samantha Chadwick of Environment Minnesota.  

Ms. Garland handed me a press release titled "Energy Citizens rally in So St Paul part of Well-Orchestrated Effort by Big Oil to Oppose Clean Energy".....well orchestrated, like-say, massively funded environmentalist special interest groups?

She then said to me "There's really something wrong with that event inside, it's being paid for by the Oil Companies"-- to which I shot back, "I'm a housewife, I'm speaking at this event and I'm not making one dime.  Give me a break."  I shook my head and walked away.  Yeah and you're getting paid to protest while I have to pay a babysitter.

The press release pointed to a recent Zogby poll that found "71% of likely voters supported the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009"  Cough-cough, uh, you mean Cap and Trade?  You mean the Zogby poll that was of 1,000 likely voters and commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation? 

What about that Zogby poll just 16 weeks earlier of 3,937 likely voters which found that only 30% supported Cap and Trade and found that by 54-40% Americans felt that the course of action to make energy cheaper should be by developing all sources of U.S. energy, including coal, nuclear power, offshore drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  A rose by any other name....Talk about misinformation. 

The press release also stated some bogus number that "more than 30,000 new jobs could be created in Minnesota under such a program"

It ended by stating that the protester would roll out "a length of Astroturf to represent the false grassroots nature of the rally"....and mentioned Freedom Works who has "helped orchestrate the unruly 'Tea Party' protesters that have crashed town hall meetings across the country.  Unruly.  What a joke.  I was at the Tea Party protest in St Paul in April, there were times when you could have heard a pin drop in the enormous crowd.  The crowd was politely listening to the speakers.

This was a group of workers- whose jobs will be affected by this terrible legislation- listening to some good music, enjoying lunch and listening to a few, brief speakers.

The left just doesn't know what to do with itself when an event like this- on par with the organization of any Obama town hall meeting- is put on by a group who doesn't agree with them.

By the way, Ms. Garland and Ms. Chadwick snuck into the rally, even taking the free t-shirts that were handed out.  Wish I had a picture to share, I was busy talking to people who oppose Cap and Trade. 

Must be nice to get paid a full-time salary and benefits to misrepresent yourself and the organizations you work for...but that's not "false", that's real- right?