It’s too little, too late, for Ben Ray to act progressive
Rep. Ben Ray Luján announced earlier this year he will co-sponsor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal resolution. It’s a cynical, political movida — and it’s too little, too late.
Forty percent of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives came out in support of the Green New Deal resolution when it was introduced.
Luján, on the other hand, waited until he wanted to advance his own career by running for higher office and feared a progressive primary challenger. Luján’s courting of major fossil fuel companies for campaign cash is evidence of the cynical politics behind his late-to-the-party endorsement of the Green New Deal. The day before he announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Luján took more than $8,000 from oil,
coal, gas and pipeline PACs such as Arch Coal, PowerPAC and NuStar, which operates more than 8,700 miles of pipelines across the United States.
There are no two ways about it: Ben Ray Luján is on the dole of the fossil fuel corporations. During the most recent fundraising quarter, his campaign brought in around $12,000 in fossil fuel contributions. And according to OpenSecrets, throughout his congressional campaigns, he’s taken more than $100,000 from the electric utilities and fossil fuel companies — companies that use their money and political capital to fight against solar and wind energy and that oppose progressive policies like the Green New Deal.
Luján came out in support of the resolution while taking money from major fossil fuel corporations. I have to wonder what he’s promising those corporate CEOs when he’s on the phone asking them for money. He’s talking out of both sides of his mouth. Real progressives know that you can’t have it both ways. It’s clear that he has no intention of actually supporting the Green New Deal if elected. He just wants the votes of environmentalists and progressives.
Luján believes that environmentalists and progressives are easy to fool and that he can pull the wool over their eyes and block real progressives out of the race. He’s dead wrong. Luján may be cynical in his approach to New Mexicans, but real New Mexico progressives can see right through this self-serving political movida.
Charlotte Lipson lives in Las Cruces.