Following the Party Line

Republican candidate for Ohio's 15th district and former bank lobbyist, Steve Stivers, has fallen in line with the rest of the Republican Party. Stivers must have gotten the e-mail or the phone call to tell him to support off-shore oil drilling. Even though Stivers once said he would bring change to Congress, we can see that he easily starts parroting the party mantra. The Dispatch:

....A number of Democratic lawmakers from Ohio, including Reps. Tim Ryan of Niles, Zack Space of Dover and Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, are backing legislation requiring oil companies to drill on 68 million acres of potentially oil-rich areas already leased by the companies from the federal government, including some leases held offshore.

Kilroy says that is an idea she would also push if she wins the 15th District seat, as well as going after "oil speculators" and the cartel of oil-producing nations that are "fixing" prices.

"Big Oil doesn't need more land to drill on, they need to drill on the federal lands they've already leased," Kilroy said....

Did you know that oil companies already own leases on federal land? Why are they reluctant to drill there?

I was surprised to see that Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, a Republican, now supports drilling off the Florida coast. He previously had been against it. Not many of us would go to Florida for vacations if the beaches were filled with oil, waste, and dead sea animals. Crist's support of off shore drilling could jeopardize Florida's most important industry------tourism.