By Constitution Staff

A recent cover story in Human Events, the national conservative weekly, targeted two Oklahomans for criticism on the issue of "subsidies to politically favored businesses in the energy area." One is a member of Congress, John Sullivan, while the other is energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens.

An amendment to a $109 billion highway bill would have "enriched" certain natural gas-related companies, and taxed consumers of natural gas to pay for those subsidies. The amendment failed, but according to Human Events, it would have benefitted wealthy backers of the measure including leftist billionaire George Soros, and Oklahoman Pickens.

Fortunately, what Human Events called "an unusual coalition" of the Left and Right opposed the measure in the Senate.

The proposed New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions act (NATGAS Act) now must emerge from a similar measure in the House of Representatives. Human Events pinpointed Congressman John Sullivan as the principal backer of the proposal to create a natural-gas tax to provide certain selected industries with the subsidy.

President Barack Obama used his State of the Union message in January to call for the use of more natural gas vehicles, and Sullivan said that his measure would make Obama's goal a reality!

"Make no mistake about it, the NAT GAS Act is a game changer for American energy security," Sullivan said in a written statement. "This is a bill that both parties can agree will create jobs and significantly decrease our dependence on OPEC oil from hostile countries around the world."

Pickens, Pickens' wife, and an executive of Pickens' company have donated over $15,000 to Rep. Bill Bilbray (R-California), a major supporter of the subsidy, according to FEC reports. In fact, Pickens and his wife, and senior employees of Pickens' Clean Energy Fuels have given more than $150,000 to politicians and committees that support the NATGAS Act. Among the recipients of Pickens' largesse is Oklahoma Congressman John Sullivan.

Pickens' generosity is not confined to Republicans. Clean Energy Fuels employees have given almost $20,000 to members of Congress who support the NATGAS Act subsidies, including money to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, one of the nation's top Democrats.

Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) is co-sponsoring a bill to end all subsidies for energy companies. DeMint does not oppose energy "independence," but does not favor taking money from taxpayers to give to mega-billionaires like Soros and Pickens. In his new book, Now or Never, DeMint wrote, "The United States has some of the largest energy reserves in the world. Recent discoveries of natural gas and shale oil and gas could jump-start America's economy and provide us with low-emission fuel for more than one hundred years—that is, if the federal government would allow the states and private companies to develop these resources."

On the other hand, it is not surprising that Pickens expects special preference because of his enormous wealth. An example is the episode when he ordered some of his workers to dig up a portion of someone else's driveway. It seems that Pickens had written in the driveway concrete when he was a little boy.

But, as the Human Events article bears out, wealth should be earned, not simply taken from others. Many Oklahomans, however, are willing to overlook Pickens' use of the government to advance his own economic well-being, just so long as he continues his large contributions to building a college football team.