Democratic Congressional candidate Don Cravins Jr. isn’t going to wait for his opponent to hit him on offshore drilling. Given the spotlight the Republican Party, and Congressman Boustany, have put on the issue, Cravins’ campaign is assuming it’s inevitable. In a campaign email blast, titled “Grandstanding at its Best,” Cravins’ Communications Director Richard Carbo empahsizes Cravins’ support for opening up the Outer Continental Shelf to more drilling. “I wanted to let you know Don’s clear position on this issue before there are attempts (and there will be attempts) to make you think otherwise,” Carbo writes. The email concludes: “I hope you will reject their attempts this week to place blame on one party or person while they play political games. The time of placing blame and attempting to scare us into supporting them is over. The 7th district is alive and well and will not be fooled anymore."
Congressman Boustany is expected to join Republican colleagues in the House chamber this week – while Congress is in recess – as part of a protest calling on Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring Congress back in session and allow for on a vote on offshore drilling, and other energy production issues. “This is in his official capacity as a Congressman,” says Boustany spokesman Rick Curtsinger. “It’s not an attack on anyone other than the Speaker for not bringing up a vote. We would certainly welcome anyone who called on the Speaker to call the House back into session to take up meaningful energy legislation. We’d appreciate any support in that effort.
Carbo says he has no clear evidence Boustany planned to use the platform to criticize Cravins. “We’re just going off of how historically [Republicans] try to characterize the Democratic Party as one,” he says. “Rather than wait for him to come at us saying we are just one of the Democrats that is against offshore drilling, we wanted to state our position before they even had a chance to do that.