Thursday morning, July 28: another meeting, another chance to rally the troops over fruit and doughnuts and signs that read "Play like a champion." Representative Mike Kelly, an alumnus of Notre Dame University, drew upon his school's storied legacy as he urged members to "put on your helmet, buckle your chin straps, run out onto the field and beat the shit out of your opponent!" source
Welcome To The Mike Kelly/John Boehner Jobs Created Page!...Stop By Periodically To Check And See How Many Jobs Speaker Boehner and Representative Kelly Have Created as They "Work For You"...Mike Kelly...Newly Elected Representative In Congress...Get Ready...Get Set...Go...Straight Back To Your Auto Dealership, Mike...Just Wait Until You Meet Speaker Boehner...He Will Tell You To Sit Down And Shut Up!Office: Mike Kelly Sold Oil Stocks Before Al Sharpton Rant
A day after the AP and TPM reported Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) sold off millions of shares in oil and gas industry stock following claims of hypocrisy from ThinkProgress and Al Sharpton, Kelly's office tells reporters the sales happened "well before" a constituent questioned Kelly's portfolio in a June town hall.
From an update to the story published today by the AP:
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly's press secretary tells The Herald newspaper of Sharon that Kelly's stock in Phillips Resources Inc. and T.W. Phillips Inc. had been "entirely been sold off." Press secretary Julia Thornton said the transactions will be detailed in his financial disclosure forms for 2011.
Thorton told TPM that "the talks to sell" one set of shares in the oil and gas companies started by Kelly's wife's family and sold recently to ExxonMobil began in Spring 2010. Kelly's office did not respond to inquiries about the story yesterday, but called TPM Thursday morning.
Last week, Kelly published an op-ed pushing back on Sharpton in The Hill. The op-ed does not mention a sale of the shares, but does refer to them in the past-tense, as Kelly's office pointed out.
The fact that Kelly had sold the shares was announced nearly a week after the op-ed was published.
Up to now, Kelly's office has been dodgy about the status of the shares. On July 7, PoliticsPA.com published this write-up of the story, which included this comment from Kelly's office:
Kelly's office did not dispute the facts or figures presented by Sharpton. Instead, spokeswoman Julie Thornton said the Congressman's assets were hard-earned, and noted the Kellys' history of charitable giving.
Yesterday's AP story reported Thornton said "she doesn't know when the transactions took place." The details on the sales will be made public in Kelly's 2011 required financial disclosure filing, Thornton told TPM.
GOP Lawmaker Sells Off Oil Stocks After Al Sharpton Admonishes Him
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) is no longer a shareholder in the nation's highly profitable oil and gas industry. Why? Because Al Sharpton yelled at him.
The story began last week, when ThinkProgess flagged Kelly's $6.25 million in oil and gas shares and a question the freshman Republican was asked about it at a June town hall meeting. Then came Sharpton's attack on Kelly on MSNBC.
Now Kelly has surrendered to both progressive voices, selling off all of his shares in both companies noted by ThinkProgress. Both firms were founded by Kelly's wife's family, the AP reports.
The liberal complaint, of course, is that Kelly was defending federal oil and gas company subsidies, which Democrats wanted to eliminate as part of the budget debate.
"A Republican Congressman defending big oil, that's not new," Sharpton said while guest-hosting MSNBC. "What is new: doing when you have investment in big oil companies. And that's our 'con job' of the day."
Kelly's retort was pretty standard GOP boilerplate on the topic. From ThinkProgress:
CONSTITUENT: Why are we subsidizing them?KELLY: If you really want to understand the whole thing, I would say that, number one, we want companies to be profitable. I said earlier about the class warfare, if we're going to start classifying, "they're too rich, they're too wealthy, they're too greedy. We don't get enough, we need more, and we need to have rich people putting more money in. We need, we need, we need, we need, we need, we need, we need."
Kelly at first dismissed the talk about the oil and gas company stock.
"Mike feels very blessed that both his family and his wife's family have achieved success after decades of hard work, personal sacrifice, and significant adversity," his office said in a statement sent to PoliticsPA.com last week. "By the grace of God and through the hard work of many, the Kellys have achieved the American Dream."
Kelly's office also took the expected shot at Sharpton.
"Although Mr. Kelly has never met Reverend Sharpton," the statement read, "he is not surprised by his comments given the Reverend's history of divisive and polarizing commentary and not telling the whole story."
Days later, it appears Kelly decided to buckle to Sharpton's attacks, scoring a victory for the progressives who've been hounding the Republican for days. Progressives have been on his case over his wealth since he ran. AFSCME dropped a tough ad on him in the 2010 cycle entitled simply, "What's Wrong With Millionaire Mike Kelly?"
Kelly's spokesperson "says she doesn't know when the transactions took place," the AP reports, "but says they'll be detailed in a financial disclosure form Kelly is in the process of filing."
Rep. Kelly, Millionaire Investor In Oil And Gas Companies, Defends Subsidies Against Angry Town Hall Constituents
A constituent from Erie asked Kelly how he can “justify continuing subsidies for oil companies with record profits while cutting vital services for working families?” The Pennsylvania congressman first responded by citing American Petroleum Institute talking points and argued that we need to help oil companies because they are in many pension plans and retirement portfolios. Kelly then went on to decry what he saw as “class warfare” before being shouted down by constituents who were incredulous that the Pennsylvania congressman was a “rich millionaire” but he wouldn’t end oil subsidies and “fix the tax code”:
MODERATOR: This question is from Joshua from Erie. How can you justify continuing subsidies for oil companies with record profits while cutting vital services for working families? Oil companies don’t need subsidies and working families shouldn’t have to pay for them with…
KELLY: First of all, let me just ask one thing. Is there anybody in here that has a pension? Anybody have a portfolio? I want you to very carefully look at those portfolios. Those are usually made up by profitable companies.
CONSTITUENT: Why are we subsidizing them?
KELLY: If you really want to understand the whole thing, I would say that, number one, we want companies to be profitable. I said earlier about the class warfare, if we’re going to start classifying, “they’re too rich, they’re too wealthy, they’re too greedy. We don’t get enough, we need more, and we need to have rich people putting more money in. We need, we need, we need, we need, we need, we need, we need.”
Kelly’s defense of oil and gas subsidies is bad enough on the merits, but it is all the more troubling given that he owns up to $6.25 million in oil and gas companies. Kelly’s holdings include the following:– Up to $5 million in Phillips Resources Inc., an oil and gas drilling company that is exploring major drilling expansions in the area of western Pennsylvania that Kelly represents
– Up to $1 million in TWP Gas and Oil, a natural gas company in western Pennsylvania
Both companies were bought last week by ExxonMobil, which plans to expand its fracking operations in the Marcellus Shale basin.
As oil companies reap sky-high profits, outraged citizens are demanding to know why they continue to receive billions in taxpayer subsidies. Kelly, who owns millions in oil and gas money and personally profits from their success, is only the latest defender of corporate giveaways. It is sad but unsurprising that the Pennsylvania Republican would disparage those who call for an end to subsidies as engaging in “class warfare,” while at the same time arguing that taxpayers should support the very oil and gas companies he’s invested in because “we want companies to be profitable.”
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