High Gas Prices And Haslam Hate Ruppe’s Co-Pilot In Effort To Keep Kilby Seat
Posted on September 17, 2008 at 9:25 amFrom the 12th District State Senate campaign of Becky Ruppe:
In response to an on-going gas pump price-gouging investigation involving Pilot Oil Company, State Senate candidate Becky Ruppe today called on her opponent, Ken Yager, to return campaign contributions that he has taken from Pilot Oil executives.
“Ken Yager owes us an apology for accepting and spending profits from gas pump gougers who are under investigation. Big Oil companies are making record profits but their greed still drives them to gouge us at the pump. My opponent is funded by these people,” Ruppe said. “I hope that he’ll return this money. If he doesn’t, then he’s admitting that he’s in the pocket of Big Oil.”
On Sunday, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum issued subpoenas to the corporate office of Pilot Travel Centers “seeking information about reported increases in the price of gasoline.” McCollum took this action after his office received “more than 350 complaints about gasoline price gouging over a four-day period.”
“We will not tolerate gouging for greed,” McCollum said.
On Tuesday, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Knoxville had the highest gas prices in the country last weekend—an average of $4.652 per gallon, according to AAA East Tennessee. During that period, Pilot Corp. and Pilot Travel Centers charged $4.999 per gallon.
“Folks are struggling to make ends meet across this district. They don’t need greedy oil executives sticking it to them at the pump and then using those proceeds to fund misleading campaigns. We need relief, not more of the same. If we don’t stand up to Big Oil, they’ll continue to drain our wallets of our hard-earned money,” Ruppe said.
As of the last campaign finance reporting deadline, members of the Haslam family had given Yager $9,500 in contributions. However, the Haslam family hosted a fundraiser for Yager and another Republican Senate candidate, Mike Faulk, on Friday, September 12. These contributions have not yet been reported.
“All across this district, families are suffering. Many make minimum wage and then they have to pay $5 a gallon for gas. We need someone in Nashville that will work for the hard-working families of this district, not wealthy oil executives and their families,” Ruppe said.
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[...] High Gas Prices And Haslam Hate Ruppe’s Co-Pilot In Effort To Keep Kilby Seat [...]
The scariest thing about this story and Ken is that the fundraiser they held was on the EXACT nite that gas prices jumped…….and with the amount of money raised compaired to i’m starting to question weather they were drinking oil, or just leaving there massive cars running the whole time??? Was it a wealth gaining party for EVERYONE there?