Graves has troubling ties to big oil

To the editor:
“Sam Graves understands the hard earned money of the people in the 6th District should not be taken by increased taxes,” Michele Chambers wrote in the Aug. 11 “Letters to the Editor.”
I beg to differ, Graves does not understand anything about the hard earned money of the people in the 6th District, nor the nation for that matter. Have you filled your gas tank lately? And wait until you see the fuel prices this winter!
On Feb. 13, 2008, Exxon Mobil gave Congressman Graves a $2,000 contribution, and 14 days later Graves voted against HR 5351, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act. This bill would redirect tax breaks away from big oil companies and toward renewing the tax credit for wind farms and creating a new tax credit for ethanol. Graves is one of only 19 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to receive more than $2,500 in contributions from Exxon since the last election in 2006.
Looks like to me that Graves understands big oil and its concerns, not those of hard-working people who are sacrificing in every area of their lives just to get to work (that is if they still have a job.)
“There isn’t much you can do (about high gas prices) in the short term, to be quite honest with you," Graves told the Kansas City Star on July 14.
“We know better,” says Kay Barnes, Democratic candidate for the 6th District congressional seat. “Almost everyone, from economists and the airlines to consumer groups, everyone but the oil companies, agree that we can lower gas prices by cracking down on speculators.”
What Washington needs is someone who will stand up against big oil companies and the speculators who drive up gas prices.
That’s what residents of the 6th Congressional District deserve, a representative who will side with them, not with big oil. That someone is Kay Barnes.