Blanche Lincoln's Corporate Whoring Never Stops

Even for a career corporate shill like Blanche Lincoln, the timing on this is pretty stunning:

Sen. Blanche Lincoln won't be in Arkansas tonight, sounds like. Or maybe she'll send a stand-in to collect her Member of Congress Award from the Women in Government Relations (aka lobbyists) at their Spring Soiree tonight at the Columbus Club in Washington's Union Station. Major sponsors include the airline industry, realtors, FedEx and several oil companies, including BP America.

The League of Conservation voters didn't miss the opportunity:

WASHINGTON, DC - The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), which works to turn environmental values into national priorities, today called on Sen. Blanche Lincoln to return campaign contributions she received from oil giant British Petroleum, the corporation responsible for the oil rig currently spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil per day in to the Gulf of Mexico.

"Given BP's role in the economic and environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it would be highly irresponsible and inappropriate for Senator Lincoln to continue to finance her campaign in these final days before the primary with BP's tainted oil money," said Tony Massaro, LCV’s Senior Vice President for Political Affairs. "LCV calls on Senator Lincoln to return her BP bucks and either get on board or out of the way as Congress works to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation that would increase energy independence, create new energy jobs and reduce the risk of man-made disasters like the BP oil spill."

In the past decade, Sen. Lincoln has been among the top three recipients of BP PAC money in the Senate, having received $12,000 from the oil company's political action committee since the 2001-02 election cycle.[1] This election cycle alone, in which she has co-sponsored legislation that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing regulations to reduce harmful pollutants[2], Sen. Lincoln has received $4,000 in campaign cash from BP's PAC. [3]

Sen. Lincoln's Big Oil record:

• Sen. Lincoln voted for the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act in 2006, which ended protections for Florida’s Gulf Coast and opened up 8 million acres off the coasts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana for oil drilling. [4]

• Sen. Lincoln currently opposes comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation, despite the fact that it will create clean energy jobs, reduce our dangerous dependence on oil and make polluters pay their fair share.[5]

• Sen. Lincoln has taken more than $1 million in campaign cash from Big Oil and other energy interests, with oil and gas companies being among the top 5 industries that have contributed to her campaign this cycle.[6]

• Sen. Lincoln has been inconsistent in supporting efforts to make cars run further on a tank of gas, voting to oppose increases in fuel efficiency standards in 1999, 2002 and 2005. [7]LCV was among the first to call for Sen. Lincoln’s defeat this year by naming her first to LCV's 2010 "Dirty Dozen" list. She has a lifetime LCV score of 49%, the third lowest score among Democratic senators. [8]

Bill Halter for Senate!