Big Oil Loves the Obamassiah

Hat tip to Hot Air for this interesting article in the Los Angeles Times.

Barack Obama: transcending politics by descending to new levels of spin and untruthiness.

As gas prices reach record levels in Indiana, I wonder if Baron Hill will denounce the Obamassiah’s ties to the oil companies as he did with much more flimsy evidence with regard to Mike Sodrel in 2006.

Sen. Barack Obama continued accepting donations from oil company executives and employees last month even as he aired ads in which he stated he took no oil company money, his campaign finance reports show.

Obama has taken at least $263,000 from oil company executives, family members and employees since entering the presidential race last year, including $46,000 last month. At least $140,000 has come in chunks of between $1,000 and $2,300, the maximum permitted under federal law.

Texas oil executive Robert L. Cavnar of Milagro Exploration and his wife, Gracie, have helped the Illinois Democrat raise at least another $50,000 by helping host a fundraiser earlier in the campaign.

(Read more of this stunning move by the LA Times to report the truth below the fold)

Other oil industry donors have included Sinclair Oil President Ross Matthews of Texas and John B. Hess, chairman of Hess Corp., a New York-based oil producer and retailer with operations worldwide. Hess, who has given to other presidential candidates, including Sen. John McCain, gave $2,300 to Obama last year, as did his wife, Susan. Hess gave $14,000 to Obama’s Senate run in 2003. The oil executives did not return phone calls.

I’ve noted before, but it bears repeating:

Gas prices have gone up more under Baron Hill than they ever did under Mike Sodrel.

According to the Department of Energy (Excel file warning), the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the Midwest was $0.88 when Baron Hill entered office in January of 1999.

When he was voted out, in early November of 2004, gasoline cost $1.97 a gallon, a net increase of 124%.

When he returned to office, in January of 2007, gasoline cost $2.26 a gallon.

That means that, for the time Mike Sodrel was in office, from November of 2004 to January of 2007, gasoline prices went up all of 14% or so.

Today, gasoline is averaging $3.63 around New Albany, an increase of 61% since Baron Hill returned to office.

In all, gasoline prices went up $0.29 while Sodrel was in office, about 14%.

While Baron Hill was in office overall, however, gasoline prices have seen a net increase of $2.46.

That is a net increase of 380%.

It is also over seven times, 848% to be exact, of the increase seen while Sodrel was in office, despite Hill attacking Sodrel for being in the pocket of the big oil companies.

In the sixteen months since Baron took office again, gas prices have seen an increase almost four times the size that seen while Sodrel was in Congress.

If you use Baron’s own 2006 reasoning, you can draw no other conclusion but that Baron Hill is good for the oil companies.

Now the evidence is clear that the Obamassiah is taking big bucks from the big oil companies, and Baron Hill has attended at least three Obama campaign events, too.

When will Baron Hill denounce Barack Obama for being a tool of Big Oil?

Or is Baron, like the Obamassiah, merely spinning to cover his ties to Big Oil?

(This post is also available at the Hoosierpundit)