Greenwire reports on the confirmation hearing today for the fossil fuel-hating Obama FERC appointee Ron Binz:
Binz also apologized to [Sen. Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska] for what he said amounted to a miscommunication about his coordination with the White House and other groups leading up to the confirmation hearing.
Murkowski criticized Binz for telling her in a meeting last week he had no contact with the White House. She later read a chain of emails — obtained by the Free Market Environmental Law Clinic and the Independence Institute in Colorado through a Freedom of Information Act request from FERC — that show Binz was in touch with the White House, as well as Democratic lobbyists and a public relations firm with ties to clean energy groups (E&E Daily, Sept. 13).
“Mr. Binz, I am trying to reconcile some statements that you made that just don’t seem to line up with information that I learned that same day,” Murkowski said. “I’m sure that you can see the concern that I have when you sat in my office and assured me that there was no coordination with anyone outside of FERC, and then to read a series of emails … directly contradicting what I was told.”
Binz said he had not asked for such coordination and that the attacks were being mounted by outside groups, adding that he didn’t mean to mislead the senator and is attempting to be open.
Binz….
1) had not asked for such coordination
2) says attacks were being mounted by outside groups
3) didn’t mean to mislead the senator, and,
4) is attempting to be open.
So, he essentially admitted to lying, but nasty people are attacking him, and he didn’t intend to cover up a situation because he is an open guy.
Would anybody care to guess what would happen in the mainstream media to a nominee presented by a ‘President Sarah Palin’ to Senator Reid, if the nominee tried to pull this stunt?
Caught lying? My, my, that’s a first for this administration.