Is Bob Schaffer lying on his bio again?
| By Alan Franklin - May 22nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm EDT |
| Also listed in: Smart Energy |
While doing our due diligence looking into claims made in recent independent ads, we discovered something pretty interesting.
A few months ago, we took a routine screenshot of Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's biography web page at his former employer's site, Aspect Energy. Here's what it said.
Sounds about right, doesn't it? I mean he doesn't come right out and say "he led Aspect's delegation to Iraq in search of oil development contracts," but it doesn't seem at first glance like he's hiding anything.
Unless you read the bio they replaced it with a few weeks ago:
Amazing how quickly you can go from Aspect Energy's point man for "sourcing and development of international oil and gas exploration opportunities" to helping "educate Congress about the benefits of wind power including its positive impact on the environment, job creation, and its importance to making the United States less dependent on foreign sources of oil," don't you think? Were precautions against whiplash necessary?
Actually, all it took was a text editor.
All told, a rather dishonest little "greenwashing," as we noted in a press release a few minutes ago:
Is Bob Schaffer lying on his bio again?
ProgressNowAction calls on Schaffer to apologize for his pattern of dishonesty
Denver, CO - ProgressNowAction questioned whether Bob Schaffer is changing his professional biography to mislead the public about his record of lobbying for Big Oil.
This is not the first time that Schaffer has lied to the public about his bio. He was caught by his fellow conservative colleagues in 2004 for lying on his resume, claiming to be the director of a bank which did not exist. (Rocky Mountain News, July 5, 2004; Denver Post, July 18, 2004)
For the past year Bob Schaffer had this biography on his website:
Bob Schaffer
CHx Capital - Vice President Emeritus
Bob Schaffer is Vice President for business development at CHx Capital, LLC where he is involved with a variety of energy, mining and education projects. Additionally, Bob is actively involved in international business development activities for Aspect Energy, including sourcing and development of international oil and gas exploration opportunities for the Company. In 2007, Bob Schaffer provided notice to Aspect and CHx of his intention to run for the United States Senate. Bob Schaffer resigned his position with CHx Capital, LLC / Aspect Energy, LLC effective December 21, 2007. We wish him the best of luck and offer him our congratulations for his contributions to energy and wind development efforts.
In the past few weeks, and at the same time as the launch of the new Schaffer TV ads, Schaffer's bio has been entirely rewritten touting the very politically popular issue of wind energy for the first time and ever so prominently, mentioning it six times:
Bob Schaffer
CHx Capital - Vice-president Emeritus
Bob Schaffer previously acted as Vice-President for business development at CHx Capital, LLC. Bob was involved in a variety of wind power investments, international energy opportunities, and education projects. Bob worked to improve the US Wind Industry. Specifically, he worked to increase entrepreneurial opportunities for small business owners by ensuring that wind-specific tax credits could be utilized indirectly by wind developers classified as small business owners. Bob helped educate Congress about the benefits of wind power including its positive impact on the environment, job creation, and its importance to making the United States less dependent on foreign sources of oil. In 2007, Bob Schaffer provided notice to Aspect and CHx of his intention to run for the United States Senate. Bob Schaffer resigned his position with CHx Capital, LLC / Aspect Energy, LLC effective December 31, 2007. We wish him the best of luck and offer him our congratulations for his contributions to energy and wind development efforts.
"We call on Schaffer to apologize for once again lying to the public about his record," stated Michael Huttner, Executive Director of ProgressNowAction, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization. "In 2004, Schaffer invented a bank to say he had buisiness experience and this year, his oil company is rewriting his bio to greenwash his dirty oil past."
Big Oil Bob's Record:
In 2001, Schaffer voted against establishing a renewable energy reserve program. (HR 2646, House Roll Call Vote 363, 10/3/01)
That same year, Schaffer voted against increasing funding for energy efficiency by $12 million. (HR 2217, House Roll Call Vote 178, 6/21/01)
Schaffer was one of only 15 members of the House to vote against promoting renewable and alternative energy. (HR 4, Vote 310, 8/1/01)
And Schaffer voted to give oil and gas companies more than $13 billion in tax breaks. (HR 4, vote 320, 8/2/01)
# # #
A few months ago, we took a routine screenshot of Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's biography web page at his former employer's site, Aspect Energy. Here's what it said.
Bob Schaffer
CHx Capital - Vice President Emeritus
Bob Schaffer is Vice President for business development at CHx Capital, LLC where he is involved with a variety of energy, mining and education projects. Additionally, Bob is actively involved in international business development activities for Aspect Energy, including sourcing and development of international oil and gas exploration opportunities for the Company. In 2007, Bob Schaffer provided notice to Aspect and CHx of his intention to run for the United States Senate. Bob Schaffer resigned his position with CHx Capital, LLC / Aspect Energy, LLC effective December 21, 2007. We wish him the best of luck and offer him our congratulations for his contributions to energy and wind development efforts.
