BATON ROUGE — Five years ago today, the BP oil spill began gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in environmental catastrophe and financial disaster for the Louisiana families that rely on gulf waters for their livelihood. In the immediate aftermath of the spill, Sen. David Vitter sprang into action, using his first act as a senator in an effort to protect BP, not the taxpayers that elected him. His initial plan, to potentially cap BP’s liability for the disaster at $150 million when the total projected impact was well north of $20 billion, missed the mark by an order of magnitude. While Vitter ultimately failed to insulate BP from the financial consequences, his priorities were laid bare: when Louisiana families were hurting, Vitter’s first instinct was to protect the billionaire companies who created the problem.
In his efforts to put Louisiana taxpayers on the hook for the damage BP’s negligence created, Sen. Vitter went through a convoluted, complicated series of schemes. As he attempts to persuade voters to make him the next Bobby Jindal, his logic remains likewise murky. Like Jindal, Vitter took his oath to Grover Norquist and remains beholden to out of state special interests, regardless of the cost to Louisiana families. Vitter would like voters to believe he’s a changed man who’ll happily break that oath if elected governor. But promising one thing to voters and delivering another to the moneyed interests that installed you is a time-honored GOP tradition, one that Vitter knows well.
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