Boren, D Sen

=like john graham and ken starr, univ sinecure as pension planTip pt? : lead or silver, OS gangsta?Take the Clinton administration’s ill-fated 1993 proposal for an BTU energy tax. Designed to curb the nation’s appetite for imported oil and gasoline, the legislation was defeated with the help of a massive press and public-relations campaign mounted by CSE. It targeted Senator David Boren (D-Okla.), the swing vote on two key committees. After being hammered on radio and television as well as in print, Boren, who now heads the University of Oklahoma, agreed to oppose the Clinton tax, thus effectively killing it.

Within days of his decision, Boren was being supported by the same Koch interests that were funding CSE. In the three-month period from April 22 to July 8, 1993, in fact, Boren received at least $22,500 from the oil industry.==frontline 5 22
late 80's (after hansen?) FF deniers pretty sure gov't action on AGW, rallied to ~, doubted they cd win but "ran the table"; dems knew W-M beat ended action for a decade?!<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1992<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Chapter iii. The Environmental Presidency<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">GOV. BILL CLINTON, Arkansas, 1983-1992:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The man standing beside me today has what it takes to lead this nation from the day we take office. Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MARC CHUPKA, White House economist, 1993-94:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When Bill Clinton announced that his running mate was going to be Al Gore, that was very exciting.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There was an anticipation of a much greater effort to tackle climate change.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BILL CLINTON:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We will finally give the United States a real environmental presidency.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AL GORE:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then President-elect Clinton understood clearly that that's why I was on the ticket. That's why I agreed to run as vice president.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">He has won this presidential race, along with Sen. Al Gore, now the vice president-elect.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JANE McMULLEN:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Now you’re in the White House—<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AL GORE:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Yeah.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JANE McMULLEN:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">—to tackle it. Did you feel a sense of responsibility?<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AL GORE:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Oh, absolutely. That was the principal task that I set for myself entering the White House. And I went to work right away to try to get a carbon tax in our first budget plan.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MARC CHUPKA:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sen. Gore asked me to produce some quantitative results of how much various energy taxes would reduce emissions.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Feb. 17, 1993<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Our plan does include a broad-based tax on energy, and it is environmentally responsible. It will help us in the future as well as in the present with the deficit.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MARC CHUPKA:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I was excited that a fairly bold step had been proposed.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">It’s called a "BTU tax."<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FEMALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The tax is likely to be levied at the producer or distributor level, though consumers would feel it as energy companies passed it along in their prices.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MARC CHUPKA:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It’s a tax policy. You don’t expect everyone to love it. But the opposition to this particular proposal was very strong, very strident, very aggressive.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">Koch Industries has been called the biggest company you never heard of. The sprawling giant includes pipelines, petrochemicals, asphalt plants, trading floors. Based in Wichita, Kansas, it sells everything from gasoline to beef.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JEFF NESBIT, Comms. Dir., Citizens for a Sound Economy, 1993:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I would say that virtually no one in the early 1990s had ever heard of Koch Industries.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Koch's core business is distribution. It owns 37,000 miles of international pipeline.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JEFF NESBIT:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">They can take the heaviest oil, the dirtiest oil, the hardest to turn into a useful product and refine it. And they became the best in the world at doing that. I think it's still probably the second-largest privately held company in the world.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">The two brothers who ran Koch Industries were Charles and David Koch. They had their sights set on how they were going to deal with issues that were existential to their industry. It's the heart of what they do, so they're going to fight and hang on to that till the bitter end.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JERRY TAYLOR, Cato Institute, 1991-2014:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Cato Institute was a public policy think tank. It was founded by Charles Koch. And Charles was heavily invested in energy policy discussions back in that time, particularly the emergence of climate change.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">The Cato Institute position was that climate change is real, but the climate change that we're seeing today is far, far more modest than what the computer models say we should have seen by now. We need to know a lot more before we should be spending trillions of dollars to address it.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JEFF NESBIT:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So the Kochs had funding directed at the Cato Institute as a libertarian think tank; they also had funding that went to Citizens for a Sound Economy, which was built for a slightly different purpose, which was to be a quote, grassroots mobilizer.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">JERRY TAYLOR:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">Coming out of the gate, we then get served up with a proposed BTU tax. It was obvious to us at the Cato Institute that once that tax is in place, it's going to be very hard to get rid of.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JEFF NESBIT:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">We walked over from Citizens for a Sound Economy over to the American Petroleum Institute, and we met with the entire leadership of API. And the meeting was all about, let's just knock out the BTU tax in its infancy.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JERRY TAYLOR:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">We would be meeting in various locales in Washington with over 100 people in the room. It was a real war room situation.JERRY JASINOWSKI, President of the National Association of Manufacturers :<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">[Archive] This coalition is one of the fastest growing and strongest that I've seen. We will stop the BTU tax and I believe substitute spending cuts in its place. Thank you very much for coming.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Oklahoma<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">RON HOWELL, Former consultant, Koch Industries:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We were known, and I think we made ourselves known that way, as the oil capital of the world. Almost everywhere you'd look had behind it oil industry dollars.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I thought that the tax was a bad idea for America, but predominantly a bad idea for Oklahoma. Oklahoma was not in a good spot at that time at all. Oil wells were being shut. That meant a lot of lost jobs, a lot of lost companies. And this was putting the heel of the boot down hard.I got a call from Koch Industries telling me the industry is very concerned about this, but we're worried that this word isn't getting out. Our particular goal was to focus on Sen. Boren.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">JEFF NESBIT:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">David Boren was a moderate Democrat who chaired the relevant committee that would deal with the Clinton budget.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">RON HOWELL:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">We were hearing that he wanted to be left to do his own revising of it behind closed doors.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">JEFF NESBIT:They basically said if we can get David Boren to flip, we win. So they said, we're going to do whatever it takes.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RON HOWELL:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">We set about what I would call a grasstops and a grassroots campaign. The grassroots were encouraged to call Sen. Boren and let him know that you do not want a tax, after seeing an ad that showed "take shower, pay a tax; start your car, pay a tax."<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JEFF NESBIT:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Everybody was given their marching orders out of this playbook. People would stand up behind politicians with signs about no BTU tax. There were rallies.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ENERGY INDUSTRY SPOKESMAN:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">—cost to the average household in Oklahoma is going to be roughly about $500 a year.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RON HOWELL:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">My main role was what I would call the grasstops. You may be a civic leader, you may be a CEO. Often it would be Mr. Koch would call them, or myself, and talk them through "Did you know it does this, this, this and this?" Encourage strongly Sen. Boren kill it.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JEFF NESBIT:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">What they told the public and what the policymakers were led to believe was that there was an army of folks who were ready to march in the streets. Maybe there were a handful of folks who thought, "Oh, gosh, I should call my senator and register my complaint," but they had no such grassroots army. It was funded and fueled by the corporate interests.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CSE says its work isn’t done yet. It’s joined forces with other lobbying groups, stoking the flames of the prairie fire, hoping they’ll spread and burn the BTU tax for good.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RON HOWELL:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">I remember a very late night or early morning phone call, and it was actually Sen. Boren's communications guy. "We want those ads to stop. And we want the CEOs to quit calling us, and in return, Sen. Boren’s going to announce his intentions to vote against it."<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SEN. DAVID BOREN, D-Oklahoma, 1979-94 :<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Our proposal is fairer than that put forward by the administration—that is the BTU tax, which is the tax which is a part of the administration's plan that does hit lower- and middle-income Americans.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">JEFF NESBIT:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">He folded right away. It’s like wow, this can really work. We can pick our targets strategically and win, even when we’re not in political power.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NARRATOR:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">At the time, David Boren disputed he was influenced by the oil industry. He said he was responding to concerns from the American public, and he opposed the tax because it would hurt consumers and businesspeople.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">President Clinton has pulled the plug on his proposed BTU energy tax.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FEMALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Critics said it would cost jobs and devastate the economy, and there weren't enough votes in the Senate to pass it. Besides, who the heck knew what it was?<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MALE NEWSREADER:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This is after all a nation addicted to its cars and to the idea of driving down the open road.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AL GORE:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It was extremely disappointing to not get the votes. It was just the raw power of all the money that they threw into this. But we just decided to regroup and try to skin the cat a different way.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MARC CHUPKA:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">They never proposed another energy tax. It was just considered radioactive.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">JEFF NESBIT:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto;">I think some of the leadership of the Koch network were really quite excited that it worked so well. So that's how that playbook first began. It was developed right then. What I didn’t know at the time was that it would become the beginning of something much bigger. And that playbook is still in use today.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I don't feel embarrassed or regretful. In hindsight, I shouldn't have done that. There's no question I shouldn't have done that. But they were my client. I was a contractor. I was paid, I'm going to do my job. And my job was to do that.<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NARRATOR:<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.725em; hyphens: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Charles Koch did not respond to questions about the campaign against the BTU tax. In 1994, a top Koch executive said, "Our belief is that the tax, over time, may have destroyed our business."...==---sons of w:~ BC rx (hillary bus tour followed by broken one towed) ; BTU tax to cut deficit; partner w/ API, leaned on Kansas congress;(also Boren  Okla: lead or silver; his cave tip pt; 1st big political win) targeted districts, print/radio ads (play to be used later ~ BO)

