Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Ray Meier is an Inconvenient Corporate Stooge

Reason #6 to Not Vote for Ray Meier: Ray Meier is a foot soldier for dirty old big oil

Democrats like Al Gore have been sounding the alarm about global warming for years, but it's only now that Republicans like Ray Meier have grudgingly accepted what we Democrats have been saying all along. Ray Meier has always played it politically safe on this issue, never stepping out further than what national Republicans say the truth is. Now, Ray Meier is copying George W. Bush's energy talk - and we all know how little that talk has done for America in the last six years.

I can't find anywhere where Ray Meier even acknowledges that global warming exists, although science has thoroughly proven that it does. Look on Ray Meier's campaign web site, and you won't find the term global warming or climate change. It's as if Meier just doesn't think there's a problem. Certainly, Ray Meier's talk on agricultural issues fails to address the issue, even though farmers know that it's already affecting their livelihood.

Practically speaking, Ray Meier is stil hanging on to the shreds of the fossil fuel industry's old talking points - which even the fossil fuel industry is going to have to abandon soon. Ray Meier supports Big Oil in its push to suck every last drop of oil out of the ground as fast as it can - including up on the ecologically sensitive North Shore of Alaska. Ray Meier also supports the corporate talk of "clean coal technology", although any truly clean coal technology is as elusive as the technology to make ethanol a sustainable solution.

Ray Meier won't support the Apollo Alliance Energy Initiative. He won't support Al Gore's plan to fight global warming either.

It's no wonder that Ray Meier is still pushing the ideas of the oil industry - the oil industry has eagerly made contributions to Ray Meier's campaigns, seeing the opportunity to get a congressman who's more open to low standards for protecting America from pollution than Sherwood Boehlert has been.

Accepting that money is a slick move on Ray Meier's part, but it's the wrong thing to do. We need a real representative, not just a corporate stooge. That's reason #6 out of 30 to NOT vote for Ray Meier.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This series about Meier is useful. But don't lose sight of the fact that Arcuri is alive and well here in Tompkins County. He went door-to-door and spoke in several places yesterday including the Democratic headquarters and the Democratic Committee meeting and at Cornell. At the committee meeting he announced that he is committed to spending one day a week in Tompkins County from now 'til the election. Keep in touch with Dem HQ for announcements of events planned.

24thIndependent said...

Mary Ann, but I really have lost sight of Arcuri. I've been hoping all year long that he would get his campaign in gear and put in the work that this race deserves, and I've been disappointed for far too long to give him any more attention. I just don't have much that's positive to say about Arcuri. He's better than Meier, but that's about as far as I can go. He's not the kind of Democrat we should have had running in this race, and it was a shame the way that the Democratic County Committees worked to give endorsements in a way to prevent a primary in which the voters would have been given the respect of a choice.

I know that Tompkins County was not part of that, and that's appreciated. But no, it's really too late for Arcuri to gain my respect. I'll do what I can for the effort to not get a Republican into office, but I cannot write honestly about Arcuri and have nice things to say. So, it's better for me to remain silent about him.

Anonymous said...

Point well taken. I respect your position. I said pretty much the same thing before I met Arcuri. I still agree that his campaign has been lame. But after meeting him, I feel better able to speak, at least softly, in support of him. I will show up from time to time to post notices about Arcuri appearances in hopes that your readers will have a chance to hear or meet him.