House Oversight Dems: 'The Show Must Go On'

Press Release

House Oversight Dems: 'The Show Must Go On'

While some believed that casting difficulties, title changes, and scheduling conflicts might derail or delay today's performance entitled "Hot Fuels: Big Oil's Double Standard for Measuring Gasoline," Waxman & Company Productions was not to be denied.

"It's really pretty amazing that this piece of political theatre is happening," said one critic, Rep. Darrell Issa, who follows the work of Waxman & Company.

The first challenge facing Waxman & Company in launching today's drama was finding the right witness to cast as the villain. Well-known names such as Exxon and Shell were contacted but declined the part. Others were considered, but Waxman & Company found a relative unknown to cast as the villain: small business owners who run retail gas convenience stores. Integrated oil companies own fewer than 10% of retail outlets while 57% of retail outlets are single store companies.

"All they have to do is say ‘they manipulated what consumers pay at the pump' and they'll get the headline they're seeking," noted Issa. "Small business is effectively the understudy filling in today for ‘Big Oil.'"

Another challenge in producing today's drama was finding the right title. The production's script was originally titled, "Summer Temperatures Drive Up Gasoline Prices at the Pump (5/30)," but then, only a few days before the performance, the title shifted to, "Hot Fuels: Big Oil's Double Standard for Measuring Gasoline (6/4)."

"They had to get the words ‘Big Oil' in the title if this show was going to go anywhere," said Issa. "Even if the story is really about raking small business owners for political gain - without the words ‘Big Oil' in the title this goes nowhere."

Rescheduling today's performance (that was originally scheduled for Thursday) on a Friday when no votes were taking place in the House of Representatives also posed an obvious potential problem: what if no one shows up?

While there will be a number of open seats on the Republican side of the dais, in fact all of them to be exact, the show, apparently, must go on.

"When the subject of political theatre is gas prices - ‘you'll laugh, you'll cheer, you'll cry' - gets replaced by - ‘you'll pay, you'll pay, you'll pay' - because this farce of a hearing isn't going to lower what we pay at the pump," added Issa.

A copy of the letter from the Government and Oversight Domestic Policy Subcommittee Ranking Member Darrell Issa to Domestic Policy Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Dennis Kucinich follows below:

June 8, 2007

The Honorable Dennis Kucinich
Chairman, Domestic Policy Subcommittee
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
2445 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Kucinich:

This letter is intended to inform you of my deep regret that this hearing has been rescheduled for a Friday morning, a day when there are no votes on the House Floor. The obvious result is that many Members of Congress will be traveling back to their districts, and unable to participate in the hearing. In a Democracy whose lifeblood is fueled by the market place of ideas, Committee practices that stifle or preclude full debate should be avoided at all cost.

Furthermore, I am frustrated that you have substituted the small business retailers of gasoline (Seven-Eleven, Wawa, Sheetz, and others that make up the convenience store industry) for the true "Big Oil" companies, over which you claim to be conducting oversight, but who declined your invitation to testify on this issue of intense national concern.

Perhaps I should not be so concerned about today's hearing, which one could describe as being frivolous, for at least it is a step above some Full Committee Hearings, which approach fraudulence. As one prominent newspaper editorial board observed in the wake of Wednesday's hearing on the prescription drug Avandia, "The Waxman approach is clear: come up with possible safety problems with questionable statistical approaches; share then with friendly members of Congress and editorialists who will use the findings to attack FDA; hold hearings in order to put companies on the defensive and generate more lawsuits."

The same criticism could be leveled at today's hearing, or at least its title, except we have actually added one level of absurdity. As "Big Oil" is referenced in the title of the hearing, "Hot Fuels: Big Oil's Double Standard for Measuring Gasoline," one would think that the target of today's hearing is "Big Oil." However, I want to make it very clear that today's conversation has very little to do with the collective entities popularly known as "Big Oil." While many retail gas establishments bear the trademarked names of "Chevron" "Texaco" or "Shell," most convenience stores are franchise units. In fact, 57% of convenience stores are single store companies and less than 10% of retail outlets are owned by integrated oil companies. Put simply, we are today talking about the retail gasoline industry. This industry is highly competitive and dominated by small business owners. These companies are very much impacted by the high price of fuel.

Policy makers on the left and the right should never loose sight of the fact that additional regulatory burdens will always have this type of impact on small business owners who are only marginally profitable. Ironically, it is the refiner owned/operated locations that will be most able to absorb the higher compliance burden if the government were to mandate installation of temperature corrected dispensers.

Therefore, Mr. Chairman, while you pursue this line of inquiry, please do not assume that just because "Big Oil" is making record profits, that they are one and the same as independent gas retailers, who for the most part are entrepreneurs, currently struggling to survive under challenging market conditions. Anything short of this acknowledgment is dangerously close to going from the frivolous to the fraudulent.

I request that my statement be inserted into the record for today's hearing.

Sincerely,

Darrell Issa
Ranking Member
Domestic Subcommittee
Oversight and Government Reform

Source