Oklahoma has been experiencing an earthquake boom in recent years. In 2014, the state had 585 quakes of at least magnitude 3. Up through 2008, it averaged only three quakes of that strength each year. Something odd is happening.But scientists at the Oklahoma Geological Survey have downplayed a possible connection between increasing fracking in the state and the increasing number of tremors. Even as other states (<a href="http://grist.org/news/ohio-blames-frackers-for-earthquakes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=update&utm_campaign=socialflow" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">Ohio, for example</a>) quickly put two and two together and shut down some drilling operations that were to blame, OGS scientists said that more research was needed before their state took similar steps.Now, though, <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060014342" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">emails obtained by EnergyWire reporter Mike Soraghan</a> reveal that the University of Oklahoma and its oil industry funders were putting pressure on OGS scientists to downplay the connection between earthquakes and the injection of fracking wastewater underground. In 2013, a preliminary OGS report noted possible correlation between the two, and OGS signed on to a statement by the U.S. Geological Survey that also noted such linkages. Soon after, OGS’s seismologist, Austin Holland, was summoned to meetings with the president of the university, where OGS is housed, and with executives of oil company Continental Resources. Continental CEO Harold Hamm was a major university funder, while the university president David Boren serves on Continental’s board, for which he earned $272,700 in cash and stock in 2013. From <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060014342" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">EnergyWire</a>:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0.5625rem 1.25rem 0px 1.1875rem; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); line-height: 1.6;">“I have been asked to have ‘coffee’ with President Boren and Harold Hamm Wednesday,” [Holland] wrote in an Nov. 18, 2013, email to a co-worker.The significance was not lost on his colleague, OGS Public Information Coordinator Connie Smith.“Gosh,” Smith responded. “I guess that’s better than having Kool-Aid with them. I guess.”A meeting with such powerful figures in the state would be intimidating for a state employee such as Holland, said state Rep. Jason Murphey of Guthrie.“Wow. That’s a lot of pressure,” said Murphey, a Republican whose district has been rattled by numerous quakes. “That just sends chills up your spine if you’re from Oklahoma.”</blockquote>Oklahoma geologist Bob Jackman, who has tried to get the word out about the connection between fracking and the quakes, recalls Holland saying last year that he couldn’t do the same. According to Jackman, Holland, when pressed, blurted out, “You don’t understand — Harold Hamm and others will not allow me to say certain things.”Holland says Jackman misremembered the conversation. Holland publicly denies being pressured by the university or industry.Other scientists at OGS weren’t happy to see the agency downplay the link between one oil and gas project, called the Hunton dewatering, and an earthquake swarm near Oklahoma City. One wrote to a family member, “I am dismayed at our seismic people about this issue and believe they couldn’t track a bunny through fresh snow!”Even the USGS picked up on something fishy when Holland suggested alternative hypotheses to explain earthquakes instead of linking them to fracking processes. A science adviser with the federal agency wrote to Holland saying one alternative theory was “unlikely” and “could be very distracting from the larger issue of earthquake safety in Oklahoma … and the role that wastewater injection may be playing.”In July 2014, Holland <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-07/oklahoma-temblors-outpace-california-as-fracking-booms" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">told Bloomberg</a> that if a link between fracking and the quakes were to be discovered, he’d have to advise the state to shut some drilling operations down. “If my research takes me to the point where we determine the safest thing to do is to shut down injection — and consequently production — in large portions of the state, then that’s what we have to do,” he said. “That’s for the politicians and the regulators to work out.”The research is there, even if UO President David Boren or Continental CEO Harold Hamm aren’t pleased about it. Let’s see what those politicians and regulators do next.bs bio
<div class="mc_local_articlehead contentheader" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 19.7999992370605px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="metacontent parbase" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="mcarticlehead" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">David L. Boren, who has served Oklahoma as governor and U.S. senator, became the thirteenth president of the University of Oklahoma in November 1994. He is the first person in state history to have served in all three positions.</div></div></div><div class="parsys contentpar" style="min-height: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 19.7999992370605px;"><div class="text parbase section" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><div class="text" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">Boren is widely respected for his academic credentials, his longtime support of education, and for his distinguished political career as a reformer of the American political system.  A graduate of Yale University in 1963, Boren majored in American history, graduated in the top one percent of his class and was elected Phi Beta Kappa.  He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University, England, in 1965.

In 1968, he received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, where he was on the Law Review, elected to the Order of the Coif, and won the Bledsoe Prize as the outstanding graduate by a vote of the faculty.

As Oklahoma’s governor from 1974 through 1978, Boren promoted key educational initiatives that have had an enduring impact on Oklahoma.  Established during his tenure were the Oklahoma Arts Institute, the Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program, and the Oklahoma Physicians Manpower Training Program, which provides scholarships for medical students and medical personnel who commit to practice in underserved rural areas.  Also, the first state funding for Gifted and Talented classes was provided in 1976 and, from 1976 through 1978, Oklahoma ranked first among all states in the percentage increases of funding for higher education.

One of Boren’s most far-reaching projects in promoting quality education at all levels is the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, which he founded in 1985.  The foundation recognizes outstanding public school students and teachers and helps establish private local foundations to help give academic endowment grants to local public schools.  As a senator, he was the author of the National Security Education Act in 1992, which provides scholarships for study abroad and for learning additional languages, as well as legislation to restore the tax deductibility of gifts of appreciated property to universities in 1993. 

Boren, also a former state legislator, spent nearly three decades in elective politics before becoming the president of the University of Oklahoma.  Boren was the youngest governor in the nation when he served from 1974 to 1978.  Known as a reformer, Boren campaigned with a broom as his symbol.  During his term, he instituted many progressive programs, including conflict-of-interest rules, campaign-financing disclosure, stronger open meeting laws for public bodies, more competitive bidding on state government contracts, and reform of the state’s prison system, including expanded education programs for first-time offenders and the largest expansion of the work-release program in state history.

During his time in the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 1994, Boren served on the Senate Finance and Agriculture Committees and was the longest-serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.  From his days as a state legislator and governor of Oklahoma to Washington, Boren carried a commitment to reform, leading numerous efforts to make government work better for American citizens.  As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he strengthened oversight of secret government programs and reformed the procedures for Presidential notice of such programs to Congress.
For more than 10 years, he led the fight for congressional campaign finance reform and for legislation discouraging administration and congressional staff from cashing in on government experience and contacts by becoming lobbyists.  In addition, he introduced legislation seeking to limit gifts and travel subsidies that government workers, including members of Congress, can receive from lobbyists.  Boren also chaired the special 1992-93 Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, which produced proposals to make Congress more efficient and responsive by streamlining congressional bureaucracy, reducing staff sizes and reforming procedures to end legislative gridlock. 

