After being outnumbered by hundreds of union members in Billings, and harried by counter-demonstrators in Bozeman, Helena, and Missoula, the Koch brothers funded Running on Empty road show must have heaved a sigh of relief Friday evening when 70–80 Flathead tea party stalwarts attended the event in Kalispell’s Depot Park — and nary a counter-demonstrator materialized.
But I was there. With my camera. And I saw plenty of the usual suspects from the Flathead: Rep. Derek Skees, Sen. Verdell Jackson, Ray Thompson, Duncan Scott, Rich Breckenridge, Linda Johnson, Dee Brown, Dane Clark and his ever present video camera. I did not see Scott Sales. He was cruising other waters.
And AFP’s message?
Gasoline prices are too high because the Obama administration has imposed illegal moratoriums on drilling, canceled existing oil and gas leases, locked up lands in the West, and allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to issue “job-crushing regulations” to control greenhouse gases.
AFP’s remedy? Lease everything, regulate nothing, and drill-baby-drill.
That won’t lower the price of gasoline much, if at all, but it certainly will raise profits at Koch Industries. Ergo, the AFP’s astroturf running on empty tour.
Is there even half a truth in AFP’s message?
Yes. Gasoline prices are high. In fact, in constant dollars they’re as high as they were in the administrations of Republicans Warren “Teapot Dome” Harding, Ronald Reagan, and Bush 43.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, real petroleum prices.
But the rest of AFP’s message would fry a polygraph. Drilling is at close to a 20-year high. Montana Environmental Information Center energy specialist Kyla Wiens, reports the Great Falls Tribune:
“…says AFP’s claim — that “illegal” offshore drilling moratoriums, the canceling of oil and gas leases on public lands and the Endangered Species Act are driving up gas prices — is false.
“They are just wrong and they are lying intentionally,” Wiens says. “This is just false rhetoric from the Koch brothers’ group that is funded by industry and is working to protect big oil’s profits.”
“The answer isn’t to drill or burn our way out of our energy problems,” Wiens says. “We need to move forward with clean energy, and this is just distracting attention from the real problem.”
AFP claims the tour was a success in Montana, being surrounded by anti-Koch demonstrators in Billings and tea party true believers in Kalispell notwithstanding:
Americans for Prosperity Foundation wrapped up the Montana leg of Running on Empty Tour this week in Kalispell and Missoula with hundreds of fired up activists.
Claims like that are why the word “chutzpah” was invented. Indeed there were hundreds of fired-up activists — but most of them opposed APF’s message. And no one would argue that the laid-back, lawn chair equipped Flathead sympathizers composed a fiery mob. So the Kochies fired up the spin machine. I’ll give AFP’s PR operation an “A” for technical proficiency, and let my readers assign the grade for honesty.
And now, images of the rally:
Left to right, Kalispell tea party organizer Linda Johnson; AFP’s president, Tim Phillips; Kalispell attorney and former Ron Marlenee aide Duncan Scott.
Left to right, the message, AFP President Tim Phillips, Rep. Derek Skees (R-Whitefish), and Kalispell resident Ray Thompson, best known for founding Semitool and selling it for hundred of millions of dollars. He also provided a jet for the Tea Party Patriots' flying squad last year.
Left to right, Skees associate Rick Breckenridge; Dane Clark, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination in House District 8 last year; and Dee Brown, former Republican representative from House District 3.
