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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe SEC Mulls An Investigation Calls Grow For John Boehner To Resign
It is an ethics violation for elected officials to use their political office to perform official acts on behalf of special interests, and particularly when special interests are campaign donors. There is also a serious problem when a sitting congressional representative performs official acts for personal financial profit by promoting a project the representative has a financial stake in. The problem becomes egregious when the elected official lies about a project to profit himself and campaign donors and our current Speaker of the House has taken those issues a step farther. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received a complaint from an environmental group with accusations that the proposed Keystone XL pipelines owners (TransCanada) are in violation of SEC Rule 10b(5) Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Practices to bolster stock prices.
The complaint sent to the SEC said TransCanada is using false or misleading statements about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and that they consistently used public statements and information it knows are false in a concerted effort to secure permitting approval of Keystone XL from the U.S. government. The complaint continues that the fallacious information misleads investors, U.S. and Canadian officials, the media, and the public in order to bolster its balance sheets and share price, and who is the point-man pushing the Keystone XL pipeline with lies and misinformation? Speaker of the House John Boehner.
The complaint specifically highlights that TransCanada asserts that the pipeline will create American jobs at a rate that is 67 times higher than job creation totals given by the company to Canadian officials for the Canadian portion of the pipeline. The inflated job creation numbers were designed to pressure President Obama to issue an approval permit to build the pipeline and without its construction, TransCanadas future earnings and share prices will be significantly impacted. Speaker Boehner owns shares in seven different Canadian tar sand companies and it is highly likely that he knows the job numbers are inflated as an investor and stands to profit if the pipeline is built. Boehner went so far as threatening to tie 160 million working Americans payroll tax cut extension to approval of the pipeline. Boehners extortion threats were the last straw, and inspired a national petition to force him to resign or face expulsion from Congress for ethics violations. However, ethics violations are the least of Boehners problems once the SEC finishes their investigation which they confirmed is actively under consideration.
To be fair to TransCanada, they accurately provided Canadian regulators with realistic job numbers as well as the potential for environmental disaster which is, by the way, a near certainty according to TransCanada. Tar sands crude extraction is responsible for elevated cancer rates and involves razing ancient boreal forests, and there are 82% greater GHG emissions as compared to average crude refined in the United States. TransCanada also predicted that one of their existing pipelines would produce one spill every seven years, but it has produced 12 spills in less than one year. Even with one spill, over 1,000 rivers will be adversely impacted as well as the Ogallala Aquifer that supplies drinking water to 2 million Americans and is the primary source of groundwater for 20% of Americas agriculture production. John Boehner never cites those issues and neither did Mitch Daniels (R), Indiana governor, who stated categorically in the Republican response to President Obamas State of the Union address that the Keystone XL project was a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands. Mr. Daniels financial disclosure form is under investigation to determine how much stock he owns in Canadian tar sand companies or TransCanada and if he owns shares in any of the companies, he will face a national petition drive to force him from politics forever.
Read more: http://www.politicususa.com/en/john-boehner-resign
BeHereNow
(17,162 posts)Time to pay the piper, you scum of the earth.
BHN
rurallib
(62,406 posts)gopiscrap
(23,756 posts)BeHereNow
(17,162 posts)dreams do come true.....
BHN
monmouth
(21,078 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)UTUSN
(70,683 posts)Quantess
(27,630 posts)stolnepounder
(16 posts)Remember, there were boos at the SOTU when Obama called for a bill banning insider trading. These people see themselves as different from the the rest of us and don't believe that normal laws apply to them. If the Republicans retain control of the House there won't even be a hearing in committee about this. Even if the Dem's somehow manage to take the house, they still most likely won't do anything because they are all part of the Old Boy Network. With a couple of rare exceptions, no one on either side of the aisle give a damn about the 99% and the ones that do usually don't last very long. They only care about getting rich and getting re-elected. We are watching the Decline and Fall of the American Empire, and it only took about 200 years for the Oligarchs to do it.
edhopper
(33,573 posts)It's Obama's SEC.
He doesn't go after Republicans.
No crime is too big that it can't be ignored.
Blue Owl
(50,349 posts)n/t
lindysalsagal
(20,676 posts)a terrorist target with some spills. But shit. Thank god someone got to Obama in time. Crap.