Sounds about right, doesn't it? I mean he doesn't come right out and say "he led Aspect's delegation to Iraq in search of oil development contracts," but it doesn't seem at first glance like he's hiding anything.
Unless you read the bio they replaced it with a few weeks ago:
Bob Schaffer
CHx Capital - Vice-president Emeritus
Bob Schaffer previously acted as Vice-President for business development at CHx Capital, LLC. Bob was involved in a variety of wind power investments, international energy opportunities, and education projects. Bob worked to improve the US Wind Industry. Specifically, he worked to increase entrepreneurial opportunities for small business owners by ensuring that wind-specific tax credits could be utilized indirectly by wind developers classified as small business owners. Bob helped educate Congress about the benefits of wind power including its positive impact on the environment, job creation, and its importance to making the United States less dependent on foreign sources of oil. In 2007, Bob Schaffer provided notice to Aspect and CHx of his intention to run for the United States Senate. Bob Schaffer resigned his position with CHx Capital, LLC / Aspect Energy, LLC effective December 31, 2007. We wish him the best of luck and offer him our congratulations for his contributions to energy and wind development efforts.
Amazing how quickly you can go from Aspect Energy's point man for "sourcing and development of international oil and gas exploration opportunities" to helping "educate Congress about the benefits of wind power including its positive impact on the environment, job creation, and its importance to making the United States less dependent on foreign sources of oil," don't you think? Were precautions against whiplash necessary?
Actually, all it took was a text editor.
All told, a rather dishonest little "greenwashing," as we noted in a press release a few minutes ago:
Is Bob Schaffer lying on his bio again?
ProgressNowAction calls on Schaffer to apologize for his pattern of dishonesty
Denver, CO - ProgressNowAction questioned whether Bob Schaffer is changing his professional biography to mislead the public about his record of lobbying for Big Oil.
This is not the first time that Schaffer has lied to the public about his bio. He was caught by his fellow conservative colleagues in 2004 for lying on his resume, claiming to be the director of a bank which did not exist. (Rocky Mountain News, July 5, 2004; Denver Post, July 18, 2004)
For the past year Bob Schaffer had this biography on his website:
Bob Schaffer
CHx Capital - Vice President Emeritus
Bob Schaffer is Vice President for business development at CHx Capital, LLC where he is involved with a variety of energy, mining and education projects. Additionally, Bob is actively involved in international business development activities for Aspect Energy, including sourcing and development of international oil and gas exploration opportunities for the Company. In 2007, Bob Schaffer provided notice to Aspect and CHx of his intention to run for the United States Senate. Bob Schaffer resigned his position with CHx Capital, LLC / Aspect Energy, LLC effective December 21, 2007. We wish him the best of luck and offer him our congratulations for his contributions to energy and wind development efforts.
In the past few weeks, and at the same time as the launch of the new Schaffer TV ads, Schaffer's bio has been entirely rewritten touting the very politically popular issue of wind energy for the first time and ever so prominently, mentioning it six times:
Bob Schaffer
CHx Capital - Vice-president Emeritus
Bob Schaffer previously acted as Vice-President for business development at CHx Capital, LLC. Bob was involved in a variety of wind power investments, international energy opportunities, and education projects. Bob worked to improve the US Wind Industry. Specifically, he worked to increase entrepreneurial opportunities for small business owners by ensuring that wind-specific tax credits could be utilized indirectly by wind developers classified as small business owners. Bob helped educate Congress about the benefits of wind power including its positive impact on the environment, job creation, and its importance to making the United States less dependent on foreign sources of oil. In 2007, Bob Schaffer provided notice to Aspect and CHx of his intention to run for the United States Senate. Bob Schaffer resigned his position with CHx Capital, LLC / Aspect Energy, LLC effective December 31, 2007. We wish him the best of luck and offer him our congratulations for his contributions to energy and wind development efforts.
"We call on Schaffer to apologize for once again lying to the public about his record," stated Michael Huttner, Executive Director of ProgressNowAction, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization. "In 2004, Schaffer invented a bank to say he had buisiness experience and this year, his oil company is rewriting his bio to greenwash his dirty oil past."
Big Oil Bob's Record:
In 2001, Schaffer voted against establishing a renewable energy reserve program. (HR 2646, House Roll Call Vote 363, 10/3/01)
That same year, Schaffer voted against increasing funding for energy efficiency by $12 million. (HR 2217, House Roll Call Vote 178, 6/21/01)
Schaffer was one of only 15 members of the House to vote against promoting renewable and alternative energy. (HR 4, Vote 310, 8/1/01)
And Schaffer voted to give oil and gas companies more than $13 billion in tax breaks. (HR 4, vote 320, 8/2/01)
# # #
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