The best disinfectant is sunlight.
Just do it, Lissa Lucas did it.
Woman Dragged Out of West Virginia House Hearing For Listing Oil and Gas Contributions to Members
LL HB4268 Public Hearing House of Delegate 9FEB2018(1)
"The people who are going to be speaking in favor of this bill are all going to be paid by the industry."
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| Lissa Lucas |
Lucas began to testify to the House Judiciary Committee, but a few minutes in, her microphone was turned off.
And Lucas was dragged out of the room.
Lucas is running for the House of Delegates from Ritchie County, which has been overrun by the fracking industry.
“As I tried to give my remarks at the public hearing this morning on HB 4268 in defense of our constitutional property rights, I got dragged out of House chambers,” Lucas said. “Why? Because I was listing out who has been donating to Delegates on the Judiciary Committee.”
Lucas took to the podium and began by pointing out that “the people who are going to be speaking in favor of this bill are all going to be paid by the industry.”
“And the people who are going to be voting on this bill are often also paid by the industry,” Lucas said.
“I have to keep this short, because the public only gets a minute and 45 seconds while lobbyists can throw a gala at the Marriott with whiskey and wine and talk for hours to the delegates,” Lucas said.
(Lucas was referring to the Whiskey, Wine and Policy Winter Legislative Reception at the Charleston Marriott Hotel on February 7 sponsored by the Shale Energy Alliance.)
Lucas then began to read the oil and gas donations to the members of the House Judiciary Committee, including the chairman, John Shott (R-Mercer).
“John Shott. First Energy $2,000. Appalachian Power $2,000. Steptoe & Johnson—that’s a gas and oil law firm—$2,000. Consol Energy $1,000. EQT $1,000. And I could go on.”
No she couldn’t.
Because at that point, Shott had enough.
“Miss Lucas, we ask that no personal comments be made,” Shott said.
“This is not a personal comment,” Lucas said.
“It is a personal comment and I am going to call you out of order if you are talking about individuals on the committee,” Shott said. “If you would, just address the bill. If not, I would ask you to just step down.”
Lucas barged ahead to Delegate Jason Harshbarger (R-7)—who she will face off against in November for the seat from Ritchie County. Harshbarger works for Dominion Energy.
“About 40 percent of his money (campaign contributions) comes from the oil and natural gas industry,” Lucas said.
Shott then ordered Lucas removed from the room and two security guys approached her and began to lead her out.
“I want to finish,” Lucas said.
The security guards said she would have to leave.
“Drag me off then,” Lucas said.'
And they did.
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
Prepared Remarks
I’m Lissa Lucas from beautiful Ritchie County, WV, right in the front lines of the Marcellus. I’m a mineral owner. And I’m here to tell you that ALL of us, no matter our party, want our property rights protected. The attack on property rights is an assault on rural people, and it goes against both party platforms.
While lobbyists have the money to buy your time at fancy gatherings like the Wine and Whisky gala at the Marriott on Wednesday—members of the public have been allotted just about 2 minutes each to make the case for our rights, so I’ll just have time to talk about four delegates.
While lobbyists have the money to buy your time at fancy gatherings like the Wine and Whisky gala at the Marriott on Wednesday—members of the public have been allotted just about 2 minutes each to make the case for our rights, so I’ll just have time to talk about four delegates.
CHARLOTTE LANE – Kanawha County (D35) $9,500/$48,770 about 20%
Delegate Lane has received money from
1. AEP $2,000.00
2. MARATHON $2,000.00
3. FIRSTENERGY $2,000.00
4. DOMINION $1,500.00
5. EQT $1,000.00 << 5 of the top 6
6. SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY $500.00
7. NEXTERA ENERGY $250.00
8. WVOIL MARKETERS ASSOC. $250.00
9. TIMOTHY P ARMSTEAD CAMPAIGN CMTE – $150.00 I’ll get to why I’m mentioning him in a minute
Delegate Lane has received money from
1. AEP $2,000.00
2. MARATHON $2,000.00
3. FIRSTENERGY $2,000.00
4. DOMINION $1,500.00
5. EQT $1,000.00 << 5 of the top 6
6. SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY $500.00
7. NEXTERA ENERGY $250.00
8. WVOIL MARKETERS ASSOC. $250.00
9. TIMOTHY P ARMSTEAD CAMPAIGN CMTE – $150.00 I’ll get to why I’m mentioning him in a minute
NEXT LET’S TALK ABOUT
JOHN SHOTT Mercer (D27) – $11,250/$64,350 – about 17%
1. FIRSTENERGY $2,000.00
2. App Power $2,000.00
3. STEPTOE & JOHNSON $2,000.00 – Gas and oil Law firm
4. CONSOL ENERGY $1,000.00
6. EQT $1,000.00
7. MARATHON $1,000.00
8. DOMINION $1,000.00
9. NOBLE ENERGY $500.00
10. GOPAC $250.00
11. MARKWEST ENERGY $250.00
12. WV LAND & MINERAL OWNERS PAC $250.00 The WV Mineral Owners Coalition is AGAINST this bill. This PAC is unrelated appears to be a front for out-of-state resource barons and attorneys who represent the energy industry.
