Photo Source United States Senate | CC BY 2.0
A single Democrat voted in the US Senate with the Republicans to confirm the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.
The Democrat in question, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a so-called “maverick”, replied “I’m just a good old West Virginia boy” when askedby reporters if he thought there was a “still place in the Democratic Party for you after this (his vote to support Kavanaugh)”.
Manchin may be from West Virginia, but “good ol’ boy” purely and simply he certainly is not–“rich ol’ boy” would be more accurate.
According to The Washington Examiner, Manchin has made more than $5 million in in profits since entering the Senate in 2011, most of it from his family business (the coal brokerage firm Enersystems Inc).
Manchin sits on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee which oversees the industry that fills his pockets. He maintains that this is not a conflict of interest because his Enersystems portfolio has been put in a “blind trust”.
But you don’t have to be a genius to know that any policy benefitting the coal industry will in all probability enhance what’s in Manchin’s blind trust, which of course can be unwound once the rich ol’ boy leaves office.
Dick Cheney said something similar when he put his Haliburton portfolio in a blind trust, but we know damn well that his administration’s rampage through Iraq was going to be mighty good business for…