Boren left the U.S. Senate in 1994 with an approval rating of 91 percent after being reelected with 83 percent of the vote in 1990, the highest percentage in the nation in a U.S. Senate contest in that election year.

Boren served from 1988 to 1997 as a member of the Yale University Board of Trustees.  His university experience also includes four years on the faculty of Oklahoma Baptist University, where he was chairman of the Department of Political Science and chairman of the Division of Social Sciences.  In 1993, the American Association of University Professors presented Boren with the Henry Yost Award as Education Advocate of the Year.

In April 2004, Boren received the Mory’s Cup from the Mory’s Association at Yale University.   In making the presentation to Boren it was noted that he was the first Yale graduate in the university’s history extending over three centuries to have served as a Governor, U.S. Senator and President of a major university. 

Under Boren’s leadership, the University of Oklahoma has developed and emerged as a “pacesetter university in American public higher education,” with 20 major new programs initiated since his inauguration.  They include establishment of the Honors College, the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West, a new expository writing program for freshmen modeled on the program at Harvard, an interdisciplinary religious studies program, the Artist-in-Residence Program, the International Programs Center, and the Faculty-in-Residence Program putting faculty family apartments in student residence halls.  The Retired Professors Program has been started, bringing 50 retired full professors back to the University to teach freshmen.

The number of new facilities started or completed on the campus during the Boren years has matched the explosion in new programs.  Since 1994, almost $1 billion in construction projects have been completed or are under way on OU’s three campuses.  Among the largest of the recent projects are the $18.7 million renovation and expansion of historic Holmberg Hall, home of music and dance programs; the $67 million National Weather Center; the $19 million addition to the Michael F. Price College of Business; the $17 million Gaylord Hall for journalism and mass communication; the $27 million Stephenson Research and Technology Center; and the $83.5 million stadium project.  The Health Sciences Center has a new Student Union, and the new $24 million Stanton L. Young Biomedical Research Center. 
Presidential Travel Scholarships, students from 111 countries on campus, more reciprocal international exchange agreements than any other university and the new International Programs Center are all making OU more international. The new Honors College helps to assure that no students need to leave Oklahoma to find an educational experience to match their potential.

In 1995, Boren launched the “Reach for Excellence” fundraising campaign with a five-year goal of $200 million, which was twice as large as any fundraising drive in Oklahoma history.  The drive exceeded $500 million, raising OU into the top 15 public universities in the United States in private endowment per capita.  Since 1994, endowed professorships have more than quadrupled and the OU donor base has grown from 18,000 to more than 107,000 friends and alumni.  During the first 10 years of Boren’s tenure over $1 billion in private gifts were donated to the university.

Above all, the Boren years have been marked by an emphasis on putting students first.  There is not a university president in the country that is more committed to students as his number one priority.  He teaches a freshman-level course in political science each semester and is one of the few presidents of major universities to teach.

Boren is married to Molly Shi Boren, a former judge and English teacher.  Mrs. Boren is President Emeritus of the Oklahoma Arts Institute, which provides education programs in nine arts disciplines for high school students from across the state who are gifted in the arts.  Molly Boren has two degrees from the University of Oklahoma, a master’s degree in English and a Juris Doctorate from the OU College of Law.  A native of Seminole, Boren has two children, Carrie Christine Boren, an Episcopal minister, and David Daniel Boren, a member of the United States Congress from Oklahoma.  Devoting much of his life to public service, Boren drew from the example of his parents, the late Congressman Lyle H. Boren and Christine Boren.</div></div></div>

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<div class="timestamp" style="margin-top: 15px; font-weight: normal; white-space: nowrap; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">December 3, 2011</div>

<h1 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.083em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" ">As Gas Riches Remake Plains, Lawmaker Shares in Bounty</nyt_headline></h1>

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<h6 class="byline" style="font-weight: bold; margin: 2px 0px; line-height: 1.2em;">By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/eric_lipton/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by ERIC LIPTON" style="text-decoration: none;">ERIC LIPTON</a></h6>

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CALUMET, Okla. — Gas money is transforming vast stretches of Oklahoma. Here, 40 miles west of the state capital, crews work through the night drilling new wells deep into the earth, and a small army of laborers rips through just-planted fields of winter wheat to install miles of gas pipeline.

Across the state in tiny Atoka, a Cadillac and a Jaguar park next to pickups outside the local store that sells cowboy boots and overalls; in nearby Coalgate, the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/natural-gas/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about natural gas." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none;">natural gas</a> industry has created six overnight millionaires.

The spreading wealth from gas fields has also benefited Representative Dan Boren, a Democrat who has deep family ties to the industry — and has acted as one of its best friends on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Boren’s stepfather is an independent <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleum-and-gasoline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about oil." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none;">oil</a> and natural gas producer in East Texas, just over the border. His father, David Boren, a former senator and Oklahoma governor, received $350,000 last year in total compensation for serving on the board of <a href="http://www.contres.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">Continental Resources</a>, whose stock has surged while it helps lead the exploration of gas reserves nationwide.

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/04/us/politics/04boren.html?ref=politics#document/p71/a40302" style="text-decoration: none;">The congressman’s income has jumped</a> in the last six years, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/04/us/politics/04boren.html?ref=politics#document/p51/a40296" style="text-decoration: none;">thanks to two family businesses he partly owns</a> that have signed more than 300 mineral leases, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of those deals are with <a href="http://www.chk.com/Pages/default.aspx" style="text-decoration: none;">Chesapeake Energy</a>, a top donor to his campaigns.

Mr. Boren is a champion in Washington of an industry that is experiencing a historic boom but also increasing scrutiny. He argues that the drilling can help solve the nation’s energy problems and dismisses concerns about the potential environmental and health perils posed by the process with which shale gas is extracted, known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Serving as co-chairman of the <a href="http://naturalgascaucus.murphy.house.gov/" style="text-decoration: none;">House Natural Gas Caucus</a>, Mr. Boren has worked to block any move by federal regulators to restrain the drilling and efforts by the Obama administration to curtail tax benefits for the gas and oil industries. He has also pushed for federal incentives to increase demand for natural gas. And he sees no problem with entangling his professional advocacy and his self-interest.

“There’s zero conflict,” Mr. Boren said in an interview. “It’s like if you are living in a timber community and your parents are working for the local mill. You should go and advocate for your local mill, even if you derive some benefit from it.”

House ethics rules do not prohibit lawmakers from taking steps to aid industries in which they have a financial stake. But some ethics experts say such actions are still inadvisable.

“Even if it is legal, if every member of Congress pushed for industries that they have financial ties to, there would be an outcry from the public,” said <a title="Robert Stern" href="http://www.cgs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=68" style="text-decoration: none;">Robert M. Stern</a>, a California lawyer who has helped draft state ethics and campaign finance laws.

Mr. Boren often works in close coordination with the lobbying and promotional groups in Washington financed by the natural gas industry in an attempt to wield influence in a city where energy debates have long been dominated by oil and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/coal/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about coal." class="meta-classifier" style="text-decoration: none;">coal</a> interests.

Mr. Boren, 38, a conservative four-term Democrat, has announced that he will not seek re-election next year. Instead, he plans to return home and work in the private sector — he would not say with what industry — and consider a run for governor. Whatever happens, he said, he will continue to promote Oklahoma’s natural gas industry.

“It is a part of who we are,” he said. “East Coast liberals don’t really have a frame of reference. They are eager to get the resource — and heat their homes — but they don’t understand us.”

One of Dan Boren’s first jobs out of college was in oil — as vice president of the small company run by his stepfather, John C. Robbins, in East Texas. Energy industry executives helped drive his political career, urging him to follow the lead of his father and grandfather, Lyle Boren, and run for Congress in 2004 after one term in the Oklahoma House.

