More Hypocrisy From Beto O’Rourke On Energy Issues

March 11, 2019

Former Congressman and Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke has quickly become one of the most talked about political failures across the country. While he was unable to dethrone Ted Cruz in the Senate race last year, O’Rourke’s name has been floated as a top tier presidential candidate, and he is considering jumping into the race.

But could Beto’s longstanding ties to the fossil fuel industry hamper his support from an increasingly extreme left-wing base that craves ideological purity and wants nothing to do with reasonable energy policy?

Over the weekend at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival, a notable gathering of progressives debuted a documentary about the candidate, titled “Running With Beto.”

As it turns out, an executive producer of the film – Lias “Jeff” Steen – also happens to be an executive vice president of Oil States International. In a recent interview, Steen correctly noted that “Carbon-based fuels rule the world, and that’s not going to change any time soon.”

So an executive producer of the Beto film supports reasonable energy policy? Leaders on the left will be clutching their pearls.

As a Texas politician, Beto’s ties to the energy industry run deep. Throughout his career he’s raised over $467,000 from the oil and gas industry, making him “the second-biggest recipient” of oil and gas money during the last election. This all comes despite Beto publicly signing the “No Fossil Fuel Money” pledge only to be removed later.

Now, Beto says he is “supportive of the concept” of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal.” This is hypocrisy at its finest. Beto spends his career working with the energy industry, only to rhetorically jettison his support as soon as the Green New Deal becomes a litmus test on the left? Perhaps Beto is just another opportunistic politician lacking in principles.

So where does Beto O’Rourke truly stand on energy issues? Does he agree with his movie producer’s reasonable position, or does he believe in extreme energy policy like the Green New Deal? Time will tell, but hopefully, Beto remains true to his Texas roots and stays the moderate course on energy policy.