It is Joe Donnelly’s record on energy issues that is under scrutiny, but as you look at that record it becomes quite obvious that consistent votes against opening up domestic oil resources comprise a record of lethargy on an issue many Americans are concerned about.  The Luke Puckettcampaign issued a hard-hitting press release today drawing attention to Donnelly’s consistent record (his rhetoric changes, but his record doesn’t) of anti-domestic drilling votes.

Here is the Release:

Fairbanks, AK-Today Congressional candidate Luke Puckett declared that he is the only candidate running for Congress in Indiana’s 2nd District who supports lowering gas prices for Hoosiers by expanding access to large domestic oil reserves like the ones in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the oil shale deposits of Colorado and Utah.

“From January of 2007 to today, Joe Donnelly has never voted for a bill that would expand domestic oil exploration and drilling. I find it unconscionable that Mr. Donnelly would repeatedly vote to block our access to domestic oil reserves and effectively vote to hold Hoosiers hostage to foreign oil and high gas prices,” Puckett remarked.

Puckett believes that Joe Donnelly has failed to be a leader in Washington on the single biggest issue people across the district care about. The rising gas prices affect everyone from blue collar workers to white collar business owners, from soccer moms to farmers. These people were not helped when Donnelly chose to co-sponsor an obscure energy bill that will probably never see a floor vote while opposing a floor debate and vote on an energy bill that was co-sponsored by 177 members of Congress.

According to Puckett “Co-sponsoring an obscure energy bill while voting time after time against increased domestic drilling hardly qualifies as leadership. If Joe Donnelly were a leader he wouldn’t have waited until gas prices were $4 dollars a gallon and jobs were being lost before he took action. These gas prices are not new and they deserved meaningful action a long time ago.”

For Puckett, Donnelly’s vehement refusal to even sign a simple non-partisan petition stating that we should drill for domestic oil right now in order to lower gas prices illustrates how out-of-touch he is with the district. “Everywhere I go I find people talking about high gas prices and every time our campaign offers them the American Solutions ‘Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.’ petition they jump at the opportunity to sign it,” said Puckett.

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Footnote: In 2007 Joe Donnelly voted four times against increased domestic drilling. These votes were, in order, Roll Call 40, Roll Call 553, Roll Call 578 and Roll Call 1171. They may be accessed at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/index.asp

Last Tuesday was a tremendous day for the campaign as Luke won the primary election to be the Republican nominee to become the next congressman from Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District.  Below is a clip, courtesy of WSBT-TV, of the opening part of Luke’s acceptance speech.  This speech was given at the St. Joseph County GOP headquarters on the south side of South Bend.

Thank you to everyone who made our victory possible. We appreciate your efforts and look forward to winning in the fall with your help!

Barack Obama has declared that small town Americans cling to “guns and religion.”  Belittling the rights protected in our Constitution and mocking the faith that sustains us is something that is just plain wrong. 

Joe Donnelly is a super delegate in the Democratic presidential nominating process.  He is also the one who is supposed to represent Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District.  Yet after receiving $7,500 from Barack Obama’s Political Action Committee, Joe Donnelly has refused to speak up and say that he doesn’t appreciate Barack Obama’s condescending and elitist comments.

The South Bend Tribune has this article about Donnelly’s refusal to condemn Sen. Obama’s inappropriate and revealing remarks.

The Puckett campaign has released this press release asking Joe Donnelly to declare for his constituents and not an ultra liberal presidential nominee.