Every year, Sen. David Vitter seems to find new ways to outdo his previous deplorable conduct.
The Louisiana Republican threatened to block a pay raise for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar unless the secretary agreed to issue more deepwater drilling permits. Vitter is unhappy with the tightened regulations regarding offshore drilling in Louisiana after the BP oil spill in Louisiana.
The Ethics Committee described Vitter’s actions as inappropriate, but have not taken any action against him because there is no Senate guidance for such conduct. Although they buked Vitter and warned him not to engage in similar conduct in the future, Vitter boasted that he would continue to block pending pay increases for Secretary Salazar.
Luke Bolar, the Vitter spokesman, gave this statement regarding the matter: “The beltway liberals at CREW can attack all they want – Sen. Vitter will continue to block Salazar’s pay raise after Salazar helped shut down Gulf drilling and put thousands of Louisianians out of work.”
This is Vitter’s 3rd time making the ‘Most Corrupt’ list.
