Bobby Bright’s Nuclear Party
Last year, U.S. Representative Bobby Bright opposed the American Clean Energy and Security Act because it didn’t include nuclear power projects as eligible for renewable electricity credits. How did he come to a decision about that vote?
Chances are good that before that vote, Bright bumped shoulders with a lobbyist working for the Nuclear Energy Institute, which spent over 2 million dollars on lobbyists trying to influence members of Congress last year. The Nuclear Energy Institute describes itself as “the policy organization for the nuclear technologies industry”. It promotes the expansion of nuclear energy.
Just 15 days before the final floor vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, Congressman Bobby Bright attended a meeting at the offices of the Nuclear Energy Institute. It was a special Energy Lunch unlike any sort of lunch you’re likely to have ever attended.
It was prearranged with the Nuclear Energy Institute that representatives of political action committees, as well as individuals eager to gain access to Congressman Bright in order to talk about issues of energy, could come to the Nuclear Energy Institute offices at 1776 Eye Street NW, Washington D.C., Suite 400, just so long as they qualified to be at the meeting. How could you qualify to represent your PAC or other energy interests at that meeting? All you had to do was pay Bobby Bright some money. The payments suggested by Representative Bright’s party planners:
- $2500 for a PAC “host”
- $100 for a PAC “friend”
- $500 for an individual
Now, what sort of people do you think that Bobby Bright met at the offices of the Nuclear Energy Institute that day? Do you think that there were any opponents of nuclear energy there? How did the people there talk to Bright about the upcoming vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act? How did the money Congressman Bright took during that nuclear lunch affect his decision about how to vote?
