With millions of gallons of crude oil wreaking havoc on the Gulf of Mexico, the White House announced today that President Barack Obama will assess the efforts to stop the massive oil leak… but not until after he hosts a fancy fundraiser for embattled U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) with wealthy oil heirs Ann and Gordon Getty in San Francisco this evening.
As CNN reported today, “Obama will headline three fundraisers in San Francisco for Boxer and for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The events are scheduled to be held at the Fairmont Hotel, in the city’s affluent Nob Hill district, and at the home of Ann and Gordon Getty, wealthy philanthropists who head their family’s billion dollar trust.”
The decision to raise campaign funds with Getty – the heir to the multi-billion-dollar Getty Oil fortune – draws even further attention to the President’s misplaced priorities as he flies across the continent for a campaign fundraiser while a major man-made disaster damages the ecosystem and economy of the Gulf Coast.
“President Obama and Barbara Boxer’s hypocrisy is astonishing. In the wake of this ongoing national crisis, why didn’t the Democrats reschedule his fancy fundraiser with the billionaire oil heirs and allow the President to direct his full attention toward the massive disaster that is plaguing the Gulf Coast?” asked National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Amber Marchand. “While the President makes time to fly across the country to rake in campaign cash for struggling Democrats like Barbara Boxer, today’s trip comes at a special cost for residents of the Gulf Coast region who want the President’s full attention on this enormous problem.”
Background Information:
In 1984, Getty Oil Was Sold To Texaco For $10.1 Billion. “Texaco Inc. yesterday made the largest corporate acquisition in U.S. history, buying Getty Oil Co. for $10.1 billion after the Federal Trade Commission ruled that the purchase did not violate antitrust laws.” (Michael Isikoff And Mark Potts, “Texaco Acquires Getty In Largest Corporate Merger,” The Washington Post, 2/14/84)
Gordon Getty Inherited 13% Of His Family’s Oil Business.Time, 1/16/84) “Gordon Getty, 50, youngest of three surviving sons, inherited 13% of the family oil business but, until the past year or so, scarcely seemed interested in it. Designated by Forbes magazine last fall as the richest American (net worth: $2.2 billion), Getty spent much of his time as a patron of the arts. He wrote songs based on Emily Dickinson poems and occasionally performed as a baritone with the Marin Opera Company near San Francisco, playing roles like Cascart in Zaza. Getty, of course, did not have to worry about where his next five-course meal was coming from; his Getty Oil dividends alone paid him $28 million annually.” (Stephen Koep and Russell Leavit, “Texaco And Getty Oil: History’s Biggest Takeover?,”
