When will the revolving door in politics stop spinning? No one may never know, but in the mean time, former Congressman Mark Critz just became the latest corporate democrat to sell out and become a lobbyist. Mr. Critz has found a job with EIS Solutions, a “grassroots (according to PoliticsPA) energy lobbying firm”. According to Politics PA, he’ll be a Senior VP in right smack in the middle Shale Country – or Johnstown, PA. Here’s an excerpt from the article.
“As a former Member of Congress and district director for Congressman John Murtha, Mark Critz has the experience and relationships at the local level to help difficult projects get approval,” EIS Solutions President Wade Haerle said. “Mark knows how to navigate local politics and governmental bureaucracies at the state and federal levels and will be an asset to clients seeking to build local support for energy related projects in the coal and natural gas industries.”
“It was an honor to serve the people of Western Pennsylvania in Congress where I had the opportunity fight for jobs and economic development,” Critz said in a company press release. “Development of our energy resources is vital to growing our regional economy and making our nation independent of foreign sources of energy. I look forward to working to make sure that our region develops these resources in a safe, responsible manner while working to grow our economy and meet our energy needs.”
What Politics PA fails to mention is that Mark Critz was fairly generous with the natural gas industry in PA. While in the House, his voting record energy issues included him voting “yea” on the: “No More Solyndra Act,” “Stop the War On Coal Act,” extending the Keystone XL Pipeline, and to amend the Clean Water Act. Over the past year I had a couple of twitter battles with Critz and one time he stated something along the lines that solar energy production is worse for the environment than fracking for natural gas. So it looks like that this is a match made in heaven for the “democrat.” Mr. Gibson also fails to mention that this “grassroots” effort that Critz is joining an astroturfed – an energy funded – lobbying group.
Sourcewatch, which is ran by the Center for Media and Democracy, reports that EIS Solutions:
is a Grand Junction, Colorado-based public relations and astroturfing firm that handles government affairs,lobbying and PR for companies involved in the energy industry. The group’s principle spokesperson for energy industry issues in Colorado is Curtis Moore
And is responsible for organizing the Environmentally Conscious Consumers for Oil Shale:
calls itself “a community-based organization,” but is actually a front group affiliated with numerous energy companies and energy-industry advocacy organizations. ECCOS was organized for the energy industry by Curtis Moore of the political astroturf organizing firm EIS Solutions, which works out of the same address as ECCOS and attorney Curtis Moore.
So there you have it. A 1 term Congressman from Shale Country moves fairly quickly up the corporate ladder. We salute you Mr. Critz.
