WASHINGTON D.C. - Congresswoman Jean Schmidt has become the center of controversy over comments she made on the Congressional Record Thursday, June 5.
Schmidt stood before Congress and told them, "this very day there is indeed the drilling activity off our country's coast, not by our country's companies, that would be illegal. Instead the Chinese are drilling off the coast of Florida with their new energy partner Cuba."
The Congresswoman went on to criticize Congress for repeatedly blocking attempts to open up drilling off the coast of the United States and in Alaska "in the name of environmentalism."
Schmidt's comments came under fire when it was discovered that neither China nor any company is currently drilling in the 90 miles between the Florida keys and Cuba.
Other Congressmen, and even Vice President Dick Cheney, have made similar comments following Schmidt's including Lynn Westmoreland, a Georgia Republican, and House Minority Leader John Boehner of Wetherington, Ohio. According to Schmidt's Communications Director Bruce Pfaff, Charles Rangel, a Democratic Congressman from New York, and Byron Dorgan Democratic Policy Committee Chairman from North Dakota, also made similar statements. Cheney acknowledged his error the day after he told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that China was drilling 60 miles off the coast of Florida.
Following Schmidt's comments there was an a general outcry in Washington and many Democrats called on Schmidt to go on the Congressional Record retracting her statement.
"I hope Jean Schmidt will publicly retract her false statements and place remarks in the official Congressional Record clarifying that the urban legend she told was untrue," Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said in a statement released Tuesday, June 17.
"Why should she apologize," Pfaff said in an interview Thursday, June 19. "She took what she believed to be valid information into her floor speech. Her point was not about China, she was pointing out the Democrats' refusal to lift the moratorium on drilling. This issue over China is getting in the way of the real problem."
Pfaff also pointed out that Redfern failed to mention any of his own party members who made similar comments. He said the attack, which has focused almost exclusively on Schmidt, was a result of partisan politics. Pfaff referred to several Republicans who have not come under attack, including Boehner who wrote an article on the subject June 13.
"This is a stunning display of disunity among Ohio Republicans," said Ohio Democratic Party Executive Director Doug Kelly. "When a junior member of Congress panics and tries to throw her party's leader under the bus in an election year, it is clear that she is running scared."
Pfaff refuted this claim by saying the House Republican Caucus spread word about the drilling in a memo that contained a plan to bring daily pressure on House Democrats to open various drilling sites within the United States. Pfaff said the Caucus and Schmidt drew from articles that appeared in six different media publications, including CNN, Forbes, and Money Magazine dating back to a May 8, 2006 in the New York Times. The New York Times article said plans were underway for China to begin drilling in 2006.
Cheney cited a June 5 opinion piece in the Washington Post written by George Will that stated "drilling is being done by China."
"Just like most Americans, the Congresswoman gets a lot of her information from the media," Pfaff said. "People are behaving as if she pulled this out of thin air. We're learning our lesson though. I guess the next time we'll have to call the Cuban government to see if they are drilling."
There have been numerous reports that Cuba has been leasing out areas between 50 and 60 miles off the coast of Florida for exploration as early as 2005. An article in the March 17 edition of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel said that Norway, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Spain, and others are exploring offshore sites in search of oil, but that actual drilling would not begin until 2012.
A June 12 Reuters' report appearing in the Herald Tribune said drilling was to have begun this year, but companies had met with setbacks. The article states seven companies, including some from Spain, India, and Norway, will begin drilling in the first half of 2009.
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