JOHN SHOTT Mercer (D27) – $11,250/$64,350 – about 17%
1. FIRSTENERGY $2,000.00
2. App Power $2,000.00
3. STEPTOE & JOHNSON $2,000.00 – Gas and oil Law firm
4. CONSOL ENERGY $1,000.00
6. EQT $1,000.00
7. MARATHON $1,000.00
8. DOMINION $1,000.00
9. NOBLE ENERGY $500.00
10. GOPAC $250.00
11. MARKWEST ENERGY $250.00
12. WV LAND & MINERAL OWNERS PAC $250.00 The WV Mineral Owners Coalition is AGAINST this bill. This PAC is unrelated appears to be a front for out-of-state resource barons and attorneys who represent the energy industry.
NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT
JASON HARSHBARGER (Ritchie D7) $3500/$9300 – 38%
1. Harshbarger – He works for Dominion, and donated $2k to his campaign. If you count that, he got 59% of his campaign cash from energy interests $5500/$9300 –
2. DOMINION $1,000.00
3. EQT CORP $500.00
4. FIRSTENERGY CORP $500.00
5. FREDRIK ERIC NELSON JR CAMPAIGN CMTE $500.00 (Delegate Nelson’s top donors are the same top donors as everyone I’ve spoken about here, and in fact he received $23K from anti-property rights corporations like Dominion, EQT, AEP.)
6. NEXTERA ENERGY $250.00
7. GOPAC $250.00
8. HALL, JASON & STEPHANIE (Hall Drilling) $250.00
9. WEST VIRGINIA OIL MARKETERS & GROCERS ASSOCIATION $150.00
10. ARMSTEAD FOR HOUSE 2014 $150
JASON HARSHBARGER (Ritchie D7) $3500/$9300 – 38%
1. Harshbarger – He works for Dominion, and donated $2k to his campaign. If you count that, he got 59% of his campaign cash from energy interests $5500/$9300 –
2. DOMINION $1,000.00
3. EQT CORP $500.00
4. FIRSTENERGY CORP $500.00
5. FREDRIK ERIC NELSON JR CAMPAIGN CMTE $500.00 (Delegate Nelson’s top donors are the same top donors as everyone I’ve spoken about here, and in fact he received $23K from anti-property rights corporations like Dominion, EQT, AEP.)
6. NEXTERA ENERGY $250.00
7. GOPAC $250.00
8. HALL, JASON & STEPHANIE (Hall Drilling) $250.00
9. WEST VIRGINIA OIL MARKETERS & GROCERS ASSOCIATION $150.00
10. ARMSTEAD FOR HOUSE 2014 $150
Delegates you cannot, without the appearance of impropriety—and likely without actual impropriety—vote for this bill.
For those watching online or in the gallery, if your delegate votes to give away your rights to their corporate donors, you should get behind a candidate who’ll work for YOU, rather than someone who is getting paid to hand over your property rights to corporations. Save for Del Harshbarger, there are Republicans challenging them in the primary, and a Democrat who will challenge the winner, so in most cases there’s someone no matter your political persuasion.
Full disclosure: There is a Democratic challenger for Harshbarger—that would be me. But I’m here to talk about the sale of our constitutional rights, not to campaign. So let’s move on to Delegate Armstead.
Armstead is not a member of this committee, but he’s the guy who makes committee assignments for his party. His donors include the usual suspects—AEP, EQT, Dominion, FirstEnergy, etc. He got nearly $20K ($19,550) from energy donors, about 21% of his total. He seated on this committee everyone I’ve just talked about, and people I haven’t been allotted the time to talk about. Yeah, he’s working for those same donors, too.
Delegates, voting to help the corporations that bought you is moral turpitude. And if y’all vote to enable Big Government to tell tax paying citizens what we can do with our own durn property, you can bet there will be people like me coming out of the woodwork to challenge you… and to make sure you either represent the people, or you get the hell out.
Delegates, voting to help the corporations that bought you is moral turpitude. And if y’all vote to enable Big Government to tell tax paying citizens what we can do with our own durn property, you can bet there will be people like me coming out of the woodwork to challenge you… and to make sure you either represent the people, or you get the hell out.
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
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