“It’s in your blood,” Mike Terry, president of the <a href="http://www.oipa.com/custom/index.php" style="text-decoration: none;">Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association</a>, recalls telling Mr. Boren. “It’s part of your heritage. And we need you there.”

The pitch came just as a revolution in natural gas drilling was ignited.

<a href="http://www.dvn.com/Pages/devon_energy_home.aspx" style="text-decoration: none;">Devon Energy</a>, a business based in Oklahoma that is now one of the nation’s <a title="Largest Natural Gas Producers" href="http://marcellusdrilling.com/2011/09/the-10-largest-natural-gas-drillers-in-the-u-s/" style="text-decoration: none;">largest natural gas companies</a>, had <a title="Acquisition of Mitchell" href="http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-24-2002/0001655152&EDATE=" style="text-decoration: none;">bought out</a> a competitor whose owner had perfected the fracking technique, which uses a mixture of water, sand and a soup of chemical lubricants to free natural gas trapped deep underground in the pores of dense shale rock.

The drilling boom started in communities like Atoka in Mr. Boren’s district. Mayor Charles A. McCall III was startled when local farmers began showing up at his family-owned bank with giant checks from gas companies. Signing bonuses that were once $200 per acre soared to $2,000 and eventually to $20,000 an acre, in addition to any eventual royalties.

“It was like a lot of people had won the lottery,” Mr. McCall said.

Devon Energy alone is spending $1 billion on drilling operations in Oklahoma this year. It is also building a skyscraper in Oklahoma City unlike anything the state has ever seen — it towers over the Capitol like the oilman’s version of the Washington Monument.

Mr. Boren’s family was among those who shared in the bonanza.

Between 2005, when Mr. Boren entered Congress, and 2011, his family  signed 325 oil and gas leases on thousands of acres of mineral rights; in the previous five years they  signed only 35, according to state records.

Mr. Boren is one of 13 family members who share in the proceeds, earning between $120,000 and $1.1 million last year, according to his financial disclosure report, and between $450,000 and $2.6 million since he was first elected. Both Mr. Boren and Dan Little, his uncle who manages the family businesses, said the earnings last year were closer to $100,000.

Mr. Boren points out that selling mineral rights is a common practice in Oklahoma, and that he himself is not in the oil and gas business, nor is he directly involved in negotiating the leases. Representative Frank D. Lucas, an Oklahoma Republican, has also sold them to drilling companies, but records show that his lease revenues are far smaller than those of Mr. Boren, and he has not played a similar leadership role on the industry’s behalf.

To industry boosters like Mr. Boren, the boom has brought little but benefits to his state and the country. “This is the answer,” Mr. Boren said, saying natural gas is abundant and can be safely extracted.

Mr. Boren was among the 41 House Democrats who joined Republicans in 2005 to <a title="Energy Policy Act of 2005" href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll132.xml" style="text-decoration: none;">pass legislation</a> that largely prohibited the federal government from regulating fracking under the Safe Water Drinking Act, and he has repeatedly pushed the Obama administration since then to keep the prohibition in place.

But some Oklahoma residents — and environmentalists elsewhere — say the rush to tap the gas has at times caused real harm.

A study published in May by the National Academy of Sciences reported potentially dangerous levels of natural gas in drinking water near drilling sites in New York and Pennsylvania.

Walt Grabow, 65, a farmer in Kingfisher County, Okla., now has what he calls a “dead zone” in his wheat field, a four-acre area where state tests have confirmed that gas is leaking to the surface but could not locate the source, despite the 12 wells within a mile of the spot. “They seem to be more worried about the oil and gas companies than they are for the people’s rights,” Mr. Grabow said in an interview.

State records show that more than 5,500 oil and gas industry pollution complaints have been filed in Oklahoma since 2007, including reports of groundwater contamination, oil and gas leaks and spills of drilling water. Officials issued 380 violation orders with fines, but dismissed most of the complaints, a record that some environmentalists say shows the need for more federal oversight.

<a title="Oklahoma Corporation Commission" href="http://www.occeweb.com/og/ogpollute.html" style="text-decoration: none;">Tim Baker</a>, the pollution abatement director at the state agency that supervises the work, called most of the incidents minor and said the state mandates a cleanup if contamination is found. “We have a pretty good system in place,” he said.

In Washington, Mr. Boren has made it his mission to defend the industry and the federal tax breaks he says are essential. Even before Barack Obama had secured the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Boren began his appeals.

Mr. Boren asked him to reconsider his proposal to eliminate a provision in the federal tax code that is worth more than <a title="Intangible Drilling Costs" href="http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/3c/e/599/Factsheet_Obama_budget_fossil_fuel_giveaways.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;">$1 billion a year</a> to oil and natural gas drillers, allowing small companies to get a<a title="Details on Tax Break" href="http://www.atr.org/files/files/2011_ATR_Energy_Tax_Series-Intangible_Drilling%20_Cost.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"> 100 percent tax write</a>-off on labor, fuel and other costs.

After Mr. Obama moved into the White House, Mr. Boren — who introduced legislation to expand industry tax breaks — met with Energy Secretary Steven Chu to press his case. Rebuffed, he went on the attack.

“If the president doesn’t want to stand up and be a leader, then his silence would be appreciated,” Mr. Boren said in April after Mr. Obama again called for eliminating the tax breaks, which so far have survived.

The coordination between Mr. Boren and the Independent Petroleum Association of America has been particularly close, ties that were only enhanced last year when his legislative director, <a title="Kirchoff Joins IPAA" href="http://www.ipaa.org/news/press_releases/2010/2010-09-16_127.php" style="text-decoration: none;">Wendy Kirchoff</a>, left to become one of the group’s top lobbyists. Of the 32 significant votes it has lobbied Congress on since 2005, Mr. Boren has taken the association’s side 31 times.

Perhaps his most important role has been his alliance with T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oilman who grew up in a small town in Mr. Boren’s district. Three times in the last three years, Mr. Boren co-sponsored <a title="Boren Introduces Legislation" href="http://www.oipa.com/custom/shownewsmulti.php?action=detail&id=322" style="text-decoration: none;">legislation drafted</a> with Mr. Pickens that would create billions of dollars in federal incentives for companies to build or buy trucks fueled by natural gas. It would also benefit a company, <a href="http://www.cleanenergyfuels.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">Clean Energy Fuels</a>, in which Mr. Pickens is the single biggest investor.

Mr. Pickens and executives at Clean Energy have given at least $24,000 to Mr. Boren’s campaigns, most of it being donated around the time the American Gas Association sponsored an “Energy Industry Breakfast” for Mr. Boren in 2010 at its headquarters in Washington.

During his career, Mr. Boren has received more than <a title="Career contributions" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&type=I&cid=N00026481&newMem=N&recs=20" style="text-decoration: none;">$690,000 from the oil and gas industry</a>, and in the <a title="Ranking by House members" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.php?ind=E01&recipdetail=H&sortorder=A&cycle=2010" style="text-decoration: none;">2010 election cycle,</a> he took in more than any other House Democrat from industry executives, according to the<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/" style="text-decoration: none;">Center for Responsive Politics</a>.

For his family, the benefits from the industry continue to accumulate. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/04/us/politics/04boren.html?ref=politics#document/p72/a40303" style="text-decoration: none;">His stepfather still collects revenues</a> from hundreds of oil and gas wells he has invested in or drilled from Mississippi to Kansas, a company executive said.

The congressman’s father, in June, <a title="Insider Sales Continential Resources" href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/insiderTrading?symbol=CLR&name=BOREN+DAVID+L" style="text-decoration: none;">cashed out on</a> $402,000 worth of shares in Continental Resources stock, part of his compensation for serving on the board. Last month, he was issued an additional 3,890 shares, valued as of Saturday at about $270,000.

