Senator Burr: Begging for a Primary

 

 

 

 

 

 

Washington HAS changed Richard Burr.  At one time, he was a Winston-Salem businessman fed up with the nonsense in DC.  Now, as pointed out by The Madison Project, Burr has a starring role in the nonsense:

As Daniel noted yesterday, it was a mixed bag of goods for the conservative movement when it came to the Highway Bill Amendments. We won 2, lost 2.

One of the victories, however, was on Amendment #1782, the NAT GAS Act, which lost 51-47.

This amendment was put forward by Senators Bob Menendez (NJ) and Senator Richard Burr (NC). For those of you unfamiliar with the NAT GAS Act, here is the memo American Majority Action put together on it last summer: Pickens Bill Talking Points Memo. It is a bill that epitomizes what is wrong with Washington, DC. And if handing a Texas billionaire (T. Boone Pickens) $10 billion in subsidies so he can enrich himself is not bad enough, it appears Senator Richard Burr has a serious conflict of interest when it comes to this amendment and natural gas. You see, Senator Richard Burr, the man who put forward this amendment and then whipped for it holds upwards of $200,000 in stock in various natural gas entities. Who else gains if this amendment goes through? Richard Burr.

I hope the above causes outrage. Think of all this in another light. A billionaire and a US Senator were hoping to pass off the risk and the upfront costs of transitioning a major part of our infrastructure to the American taxpayer so they themselves could personally profit from it. I know full well they are running around saying this is a case of national security and that we need to end our dependence on foreign oil. I happen to agree. But the solution is not to have Washington, DC create artificial demand and pick winners and losers in the market.

I know to some extent I am preaching to the choir if you are reading this blog, but the bottom line is that things need to change in Washington, DC and change fast.

Burr has been palling around for years with cross-the-aisle RINO types John McCain and Lindsey Graham.  He worked hard to push John McCain on us in 2008, and is cheerleading for Mitt this year.  He voted with Kay Hagan to allow open gays to serve in the military and to raise the federal debt ceiling. Burr and Hagan have been jetting all over the world on wasteful, taxpayer-funded junkets.

Burr has vocally opposed the STOCK act, which clamps down on insider trading.  This post from The Madison Project and THIS article in The Huffington Post shed some light on why he doesn’t like the STOCK legislation.

Burr is currently running for the post of Republican Whip, the #2 spot in the GOP caucus.  If he wins that, he’ll be even more beholden to the DC Ruling Class.  Our friend Richard needs a refresher course on JUST WHY he was sent to Washington.  If it takes a Tea Party protest vote, or a tough primary, to hammer that home, then SO BE IT.