AOC Illuminated Perhaps The Most Troubling Thing About An Exxon Lobbyist Bragging That He Has Senators In His Back Pocket

Parts of the Northwest are literally melting right now after temperatures spiked to record highs this month so, yeah, climate change is probably a legit thing. But, if you’re an Exxon lobbyist, or a Senator receiving campaign funds from that company, chances are you already knew that.

In fact, in a secretly-recorded chat between an undercover operative from Greenpeace and Keith McCoy, a senior director of federal relations for Exxon Mobil (aka, a lobbyist), one fact became pretty damn clear: these guys know what they’re doing and they’re happy to brag about it to really anyone who will listen. The conversation, which happened over Zoom and was aired on BBC’s Channel 4, featured McCoy detailing how his company gave kickbacks to certain politicians in exchange for legislative initiatives being pushed on the House and Senate floor.

“I liken it to fishing,” McCoy says in the video. “You have bait. You throw that bait out just to kind of reel them [Congress members] in because they’re a captive audience. They know they need you and I need them.”

McCoy then went on to name a few key Senators his office works with, a list that includes famously conservative Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia (aka the man who’s virtually singlehandedly killing the Biden agenda in Congress). According to McCoy, Manchin is a “kingmaker” and he has weekly calls with the Senator’s office every week. It’s that last bit of news that sounds especially troubling to Manchin’s fellow colleagues on Capitol Hill, specifically, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC is in full support of The Green New Deal proposed by key members of the Democratic Party, a bill that would seek to drastically reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions the U.S. produces each year. Naturally, she was not happy to learn that Manchin and a bunch of other Republican climate-deniers are having regular get-togethers with oil company lobbyists like McCoy.

“Imagine being a public official and having a standing weekly check-in call with ANY corporate lobbyist, let alone Exxon,” she wrote in a tweet that listed out all of the officials in Exxon’s back pocket.

For its part, the company has denied any wrongdoing, apologized for McCoy’s statements, and reaffirmed its commitment to curbing carbon emissions but Exxon’s track record when it comes to eco-conservation isn’t that great so its a good thing politicians like AOC are willing to hold everyone’s feet to the fire right now.