Mr. Boren’s extended family, meanwhile, has recorded at least 48 new leases this year for mineral rights, state records show.

Toby Lyles and Barclay Walsh contributed research.

</div>

===

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren</a>

Daniel David Boren, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_States_Democratic_Party" title="United States Democratic Party">Democrat</a>, has represented <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Members_of_the_U.S._Congress_from_Oklahoma" title="Category:Members of the U.S. Congress from Oklahoma">Oklahoma's</a> 2nd Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005. (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ok02_109.gif">map</a>) <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#cite_note-0">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>] </div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Record_and_controversies">1 Record and controversies</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Environmental_record">1.3 Environmental record</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Abramoff_PAC_money">1.4 Abramoff PAC money</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Congressional_career">2.1 Congressional career</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-8"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#2006_elections">2.1.1 2006 elections</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Money_in_politics">3 Money in politics</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Oil_and_coal_contributions">3.1 Oil and coal contributions</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Committees_and_affiliations">4 Committees and affiliations</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Committees">4.1 Committees</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-13"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Committee_assignments_in_the_109th_Congress_.282005-2006.29">4.1.1 Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Affiliations">4.2 Affiliations</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#More_background_data">5 More background data</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Contact">6 Contact</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Articles_and_resources">7 Articles and resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#References">7.1 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-19"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#External_resources">7.2 External resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-20"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dan_Boren#Local_blogs_and_discussion_sites">7.2.1 Local blogs and discussion sites</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2 style="font-weight: normal;">Record and controversies</h2>

<div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0.5em 0.75em; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid rgb(92, 121, 181); border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; padding: 0.25em; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(220, 232, 248); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">General information about important bills and votes for can be found in Congresspedia's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:U.S._legislation" title="Category:U.S. legislation">articles on legislation</a>. You can add information you find on how Dan Boren voted by clicking the "[edit]" link to the right and typing it in. Remember to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Help:References" title="Help:References">cite your sources</a>!</div>

Dan Boren has voted for Big Oil in 82% of important oil-related bills. These include Iraq War Funding, Climate Change Studies, Clean Energy, and Ending Oil Subsidies. See money in politics below.[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SourceWatch:Citation_needed" title="SourceWatch:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]

<div style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0.5em 0.75em; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid rgb(92, 121, 181); border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; padding: 0.25em; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(220, 232, 248); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">For more information see the chart of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S._House_of_Representatives_votes_on_the_Iraq_War" title="U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War">U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War</a>.</div>

<h3 style="font-weight: normal;">Environmental record</h3>

For more information on environmental legislation, see the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Energy_and_Environment_Policy_%28U.S.%29" title="Portal:Energy and Environment Policy (U.S.)">Energy and Environment Policy Portal</a>

<h3 style="font-weight: normal;">Abramoff PAC money</h3>

Records from the Center for Responsive Politics show that Boren received $2,000 in campaign contributions from indicted lobbyist <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Jack_Abramoff" title="Jack Abramoff">Jack Abramoff</a>. Boren's office could find no record of the contributions.

The Oklahoma Gazette, an alternative weekly, reported an aide's respose in January 2006: "We looked at the [CRP] Web site... It's important to make the distinction between money accepted from Jack Abramoff and his associates who contributed money directly, and money that is being contributed by people who happen to do business with him, and the Web site does not make that distinction. Our bottom line is, we've never taken any money from Jack Abramoff directly."<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.altweeklies.com/gyrobase/AltWeeklies/Story?oid=oid%3A154878">[1]</a>

Center for Responsive Politics has since reviewed Boren's case and removed him from the list of Abramoff PAC recipients. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.capitaleye.org/abramoff_faq.asp">[2]</a>

Born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, on August 2, 1973. Boren received a B.S. from Texas Christian University in 1997 and a MBA from the University of Oklahoma in 2000.

"Prior to public office, Dan served as the President and CEO of the Seminole State College Educational Foundation. He has also served as a senior aide at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and worked on the staff of former U.S. Congressman Wes Watkins. Dan is also involved in numerous organizations and is an avid outdoorsman and hunter."<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.house.gov/boren/biography.shtml">[3]</a>

Boren served in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Oklahoma_House_of_Representatives&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Oklahoma House of Representatives (page does not exist)">Oklahoma House of Representatives</a> from 2002 to 2004.

<h3 style="font-weight: normal;">Congressional career</h3>

In the 2004 elections, Boren ran as the Democratic candidate for Oklahoma's second congressional district, succeeding Rep. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Brad_Carson&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Brad Carson (page does not exist)">Brad Carson</a>, who was retiring for an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate. He defeated <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Party" title="Republican Party" class="mw-redirect">Republican</a> candidate <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wayland_Smalley&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Wayland Smalley (page does not exist)">Wayland Smalley</a> by more than 85,000 votes (66% to 34%). He was one of only two politicians endorsed by country singer Toby Keith, the other being President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" class="mw-redirect">George W. Bush</a>. He is the son of University of Oklahoma President ,and former Governor and former Senator <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_L.Boren" title="David L. Boren">David L. Boren</a>. His grandfather, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lyle_Boren&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Lyle Boren (page does not exist)">Lyle Boren</a>, represented southeastern Oklahoma in the U.S. Congress from 1937 to 1947.

Dan Boren's Congressional biography describes him as a "strong advocate for rural communities" and lists "top priorities" as "job creation, improving education and rural health care, and making Oklahoma's small business environment more conducive to growth. Also an active member of the Congressional Blue Dogs Caucus, Dan works closely with his colleagues to curb unnecessary government spending and keep Congress fiscally responsible."<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.house.gov/boren/biography.shtml">[4]</a>

Boren, a conservative "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Blue_Dog_Democrats" title="Blue Dog Democrats">Blue Dog</a>" Democrat, is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pro-life" title="Pro-life">pro-life</a>.

<h4 style="font-weight: normal;">2006 elections</h4>

In 2006, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Party" title="Republican Party" class="mw-redirect">Republicans</a> nominated <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Patrick_K.Miller&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Patrick K. Miller (page does not exist)">Patrick K. Miller</a> to face Boren in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.congressional_elections_in_2006" title="U.S. congressional elections in 2006" class="mw-redirect">U.S. congressional elections in 2006</a>) <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://opensecrets.org/states/election.asp?State=OK&year=2006">[5]</a> Boren retained his seat.

<h2 style="font-weight: normal;">Money in politics</h2>

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. <crpcontribdata>cid=N00026481&cycle=2006</crpcontribdata>

<table class="prettytable" style="font-weight: normal;"><tbody><tr><th colspan="3">Links to more campaign contribution information for Dan Boren

from the Center for Responsive Politics' <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org">OpenSecrets.org</a> site.</th></tr><tr><td>Fundraising profile:</td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00026481">2006 election cycle</a></td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/allsummary.asp?cid=N00026481">Career totals</a></td></tr><tr><td>Top contributors by organization/corporation:</td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00026481">2006 election cycle</a></td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/allcontrib.asp?cid=N00026481">Career totals</a></td></tr><tr><td>Top contributors by industry:</td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00026481">2006 election cycle</a></td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/allindus.asp?cid=N00026481">Career totals</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/search_result.asp?mem=Boren%2C+Dan">Revolving door profile for Dan Boren</a> from the Center for Responsive Politics' <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.OpenSecrets.org">OpenSecrets.org</a> website.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/travel.asp?CID=N00026481">2006 privately funded travel profile for Dan Boren</a> from the Center for Responsive Politics' <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.OpenSecrets.org">OpenSecrets.org</a> website.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/candlook.php?CID=N00026481">Personal finance profile for Dan Boren</a> from the Center for Responsive Politics' <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.OpenSecrets.org">OpenSecrets.org</a> website.</li>

