Posted on 08/22/2010 2:15:44 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
ARTESIA, N.M. – Rep. Harry Teague made an expensive decision last June when he supported Democratic leaders on climate change.
The former oil man bucked his energy-producing home district to support Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s cap-and-trade legislation — a yes vote that cost him millions of dollars in lost business at his family’s company, which services the local oil and gas industry.
And it’s a vote that ultimately could end up costing the House freshman his job.
Teague stands out more than most Democrats when it comes to the climate change debate. Thanks to his conservative-minded and energy industry-driven constituency, he instantly landed atop the list of potential GOP pickup opportunities.
“Cap and trade is a vote that’s contrary to the economic interests in the district, and I don’t think Harry is going to get away with that,” said Jim Manatt, a prominent Republican fundraiser and the owner of Roswell-based Thrust Energy Inc.
Former Republican Rep. Steve Pearce, Teague’s immediate predecessor, cited the Democrat’s stance on climate change as one of the central reasons he opted against a run for governor this year to instead campaign for the House seat he held for three terms during the George W. Bush administration.
“You have people who literally are saying the oil and gas industry should not be a part of the American economy,” Pearce told a group of GOP-leaning industry officials during a visit here to Sweatt Construction, which advertises itself as "an American company, reshaping the Earth, one location at a time."
Some local oil industry officials even targeted Teague’s company, which he’d built up from scratch into a multimillion-dollar business, marking him one of the richest members in Congress.
“Immediately, everybody quit using his businesses,” said Lance Wilbanks, the CEO of Wilbanks Trucking in Artesia, who said he thought it was “sleazy” that Teague’s company changed its name after the climate vote in attempt to hedge some of its losses.
Don Kidd, a former Republican state senator and the CEO of the Western Commerce Bank in Carlsbad, disagreed with Teague’s vote on the climate bill. But he said that doesn’t excuse locals for cutting their business ties with Teague, which he estimates have cost the congressman about $15 million.
“I think it’s one of the most low-rent things I’ve ever heard of,” Kidd said.
Teague insisted that business has been slow around the region and wouldn’t say how much money he has lost at his company because of the climate vote. Nonetheless, he confirmed the threats from locals.
“There was a few individuals scattered around, tried to make a bigger issue out of it, to try to quit using us,” he said. “But we still pretty much worked for all the people that we work for.”
Teague’s public disclosure forms show his personal wealth fell from $40 million to $5 million during his first year in Congress. It’s a staggering loss, one that has some in New Mexico wondering about its effect on the freshman.
“How do you keep your wits about you as a U.S. congressman when you’re losing $35 million?” said Joe Monohan, a New Mexico political blogger based in Albuquerque. “Are you centered in this job?... I’m not being anti-Harry. But these are obvious vulnerabilities from my perspective.”
Teague explained that his bank accounts got smaller because of the boom-and-bust cycle of the industry, with appraisals on his equipment falling in tandem with the price of oil. And he insists he’s dedicated to the job, citing his return trips on all but four weekends to New Mexico, where he drives hundreds of miles to meet with locals spread out in a district the size of Pennsylvania.
“Just the record I’ve been doing would answer that question,” he said during an interview at a Carlsbad coffee shop. “I’ve been doing that every week. The [personal] value has changed, but I don’t think there’s been any connection with the value of the company and the effort I’ve put in being a congressman.”
Teague defends his climate vote as the right one for his district, especially considering demands he made of Democratic leadership for additional allowances to satisfy small petroleum refiners like the one located in Artesia. While he’s aware the vote doesn’t play well in the southeastern corner of the district known as “Little Texas” — the owner of the refinery wrote to the local newspaper in opposition to the bill, saying it would shut him down — Teague said there are other places where it helps, or at least doesn’t hurt.
“When you wind up with a situation like that, you can always stand in the street throw rocks in the yard or you can get involved and try to protect your constituents,” he said.
Pearce paints the climate vote in much starker terms. During an appearance in Artesia, he repeatedly blasted the Democrats’ “progressive” agenda on everything from climate change to the economic stimulus package. Wilbanks, the local trucking company official, pushed him to go even further.
“Steve, you use the term progressive,” he said. “And I know you’re a nice guy. I don’t like that term. I think you should call them for really what they are.”
“You’re saying that basically they have Socialist ideas,” Pearce replied. “And they do. Yes. And so ‘progressive’ is the term they use for themselves. And I don’t shy away from that at all. Anytime you have the government buying industries then what else can you call it but Socialism?”
“GM. AIG. The banks. Wall Street. I mean this is unprecedented, and what they’d like to do is take over Exxon,” he added.
Pearce’s attacks on Teague for the climate bill are playing well with a key segment of voters. But others praise Teague for standing up to the oil and gas industry — and, in some cases, to his Democratic leadership, too.
“It’s very easy for people who don’t follow things that closely to say he’s a Pelosi lapdog, whatever the hell that means,” Carlsbad resident Mike Cleary said during an early-morning networking breakfast hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce. He noted that on health care and the recent bill responding to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Teague voted against Pelosi. “I’m sure he paid some interparty dues to do that,” Cleary said. Local environmentalists laud Teague for his climate vote and point out that there a number of other issue areas where they tolerate disagreements with him because of the nature of his overall constituency.
“He’s a cut in front in a race to the bottom,” said Dan Lorimer, organizer of the Sierra Club’s local Rio Grande chapter. “We certainly have every sympathy for Congressman Teague.”
