July 29, 2008 05:16 PM UTC

Udall Strikes Back on Energy, Iraq

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: The Udall campaign just sent out the first of what they promise will be daily “double-takes” on questionable statements made by Schaffer during yesterday’s debate (follows), leading up to its broadcast this Sunday. Up first? Schaffer’s head-scratching quote: “I didn’t cut a deal with the Iraqis, with the Kurds. That’s not why I went there.”

Looks like Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall got the memo, as the Pueblo Chieftain reports:

Congressman Mark Udall came out swinging Monday against GOP challenger Bob Schaffer in the second of nearly a dozen planned debates in their U.S. Senate race.

Udall, a five-term congressman, repeatedly attacked Schaffer on his energy stance, calling the former congressman an oil executive who likes to see high gas prices.

Schaffer countered that Udall’s attack is just what the American people are tired of hearing – politicians bickering while motorists pay more than $4 a gallon at the pump…

“They heard a promise to continue a commitment to restricted energy development. Listen, I’m just in favor of putting every option on the table and pursuing every strategy to lower energy prices,” Schaffer said. Udall said Schaffer is more beholden to the same oil companies for which he once worked, adding that the former congressman only mentioned renewable energy once on the floor of the U.S. House during his eight years in Congress. [Pols emphasis]

“There’s a clear contrast here,” Udall said. “I’m clearly somebody who’s going to work across the board to drive down gas prices. Congressman Schaffer talks about the situation we’re in, but he doesn’t acknowledge that he played a key roll in getting us in this situation.”

Udall said there’s no need to open up more off-shore drilling sites when there already is millions of acres that could be developed.

He said the nation could drive down prices today if it cracked down on oil speculators, and released oil in the nation’s gas reserve…

“Look, we have to drill, but we ought to drill in the 68 million acres that we have right now. I’m going to force the oil companies to do that, and then we have to take all these other steps, invest in alternative vehicle technology, take a fresh look at nuclear, push wind and solar to the limit.

“We have to drill, but that isn’t the ultimate answer,” he added. “That’s how we get to a point quickly to drive down prices, and then in the long term we do the other things that I’ve been talking about for 12 years.”

Apparently much more on top of his game than in the previous debate–where Udall was underprepared for what has been roundly agreed subsequently to be a cheap and dishonest shot from Schaffer–Udall struck a fresh blow of his own. The Chieftain concludes:

Udall, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he’s traveled to Iraq twice to visit U.S. troops, adding that Schaffer only went there once, and that was to cut an oil deal.

Schaffer denied that was his only reason for going to Iraq. [Pols emphasis]

He said he did help Aspect Energy negotiate an agreement with the Kurdish Regional Government over the objections of the U.S. State Department, which had a policy against such contracts. [Pols emphasis]

Udall said that contract could make it harder for the U.S. to leave Iraq gracefully because it could add more tensions to the region. Kurdistan long has wanted to break away and form its own nation.

More coverage of yesterday’s debate in the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News. A poll follows.

For Immediate Release                                             Contact:        Tara Trujillo

JULY 29, 2008                                                                           303.820.2008 (o)

                                                                                               720.333.3425 (c)

DEBATE DOUBLETAKE, VOLUME 1:

SCHAFFER’S DISHONEST DENIAL ABOUT OIL DEAL-CUTTING IN KURDISTAN

First in a Fact-Check Series Leading Up to the Fox 31 Debate Airing on Sunday Night

Yesterday afternoon, Senate candidates Mark Udall and Bob Schaffer participated in the second debate of the Senate campaign, taped at Fox 31’s studios in Denver.  The debate will air for Colorado voters on Sunday night at 10pm.  That’s a lot of days to wait, but it’s still barely enough time to fact-check all the dishonest and misleading statements made by Schaffer during the course of the debate.

As a public service, the Udall campaign will be cataloguing those “debate doubletake” moments every day between now and the debate’s Sunday night airing.

First up, Schaffer denies cutting an oil deal with the Kurds in the middle of the Iraq War, despite major news coverage around Colorado, reporting on the deal and the fact that the State Department considered such deals detrimental to the U.S. mission in Iraq.

From the Debate:

Udall: This is again where there’s another difference.  I’ve been to Iraq twice to visit our troops, to support them, and to learn about what’s happening on the ground.  Bob Schaffer has been to Northern Iraq once.  He went to Northern Iraq to cut a deal with the Kurds, against the express wishes of the State Department. [Schaffer crosstalk: That’s not true.] He undercut our ability to stabilize that country, to bring the Iraq war to an honorable close, [Schaffer cross talk: You are wrong again, Mark.] so we can take our attention back to the central part of the war on terror, which is Afghanistan. That’s where Bin Laden is.

Schaffer: Being untruthful about the reality is exactly what people are sick and tired of.

Host Ron Zappolo: Where was he untruthful?

Schaffer: It was untruthful in that I didn’t cut a deal with the Iraqis, with the Kurds. That’s not why I went there.

WAIT…WHAT?!

Here Are the Facts:

Iraq News Monitor: Schaffer met with Kurd Parliament members to discuss “investment projects” and opportunities to “work in the Kurdistan region.”  “Adnan Mufti, the head of parliament in Kurdistan, met with U.S. Republican Congressman Bob Schaefer [sic], a member of the delegation with Aspect Energy, with the leadership of Mrs. Leapole Einoy to the Kurdish parliament. In the meeting, with the presence of a number of Kurdish parliament members, they discussed Kurdistan’s economy and politics. Aspect Energy showed interest in participating in investment projects in various fields. The company’s delegation expressed their gratefulness for the opportunity to visit and work in the Kurdistan region.  [Iraq News Monitor, 11/27/06]

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: “Schaffer’s Kurdish oil deal causes problems for Iraq.”  “An oil contract Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer helped negotiate in Iraqi Kurdistan is one of several production deals the U.S. State Department has flagged as problematic for Iraq and its attempts to establish a national oil policy…Schaffer confirmed Wednesday he was one of several Aspect Energy executives who visited Kurdistan in November 2006 and laid the groundwork for the company’s oil deal with the Kurds…According to a June 23 report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, Aspect Energy’s oil contract and roughly two dozen other similar deals have proven a point of contention between Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government…John Fleming, a spokesman with the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said the U.S. government has always asked that energy firms conduct business with Iraq’s federal government and not other entities in the country.”  [Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, 7/9/08]

Pueblo Chieftain: “Schaffer-made oil contract may impede Iraqi unity.”  [Pueblo Chieftain, 7/13/08]

Pueblo Chieftain: Schaffer “under fire” for helping company win contract with Kurds.  “Schaffer, who’s vying against Democrat Mark Udall to replace retiring GOP U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, has come under fire this month for his role in helping a Colorado oil company win a contract from the Kurds, one of many that President Bush and the U.S. State Department warned U.S. companies against entering into.”  [Pueblo Chieftain, 7/18/08]

Denver Post: Schaffer defends Kurd leases he “helped obtain.”  “Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said Thursday that oil leases he helped obtain for a former employer in the Kurdish region of Iraq didn’t undermine that country’s stability, and he strongly defended them as a boon to the Kurds as well as U.S. interests in the region.”  [Denver Post, 7/18/08]

Tune in tomorrow for Debate Doubletake, Volume 2.

And be sure to watch Fox 2031 with Ron Zappolo on Sunday night at 10pm to experience the Doubletake Moments for yourself!

###

 Loading ...