</ul>

<h3 style="font-weight: normal;">Oil and coal contributions</h3>

Dan Boren has received $173,950 in oil contributions during the 110th congress. $117,350 of those dollars were from industry PACS. He also received $32,300 in coal contributions during the 110th congress while representing. $31,000 of those dollars were from industry PACS. See oil voting record above.[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SourceWatch:Citation_needed" title="SourceWatch:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]

<h2 style="font-weight: normal;">Committees and affiliations</h2>

<h3 style="font-weight: normal;">Committees</h3>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/House_Committee_on_Armed_Services" title="House Committee on Armed Services">House Committee on Armed Services</a>

<ul>

<li>Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces</li>

<li>Subcommittee on Readiness</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/House_Committee_on_Financial_Services" title="House Committee on Financial Services">House Committee on Financial Services</a>

<ul>

<li>Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises</li>

<li>Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/House_Committee_on_Natural_Resources" title="House Committee on Natural Resources">House Committee on Natural Resources</a>

<ul>

<li>Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources</li>

<li>Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands</li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

<h4 style="font-weight: normal;">Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)</h4>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/House_Armed_Services_Committee" title="House Armed Services Committee" class="mw-redirect">House Armed Services Committee</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/House_Resources_Committee" title="House Resources Committee" class="mw-redirect">House Resources Committee</a></li>

</ul>

<h3 style="font-weight: normal;">Affiliations</h3>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Congressional_Blue_Dogs_Caucus&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Congressional Blue Dogs Caucus (page does not exist)">Congressional Blue Dogs Caucus</a>- member</li>

</ul>

<h2 style="font-weight: normal;">More background data</h2>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=MOK67126">Background information on Dan Boren from Project Vote Smart</a></li>

</ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=MOK67126">Interest group scorecard ratings for Dan Boren from Project Vote Smart</a></li>

</ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/b001254">Voting record for Dan Boren from the Washington Post database</a></li>

</ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?lang=&member=OK02&site=congressmerge">Information on Dan Boren from Congress Merge</a></li>

</ul>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> also has an article on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Boren">Dan Boren</a>. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFDL">GFDL</a>.

<table id="topContrib" class="tablesorter" style="font-weight: normal;"><tbody><tr class="rowTint"><td>Nix, Patterson & Roach</td><td class="number">$67,650</td><td class="number">$67,650</td><td class="number">$0</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>University of Oklahoma</td><td class="number">$52,305</td><td class="number">$52,305</td><td class="number">$0</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Chesapeake Energy</td><td class="number">$46,100</td><td class="number">$15,100</td><td class="number">$31,000</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>Blue Dog PAC</td><td class="number">$45,000</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$45,000</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>National Beer Wholesalers Assn</td><td class="number">$42,750</td><td class="number">$250</td><td class="number">$42,500</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>Bancfirst</td><td class="number">$40,350</td><td class="number">$40,350</td><td class="number">$0</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Koch Industries</td><td class="number">$39,000</td><td class="number">$2,000</td><td class="number">$37,000</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>United Parcel Service</td><td class="number">$38,500</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$38,500</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Devon Energy</td><td class="number">$36,200</td><td class="number">$16,200</td><td class="number">$20,000</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>Associated Builders & Contractors</td><td class="number">$35,000</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$35,000</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn</td><td class="number">$34,584</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$34,584</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>Williams Companies</td><td class="number">$34,400</td><td class="number">$6,400</td><td class="number">$28,000</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>AT&T Inc</td><td class="number">$32,250</td><td class="number">$1,750</td><td class="number">$30,500</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>Laborers Union</td><td class="number">$30,500</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$30,500</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>National Fedn of Independent Business</td><td class="number">$30,500</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$30,500</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>National Assn of Home Builders</td><td class="number">$29,500</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$29,500</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>State of Oklahoma</td><td class="number">$29,066</td><td class="number">$29,066</td><td class="number">$0</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>ConocoPhillips</td><td class="number">$29,000</td><td class="number">$9,500</td><td class="number">$19,500</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>National Assn of Realtors</td><td class="number">$26,000</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$26,000</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>Chickasaw Nation</td><td class="number">$25,276</td><td class="number">$25,276</td><td class="number">$0</td></tr></tbody></table>

===

<table id="topIndus" class="datadisplay" style="font-weight: normal;"><tbody><tr class="rowTint"><td>Oil & Gas</td><td class="number">$669,440</td></tr><tr><td>Lawyers/Law Firms</td><td class="number">$391,237</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Health Professionals</td><td class="number">$244,010</td></tr><tr><td>Commercial Banks</td><td class="number">$231,058</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Casinos/Gambling</td><td class="number">$190,876</td></tr><tr><td>Insurance</td><td class="number">$167,235</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Retired</td><td class="number">$150,830</td></tr><tr><td>Real Estate</td><td class="number">$150,295</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Lobbyists</td><td class="number">$139,899</td></tr><tr><td>Electric Utilities</td><td class="number">$137,454</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Misc Finance</td><td class="number">$117,550</td></tr><tr><td>Food & Beverage</td><td class="number">$111,000</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Retail Sales</td><td class="number">$104,450</td></tr><tr><td>Education</td><td class="number">$96,555</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>General Contractors</td><td class="number">$93,700</td></tr><tr><td>Public Sector Unions</td><td class="number">$91,200</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Building Materials & Equipment</td><td class="number">$84,575</td></tr><tr><td>Building Trade Unions</td><td class="number">$77,500</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Crop Production & Basic Processing</td><td class="number">$71,649</td></tr><tr><td>Forestry & Forest Products</td><td class="number">$67,075</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h1 class="ruleAbove" style="font-weight: normal;"><a id="sec" name="sec">Sector Totals</a></h1>

<table id="topSect" class="datadisplay" style="font-weight: normal;"><tbody><tr class="rowTint"><th>Sector</th><th>Total</th><th>PACs</th><th>Indivs</th></tr><tr><td>Agribusiness</td><td class="number">$337,816</td><td class="number">$256,732</td><td class="number">$81,084</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Communications/Electronics</td><td class="number">$127,530</td><td class="number">$64,375</td><td class="number">$63,155</td></tr><tr><td>Construction</td><td class="number">$258,775</td><td class="number">$142,000</td><td class="number">$116,775</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Defense</td><td class="number">$100,800</td><td class="number">$90,000</td><td class="number">$10,800</td></tr><tr><td>Energy & Natural Resources</td><td class="number">$884,794</td><td class="number">$536,834</td><td class="number">$347,960</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Finance, Insurance & Real Estate</td><td class="number">$799,313</td><td class="number">$362,635</td><td class="number">$436,678</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td class="number">$343,210</td><td class="number">$195,250</td><td class="number">$147,960</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Lawyers & Lobbyists</td><td class="number">$531,136</td><td class="number">$49,451</td><td class="number">$481,685</td></tr><tr><td>Transportation</td><td class="number">$171,800</td><td class="number">$118,150</td><td class="number">$53,650</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Misc Business</td><td class="number">$736,685</td><td class="number">$393,930</td><td class="number">$342,755</td></tr><tr><td>Labor</td><td class="number">$297,150</td><td class="number">$296,550</td><td class="number">$600</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Ideological/Single-Issue</td><td class="number">$161,447</td><td class="number">$146,247</td><td class="number">$15,200</td></tr><tr><td>Other</td><td class="number">$331,796</td><td class="number">$6,000</td><td class="number">$325,796</td></tr></tbody></table>

---

mnn:

<h4>Oklahoma Rep. Dan Boren</h4>

</div>

<div style="font-weight: normal;">Last July, Congressman Dan Boren of Oklahoma called the American Clean Energy and Security or ACES Act "the worst piece of legislation I've seen since I've been there," pulling out the tired canard that responding to global warming will raise energy prices and will make America less competitive. It just so happens that responding to global warming could be costly to the energy corporations funding his campaign — his top three contributors come from the oil and electricity industries. His contributions from oil, gas and electricity are five times larger than from the next highest industry, insurance.</div>

