Looks like the current governor of Virginia, just like the one he followed, is for sale to the highest bidder.
While former governor Bob McDonald waits to see how long he and his estranged wife will serve in prison for getting big bucks from former Star Scientific CEO, current governor Terry McAuliffe is selling out the Old Dominion to fracking natural gas companies.
McAuliffe took thousands of dollars in political contributions from the gas companies and is delivering on the payoffs with enthusiastic support on one Dominion pipeline project and is looking for an opportune moment to throw his support about another one that will slice through Floyd County on its way from a fracking field in West Virginia to a distribution center in Chatham.
“Fracking” is a destructive method for extracting natural gas and is blamed for water contamination, earthquakes and other threats to communities and environments.
Energy company EQT, one of the partners in the Mountain Valley Pipeline that threatens Floyd County, paid in advance for the approval with $15,000 in direct payments to McAuliffe’s inaugural committee.
Which proves the old maxim — we get the best government the fat cats can buy. The sad fact that such actions screw the people whose property is destroyed means nothing for the governor — be him a Democrat or Republican.
Back in last year’s campaign, McAuliffe showed up in jeans to campaign during the Friday Night Jamboree and talked loftily about Floyd being “the real capital of Virginia.” Lots of campaign rhetoric and hyperbole, of course, and it shows that when it comes to serving those with big campaign checks, the current governor is just about as corrupt as the old one.
McAuliffe showed his true colors right after the election with plans to establish a special class for rich donors for special access to him and his cronies in Richmond. Bad publicity from the stunt shelved the plan publicly but sources tell us that such an organization was formed and is in place.
“New boss, same as the old boss,” Roger Daltrey of The Who sand in “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Pete Townshend, the band member who wrote the song, stole the line from the Mafia.
That seems more appropriate when describing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
1 thought on “McAuliffe: Another governor for sale”
Hydraulic fracturing releases methane–CO2 “on steroids And there is no money to properly safeguard this process. Self regulation does not count. Dominion, the API, Enbridge all want to make as much money off drilling oil/gas as they can. Safety for residents of oil and gas drilling areas is only secondary to the company’s bottom line $$$. That is their goal. Our goal as citizens is to promote and protect our welfare and safety. The industry says it will regulate safety “itself”. I believe in “The Commons” and the government should be there to protect us from the excesses of private companies.
Please read Naomi Klein’s latest book or come listen to her talk at Sidwell Friends in Wash. DC Friday, Sept.19th at 7:00. We need to speak out from the grassroots and change the system away from fossil fuels and build jobs for all from wind, sun and hydro power. We can do it!
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