Both candidates are going toe to toe despite deep personal connections. They grew up two years apart in Hobbs, the epicenter of the oil industry and also hometown of Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, this year’s Democratic nominee for governor. As kids, Pearce’s family traveled with Teague’s wife Nancy’s family to the state fair in Albuquerque to showcase their pigs at 4-H events. Later, Teague, while serving as a Lea County commissioner, gave Pearce his first political job as an appointee on the local fair board. Teague gave the maximum donation to Pearce in his first 2002 campaign for the House and voted for him too. They both have private planes parked near each other at the Hobbs airport. “I don’t think it of running against Steve,” Teague said. “I disagree with a lot of his philosophy.”
To win the race, Teague and Pearce are fighting primarily for swing votes in the counties around their hometown. Much of the rest of the district is considered predictable.
In the western half of the district, Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-to-1 in Las Cruces and surrounding Dona Ana County, the most populous part of the district. But it’s pretty conservative everywhere else, from the alien-obsessed town of Roswell to the mining and ranching communities south of Albuquerque.
Teague did well in the southeast portion of the state in 2008, helped by lackluster GOP enthusiasm for John McCain coupled with a Democratic presidential campaign that squeezed out every Democratic vote it could find in a way that neither John Kerry nor Al Gore was able to accomplish.
“Obama didn’t write off the east side,” said Brian Sanderoff, a nonpartisan pollster based in Albuquerque. “He recognized [Democratic] pockets in all of those communities.”
But right now, the edge seems to be with Pearce, thanks to the deep anti-incumbent and anti-Washington sentiments that are familiar toxins to House members across the country. “A lot of the small-town Republican base are just horrified at what’s going on in Washington,” said Martha Mauritson, managing editor of the Carlsbad Current-Argus newspaper. “They feel like [Obama’s] not a Socialist, he’s a Communist, or whatever’s the worst thing they can think of to call him.”
Glen Parks was selling old luggage at a flea market along the main road to Truth or Consequences. The retired manufacturing service manager from Elephant Butte sounded discouraged when asked about the campaign. The Korean War veteran said he didn’t get any help when he contacted Teague’s office about a constituent issue — something the congressman touts as one of the reasons he should win reelection.
“It’s the quietest reply I’ve ever had in my life,” he said. “So I’m thinking it’s political bullshit.”
Teague's office said Thursday that it had tried to get the proper forms to Parks but that it had out-of-date contact information. Aides said they contacted Parks Thursday to offer to help.
For now, Parks said he’s holding back in making any decision until after the two candidates wrap up their debates and run their inevitably bloody advertisements. “I don’t think I’d vote for either of them for dogcatcher,” he said.
“Immediately, everybody quit using his businesses,” said Lance Wilbanks, the CEO of Wilbanks Trucking in Artesia, who said he thought it was “sleazy” that Teague’s company changed its name after the climate vote in attempt to hedge some of its losses.
Also while voting against the health care bill, he eliminated health insurance for his employees.
Teague is toast.
Oh, boo freakin' who, Don! That's one of the consequences of being a lousy representative. And it's another great reason why our representatives are chosen from those who live amongst us. "Screw you" cuts both ways.
Wow, what a guy. Hope he goes down in a landslide.
Votes have consequences.
Don Kidd, a former Republican state senator and the CEO of the Western Commerce Bank in Carlsbad, disagreed with Teague’s vote on the climate bill. But he said that doesn’t excuse locals for cutting their business ties with Teague, which he estimates have cost the congressman about $15 million.
I wonder how much Teague owes old Don’s bank? Folks, right is right and wrong is wrong and we’ve got to start doing the right things or nothing at all. We can’t have it both ways. In this case Don can’t disagree with the vote and criticize the locals for not using Teague’s business. He needs to suck it up and shut his trap.
He’s an idiot, too. People and businesses have every right to vote with their dollars.
Considering Steve Pearce was the district 2 rep until he tried a senate run during the Obama Frenzy election, it’s pretty much a slam dunk. Pearce is a good guy, pretty conservative, and based on a number of interviews, not a BS’er.
Astute observation. Can’t kidd the people. Thankfully he is a former legislator and is no longer harming the constituency.
Now the good people of the oil industry in SE New Mexico need to finish the job and ruin Mr. Teague economically and run him out of town.
It is hard enough to make a living in the area as it is without some bustard like him messing things up.
Make him a lesson to the next idiot who thinks he can trade his integrity for political gain.
Good news, thanks.
I hope they don’t forget the tar and feathers.
Teague seems to have done a few good things but he also seems to have lost his mind when he got inside the beltway.
It must be a sickness in the water. Like my sis says, “Why is it that these people who came from the same backgrounds as so many of us did behave like they came from another planet when they get to Washington?” I think it is because they are politicians instead of human beings.
Total BS, every oil service company in Eastern New Mexico is busy, there are no rig or trucks in the yards.
What a guy, screwed the voters and his employees and now he is whining.
Paybacks are he*l.
Maybe now he’l have to get a job more suited to his honor, cleaning toilets at roadside rest stops with his hands.
I agree. This guy was stupid enough to go against the very people that help make him rich. He deserves the loss.
” Maybe now he’l have to get a job more suited to his honor, cleaning toilets at roadside rest stops with his hands. “
Hey!!!
I use some of those rest stops!!
I don’t think it’s sickness, it’s intoxication, with power.
Good. Can his ass and kill his business. Let him forever be a pariah in his district and in the energy industry.
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