<div style="font-weight: normal;">Boren was one of 44 House Democrats to vote against the ACES act, prompting the Democratic National Committee to announce that it would run ads against him in his district as punishment. His other votes don't inspire much more confidence — he regularly votes closer to the Republican party line when it comes to the environment.</div>

===

dad

<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="font-weight: normal;">David L. Boren</h1>

<a href="http://davidboren.org/" class="external text" title="http://davidboren.org/" rel="nofollow">David Lyle Boren</a>, born April 21, 1941, in Washington, D.C., has served as president of the University of Oklahoma since 1994. Boren is the former United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1979-1994, and was the author of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Security_Education_Act_of_1991&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Security Education Act of 1991 (page does not exist)">National Security Education Act of 1991</a>, which established the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Security_Education_Program" title="National Security Education Program">National Security Education Program</a> (NSEP). The <a href="http://nsep.aed.org/" class="external text" title="http://nsep.aed.org/" rel="nofollow">Academy for Educational Development</a> (AED) offers the David L. Boren Graduate Fellowships under NSEP.<a href="http://www.aed.org/news/media_advisory_sept10.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.aed.org/news/media_advisory_sept10.html" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>

"Boren served on the Senate Finance and Agriculture Committees and was also the longest-serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Before being elected to the U.S. Senate, Boren served as Governor of Oklahoma from 1975-1979. As governor, he promoted key educational initiatives which have had an enduring impact on Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, the Scholarship-Leadership Enrichment Program, and the Oklahoma Physicians Manpower Training Program."<a href="http://www.davidboren.org" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.davidboren.org" rel="nofollow">[2]</a><a href="http://www.iie.org/template.cfm?&template=/programs/nsep/boren.htm" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.iie.org/template.cfm?&template=/programs/nsep/boren.htm" rel="nofollow">[3]</a>

"Boren is a graduate of Yale University (1963). He was selected as a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rhodes_Scholar" title="Rhodes Scholar">Rhodes Scholar</a> and earned a master's degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University in England (1965). In 1968, he received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law."<a href="http://www.iie.org/template.cfm?&template=/programs/nsep/boren.htm" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.iie.org/template.cfm?&template=/programs/nsep/boren.htm" rel="nofollow">[4]</a>

<hr />

Biography copied from cache file: <a href="http://www.tc.columbia.edu/%7Eteachcomm/members/boren.htm" class="external text" title="http://www.tc.columbia.edu/_{teachcomm/members/boren.htm}" rel="nofollow">National Commission on Teaching & America's Future 1996</a>.

David L. Boren, President, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

"David L. Boren, an Oklahoma native who has served the state as governor and US senator, is the thirteenth president of the University of Oklahoma. He is the first person in the state's history to have served in all three positions.

"As a state legislator, Mr. Boren was coauthor of a bill that established a statewide system of area vocational technical schools. As governor from 1975 through 1979, he promoted key educational initiatives that continue to serve Oklahoma. Established during his tenure were the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute and the Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program. Also, the first state funding for gifted and talented classes was provided in 1976 and, in 1976 through 1978, Oklahoma ranked first in the nation in the percentage of funding increases for higher education.

"As governor, he also established a Oklahoma Physicians Manpower Training program, which provides scholarships for medical students and medical personnel who commit to practice in under-served rural areas.

"Mr. Boren's involvement in promoting quality education at all levels is further evidenced by his founding of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence in 1985. During his tenure in the US Senate, Mr. Boren authored the National Security Education Act in 1992 and legislation to restore the full tax deductibility of gifts of appreciated property to universities and other nonprofit organizations in 1993."

<hr />

In his <a href="http://www.stopworldwar3.com/features/wright919.shtml" class="external text" title="http://www.stopworldwar3.com/features/wright919.shtml" rel="nofollow">article</a> "CIA Support for Bin Laden: Who's Responsible?", Michael Phillip Wright of Norman, Oklahoma, wrote in September 2001:

"The current crisis calls for Americans to investigate the records of all Congress members who approved of any legislation enabling U.S. support for the Afghan rebels during the 1980s. Those who supported this hideous adventure deserve severe judgment.

"As an Oklahoman, I am particularly interested in the record of former Senator David Boren, whose close tie to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=CIA" title="CIA" class="mw-redirect">CIA</a> is well known. He was appointed to the Intelligence Committee in 1985, and later became its Chairman.

"Boren also has close ties to the extreme right. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Political_Research_Associates" title="Political Research Associates">Political Research Associates</a>, a group whose purpose is to expose the threat to democracy presented by right-wing groups, includes Boren as a member of one of the organizations which they have targeted for concern.

"Boren was co-chairman of the Congressional divison of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Coalition_for_Peace_through_Strength" title="National Coalition for Peace through Strength">National Coalition for Peace through Strength</a> (CPTS), a creature of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Security_Council" title="American Security Council">American Security Council</a> (ASC). The CPTS believed that the USSR and communism were the greatest evils in the world. Other CPTS members included <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Phyllis_Schlafley&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Phyllis Schlafley (page does not exist)">Phyllis Schlafley</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jesse_Helms" title="Jesse Helms">Jesse Helms</a>. Organizational members have included the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Conservative_Union" title="American Conservative Union">American Conservative Union</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legion" title="American Legion">American Legion</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_Reagan&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Citizens for Reagan (page does not exist)">Citizens for Reagan</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Young_Americans_for_Freedom" title="Young Americans for Freedom">Young Americans for Freedom</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Young_Republicans&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Young Republicans (page does not exist)">Young Republicans</a>. PRA also says that emigre groups with a history of association with Nazis were included in the CPTS membership.

"One of the more prominent ASC members was Major General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Milnor_Roberts&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Milnor Roberts (page does not exist)">Milnor Roberts</a>, chairman of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Committee_for_a_Free_Afghanistan" title="Committee for a Free Afghanistan">Committee for a Free Afghanistan</a> (CFA). During the 1980s proxy war the CFA promoted U.S. support for the Islamic militants whose successors are now being accused of the September 11 attack.

"Boren has also been a close political ally and Congressional puppet for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eddie_Gaylord&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Eddie Gaylord (page does not exist)">Eddie Gaylord</a>, the reactionary publisher of The Daily Oklahoman, described as 'the worst daily newspaper in America' by a January 1999 article in the Columbia Journalism Review. In the same article, the Review reported that Boren as a Senator had sponsored 'a one-of-a-kind, multimillion-dollar' tax break that would benefit only eight wealthy investors -- one of whom was Gaylord.

"Additionally, Boren's relationship with former CIA director <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robert_Gates" title="Robert Gates" class="mw-redirect">Robert Gates</a> deserves critical scrutiny. Robert Gates was essentially a liar used by Reagan to corrupt the CIA away from its mission of providing the government with accurate assessments of Soviet strength. Under Gates, the CIA's mission came to be the exaggeration of Soviet strength and expansionist tendencies while sabotaging the goal of detente. David Boren was an enthusiastic supporter of Gates and helped push through his nomination as CIA director.

"In a speech available online at the CIA website, Gates boasted about CIA success in Afghanistan, where it supported the anti-Soviet Mujahhadin. He admits that the CIA funneled billions of dollars in supplies and weapons to the Mujahhadin. Oddly enough, he forgot to mention that Bin Laden was one of the beneficiaries."

