Angle Repeats BP "Slush Fund" Line
Ex-NV Assemb. Sharron Angle (R) handed Dems a new gift today, calling a $20B escrow account set up to pay out victims of the BP oil spill a "slush fund," echoing Rep. Joe Barton's (R-TX) much-ridiculed apology to BP and prompting quick criticism from Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV).
Speaking on the Alan Stock Show, Angle agreed with a caller to the radio program who criticized the BP account. Angle said, "No, government shouldn't be doing that to a private company. And I think you named it clearly -- it's a slush fund."
"Slush fund" was Barton's phrase for the BP account last month, when he apologized for the WH's "shakedown" of BP and caught criticism from Dems and GOPers alike.
Angle called for better federal oversight and criticized BP for cutting corners. She then attacked the Obama admin's response, calling it "an overreaction by government for not the right reasons."
"Everyone in the petroleum industry shouldn't be penalized for one bad person's actions," Angle said. "They are actually using this crisis if you will -- because they never waste one ... -- they are using this crisis now to get in cap and trade, and every fine and penalty, and slush fund."
The Reid camp responded with a statement from spokesperson Kelly Steele: "The fact that Sharron Angle has sided with BP and says they shouldn't have to guarantee the funds to cleanup their mess, risking a taxpayer bailout, is just the latest example of the extreme and dangerous agenda she would bring to Washington."
Angle backed off her position this afternoon, writing in a statement, "Having had some time to think about it, the caller and I shouldn't have used the term 'slush fund'; that was incorrect."
"My position is that the creation of this fund to compensate victims was an important first step," Angle wrote. "But there are multiple parties at fault here and there should be a thorough investigation. We need to look into the actions (or inactions) of the Administration and why the regulatory agency in charge of oversight was asleep at the wheel while BP was cutting corners."
Given the amount of attention Dems lavished on Barton and other GOPers who criticized the escrow account, Angle's gaffe is another opportunity for Reid's campaign to make the case she is outside the mainstream.
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