<hr />

<h2>Affiliations</h2>

<ul>

<li>Director, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ConocoPhillips" title="ConocoPhillips">ConocoPhillips</a></li>

<li>Director, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=AMR_Corporation" title="AMR Corporation" class="mw-redirect">AMR Corporation</a></li>

<li>Director, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Texas_Instruments_Inc." title="Texas Instruments Inc.">Texas Instruments Inc.</a><a href="http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/investor/Proxy02/18034-01.htm" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/investor/Proxy02/18034-01.htm" rel="nofollow">[5]</a></li>

<li>Director, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Torchmark_Corporation" title="Torchmark Corporation">Torchmark Corporation</a></li>

<li>Member, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Coalition_for_Peace_through_Strength" title="National Coalition for Peace through Strength">National Coalition for Peace through Strength</a> (1983- )</li>

<li>Advisory Board, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Institutions_of_Democracy" title="American Institutions of Democracy">American Institutions of Democracy</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_L._Boren#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a></li>

</ul>

<hr />

Transferred from file David Boren:

Former U.S. Senator David Boren, now the president of the University of Oklahoma, is called the mentor of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=CIA" title="CIA" class="mw-redirect">CIA</a> director <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_J._Tenet" title="George J. Tenet" class="mw-redirect">George J. Tenet</a>. Boren is also interesting because during 2001 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Zacarias_Moussaoui" title="Zacarias Moussaoui">Zacarias Moussaoui</a> spent six months in Norman, home of OU, and was taking flight lessons there before he moved to Minneapolis, where he was arrested and later charged with terrorism. He was also receiving wire transfers from the Hamburg Al Qaeda cell while in Norman. Additionally, in August 2001 Boren arranged for CIA officer <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_Edger" title="David Edger" class="mw-redirect">David Edger</a> to have a visiting professor appointment at OU. Edger had earlier been in charge of CIA surveillance over the Hamburg Al Qaeda cell, which included lead 9/11 hijacker <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mohammed_Atta" title="Mohammed Atta">Mohammed Atta</a>.

When the Minneapolis <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=FBI" title="FBI" class="mw-redirect">FBI</a> was asking headquarters for permission to examine Moussoui's computer in August 2001, Tenet's CIA assisted them in their obstruction of a search which may have yielded information to unravel the 9/11 plot before the attack took place. Readers are invited to see these articles where I explore the odd events involving these four men:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/08/13/0454239&mode=thread" class="external text" title="http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/08/13/0454239&mode=thread" rel="nofollow">Global Free Press 03/08/03</a>.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://journals.aol.com/mpwright9/michael" class="external text" title="http://journals.aol.com/mpwright9/michael" rel="nofollow">My AOL Journal, Michael Wright, Norman, Oklahoma</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

===

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Boren

===

nra:

<div class="views-field-field-employer-value"><label class="views-label-field-employer-value">Employer: </label>United States Representative (D-OK)</div>

<div class="views-field-field-biography-value"><label class="views-label-field-biography-value">Biography: </label>

Elected in 2004 to the United States House of Representatives, Boren is a third generation Member of Congress. His father, David Boren, is the current president of the University of Oklahoma and a former U.S. Senator and Governor of Oklahoma. Boren’s grandfather also represented Oklahoma in the U.S. House of Representatives. Known as a conservative Democrat, Boren served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives prior to becoming a Member of Congress. The only Democratic member of the NRA Board, <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51343.html" target="blank">Boren voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2009 and was one of only three Democrats to vote to repeal the legislation in 2011</a>. Commenting on the bill, Boren said, “<a href="http://wwwtmrcom.blogspot.com/2010/03/dan-boren-walk-across-my-dead-body.html" target="blank">They can break my arms. They can do whatever they want to. They'll never get my vote—ever. They'll have to walk across my dead body if they want my vote on this issue</a>.” In June 2011, Boren announced that he would retire from Congress at the end of his term.

</div>

Controversial Actions and Statements:

</div>

</div>

On October 13, 1011, <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll791.xml" target="blank">Boren voted in favor of H.R. 2250</a>, “The EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned that the bill, which proposes to loosen regulations on mercury levels in incinerators, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/09/15/attacks-clean-air-act-false-choice-between-healthy-environment-and-healthy-economy" target="blank">will lead to 20,000 premature deaths due to pollution if enacted</a>.

</div>

On October 13, 2011, <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2011-789" target="blank">Boren voted in favor of H.R. 358</a>. The bill—labeled by pro-choice groups as the “Let Women Die Act of 2011”—proposes to effectively prohibit private insurance plans from covering abortion. It would also allow hospitals to deny treatment to women seeking abortions—<a href="http://jezebel.com/5849839/house-passes-let-women-die-bill-after-extremely-depressing-debate" target="blank">even in circumstances where an abortion would be necessary to save the life of the mother</a>. U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) slammed the bill, stating, “<a href="http://jezebel.com/5849839/house-passes-let-women-die-bill-after-extremely-depressing-debate" target="_blank">When the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor of health care providers ... It's just appalling. I can't even describe to you the logic of what they are doing today</a>.”

</div>

In September 2011, Boren voted in favor of H.R. 2401, <a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=335&articleid=20110924_16_A17_ULNSbb776370&r=8683" target="blank">a bill that sought to strip the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its ability to regulate air quality in the United States</a>. The Obama Administration threatened to veto the bill, stating that H.R. 2401 would block the implementation of regulations that “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/21/white-house-threatens-to-veto-train-act_n_973970.html" target="blank">would avoid tens of thousands of premature deaths, prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks and thousands of hospital visits for respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and alleviate hundreds of thousands of childhood asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses</a>.”

</div>

<a href="http://www.meetthenra.org/issues?field_issue_value_many_to_one=The%20Environment">The Environment</a> | <a href="http://www.meetthenra.org/issues?field_issue_value_many_to_one=Health%20Care">Health Care</a></div>

In 2011, <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-3" target="blank">Boren was a co-sponsor of the controversial No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act</a> in the House of Representatives. Prior to the bill’s introduction, it was already illegal for federal funds to be used for abortion except for in cases of rape and incest where the life of the mother is in danger. The legislation was widely criticized because it sought to further restrict federal funding to cases involving “<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/02/what_is_forcible_rape_exactly.html" target="blank">forcible</a>” rape.

</div>

<a href="http://www.meetthenra.org/issues?field_issue_value_many_to_one=Health%20Care">Health Care</a> | <a href="http://www.meetthenra.org/issues?field_issue_value_many_to_one=Women%E2%80%99s%20Rights">Women’s Rights</a></div>

According to DirtySecrets.org, Boren has accepted <a href="http://www.dirtysecrets.org/" target="_blank">$836,664 in contributions</a> from polluters during his congressional career and has voted for legislation that could put as many as 187,250 lives at risk. No other legislator is considered by DirtySecrets.org to put more lives at risk through his/her votes on environmental bills than Boren.

</div>

Boren voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2009 and was one of only three Democrats to vote to repeal the legislation in 2011. Commenting on the bill, Boren said, “<a href="http://wwwtmrcom.blogspot.com/2010/03/dan-boren-walk-across-my-dead-body.html" target="_blank">They can break my arms. They can do whatever they want to. They'll never get my vote—ever. They'll have to walk across my dead body if they want my vote on this issue</a>.”

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On September 25, 2005, <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/HouseVote/Party_2005-506.htm" target="blank">Boren voted in favor of a House bill to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973</a>. The legislation sought to prevent the federal government from designating “critical habitat” areas for endangered species. A spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council said of the legislation, “<a href="http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/050929.asp" target="blank">It would be scandalous to pass this bill into law. This legislation would do nothing to protect wildlife and, in fact, would lead to more extinctions. Of the many damaging provisions in this bill, one of the worst would repeal rules that protect endangered species from pesticides like DDT, which nearly killed off the bald eagle years ago. The bill also would fleece U.S. taxpayers by paying wealthy developers to comply with endangered species protections. Under a loose compensation scheme, land developers would be able to name their price for lost profits. In America we don't pay people not to pollute</a>.”

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In 2006, <a href="http://www.lcv.org/media/press-releases/page-30308261.html" target="blank">Boren appeared on the League of Conservation Voter’s annual “Dirty Dozen” list</a>. The list targeted Boren for voting “<a href="http://www.lcv.org/media/press-releases/page-30308261.html" target="blank">against the environment on every key vote</a>.”

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Boren, D Sen

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